_When in doubt about any special part, give the osteologist the benefit of the doubt by saving the special part for him._
If the bird is a large one, cut off the head, and after cleaning it pack it away in the chest cavity. If the bird is small, you can leave it attached to the neck, and remove the brain by bending the head down and cutting it half off from above, thus exposing the occipital opening at the back of the skull, through which the brain may be drawn out.
After the skeleton has been roughed out, it should always be cleaned by washing it in a basin of water and brushing it meanwhile with a soft tooth-brush. If blood is left on the skeleton, the bones will absorb it, and become permanently discolored thereby. The cleansing done, make the skeleton up into a compact bundle by folding the wings naturally against the body, bending the neck down in some way so that it can be tied upon the body, and either cutting off the legs and putting them into the thorax and pelvis, or leaving them on and folding them up as compactly as possible. Then tie the bundle up thoroughly by passing a light string many times around it, so that it can never lose its compactness. Sprinkle it with dry arsenic, or wash over with _thin_ arsenical soap, and hang it up in the shade to dry.
SKELETONS OF REPTILES.--After all the foregoing directions, it surely is unnecessary to describe, in detail, the skeletonizing of reptiles. The principles are precisely the same as already set forth for birds and mammals. Wherever special bones or cartilages are found, as in the abdominal-cartilaginous ribs of crocodilians and certain lizards, they must be carefully saved whole and _in situ_. With large skeletons, take whatever means are necessary to get them, while fresh, into compact shape for drying and packing. With large crocodiles and alligators, the neck, legs, head, and tail all go nicely inside the body, as I have proved scores of times. The skeleton of a large serpent is easily done up in a close coil, by which it not only takes compact shape, but the ribs are well protected. With serpents, do not attempt to cut the flesh from between the ribs, for it is desirable that it should remain.
On each rib of a crocodilian there is a strange, flat piece of cartilage attached to the posterior edge at the middle of the rib, and projecting backward, quite overlapping the next rib, as sure as the world the reptilian development of what in the full-fledged bird becomes a bony uncinate process. You will soon discover this in skeletonizing your first crocodilian, and be sure to respect its anatomy.