Wire bent for inserting.
Now comes the stuffing. The ordinary mode used by bird-preservers is a simple one, and answers very well; there is a French method, however, which has its advantages, and will be adverted to hereafter. Take a piece of the wire suitable to the size of the bird—that is, as large as the legs will carry—and bend it into the following form, a representing the neck, b, the body, and c, the junction of the tail, allowing sufficient length of the neck for the wire to pass some distance beyond the head, and being sharpened at each end, which may be done by obliquely cutting it with the pliers. Wind upon this wire hemp to the side of the bird’s body, which you should have lying by you to judge from, and it will present something of this appearance. You can shape it with the hand, but be careful not to make it the least too large; and, after you have finished it to your satisfaction, you may singe it, as the poulterer would singe a fowl, which will make all neat; but be particular to wind the hemp very tight. Then take the skin, lay it on the table on its back, and pass the wire at the head into the marrow where the neck is cut off, through above the roof of the mouth, and out at one nostril, and draw it up close to the skull; turn the skin back, and draw it down over the hemp body, and pass the wire spike, protruding at the lower end, through the flesh upon which the tail grows, about the center, and rather below than above. The skin may now be adjusted to the hemp body, and sewn up, beginning from the top of the breast, and being particularly careful always to take the stitch from inside, otherwise you will draw in the feathers at every pull. At first sew it very loose, and then, with the button-hook, draw it together by degrees.
Fig. 12.
The hemp wound on the wire.
With the pliers cut two lengths of wire, long enough to pass up the legs and into the neck, and leave something over to fasten the bird by to the board or spray upon which it is to be placed. The next operation requires some address and great practice, namely, the passing the wire up the legs. This is done by forcing it into the center of the foot, and up the back of the legs, into the hemp body, through it obliquely, and into the neck, until it is pretty firm.
Fig. 13.
In doing this, you must remember the ordinary position of a bird when alive, and, therefore, instead of passing the wire the whole way within the skin of the leg, when you get to the part where you have cut off the bone—that is, the knee-joint—pass it through the skin to the outside, where the knee would come naturally in the attitude of standing or perching—it makes little difference which. This is essential, because, if the wire be passed the whole way inside the skin, it produces a wrong placing of the legs. Fig 13 will illustrate this, a representing the line in which the wire should run. The bird is now stuffed, and you may at once place it upon a spray or board, as the case may be. In placing a bird upon a spray, the first joint should be bent almost on a level with the foot; and in placing a bird on a board, one leg should be placed somewhat behind the other. If the wings are intended to be closed, as is usually the case, bring them into their place, which may be done by putting the fingers under them, and pressing them together over the back; you may then pass a needle, or large pin, of which you should have a good supply by you, through the thick part of the upper wing into the body, and so by the lower wing, and if you allow these to protrude, you may fasten to one of them a piece of thread, and wind it carefully and lightly round the body, which will keep the feathers in their places, and this thread should be kept on for a fortnight or three weeks, until the bird is dry. The tail should be kept in its place, also, for the same time, by a piece of thin wire bent over it, thus: