kit--the compound or bell-hangers' pliers; these pliers
are as the ordinary holding ones at the top, but have a cutting plane
fixed lower down (those with flat, not raised, cutters, are to be
preferred); the figure gives a good idea, but the grip should not be
quite so broad as they are usually made; from 8 in. to 10 in. is the
most useful size. The 10 in. is rather large, but is, perhaps, the
best for professional needs. [Footnote: These pliers are sometimes
made with a nick at the intersection of the joint to form a cutting
plane for thick wires.]

Fig. 17 shows the ordinary cutting nippers, 4 in. to 5 in. long,
useful for cutting fine wires or pins, in situations where the use of
the other pliers is impracticable. Remarks as to grip as before.

Fig. 17--Cutting nippers.

Both of these articles should be of the best workmanship and
materials. Buck, of London, and Stubbs, of Warrington, may be
recommended as good makers.

I lately procured a very handy little pair of cutting nippers of
elegant workmanship, used chiefly by watchmakers, and made in Paris.
These are excellent for delicate work or for cutting very fine wire or
entomological pins (see Fig. 18).

Fig. 18--French Cutting Nippers

I now figure a most necessary little pair of pliers for dressing the
feathers of birds. These are also used by watchmakers, are of neat
construction and differ from most pliers in having an obtusely rounded
point (see Fig. 19, A and B). These, which I call "feather pliers,"
are in conjunction with a small, thick, round, camel-hair brush (used
by artists for "washing in"), indispensable for "feathering up" birds,
a process to be described later on.

Fig. 20 is the next, and I fancy I hear some reader exclaim, "What on
earth has a goffering-iron to do with taxidermy?" I reply: This shaped
tool is wanted for artfully conveying small morsels of tow, etc, into
the necks and hollow places of birds' skins. It may be easily made in
this wise: Procure as small and fine a pair of goffering-irons as you
possibly can, and have them drawn out and brought to a fine yet obtuse
point by some smith, and you thus get a finished tool for about half
what it would cost to make outright. Length, when finished, should be
somewhere about 10 in.

Fig. 19--Feather Pliers

A large and a fine crooked awl with handles, a file, and a rough stone
from the leatherseller's, are other things to procure, and these, with
the ten tools previously particular