Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/281

 setting to work you must have your tools all by you, and not have to jump up now and again for them. Let your knife be very sharp, particularly just at the point, and the smaller the blade is the better for skinning small and medium sized birds; but for larger, use a larger and more evenly shaped blade. Next, a small pair of scissors (strong), and a pair of long blunt pointed forceps for inserting the stuffing into the head, neck, etc. I have always used a pair of old curling tongs which I ground down on a grind-stone for this purpose, they do very well, but they are a little large for small work, and the forceps, if to be got, will not cost much. Some cotton wool, a needle and thread, a camel hair brush, and a little preservative, either in powder or solution, if the former, equal parts of powdered alum, camphor, and bitter apple, with a small quantity of arsenic, makes a very good preservative. Have all these things close to your hand before beginning to skin the bird. Now lay the bird on its back on a piece of newspaper or white paper, the head pointing from you. Directly a specimen intended for stuffing is shot, the mouth and nostrils should at once be stuffed with cotton wool to prevent the blood running out and soiling the feathers. Also, directly it is shot, smooth the feathers down carefully, and place it in an envelope of paper. Do not on any account hold or carry a bird for stuffing by the head as that will stretch the neck.

The next operation is to break the wing joints as close to the body as possible; feel for the joint carefully, and then break or disjoint it with a sharp wrench—do this to both wings. Then twist the legs out of joint at the second joint from the body. Turn the head towards you now, and having parted the feathers evenly and carefully, insert the point of the knife in the middle of the body (calculate this as nearly as you can, so as to avoid a larger opening than is necessary), and open the body right down to the vent, and be sure you do not cut too deeply to penetrate the intestines. Now carefully raise the edges of the skin with the point of the knife, and keep on skinning back first from one side then the other. I would advise every one to hold the birds in the easiest position to themselves. Be careful to keep the feathers from touching the flesh. A very good plan is to work with a small plug of cotton wool, pressing the skin from the body with it, but bear in mind that a bird's skin is very thin and delicate, not like an opossum's, which you can pull right off the body without a break. Having skinned down to the legs, take first one then the other and insert your fingers inside the skin and push it back, thus showing the second joint where it has been previously broken or disjointed. Cut this, at the joint, with the scissors, which will leave that side with the leg free from the flesh