(See directions for making frame.)
Skin the bird and prepare it as directed in this article. Fill the neck with tow, put in neck wire, letting the end come out through the nostril; bend leg wires AA back so as to get them in the legs; run them down on the inside of the leg, or through the center of leg bone, and come out in the center of the foot. (See cuts Nos. 2 and 3.) Put tail support E through the under part of the tail, and proceed as directed heretofore in this article, to stuff, sew up, etc.
Where the tow can not be secured and you have to use cotton in stuffing, always put in the neck wire first, and stuff around it or wrap the neck wire with strips of muslin, old calico, or anything that can be used for that purpose, always being careful not to make the neck too large. Excelsior can be used to good advantage in stuffing large bodies.
PELICANS.
In dressing a pelican always use the board and wire frame. For position, copy after some picture of the bird, which you can find in any natural history. The only difference in dressing from the goose, etc., is they have a game sack under the lower jaw, which is often as much as ten inches wide and sixteen inches long. I find the best way to dress that is to take a fine shingle, wide and long enough, and trim it in the shape of a sleigh runner, and put it inside of the pouch or game sack, with the straight edge up and the square end toward the neck. Draw the pouch smooth over the shingle, and tie the bill together, then wet well with the solution of corrosive sublimate. The board should be left in. Wire can be bent and placed in to answer the same purpose.
PEA-FOWL.
In dressing a pea-fowl, where the wings and tail have to be spread, extra wires have to be put in. The wires for the wings are fastened on to the body board, as when used for the fore legs of animals. Then, for the tail support, take a wire about five feet long and bend it in a hoop shape, leaving enough of the ends to extend into and fasten on the body board. This must be put on the board before putting it in the body. Dress the bird as others, letting the hoop or tail support extend out under the tail. After it is all stuffed and set on the board, bend the tail support up back of tail, and fasten the feathers of the tail to it by tying them, one at a time, with a heavy thread, in such a way that when all are fastened to the wire they will stand as when the bird was strutting. Arrange the wings and body to suit and let dry.
DRESSING BIRDS WITH WINGS SPREAD.
To dress a bird with wings spread, either flying or sitting, it will be necessary to put in wing wires to hold the wings out. The easiest way is to use the wire and board frame, using the front leg wires as used in animals, for the wings. See Figs. 7 and 8, board and body frame.
In dressing a bird this way, after skinning and wiring, as directed for bird, using frames 9 and 10, put in the wing wires and fasten them to body board, as directed for forelegs of animals.