Mix the whole, and keep it in a glass vessel, stopped close. Small birds may be preserved in brandy, rum, arrack, or first runnings; though the colour of the plumage is liable to be extracted by the spirit. Large sea-fowl have thick strong skins, and such may be skinned; the tail, claws, head, and feet are carefully to be preserved, and the plumage stained as little as possible with blood. The inside of the skin may be stuffed as above. Kuckahu observes, (in the Phil. Trans. vol. ix. p. 319.) that “Baking is not only useful in the fresh preservations, but will also be of very great service to old ones, destroying the eggs of insects; and it should be a constant practice, once in two or three years, to bake them over again, and to have the cases fresh washed with camphorated spirit, or the sublimate solution, which would not only preserve collections from decay, much longer, but also keep them sweet.” But Dr. Lettsom remarks that, “Baking is apt to crimp and injure the plumage, unless great care be used, and, therefore, the proper degree of heat should be ascertained by means of a feather, before such subjects are baked.” And he prescribes as the best preservative, boxes well glazed; and he adds, “When the subject is to be kept for some time in a hot climate, it should be secured in a box filled with tow, oakum, or tobacco, well sprinkled with the sublimate solution.” In Guiana, the number and variety of beautiful birds is so great, that several persons in the colony advantageously employ themselves, with their slaves and attendants, in killing and preserving these animals for the cabinets of naturalists in different parts of Europe. The method of doing this, as related by Mr. Bancroft, (in his Nat. Hist. of Guiana,) is, to put the bird which is to be preserved in a proper vessel, and cover him with high wines, or the first running of the distillation of rum. In this spirit he is suffered to remain for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, or longer, till it has penetrated through every part of his body. When this is done, he is taken out, and his feathers, which are no ways changed by this immersion, are placed smooth and regular. It is then put into a machine, made for the purpose, among a number of others, and its head, feet, wings, tail, &c. are placed exactly agreeable to life. In this position they are placed in an oven, very moderately heated, where they are slowly dried, and will ever after retain their natural position without danger of putrefaction.—_Ency. Lond._ BISCUIT, _s._ A kind of hard, dry bread, made to be carried to sea; a composition of fine flour, almonds, and sugar. BISHOP, _s._ A cant word for a mixture of wine, oranges, and sugar.