Chapter IX: Section II: EXCEPTIONS TO THE USUAL METHOD OF SKINNING.--In case of

birds which are very soft on account of having been dead a long time, it may be advisable to open either beneath the wing, making a short incision along the side or above the wing, cutting along the feather tracks just above the scapularies; and some skin ducks through a hole in the back just above the rump. I do not, however, advise such practice, as a rule, as the skins are more difficult to make up, and the bird cannot be mounted quite as readily.

Woodpeckers with large heads and small necks, like the pileated and ivory-billed, and ducks having similar characteristics, as the wood, pintail, and a few other species; also flamingoes, sand-hill, and whooping cranes, cannot be skinned over the head in the usual manner, but the neck should be cut off after the skin has been removed as far as possible, and then a slit should be cut in the back of the head, and the head be skinned through this orifice, but an abundance of absorbent should be used to prevent the feathers from becoming soiled.

Care should be exercised in skinning cuckoos, doves, thrushes, and some species of sparrows, as the skin is not only thin, but the feathers start in the rump and back very readily. Peel the skin off gently, and do not fold it abruptly backward in working on these parts, but hold it as nearly as possible in its original position. The skin of the wood duck, and sometimes that of the hooded merganser, adheres to the flesh of the breast, but it may be separated by working carefully with the back of the knife. In removing the skins of young birds in the down, like ducks and gallinaceous birds, do not attempt to skin the wings.

If a specimen is to be mounted with the wings spread, the secondaries should not be detached, but the knife should be forced down back of the primaries in order to break up the muscles; then as much of the flesh as possible should be removed, and a quantity of preservative pushed in beneath the skin. In larger birds a slit should be made on the under side of the wing, and the muscles removed from the outside without detaching the secondaries; and also when a specimen is to be mounted, the eye cavities should be filled with clay well kneaded to the consistency of putty.