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254 Woodcraft Birch Bark Roll on it to keep the feathers from sticking, and also to soak up oil, blood, etc. Some use plaster for this; but plaster is dis- agreeable under the finger nails, it takes the gloss off the feathers, and if the specimen happens to be a game-bird it injures the meat for the table. The plaster is better, how- ever, for white, fluffy birds, as meal or sawdust lodges in the down. Push the skin from the body till the leg is reached. Work the leg out of the skin till the knee-joint is clear on the in- side of the skin; cut the leg off at the knee, taking great care not to cut or tear the skin. The severed leg now hangs to the skin. When both legs are thus cut, work around the base of the tail, freeing the skin. Then, with the scissors, cut straight through the bone, leaving the tail bone and tail hanging to the skin. This is one of the most difficult parts of the skinning. It is so hard to get at, and so easy to tear the skin, that one 1s to be congratulated if in the first lesson he safely “rounds Cape Horn.” ' At all stages, keep the meal applied to the body as fast as it is exposed ; and in quantity enough to soak up all moisture ; and avoid stretching the skin. With the tail and legs free, there is no difficulty in pushing the skin off until stopped by the wings. Cut them off at the shoulder joint deep in the muscles of the breast, leaving them attached to the skin, just as the legs and tail are. The skin is now inside out. It can readily be worked along the neck and onto the head. Here it is stopped by the ears. In the robin, these are like pockets of skin tucked into the. skull, and may be easily pulled out without cutting. In large birds, the knife must be used. The next and last difficulty is the eyes. The skin must be cut free from them, carefully avoiding injury to the eyelids or the eyeballs. Now the skin is attached only to the forepart of the skull. Cut off the neck at the back of the skull, and the skin is freed from the body, but needs careful cleaning. Dig the eyes out of the sockets, taking great care not to break the eyeballs, as their liquid is very difficult to remove from the feathers. Cut out a section of the skull (Fig. 3), and remove the brains through this. Cut off any lumps of flesh left about the jaws; but do not break the jaw bone or its joints.