Practical taxidermy

by Montagu Browne

Next enlarge the orifice at the back of the head by cutting a triangular piece out towards the palate or roof of the mouth, scooping the brains out with the point of the knife, having a small piece of paper in readiness to receive them. During this operation hold the beak of the bird through the skin of the neck by the two first fingers, and thumb, the latter being uppermost, the other fingers being employed in keeping the remainder of the skin with the feathers out of harm's way.

Inserting the point of the knife at the back of the eye, place the thumb on the eyeball and gently pull it out, taking care not to let the point of the knife cut upward so as to burst the eye, or the effect will be to liberate the dark-coloured pigment or the vitreous humour, and thus wet or stain the feathers. Having done all this, there will still remain some little flesh at the back of the eye and the junction of the mandibles, and this must be carefully cut away so as not to dis-articulate the latter. The Preservative Paste now comes into requisition, and with this the skull and orbits are well painted inside and out. A little tow, previously chopped by the medium of a sharp pair of scissors, is now pushed into the empty skull, with the "stuffing iron," which is a small piece of thick wire (see Fig. 21). For large birds the tow forceps (see Fig. 20) may be conveniently used.

Having neatly filled the head with the tow, proceed to put a small piece of cotton wadding in each orbit. (Note, be careful that tow only is pushed into the head, as if never so small a piece of wadding gets into the cavity of the head it will effectually prevent any subsequent mounting of the specimen, as, singular though it may appear, a small piece of wadding is more than a match for a pointed wire.)

During all this time the neck must be kept as short and as little stretched as possible. In some birds a line of fat will be observed extending from the neck to the back or even to the breast, which must be as carefully as possible scraped off the skin by using the edge of the knife, guided by the thumb. Having done this, paint the neck only with the preservative, and lay the skin on the paper, back upward and tail from you; the under part of the head in this position points upward.

Place the thumbs of both hands, their nails touching each other, at the back of the head with the first two fingers of each hand placed in this wise: forefingers along the side of the face, second fingers underneath on the top of the skin of the head; then, by gently pushing with the thumbs and pulling or scratching, as it were, with the other fingers, gradually force the head through until the mandibles appear, as also the eyelids. Let go with the right hand, still keeping the thumb of the left pressing against the head; and, by gently working with the two first fingers of the left hand outside the feathers, and by pulling the beak upward and toward you with the right, the bird is returned to the position shown in Fig. 22.

As the bird now lies, it is optional whether the flesh is cleaned away from the root of the tail first or from the legs and wings. I will, however, in this case take the wing on my right. Place the right hand underneath, lift the wing as far up into the skin as possible, and by holding it tightly in that position with the finger and thumb of the left hand, a ridge of skin becomes visible, running down each side, and framing in, as it were, a little oval-shaped piece of flesh, i.e., that lying between the "radius" and "ulna" The broken bone and flesh of the wing is now toward you. Clean the flesh away from this and then devote the attention to the before-named oval-shaped piece of flesh. Putting the point of the knife down on the right, lift and scoop away (using the greatest care meanwhile) some small pieces of flesh. This by degrees reveals the top of another little bone, from under which all the flesh to be seen must be scraped away; anoint this freely with the preservative, and return it to its normal position after tying a small piece of strong thread through the loop of the bone (in large birds a little tow should be placed in the cavity).

If this process is too tedious, or not quite comprehended by the amateur — i.e. the clearing out of the flesh between the radius and ulna — the smaller bone of the two — the radius (F, Plate II) may be twisted or cut out entirely, leaving only the larger bone of the two to clear of flesh. Sometimes — but this with large birds only — the wing may be advantageously cut from the outside along its entire length underneath, the flesh removed, skin dressed, and the cut carefully sewn up.

Do the same by the other wing, and then push the leg on the same side up through the skin, pushing the skin down with the fingers and thumb of the left hand, and pulling with the right, until you have stripped the skin nearly down to the so-called "knee," q (not the proper knee, however, that being situated higher up — Plate II), or tibio-tarsal joint. At this joint a bundle of little "leaders," or muscles, assemble; cut them away from around the bone (without interfering with the joint, however), and they will roll up with the flesh to the head of the bone previously cut off at the proper knee joint, and can there be easily pulled off. (In practice, it will be found that retaining the full length of this bone — the tibia — is not desirable for subsequent operations; it may therefore be advantageously shortened by one-half.)

Anoint with the preservative and neatly wrap a piece of tow around the leg-bone (or tibia) to the supposed shape of the flesh previously removed. Return the leg to its natural position; and repeat the same on the other side.

The tail is now the only thing left which requires to be freed from flesh. Keeping the beak still from you, push the tail, with the left hand, as far up into the body as possible, then clear it of every particle of flesh by scraping and cutting, taking care to cut away the oil ducts or glands — usually full of a thick fat — and being careful also not to cut away the attachment of the roots of the feathers to the skin; anoint with the preservative, and return. Several little streaks of fat in various parts of the skin may now be seen, which must be carefully scraped away.