se pins must be left half-way out), proceed to nicely
arrange the feathers in their proper places by the aid of the crooked
awl and feather pliers (see Fig. 19). Having done this till it appears
as nearly like the living bird as possible (which constant practice
and close attention alone will enable you to do), take the "wrapping
cotton," and, having made a loop on one end, fix it to the pin on the
back. Bring it across to the pin on one of the wings, and across in a
zig-zag manner to the other pins in the wings, binding down the back
first. Then attend to the breast and under tail coverts, taking care
to bind down more securely than the others those feathers which will
start up (usually the upper wing coverts). A careful binder working
properly will shape his bird by binding. Tie the mandibles if they are
wanted closed, and cut the wire off the head, as it permanently
raffles the feathers if left until the specimen is dry.

This is binding for a closed-winged bird; but for one whose wings are
to be thrown up, say a hawk on flight, the modus operandi is slightly
different; wire stays and card braces now supplement "wrapping"
cotton. The bird being opened on its worst side is stuffed in the
usual manner as far as getting the neck up into the skull, the
attached body is now bolted through near the top of the cut by the
wing, by a long wire sufficiently strong to keep the bird suspended;
this wire, being firmly clenched on the opposite side of the body to
the cut, has its free end, of course, depending from the incision
under the wing.

The next thing to do is to support the wings in the position necessary
to represent flight. For this purpose, point four wires sufficiently
long to extend the wings, and to come through the body to be clenched.
Two of these wires should be of a size thinner than the other two.
Select the wing on the side of the body farthest from the cut, and
enter the point of one of the thickest wires in the wing at the end of
the part called the "metacarpus" (i, Plate II); push it gently along
between the bone and the skin--meanwhile holding the wing with the
left-hand fingers--along the side of or between the "radius and ulna,"
finally pushing it into the body at the shoulder, and clenching it
when it comes through, which it should do under the opposite wing at
the cut. It is often very difficult or impossible to get the wire to
go through the "carpus;" it will suffice, therefore, if, after coming
alo