"I will describe a specimen page, but the arrangement can be varied
endlessly, and therein lies one of the charms of the work. One never
does two pages alike--there is such scope for taste and ingenuity--and
it becomes at last a most fascinating occupation.

"Toward the top of the page, place a thin streak of gum, lay upon it a
tail feather (the quill end downward), and put one on either side. The
best feathers of one wing may be put down, one after the other, till one
has sufficiently covered the page; then the other wing feathers may be
placed down the other side; the centre may be filled in with the fluffy
feathers, and the bottom can be finished off with some breast feathers
neatly placed so as to cover all quill ends.

"When one works with small plumage, a wreath looks very pretty, or a
curved spray beginning at the top with the very smallest feathers and
gradually increasing in size to the bottom of the page.

"Butterflies or moths made of tiny feathers add much to the effect, and
they are made thus. It is best, I find, to fill a wide-mouthed bottle
with dry gum, and just cover the gum with the water, allow it to melt,
keep stirring and adding a few drops of water till just right--no bought
liquid gum equals one's own preparation.

"To make the book complete, there should be a careful water-color study
of the bird on the opposite page, its Latin and English name, and a
drawing of the egg. It may interest some to know how I obtained the
ninety-one birds which fill my books. Some were the dried skins of
foreign birds, either given me by kind friends or purchased at
bird-stuffers'. The woodpecker and nut-hatch were picked up dead in the