ck at the point where the dotted
lines A--B are shown in the drawing. This exposes the brain without
cutting off too much at the base of the cranium, the shape of which is
wanted for subsequent operations. After the body is completely
severed, proceed to pull the tongue out (unless wanted for show) by
placing the knife on the other aside of it in opposition to the thumb,
give a smart pull, keeping an even pressure on, and the tongue will
come out with little or no difficulty.

Next enlarge the orifice at the back of the head by cutting a
triangular piece out towards the palate or roof of the mouth, scooping
the brains out with the point of the knife, having a small piece of
paper in readiness to receive them. During this operation hold the
beak of the bird through the skin of the neck by the two first
fingers, and thumb, the latter being uppermost, the other fingers
being employed in keeping the remainder of the skin with the feathers
out of harm's way.

Inserting the point of the knife at the back of the eye, place the
thumb on the eyeball and gently pull it out, taking care not to let
the point of the knife cut upward so as to burst the eye, or the
effect will be to liberate the dark-coloured pigment or the vitreous
humour, and thus wet or stain the feathers. Having done all this,
there will still remain some little flesh at the back of the eye and
the junction of the mandibles, and this must be carefully cut away so
as not to dis-articulate the latter. The Preservative Paste now comes
into requisition, and with this the skull and orbits are well painted
inside and out. A little tow, previously chopped by the medium of a
sharp pair of scissors, is now pushed into the empty skull, with the
"stuffing iron," which is a small piece of thick wire (see Fig. 21).
For large birds the tow forceps (see Fig. 20) may be conveniently
used.

Having neatly filled the head with the tow, proceed to put a small
piece of cotton wadding in each orbit. (Note, be careful that tow only
is pushed into the head, as if never so small a piece of wadding gets
into the cavity of the head it will effectually prevent any subsequent
mounting of the specimen, as, singular though it may appear, a small
piece of wadding is more than a match for a pointed wire.)

During all this time the neck must be kept as short and as little
stretched as possible. In some birds a line of fat will be observed
extending from the neck to the back or even to the bre