PREPARATION OF BIRDS AND SMALL ANIMALS for the CABINET.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 22, 24 June 1871, Page 16

PREPARATION OF BIRDS AND SMALL ANIMALS for the CABINET.

H. W. Parker communicates to the “ American Journal of Science and Arts,” the following upon the use of carbolic acid in the preparation of cabinet specimens : The following methods, carefully studied for two years, with results noted, are recommended for the saving of birds in warm weather until the operator finds time to skin them ; for the permanent preparation of drawer specimens, where the student needs a large series of individuals to determine the variations and limits of species ; and for mounting small birds, at least as temporary representatives, when neither the time nor the expense involved in the old methods could be afforded. The viscera are removed, to effect which neatly the legs are pinned widely apart, and a paper several times folded is pinned over the tail in the direction whither the viscera are drawn out. With proper care the sex is readily observed. A wad of cotton absorbs the fluids re maining in the cavity. The leg is then grasped close to the body, and a knife oi wire is introduced into the cavity and run down into the flesh of the leg, working the instrument around, but not so as to break the skin. For a small bird, five to ten drops of the commercial fluid preparation of carbolic acid is made to anoint the whole interior, and to penetrate the leg by stretching and relaxing the same in proper position. The application is repeated after the fust drops are absorbed ; and a wad of cotton, wet with the acid, may be left close undei the breastbone next to the neck. The cavity is then "filled with cotton, and the skin drawn back into place. The inside of the mouth is to be well anointed, and a saturated wad of cotton pushed down the whole length of the neck. The eyes are removed by a hooked wire inserted into the ball, the head being so held that the humours of the eye will drop without soiling the lids. The moist lids are left as open as possible, and the specimen placed in a cool cellar till the next day, when the lids are dry enough to take their open shape. Then a nail is inserted through the lids and pushed through the bone at the back of the orbit into the biain, and so worked around as to make a good opening. A tightly rolled bit of cotton saturated with the acid, is pushed into the biain, and worked in it, care being taken not to w T et the eyelids. If by chance the feathers are wet, the acid can be removed by powdered chalk, repeatedly applied. Specimens so prepared m warm weather can be skinned a week or two after, if kept boxed in a cellar. No smell of decomposition is observed ; the acid gradually and completely penetrates the pectoral muscles ; the skin is strong and the feathers not loosened. For permanent preparation, the skm should be laid open from the abdomen to the neck, the pectoral muscles removed and replaced by cotton, and the incision sewed up. The throat, neck, and orbits are also filled with cotton. The specimen should then be suitably arranged, encircled by a slip of paper, and placed on a bed of cotton. Before this, the flesh of the wings should be laid open and arsenic applied in the usual manner.

For mounting, it only needs to run one wire through the foot, tarsus, and so on through the neck to the forehead, and another wire through the other foot to any point in the back or breast where the end of the wire catches firmly. Papers or strings for keeping the feathers in place should remain long. Some shrinking about the. head and neck will eventually follow in the case of many birds, particularly those of the smallest size or of scanty or close plumage; but in other instances no shrinking whatever can be noticed after more than a year of drying. The cabinet in which they have been set up is made insect-proof by means of pasted cloth and paper, putty and paint, fifteen inches passage way being left in front of the shelves and the only access being through a tight door at one end, fastened by a screw. Travellers, who

desire to collect a number of birds for comparison, will find this method one of great advantage ; and the specimens will be better for study than skins, inasmuch as the proportions will be better preserved. Small mammals can be kept some days for skinning by a similar process, and an opening into the brain may be made through the roof of the mouth, if preferred. A fox squirrel, so treated, was in good condition for skinning after four days’ preservation, in very warm weather. This, with similar methods of preparing specimens without skinning, has been found of little use in the damp air of the Eastern States.