Bird Preserving and Bird Mounting (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Bird Preserving and Bird MountingAlmost the first thing young naturalist takes interest in is what is commonly called "bird-stuffing," and with him, when he attempted it, the term is very applicable. Oh! the wretched, distorted things which rise from their collapsed state, where it had been better had they remained, "they mimicked Nature so abominably." But we must not suppress and dull the aspirations of genius, remembering that the most accomplished in any art had their beginning too. Many things are required to make anything of this art - such as delicacy of hand, great practice, but, above all, patience, the most inestimable of all common virtues. But I shall proceed to give a few plain directions, that the aspirant after taxidermal excellency may judge and try for himself, and not be disheartened. A fair specimen being obtained, take common cotton wadding, and with an ordinary paintbrush stick plug the throat, nostrils, and, in large birds, the cars, with it, so that when the skin is turned no juices may flow and spoil the feathers; you must then provide yourself with the following articles: - A knife of this kind, A, which is very common; a pair of cutting plyers, B; a pair of strong scissors, c, of a moderate size; a button-hook, D; a marrow-spoon, E; and a hand-vice, F.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.