is find yourself, perhaps, restrained by the skin of
the ventral orifice, which carefully cut out; this frees the limb
considerably. (I may mention that the animal skinner must not be
afraid of handling his subject; it is not so pleasant nor so delicate
an operation as skinning a bird, and, consequently, does not require
so fine a touch.)

You will now have exposed the tail at its back and front. Now double
up the fox, supporting it with your left hand, and get the whole of
the tail free at the root. Letting it rest on the table again, you
skin as far up the tail as you can go. The two thighs and part of the
back are entirely freed from the skin, but the tail still holds at
about three inches up.

Now get a pair of common pincers, such as are used for pulling nails
out, and place them so that the tail comes between their hollows; push
this against the part still unskinned; hold this firmly down on the
table with the left hand, and pull from the root of the tail with the
right. Very often the tail will not move past this point; in that case
there is nothing left but to cut it off at the root, and place the
latter firmly in a vice (after the animal is skinned out), and taking
both hands to the skin, cross the thumbs and two first fingers, so as
to obtain a good grip and yet prevent the skin of the tail from
turning inside out, and pull with all your might (jerking it at the
same time) until it slides.

Now free the skin from the back, working round to the front. During
this operation the fox must be frequently turned to get round the
sides and back. The knife being held short in the hand and guided near
the tip by the fore-finger considerably facilitates this. Endeavour as
much as possible to keep all the flesh and fat (if any) on the body,
and not on the skin.

Coming up now to the fore limbs you will find the skin hold
considerably between them at the chest. This is the place where an
amateur generally runs his knife through, which, I need hardly say, is
one of the worst places in which this accident could happen. Having
released the chest, skin all away from the back and shoulder; the
fore-arm now appears, showing the articulation of the humerus with the
radius and ulna. Skin all round it until you come to the return of the
fore-arm in precisely the same manner as you have done with the hind
limbs. This point is not so easy to find as is that of the hind legs,
but if you will twist the leg you will at once see the