GUIDE TOTAXIDERMY

CHARLES K. REED

AND

CHESTER A. REED

DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS OFMOUNTED SPECIMENS

BY THE AUTHORS AND MR. N. F. STONE

Publisher’s Note: This is a facsimile of Guideto Taxidermy , originally published in 1908. Thisbook is intended as an artifact—not as acontemporary guide to taxidermy. The materials,instructions, and techniques described in thesepages may not be safe or effective for modernuse.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData is available on fle.

ISBN: 978-1-61608-539-1

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PREFACEThe object of this book is to enable the

reader to gain complete mastery of the artof taxidermy. We do not believe in thewanton destruction of birds for ornamentalpurposes, nor do the laws in most states, ifproperly enforced, allow of suchpractices. We do believe, however, that atleast one person in every communityshould possess the knowledge to enablehim to correctly mount specimens.

Millions of birds are killed yearly inthe United States by accidents, such asflying against lighthouses, telegraph wires,or buildings, etc. Practically none of theseare saved because there is no one at handwho has the requisite knowledge.

If only a fraction of one per cent, of allthe birds killed accidentally, and thoseshot by sportsmen and thrown away, couldbe saved and correctly prepared it wouldbe unnecessary to shoot thousands that arenow killed every year simply for museumpurposes.

We trust that this book may be themeans of creating a taxidermist or anenthusiast in every section of the country,and that each one of them will endeavor topersuade sportsmen to save most of thegame they kill. You will find that there ispleasure in doing the work for yourselfand profit in doing that for others.

In the following pages we give you theresults of our thirty-five years’ experiencein all branches of taxidermy. No tradesecrets are beld back; everything is laid

bare. We have endeavored to omit nothingthat would be a help to the student and toavoid the introduction of any hindrances.

We have illustrated every point as fullyas possible, and are sure that any faithfulreader and worker can in a short time dowork equal to that of the best. The text,every drawing and every photograph usedin this book is new and made expresslyfor this work. We wish to give credit toour chief taxidermist, Mr. N. F. Stone,who mounted a large number of thespecimens that are pictured; while a youngman, he is one of the best that this countryhas yet produced, a natural-borntaxidermist.

We shall be more than pleased if, byour work, others can be produced.

CHAS. K. & C. A. REED.

Worcester, Massachusetts.May, 1908.

Brown Thrasher(On a natural twig for museum exhibition.)

TABLE OFCONTENTS

CHAPTER 1.—COLLECTING

Kind of Gun to UseHandling a GunCaring for Specimens in the FieldCarrying GameHow to ShootDogsHow to Find BirdsWhen to Find BirdsCautionKeep a RecordLabelling a Specimen

Determination of Sex

HAPTER 2.—BIRDS

Tools Necessary for SkinningSkinningSome Exceptional CasesSkinning Game BirdsMounting a BirdMaterial RequiredWiring the LegsWiring the TailPinning WingsPutting Eyes in BirdsFinishing the SpecimenMaking T Perches

Spreading a Bird’s WingsLong-necked BirdsIn Fancy AttitudesMounting Collossal BirdsRelaxing Dried SkinsMaking a Bird SkinCleaning the FeathersUnusual Forms for SkinsHanging “Dead Game” Birds

CHAPTER 3.—ANIMALS

SkinningMaking the BodyMountingSkinning Large AnimalsMaking the Manikin

Exceptional CasesCovering the ManikinPutting on the Skin

Myrtle WarblersSparrow Hawks

CHAPTER -4.—MOUNTING HEADS

SkinningCleaning the SkullCleaning the ScalpMaking the FormRelaxing a Deer ScalpPutting Scalp on FormFinishingMounting Other HeadsOpen MouthsBird Heads

CHAPTER 5.—TANNING SKINS;RUGWORK

Preparing a SkinMounting the HeadStretchingLining

CHAPTER 6—MOUNTING FISH

PreservingSkinningMaking the FormPutting on the SkinPaintingMounting Large Fish

CHAPTER 7.—MOUNTING REPTILES

SkinningMounting

Another Method

CHAPTER 8.—COLLECTING ANDMOUNTING INSECTS

CollectingKilling InsectsMountingCaterpillars and Worms

CHAPTER 9.—COLLECTING ANDPREPARING EGGS

CollectingBlowingDisplaying

CHAPTER 10.—TOOLS AND MATERIALS

CHAPTER 11.—SIZES AND COLORS OF

EYES; WIRE

CHAPTER 12.—STUMPS, ROCKWORKAND FOLIAGE

CHAPTER 13.—PRICES FOR MOUNTINGSPECIMENS

CHAPTER 14.—LIST OF N. A. BIRDS

INDEX

LIST OFILLUSTRATIONS

Rocky Mountain SheepBrown ThrashersSparrow HawksRed-head Duck (dead game) Well-madeBird SkinsBald EagleHeath HenDovekieHawk OwlSnowy OwlsGlossy IbisSanderling

Black TernScreech OwlAmerican OspreysAmerican Crow (partly albino)Black-backed GullMockingbirdGray SquirrelFlying SquirrelsWeaselRaccoonRed FoxOcelotBlack BearPointer DogAlbino Deer

Buffalo HeadElk HeadMountain Goat HeadCanada Lynx HeadMastiffSt. BernardMagpieRed Fox RugHanikin for Deer HeadBrook Trout (under convex glass)Ruffed Grouse (dead game)Caribou HeadPiping Plover and YoungSnowy HeronsProng-horn Antelope Head

Great Horned OwlSnowy Owl (under convex glass)Wood DuckDeer HeadSanderlingMallards (dead game)Pileated WoodpeckersCanvas-back DuckRuffed Grouse (convex glass)Diagram of EyesAmerican ElkBlack-poll WarblersDeer Head (side to)Moose Head

ChickadeeChestnut-collared Lockspur

Golden-fronted Woodpecker. Gilded Flicker(Some well made skins)

IMPORTANT

Read These Pages BeforeDoing Any Work

In the following chapters we give thebest methods of skinning and mounting themembers of several classes of the animalkingdom.

Whatever you are to work on, read theChapter appertaining to it through beforedoing any of the work. We ask you to dothis because it may cause you to avoidsome false move. We have made allinstructions as plain as possible, and asnearly as possible in their naturalsequence, but the different operations areso closely related to one another that you

should know what is coming next beforeyou commence work.

If your specimen is to be mounted, fixupon a certain position before youcommence and have that position in mindthroughout the work. The illustrations thatwe give are natural and artistic once forthe different species and you will do wellto select some of these for your firstmodels.

Chapter 10 gives the materials andtools that are often used or needed bytaxidermists, where to get them or how tomake them. Of course a beginner willneed but very few of these, but we haveeverything arranged in alphabetical orderso you can find what you want or anythingthat may be mentioned in the text. It givesreceipts for making solutions used by, or

useful for, taxidermists.Chapter 11 gives the sizes and colors of

eyes for a great many birds and animals soyou can, at least determine what size eyeyou wish for any specimen. It also has aplate illustrating the different sizes andstyles of eyes. A list of the sizes of wireused for many different specimens willguide you as to what you should have onhand for your work. It also gives theprices that are charged by expert andreputable taxidermists for work of allkinds.

CHAPTER I-Collecting

All taxidermists are not collectors,indeed, most of those who make abusiness of it, find little time to do anycollecting at all. Yet any work ontaxidermy would be far from complete didit not include remarks upon the subject ofguns, ammunition and the care ofspecimens in the field.

For ordinary collecting in your homeneighbor hood dress as inconspicuously aspossible; wear your usual street clothes.

Do not get a full suit of hunting togs toexcite the idle curiosity of everyone youmeet. Most of our collecting is done witha pocket gun and the specimens arebrought home in the pocket.

Many of the birds a taxidermist mountsare those found dead or that have killedthemselves accidentally. The collector,however, might hunt for ages withoutfinding a dead bird. Most of his specimenshave to be shot. Bird lime is absolutely ofno use and even if it would catch a bird,the specimen would be in no condition tomount.

Nets and snares of all kinds are of littleor no use for catching birds, and their useis prohibited by law most everywhere Sothe main and practically only reliance ofthe collector is his gun.

Kind of Gun

The style and make of gun to use ischiefly a matter of individual taste andpocketbook.

A single-barrel, single shot gun coststhe least, but you run the risk of losing arare specimen by not having another shotin reserve in case of a miss. We haveoften started up rare birds when shootingat common ones, and without a double-barrel or a repeater it would have beenimpossible to get them. We would advisethat anyone get either a doublehammerless gun or a repeater; either ofthese is excellent and leaves nothing to bedesired. Good serviceable guns of eitherkind can be got for from eighteen to

twenty-two dollars.

We would recommend that youpurchase as good a gun as you can afford.The bore of the gun is also a matter ofyour own choice. Either a twelve orsixteen guage are perfect weapons for

your purpose. If you expect to do a greatdeal of collecting away from home, weshould advise getting the twelve guagebecause you can secure ammunition for itanywhere, whereas some dealers do notcarry smaller guage shells.

Bald EagleThe one double-barreled gun will

answer for all the collecting the averagetaxidermist will do, but if you are going tomake an extensive scientific collection, itwill be far better to also get a smallcollecting gun. The best that we know ofis made by the Steven Arms Co. It has apistol frame, skeleton stock and eitherfifteen or eighteen inch barrel. The bestgun of this kind we have ever seen orowned is one of this make, 32 calibre, 15in. barrel, chambered for 32 cal. extralong rim-fire cartridges. The cartridgesare bought in thousand lots, unloaded, butof course primed, for considerably lessthan a cent apiece. We load them withequal bulk of smokeless powder and“dust” shot; the cartridges are very light

and are thrown away after using. Wenever carry the stock for you can shootperfectly without it; the gun and twenty-five shells will go in one pocket with noinconvenience whatever.

The question of the right sizes of shot touse is one that sportsmen often debatespiritedly upon; there can be but oneanswer,—use just as small shot as you canand still be sure of getting your bird. Wehave done considerable shootingourselves and have handled thousands ofspecimens killed by others, so we maypresume to be pretty well acquainted with

this subject. We always use andrecommend the use of factory loadedammunition. Many gun dealers do notcarry in stock, cartridges loaded withfiner than No. 10 shot, so it may benecessary for you to have them ordered orloaded specially for you, which will bedone on an order of 500 shells; or you canbuy empty shells and load them yourself.

Since we always carry our collectinggun with us, we never use smaller shot forthe double-barrel than No. 10, but if youhave no small arm, you will need a largepercentage of your shells loaded with

either dust or No. 12.For all small birds up to the size of a

jay, we advise the use of the smallest shotyou can get.

For larger birds up to a crow, No. 10 isadmirably adapted. Crows, hawks, owls,grouse and others of like size are leastinjured and most certainly obtained withNo. 7. Ducks, and in fact nearly all of thelargest birds can be secured with No. 4shot. No 2’s are often effective withswans or geese, but unless you are in alocality where you can reasonably expectto see them, it is useless to carry suchshells with you.

Of course it goes without saying thatany brand of smokeless powder is farsuperior to black. It shoots stronger,makes much less noise and very little

smoke, qualities that would induce anyoneto pay the few cents difference in price fora box of shells.

Except on rare occasions, a rifle is oflittle use for hunting birds. Any bird thatyou could get with the rifle, you couldprobably get with your shot gun and thechances are usually a hundred to one infavor of the latter, to say nothing of themuch better condition in which it leavesspecimens for mounting. Still, we believethat everyone should know how to handleand effectively use a rifle, and for practiceor shooting at squirrels in most localities

no arm is better than a .22 long, eithersingle shot or repeater, though we muchprefer the latter. Probably the best rifle fora careful and expert collector is the 25-20repeater. It is a very powerful small arm,and should not be in the hands ofinexperienced persons for it carries a longways; it is very effective for large birdsand most any animals. Smokeless powderis even more necessary for rifles than shotguns. It does not readily foul the barreland where a dozen shots with a .22, usingblack powder, would foul the barrel so asto impair the shooting, hundreds of themwill not appreciably affect it when usingsmokeless.

Handling a Gun

A gun in the hands of the careless orignorant is a very dangerous weapon; inthe hands of careful or intelligent personsit is no more dangerous than is a stick. Thefirst instruction to give anyone in regard toany kind of a firearm is, never to point itat anyone under any circumstances, loadedor unloaded. And bear in mind it is thesupposedly unloaded guns together with a“fool” operator that are the cause ofnearly all accidents.

One summer, I had need of a rifle andasked my host if he knew where I couldget one. Yes, he did! and immediatelywent after it. In a few minutes he was backwith a Winchester 25-20. Coming in thedoor, he dropped the lever just enough to

see that the barrel was empty, put the gunto his shoulder, aimed playfully at hiswife across the room and pulled thetrigger. He had the lever down and halfway back when my hand caught themechanism and stopped him. Just enteringthe barrel from the magazine was a loadedcartridge. In another instant he would havebeen an unintentional murderer.

Heath HenWe do not want to harp too much on the

dangers of firearms, because, as we saidbefore, in proper hands they are notdangerous, but we do want everyone touse their best precautions in handlingthem.

When carrying a gun through the streetsof a city or town always have it unloaded,and carry it with the muzzle pointingtowards the ground. The easiest and mostconvenient positions is shown in sketch.When you are in the woods any convenientmethod of carrying is permissible, but themuzzle should either point to the sky or theground. Sketches on this page illustratesome of the least tiring ways of carrying agun.

Caring for Specimens in theField

By this we do not mean the skinning orcuring of specimens, but simply thekeeping of them in suitable condition forsuch purpose.

We would as soon think of going intothe woods or fields without a gun as to gowithout cotton or paper to wrap ourspecimens in. On securing any bird;smooth its plumage and, with a small twig,insert a piece of cotton into the throat.This is to prevent blood or juices frominjuring the feathers. Also plug up anyserious shot wounds from which blood isoozing or apt to come. You can not taketoo much care in keeping your birds ingood condition; you will get better resultsand much more pleasure out of well-keptbirds.

For birds up to the size of a jay,magazine pages make the best wrapping.Roll up a cylinder just a trifle smaller thanyour specimen, turn one end in and insertyour bird head first; then close the otherend as shown in sketch opposite. Thus

prepared you can put any number ofspecimens in your game bag or pocket andbe sure of their reaching home in finecondition.

Carrying Game

A leather handbag, or a fishing creel,makes the best receptacle for carryinggame. It does not allow them to becomeflattened and mis-shaped and can withoutinconvenience be carried from theshoulder by a strap.

Killing Wounded Birds

Frequently a bird is “winged” or notkilled outright and we wish to put an end

to its sufferings immediately. Birds up tothe size of an eagle can be most speedilykilled by compressing the lungs with thethumb and fingers; this is the most humaneway and does no injury to the specimen.The method of holding is shown in sketchopposite. Birds of prey can safely bekilled in this manner as they are unable toreach your hand with their talins. Largebirds are often killed by plunging a sharpknife under the left wing into the heart; ifthis is done their mouth and throat must bewell filled with cotton and the woundplugged also.

How to Shoot

We take it for granted that everyoneknows how to handle a gun, that is, knows

how to aim and fire it; still many do nothave much success even at sitting objectswith a shotgun and even less with a rifle,while they never killed a flying birdexcept by accident. We think that thereason for most misses is lack of controlover the nerves.

I have seen men aim at a sitting bird,sight along the barrel, hesitate, aim again,etc., until the bird in disgust flew away.Do not aim at the bird until you know thatyou want it, then raise the gun and theinstant the front sight touches it pull thetrigger. Nothing is gained by waiting, youraim is impaired and frequently the birdgoes.

Wing shooting is more difficult andrequires a good eye and steady nerves.Here the trouble with most novices is that

they cannot control themselves; as soon asthe gun points somewhere near the birdthey pull the trigger, or even in some casesclose the eyes first. If when you fire, thesight is on the head of your bird or a triflein front, you will be sure to get it. Someducks, flying broadside to at full speedrequire “leading” somewhat, but I doubt ifthe swiftest duck at fifty yards distancecan traverse more than three feet beforethe charge reaches it.

Dogs

Setters, pointers, spaniels and houndsare useful for sportsmen and may be

desirable for collectors on someoccasions, but few of the latter use them.A collector’s “bag” is so varied that a dogis of little use except for retrieving orfinding lost birds, and we prefer to pickup our own birds.

How to Find Birds

This is a knowledge that will requiretime and constant practice to acquire. Getout of doors all you can and always payattention to the animal life about you.Learn the birds by note as well as bysight.

The man who knows birds by both sightand song has a tremendous advantage overhim who does not.

He can single out the specimens hewants by sound, go to them and get them,while his companion simply trusts to luck.Make it your business to look up any“new” notes and find out what they are.

Aside from advantages in collecting,the man who knows the songs and calls ofbirds, who can recognize their flight, aswell as know their plumage and habits,can get 1000 per cent, more enjoyment outof a walk in the woods than the one whonotices nothing unless it is called to hisattention.

When to Find Birds

By far the best season to see birds andlearn them is in the Spring. They are infull plumage and full song, making it easyto find them and also to learn how theylook. The scientific collector aims to getat least the male, female and young of theyear. Young males are usually similar to

the female in coloration and it often takesseveral years to attain their perfectplumage. No taxidermist, collector or birdstudent should be without a field glass todistinguish species and to enable him tosecure the best; the ones that are in themost perfect plumage.

You will find that birds are much moreactive a few hours after sunrise than theyare during the day. Consequently earlymorning is the best time to pursue yourquest, whatever your motive.

Caution

By caution we mean walking carefullythrough woods and field, with nounnecessary noise. Let the birds make the

noise for you to hear; do not alarm them.We do not, by any means, mean for you toadopt Indian or any other ridiculoustactics, but simply do not “lumber” along,whistling, the way we have seen scoresdo.

Keep A Record

Every collector, whatever the subject,should keep a record of all his finds.These should be kept in a good substantialnotebook, numbering the first specimenyou get No. 1, and so on consecutively;whether your specimen be bird, mammalor fish makes no difference, give it itsconsecutive number. Your specimen maybe mounted, kept in a skin or traded, butyou have its serial number and can at anytime find its data in the proper place inyour notebook. After the number, give theplace taken and the date, dimensions of thespecimen, etc., after having given thedates of all the specimens of a day’scollecting, you can add any items ofinterest connected with the specimens orothers seen, that you care to. Your bookwill thus be very useful and valuable to

yourself and may be useful to others in thefuture. It will recall to your mind, in afteryears, many interesting facts that you haveforgotten.

Labelling a Specimen

Every scientific skin or mountedspecimen should have its label attached;otherwise it is worthless as such. Thislabel should not, as is too often the case,simply give the birds or animal’s name; infact, in most cases, that is the leastimportant thing on a label. It should haveits consecutive number to correspond toyour note book; its place of capture anddate (these two are very important for abird’s plumage varies a great deal with

the season of the year and also accordingto the locality in which it is taken. You orsome one else may want to study theplumage of a certain bird and, unless youknow the exact place and date thespecimen was taken, it is worthless forstudy.) It should also give the length,expanse and length of wing of thespecimen if it is a bird. An example of acorrect label is given in sketch.

Dovekie

The Sexes of Birds

Every label should, without fail, havethe sex of the specimen marked upon it.Scientists of all nations are agreed uponthe signs that designate sexes. These are for male, and for female, these being thesymbols respectively of Mars and Venus.Young birds or animals are designated byyg. following the symbol, or by juv., fromthe Latin, juvenus, meaning young; thislatter is the better form.

The sex of mammals is never in doubt,while that of birds often is and should beaccurately determined. The male andfemale of many species differ greatly inplumage, but in such cases the young birds

of either sex very strongly resemble thefemale and an examination is necessary todetermine the sex. The distinguishingmasculine organs are the testicles, whilethose of the female are the ovaries. Boththese organs lay in approximately thesame positions, namely in the belly nearthe small of the back. These organs varygreatly in size at different seasons of theyear, during the breeding season beinglarge and readily recognized while atother times they may be very small,sometimes requiring a magnifying glass todistinguish them.

To find these organs, cut through thebelly walls with your scissors, from theanus diagonally to the base of the lowerrib on the right side. With your scapel

push the intestines aside and you can seethe sexual organs resting on the front of thekidneys. The testicles are a pair of nearlyspherical whitish bodies, side by side; theovaries are a flat, whitish mass ofirregular shape, readily recognized whenproducing eggs, but at other seasons of afine granular appearance. Both the ovariesand testes are connected with a finewhitish thread to the lower bowel. Thiswill prevent your mistaking the whitishcaps of the kidneys, which are present inboth sexes, for the testes of the male.

Rocky Mountain Sheep

CHAP. 2-MountingBirds

We will suppose that you have yourspecimen before you, and for practice werecommend that you use Blue Jays,English Sparrows or Crows, whicheveryou can most conveniently obtain.

Tools or Material Necessary

You require very few instruments whilelearning the art of taxidermy; if, afterbecoming proficient you wish to continuein the business professionally, you cansecure a more expensive outfit. At the startyou need:

1. A scalpel or very sharp knife. This isa knife such as surgeons use in operations;you can procure one from any dealer intaxidermist’s supplies.

2. A pair of strong, sharp-pointedscissors; surgical ones are the best,although any will answer. For large birdsand animals you will also need a pair ofbone shears, but you can as well dowithout these until you become moreacquainted with the work.

3. Forceps or Tweezers.—These arevery necessary especially in picking over

and arranging the feathers when mountingyour bird. Those having sharp points arethe best for the work; you can procurethem from your dealer in supplies or athardware stores.

4. Cotton; the ordinary cotton battingthat you can purchase at any drygoodsstore.

5. Sawdust or corn meal; finehardwood sawdust that you can procure ata cabinet-makers is by far the best,although fine soft-wood sawdust willanswer. Failing to get either of these, youcan use un-bolted corn meal.

Skinning

First remove the cotton, which you

placed in the bird’s mouth when youprocured it, and replace it with a freshpiece. Never attempt to skin a bird unlessyou have cotton in its throat for the bloodor juices will be certain to soil thefeathers; to be sure, blood stains can beremoved as we shall explain later, but it isfar better to avoid them and you will getbetter results in your finished work.

Except in tropical countries, a bird willskin the best, four or more hours after itsdeath. If it is attempted sooner, theplumage will be very apt to be soiled forthe blood will not have sufficientlycoagulated so as not to run freely. Youwill find that a bird killed one day andskinned the next will make the mostsatisfactory subject to work upon.

Before commencing to skin your

specimen, it is best to loosen the rigidnessof the wings by bending them back so thatthe shoulders will touch behind the back,bending them carefully so as not to breakthe bones; should these bones be broken, itwill not interfere with the successfulskinning or mounting of the specimen, buta good taxidermist takes pride in notmutilating his specimens.

Place a clean piece of paper upon yourwork bench or table and lay your birdupon it with the head to your left and bellyupward. With the point of the scalpel and

your fingers, part the feathers on the breastand you will find that a space, nearlydevoid of feathers extends from the breastbone to the anus. Make a clean cut withyour scalpel down the center of this barespace (from a point slightly below thebreast bone to the vent), taking care to justcut through the skin and as little aspossible into the flesh; practice willenable you to complete the operation ofskinning without cutting into the flesh atall except to disjoint legs, tail and wings.

Grasp the edge of the severed skin onthe left side of the breast, with thumb andfore-finger nails (or the tweezers if youprefer) and gradually turn it back, pushingthe flesh away from the skin with theblade of the scalpel, which, of course, isalways held in the right hand. (We give

these instructions for right-handed personsand many of the operations would have tobe reversed for a “lefthander.”)

The skin on most of our birds separates

very easily from the flesh and does notrequire any cutting; exceptions to this arethe ducks and others on the diving-birds,on which the skin and flesh have to beseparated almost entirely by cutting. (It iswell to avoid birds of this nature until youare quite proficient with other birds).

It must be borne in mind that from thetime you make your first cut, all exposedsurfaces either of skin or flesh must bekept sprinkled with the sawdust or meal.This will absorb any moisture or juicesand keep the feathers clean.

You will have separated the skin andflesh on your bird for but a short distancebefore you reach the junction of the legwith the body. Grasp the knee-joint with afinger and thumb of the left, hand uponeither side, and with the right push the leg

up through the skin so that the entire knee-joint will be visible and the skin free allabout it. Sever the leg at this joint with thescissors. You now skin this leg downnearly to the ankle joint, or as far as theflesh extends; remove all the flesh fromthe leg-bone by cutting the tendons nearthe ankle and stripping off the flesh. Nowgo through precisely the same operationon the opposite side of the bird, and youwill find that it will greatly facilitate yourwork if the bird’s head is towards youduring this operation.

Having cleaned both leg-bones, thrustthem both back into the skin in theirnormal position.

Holding the body of the bird by the

thighs, separate, with the fingers, the skinfrom the flesh towards its back and tailuntil your fingers meet on both sides underthe small of his back. You can now severthe tail, with the scissors, at its junctionwith the body taking care not to cut off theends of the quills as this would loosen thefeathers and let them fall out.

Hawk OwlGrasp the body by its hips, with the

right hand and, with the left, separate theskin from the body, working towards theshoulders until you reach the wing joints.You can easily work your fingers aroundthese joints until they meet; then introduceone point of the scissors and sever thebone near the body.

Continue skinning towards the head,turning the skin inside out the same as youwould in taking off a kid glove. When youreach the base of the skull, work the skinover carefully with the thumb nails.pushing first on one side then the other aswell as top and bottom. Never pull on theskin in any of the operations but, with thefingers or nails push it apart from theflesh. Immediately upon getting the skin

turned over the largest part of the head youwill come upon the ears, one on each sideand with the skin tucked into a smallopening in the skull.

On most all birds up to the size of acrow you can readily pull this skin out of

the ear with the thumb and fore-finger;some of the hawks, owls, ducks, etc.,require that the skin should be cut as closeto the skull as is practicable.

On turning the skin a trifle more overthe skull you will come to the eyes; this isone of the most delicate operations for thebeginner. Work the skin down as far aspossible on top of the skull, between theeyes and on the sides of the head; thenwith the left hand draw the skin taut and,with the scapel, sever the thin membranein the corner of the eye. A little practicewill enable you to do this readily withoutdanger of cutting the eye-lid, which showsfaintly through the membrane as a whitishline. You continue skinning over the skulldown to the very base of the bill.

With the scalpel, or in the case of largebirds a stronger skinning or hunting knife,slice off the back of the skull, exposing thebrains. In doing this have the bird’s skullresting on the bench and cut through the

pony part down to the windpipe; you canthen lift the head and continue cuttingalong under the jaws towards the tip of thebill, this releasing the tongue which willremain attached to the neck. The body isnow entirely free from the skin and shouldbe laid to one side. Run the point of thescalpel around the eye, inside the socket,and you will loosen all the tissues thathold it in place; you can then easily scoopit out with the scalpel, taking care not topierce it as the fluid contained therein willsurely soil the bird if you do. Insert one ofyour scissor points on the side of theunder jaw, at a point about under the eye,and force it up until it touches the top ofthe skull, then make a clean cut on thatside of the skull; do the same on the otherside; then a final cut across the skull

(inside) from eye to eye will release allthe matter contained therein and the brainwill come out whole.

Now, with the right hand, hold the skin

firmly by the wing-bone while, with thefingers of the left hand, you force the skinback on the wing until the flesh andmuscles of the fore-wing are exposed.Clean these bones with the scalpel,removing every particle of meat; alsoclean off any particles of flesh that mayhave been left on any part of the skin. Turnthe legs inside out again and you haveyour specimen skinned and all ready to bepoisoned.

Arsenic used in the form of a soft soap,as described in Chapter 10 is the bestmaterial known for the preservation of abird’s skin. Of course arsenic in the handsof careless or very ignorant persons isdangerous, but it may safely be handled byany person of ordinary intelligence.

Apply the soap thoroughly to the skin

with a stiff, round brush, taking specialpains to well cover the skull, root of thetail, and leg and wing bones; next springlethe skin, where soaped, with sawdust ormeal so you can handle it and not get thesoap on the feathers.

Fill the cavity of the skull full of cottonand with the tweezers draw it out into theeye-sockets.

Pull the legs and wings back into theirnormal position from the outside and you

have left only the head to turn back. Thisis done by working carefully from theinside with the thumbs and fingers of bothhands; having gotten the skin over thelargest part of the skull you can readilywork it the remainder of the way from theoutside.

The feathers of the head will fallnaturally and smoothly into place if theend of a knitting needle, the square end ofa piece of wire or the head of a pin isinserted through the eye-lid and workedabout on the top and sides of the head.

You now have the skin of your bird in acondition ready to be either mounted ormade into a scientific skin. In our courseof personal instruction this usuallyconstitutes the first lesson. If your skin isquite free from tears and cuts you may at

once proceed with the mounting or makingup a skin; if not, however it will be muchbetter for you to try this lesson over againon another day. When you try your firstmounting you should have a skin in asgood condition as possible beforecommencing; therefore it is much betternot to make the attempt unless your firsteffort at skinning is very successful.

Some Exceptional Cases

As you make progress in the art of

taxidermy and handle different species ofbirds, you will soon find that there is avast difference in the case of operation onvarious birds. Some have fairly toughskins, like woodpeckers and hawks, whileothers, as the woodcock and nighthawks,have very tender skins and require verydelicate manipulation; a rent once made insuch a skin enlarges with alarmingrapidity, but a few stitches will mend theworst tears. Some birds, like all pigeonsand doves, have feathers very looselyfastened to the skin and they fall out withthe least provocation or, in fact, noprovocation at all.

Snowy OwlContinued practice will allow you to

handle any kind of a bird with the loss ofcomparatively few or no feathers, andwith no cuts or tears in the skin. A goodtaxidermist takes pride in doing a “cleanjob.”

Some birds have very large skulls andsmall necks, which will not give enough toallow the skull to pass through. Theserequire a special operation, but fortunately

such birds are comparatively few innumber. All of the woodpeckers skin“hard” over the head, but they will all goexcept the Pileated and Ivory-billed.Many members of the duck family cannotbe skinned over the head in the usualmanner. With such specimens you proceedas previously described until you reachthe base of the skull (and then you willreadily see that you cannot continuefurther), at which point you sever the neck.Turn the head back to its normal position,part the feathers along the back or side ofthe head and make a lengthwise cut asshown. The edges of the skin can bepushed apart and the skull readily passedthrough this opening, proceeding the sameas though you were working through theneck. We usually prefer opening a head on

the side, choosing the side that is thepoorer of the two or the side opposite thatwhich is intended to be the front of thecompleted specimen.

After the head is skinned, brainsremoved, eyes taken out and skullpoisoned and filled with cotton, turn itback and carefully sew the edges of thecut together with close, continuousstitches; be careful not to catch any of thefeathers under the thread, and the headwill look as well as ever, showing notraces of the cut or thread. If you openyour bird on the back of its head, you willfind that it will facilitate the work if youhave a round hole in your bench in whichyou can stick the bill of the bird; this holdshis head firmly in the position you want itand also allows you two hands to work

with.

Some of the ducks and gannets areamong the most difficult of birds to skin.The skin sticks to them as tightly as if

glued, and has to be cut away from nearlythe whole body; any attempt to push theflesh away from the skin only results inshoving your fingers through the skin,which is inelastic and apparently brittle.Again these birds are always fat andgreasy. After skinning you have to “clip”the hide, that is cut off the fat that adheresto its whole surface. This is a rathertedious process but it has to be done,otherwise in time, the fat would “stew”through the breast and turn the feathers asickly, greasy yellow.

Eagles, swans, loons, geese and largeherons have long wing bones and it is verydifficult to thoroughly clean them from theinside of the skin. Such wings can best becleaned by opening them on the outside;hold back the feathers so as not to cut any

off and make a clean cut through the baretract. You can then clean out all the flesh,give the skin a good coat of arsenic andsew the cut up. This is always advisableon large birds as it enables you tothoroughly poison just that portion of thebird that is most frequently attacked byinsect pests.

On large herons and cranes, it is well tomake a cut in the sole of the foot, and byinserting an awl point under the tendonsyou can draw them out of the leg, thusleaving a place for the leg wire and

avoiding danger of splitting the tarsalenvelope when you wire the leg.

Skinning Game Birds

Grouse, ducks or shore birds can beskinned so as also to save the flesh foreating. A sportsman can thus have hisdinner and also have the specimenmounted. Clean the tools to be used, well,and use corn meal in place of sawdust.We usually skin up to the neck with mealthen cut the body off and finish skinningwith sawdust. The meal will readily washfrom the flesh, whereas the sawdust sticksvery tightly. We have eaten all kinds ofgame and believe that the taste of a bird israther improved than impaired byskinning.

Mounting a Bird

Before you commence to mount a bird,

conceive in your own mind the exactposition that you wish to reproduce,basing your position from memory of thatparticular bird as you saw it in life, orupon some good picture of that or asimilar bird.

Remember that no live bird is so “ugly”but that he has his graceful lines. All birdswhatever their position should have theirplumage smooth. Though a bird may bepreening itself, with every feather standingupon end, they will stand on end smoothly.

Tools and MaterialsRequired

1. Wire cutters; a pair of parallel plierswith cutter attached on the side makes the

best “all around” tool of this kind that canbe had. You can use them for cutters,pinchers and in place of a leg drill forforcing the wire through the legs of largebirds; a hole through the center of thepliers allows the wire to pass between thehandles so you can get a perfect grip uponit.

2. Wire—For practice we shouldrecommend the getting of half a poundeach of Nos. 20, 18 and 16 annealed ironwire. These will answer for anything up to

jays and kingfishers. You can get wire ofdealers in taxidermists’ supplies or athardware stores. Following theseinstructions for mounting birds we give atable of the size wire required for birds ofvarious kinds, from which you can decidejust what you want for anything.

3. An eight or ten-inch file with whichto point your wires.

4. Tweezers, needles, and cotton asbefore.

5. A small quantity of excelsior or tow,which can be procured from your dealeror at a mattress shop, and often at agrocery or furniture store.

6. A ball of cotton twine and a cop; thelatter is composed of fine soft cottonthread such as is used in a cotton mill.Your supply dealer can furnish them.

7. An awl for boring holes in theperches for the leg wires to go through.

White-faced Glossy Ibis

Mounting

We will suppose that you have yourspecimen before you. Skin it, poison theskin, turn it back and smooth the feathersas explained in the instructions forskinning, and remove every vestige ofblood or stain from the feathers by meansof the water, sawdust and plastertreatment given in the process for makinga bird skin.

You will want four wires nine or teninches in length, and if your specimen is ajay, number 18 will be the correct size.Sharpen one of these wires on both endsand the others on one only.

Take a small wad of excelsior or tow,compress it in the hands to about the sizeof the original body and wind it firmlywith the cotton twine, turning the body andshaping it with the hands as you wind.Don’t be afraid of using the string; makethe body fairly firm; and above all do notget it larger than the original. Havinggotten it as near the shape of the body youremoved as you can, try it in your bird anddraw the skin over it on the breast; if theedges meet readily, the body is all right; ifnot, do not use it,—make another. Thedouble-pointed wire is to be inserted inthe middle of the larger end of the bodyand pushed clear through beyond the smallend, turned over into a hook and drawnback, thus clinching the wire firmly in thebody and leaving a section protruding

from the large end for the neck of the bird.In the case of large birds it is well to use alonger wire and make a hook long enoughso you can draw it back clear through thebody and make a second clinch.

Wind a narrow strip of cotton aroundthe neck wire forming it with the fingersso it will be no larger or no longer thanthe neck that you removed; then wind itsmoothly down with the cops.

Now holding your bird up by the beak,insert the end of the neck wire through theopening in the belly of your specimen andinsinuate it up until the point of the wirereaches the skull.

The wire should enter the skull frombetween the lower jaws; by twisting itbetween the thumb and fingers and pushingat the same time, it is forced through thecotton and finally through the top of theskull at a point between the eyes and justback of the upper beak. Push the wire upthrough the skull until the cotton woundpart reaches the skull. The body will now

perfectly fit in that of the skin and the neckwill be about the proper length.

Wiring the Legs

Insert the pointed end of one of yourwires in the middle of the sole of one foot;by twisting it between the thumb andfingers you can readily force it up to thesecond joint, which corresponds to ourankle. The wire should pass through theback part of the leg under the skin. Whenyou have reached the ankle joint, bend thejoint forward so the tarsus and tibia willbe in a straight line and hold it there withthe left hand, while with the right you borethe wire up past the joint. This is easilydone usually the first attempt.

Holding the skin away from the body,push the leg bone through its opening untilyou have it turned completely inside out,the same as when you first skinned it; now

force the wire up until it extends perhaps ahalf-inch beyond the end of the leg bone;secure the bones to the wire by winding asmall piece of cotton about both, shapingit so as also to take the place of themuscles that you removed from the leg.

The position in which the leg wires areanchored to the body varies considerablywith the position of the bird, but for aspecimen in an ordinary perching attitude,you should thrust the wire through thebody at a point about midway and a littlenearer the breast than the back, hook theprotruding end of this wire and clinch thesame as you did the neck wire. Both legsare of cuurse wired precisely alike.

Wiring the Tail

During the process of wiring both the

legs and the tail, the specimen lays uponits back upon your bench. The fourth wireis pushed through the roots of the tail fromoutside, enters the body in center of thesmall end and passes out through thebreast where it is turned and clinched; theend protruding beyond the tail is nowturned sharply at right angles to one sideand then doubled back upon itself, from apoint slightly outside the outer tailfeathers; it thus forms a platform to holdthe bird’s tail in any position desiredwhile drying.

The legs which are now stickingstraight out, one on either side of the body,are bent sharply upward where the wiresenter the body, until they become parallel.

Draw the edges of the breast cuttogether and sew it with two stitches (for

birds of the size of a jay; larger onesshould have more), each stitch beingseparate and tied of itself.

Bend the legs sharply forward at theheel joint so the feet will be under thebreast and the bird balanced in a perchingposition.

Your specimen is now ready to placeupon its stand, and we advise, especiallyat first, that you mount all your birds on Tperches.

Bore two holes in the cross piece aboutan inch and a quarter apart (for a jay),using your smallest awl. Set your bird onthe stand by putting one leg wire througheach hole and drawing the bird down untilthe sole rests on the stand. The bird isnow ready to be bent into a life-likeposition. Of course its wings are not

fastened yet and are dangling about, butbody, neck and legs are bent in the properplaces before the wings are pinned intoposition. Sketches on this page give anumber of positions for the jay with thecorrect placing of the wires, bending ofthe neck and legs and tilting the tail foreach position. Select the position youwant your bird to occupy before yoncommence to mount it and then stick to it.

Sanderling

Black Terns

Pinning Wings Into Position

Having gotten your specimen into thedesired position, you have now to pin thewings in place. Cut four pieces of yourNo. 20 wire about two inches in length

and sharpen one end of each (if you do anynumber of birds you will find thattaxidermists’ pins for large birds andinsect pins for birds up to the size of a jay,will be more convenient. Your dealer canfurnish both of these. The large pins comeonly in one size while you will want Nos.3 and 6 of the insect pins).

It makes no difference which wing isput in position first, only you will find thatit will facilitate matters if, when puttingup the right wing, the bird is headed away

from you, while in pinning the left wing heshould be head on.

First spread the wing; then fold itseeing that the feathers properly overlap.Lift the scapulars or those back feathersthat cover the bend of the wing when it isfolded, holding them well upon the backwhile you put the wing against the side ofthe body, pinning it through the wrist joint(the bend in the wing). Pull the wingslightly out on the wire; do not leave itjammed hard down against the body.Place the tip of the wing on the back or atthe side, as your position may call for, andsupport it there by a wire pushed into theflank of the body, the outer feathers of thewing resting upon this.

With your tweezers carefully pick allthe feathers into position. The feathers

should lie smoothly on all parts of thebird, with no open spaces anywhere,especially in front of the bend of the wing.They should lay smoothly andsatisfactorily before the bird is wound;feathers that are out of place can bewound down so that they will look allright but they are apt to “hump” up afterthe windings are taken off. The onlycorrect way is to have them just rightbefore winding at all.

The winding is a delicate operation andis performed with the soft thread on yourcops. The cop should be suspended fromthe ceiling or some point above your work

by means of a wire pushed through thesmall paper cylinder that protrudes fromits large end, and then tent in the form of ahook with which to suspend it. Be carefulto get the right thread in starting it off thecop, and it will all run off easily withoutsnarling.

The feathers are already in place as youwant them; the thread is wound on to keepthem there, for as they dry some of themmight rise up. The thread must not bepulled anywhere but simply laid carefullyon. Wind the back first, passing the threadfrom one wing wire to the other, back andforth and across until you have all thefeathers caught down; then windcompletely around and around the bird,each thread catching a different place onthe bird’s breast or underparts; a few turns

of the thread around the head and neck(very carefully made) will complete thetask of winding.

If the back of the head or the chin of thebird is not filled out sufficiently, this canreadily be remedied by inserting smallpieces of cotton through the mouth oreyelids, as may be most convenient, usinga short piece of wire for this purpose.Steady the bird by the bill and carefullypull the cotton out of the head, through theeyes, just sufficiently to mark the lidsrounded in a natural position. The eyes arenot put in until the bird is thoroughly dry.

To keep the tail spread evenly asdesired, bend a fine wire as shown insketch opposite, spread it open in themiddle to allow it to slip on the tail; aboutmidway on the tail pinch it together withthe fingers and it will keep the feathersjust where you want them during theprocess of drying.

Art in Mounting a Bird

When mounting a specimen, up to thepoint of bending it into position, yourwork is largely or wholly mechanical; butfrom this point until the bird is completedand ready for exhibition your artisticsense will be called upon. No one will geta perfect bird upon his first attempt unlesshe be a natural-born taxidermist or artist,and such are very few and far between.But anyone, with continued practice canmount a satisfactory specimen. In thiswork as well as in any other vocation,“practice makes perfect” so do not bediscouraged if your first attempt does notmeet your expectations; you have theprinciple, all you need is the practice.

Drying

The wires and windings are all left onyour bird until it is thoroughly dry, which,if placed in a room of ordinarytemperature, should take four or five days.When a bird is dry can be judged by theabsolute rigidity of the toes and thefirmness of the wings. After telling how toput the eyes in your specimen, how toproperly finish it and how to make thestands to set it on, we will explain anumber of unusual points and methodsnecessary in the mounting of various otherkinds of birds.

Putting Eyes in Birds

As we have previously said, the eyesare not put in a bird until it has dried. This

is because the act of doing so is almostcertain to disarrange the plumage. If theeyelids are left round, the eyes can be putin a position very easily and nicely for thehead skin is dry and will stand handling.With your forceps, carefully thrust backinto the skull the cotton that is now fillingthe eye hole. Insert a small piece of wetcotton in each cavity and let yourspecimen stand for about a half hour. Thiswet cotton is then removed and you willfind that the lids are softened so you canvary their shape at will. The eyes that youwant for a jay are No. 6 brown. It is wellto have a small supply of eyes on handsuch as you may want for specimens youare apt to get. The majority of birds havebrown eyes, but of course that is one ofthe things that is made record of when

skinning a specimen, and in case of amade-up skin, should be on the tagaccompanying the same, so that shouldanyone desire to mount that skin therewould be no doubt as to the color of eye.You can procure eyes at small cost fromyour dealer in supplies. Chapter 11 showsa chart giving the sizes and styles of eyescommonly used and also an explanation ofthe sizes and colors used for many birds.An eye should be just a hair larger than isthe eye opening of the specimen it is for.

Putty is used for holding the eyes inposition. It can be procured at any paintstore for a few cents a pound. Black puttyis the best for the purpose, but white willanswer if you cannot get the other. The

putty should be just soft enough so as to beeasily squeezed with the fingers; if it istoo soft it will be very sticky and requiresthe addition of a little whiting; if it is toohard it will crumble and needs a drop ortwo of boiled oil added to it. It is well toprocure a few ounces of each of theseingredients at your paint store for youfrequently need them as putty hardensrapidly if open to the air; it should,however, be kept in a closed tin box andonly such quantity taken out as is required.

Having the material ready and yourspecimen’s eyelids well softened we willproceed with the operation. Introduce theputty through the eyelids, with the

tweezers, in the form of little pellets, untilyou have the cavity comfortably filled;then put the eye in position. With the pointof a needle draw the lids down so as tocover the rim of the eye and push back, outof sight, any putty that may be visiblearound the edges. Finally wipe the glasseye with a moist piece of cotton and itwill give it the justre of life.

Finishing the Specimens

With your wire cutters cut off the wire

that protrudes from the top of the head, theone through the root of the tail and the twothat pass through the birds wings, slidingthe cutters down on the wire as closely tothe skin as possible so that the end of thewire will be covered with the feathers.Pull out, with a twisting motion, the twowires put in the side of the bird to supportthe wings, and slide the bent wire off thetail. A light dusting with a feather duster,always stroking in the direction of thefeathers, will make your specimens readyto put on its permanent mount.

Screech OwlsRight here let me beg you, no matter

how poor or indifferent your first attemptmay be, not to throw it away but keep itfor a guide in mounting the next one. Youcan see wherein your fault lies and correctit in subsequent mounts.

Making T Perches

A T perch is composed of but threepieces; a square base, a round upright setinto it and a horizontal crosspiece on theupright. These stands can be very neatlymade and are commonly used for museumspecimens.

For sparrows and birds of like size,make the base of half inch pine, 2 1-2 in.square, with the upper edges chamberedor cut off, and a 3-8 in. hole in the middleextending nearly but not quite through; the

upright and cross pieces should each be 2in. long, of 3-8 in. doweling or of pinewhittled down to that size. The top end ofthe upright is hollowed out to receive thecross piece. Put a touch of glue on thebottom of the upright, thrust it in hole insquare block; another dab of glue onhollow of upright and put cross piece on,fastening it with a brad driven into theupright. These stands can be made for anysize of perching bird, varying only thedimensions of the stock used. A stand fora jay should be 3 in. square at the baseand should have a height of about 3 1-2 in.If these are only for temporary stands theyare now complete, but if you wish themfor display, give them a coat of white leadand then varnish. Natural and artificialstands and stumps are discussed and

explained in Chapter 12.

Spreading a Birds Wings

It is often desirable, especially in groupwork, to have a bird’s wings raised orspread; however, we should never advisespreading a bird of any kind unless youhave a place to suspend it or it is goinginto a case to form part of a group. Spreadbirds are more easily damaged and areusually in the way, unless, as we said, youhave a suitable place in which to suspendthem.

Birds to be spread are skinned exactlyas before described, except chat of coursethe wing bones are all always left in,while a folded bird may often have the

arm bone taken out; indeed, it is oftenadvisable to do this. The body is made thesame and wound as firmly as possible; theneck wired and wound with cotton, andinserted in the bird.

The next operation is to wire the wings,which has to be done before wiring thelegs.

The wing wire should be of the samesize or a trifle smaller than the leg wires;its length should be rather more than halfthe expanse of the bird. For an eagle youwould need two No. 10 wires about fourfeet in length; one end of each of thesemust be sharpened. With the left hand,grasp the wing at its wrist joint,straightening this joint as much as ispossible while you insert the point of thewire under the skin at a point just above

the wrist (that is, nearer the tip of thewing) on the under side and force it overthe joint, continuing on along the bone andunder the skin until it appears inside theskin of the bird. Pass the wire through thebody at the large end, at the point wherethe shoulder bone was anchored on theoriginal body; turn the wire; pass it backagain and clinch. It is very important tomake a double clinch on each of the wingwires, otherwise the wings are apt towork loose. Wind a little tow or cottonaround the wire and arm bone to replacethe flesh that was removed and lo hold thebone in place. Proceed with the wiring ofthe legs and tail, and sewing up the cut thesame as outlined before. Place your birdon a stand, bearing in mind that if it is tobe suspended as if flying the legs will be

bent up under the breast, while if it is tobe placed on a stump the legs will be in anormal perching position.

Bend the wings upward and backward

at the shoulder close to the body, forwardat the elbow joint and backward again atthe wrist, the amount of bend dependingupon whether yon want the bird with thewings full spread, half spread or justraised.

Insert two pins or sharpened wires oneach side of the body under the wings.These are to wind to. Bend the head andtail as you want them, pick the feathers

into position with the tweezers and makesure that all the wing feathers lap the rightway.

Wind the under part of the body,passing the thread from side to side aboutthe pins inserted for that purpose; it is alsowell to insert a wire between theshoulders on the back, and wind from thisaround the breast; this holds the scapularsin position. Fill out the head if it needs it,form the eyelids into shape and wire thetail. The wing feathers are to be kept incorrect position by means of two strips ofheavy paper or thin card, fastened to eachwing, one above and one on the underside. They are held in place by shovingpins through the wing and both papers; athin slice of a cork stopper inserted on thepoint of each pin and pushed down against

the feathers will hold it very firmly.

Herons and Other Long-Necked Birds

The neck that you manufacture on yourexcelsior body should be nearly or quiteas long as the one you removed, whatever

the position a bird is to be placed in.When a heron sits, as it usually does, withits head drawn down on its shoulders, itsneck is not shortened in the least, but isbent downward and then upwards andback upon itself as illustrated in the heronpositions on sketches on this page. It isquite a clever job to smoothly wind thelong neck of a heron. Carefully and asevenly as possible, wind cotton along thewire, shaping it and tapering it to the sizeand length of the original. Then takeperhaps up to a dozen turns with yourcotton twine around the body and neck,passing the string around the small end ofthe body diagonally up and around the topend of the neck, back and forth severaltimes; this firmly attaches the neckwinding to the body, preventing it from

slipping up on the wire. Finish windingthe neck smoothly with your cops. It willbe difficult at first but with practice youcan hold the body suspended by the end ofthe neck wire, held between the thumb andfingers of the left hand. Twist on the wire,thus revolving the body and neck, and withthe right hand spin the cops up and downand around the neck until you have itperfectly smooth.

Osprey

Wiring the Legs of WalkingBirds

If your bird is to be in a walkingposition, the foot that is back should beresting on the toes with the sole above theground. It would not look well to have theleg wire showing from the center of thesole to the base and in order to avoid this,run the wire in this leg through the middletoe from the second joint up through thesole and as usual up into the body.

Birds Standing on One Leg

If your bird is standing in this position,when finished you will cut off the wire inthe raised leg where it protrudes through

the sole. Therefore the wire in the otherleg should be heavier and double clinchedin the body as it has to support doubleweight.

Birds With PeculiarAttitudes

Nearly all species of birds haveattitudes that are characteristic. I wouldadvise anyone to study live birds all hecan, especially as regards the differentpositions they will take; if you are an

adept at sketching, draw off differentpositions of various birds as you see them.Study well the positions of the birds inthis book. We are perfectly familiar withevery bird shown and can vouch for theaccuracy of either drawings or mountedspecimens. I will call attention to a fewpoints that you want to know at the start.You will notice that a duck’s body and, infact, those of all diving birds are flattenedrather than compressed; their legs are setwider apart. Grebes, Loons and Aukscannot stand upon the sole of the foot butrest upon the whole tarsus or heel,apparently as though sitting upon their tail.Their legs are anchored to the body atrifle nearer the smaller end than are thelegs of most birds; the legs must then bebent backward and then sharply forward

at the ankle joint, leaving this joint inclose proximity to the tail. A similarlyshaped bird, the Puffin, does stand erecton its feet, although it is often pictured assitting upon the heel and more oftenmounted that way.

Mounting Collossal Birds

Birds of the size and character of theOstrich require special methods both ofskinning and mounting. In skinning the cutis made from the breast bone to the vent,and then another one is made across theabdomen and extending down the inside ofeach leg to the sole of the foot. Theskinning of the body and neck is identicalwith that of a small bird except that it is

almost necessary to suspend the body fromstrong hooks as soon as the legs aredisjointed, allowing the skin to hangdown, and greatly facilitating its removal.All the tendons and muscles are taken outfrom the back of the legs through the cutyou have made. It would be almostphysically impossible to run a rod throughthe leg of an ortrich as we do in otherbirds; then again we could not anchor it tothe body rigid enough to hold his weight.

We have to build what is termed a“manikin” for such large birds. This is acompleted form with leg rods all in andbolted to the base, ready to throw the skinover.

We first get out a center board about thesize and shape of the longitudinal crosssection of his natural body. This must bestrongly cleated and on each side have a

piece of 2 x 4 joist about a foot longfirmly screwed. These are put on in theproper place to receive the leg rods, and ahole just the size of the leg rod boreddown through the center of each. For legrods you will want half inch material cutto just the length of his leg plus thethickness of the base he is to stand upon.You will want about three inches of eachend of these rods threaded to receive nuts.The neck rod should be about 3-8 in. indiameter; both this and the leg rods bebent at the proper places before fasteningto the body. The leg wires are fastened tothe body by a nut and washer both aboveand below the joist; they are fastened tothe base in the same manner. The neck rodmay be fastened to the frame by a numberof heavy staples driven through the board

and clinched. Sketch on preceding pageshows clearly the form of the rods andmethod of attachment. The body is nowshaped with excelsior, wound very tightlyto each side of the frame, and the neck issmoothly wound with tow. It is well togive both the body and neck a final coatingof clay to smoothen them and accentuatethe curves and hollows.

Place the skin on your manikin,

carefully insinuating the neck into that ofthe bird. The neck rod should be of justsufficient length to rest inside the skull.Pack the inside of the skull about the rodwith clay, and also model some about theskull and upper portion of the artificialneck; then carefuly sew up the cut throughwhich the head was skinned. The leg rodsshould fit in the back of the legs of yourspecimen, taking the place of the tendonsthat you removed. Wire the upper legbones to the rod, wind with tow and givea covering of clay to represent themuscles.

You must now sew up the breast cut, thelegs and cut across the abdomen, using alarge sailmaker’s needle and waxedtwine. The eyes can be immediately put in,modelling the shape with clay and theninserting the eyes.

The wings are pinned in the samemanner and the feathers wound the sameas on smaller birds.

Crow (Partly albino)

Black-backed Gull

Relaxing Dried Skins forMounting

When a collector is away from home,

he usually makes all his specimens intoskins, even though they are to be mountedafterward. Such skins have tc be relaxedso that they will be as soft as when firsttaken from the birds before they can bemounted.

The older a bird skin gets, the drier itbecomes and the longer it takes to relax it.Many methods have been and are used forthe relaxing of bird skins; we have hadlong experience with all of them but for

the past 12 years have used but the onedescribed hereafter, considering all othersbut halfway measures. Winding wet clothsabout the specimen, or putting it in dampsawdust, answers fairly well but does notget at all points of the skin and is more aptto start the feathers than the following:

Remove as much of the cotton filling aspossible through the breast, working it outvery carefully with the tweezers andfingers so as not to tear the skin, which isnow very brittle. You can usually get allthe cotton out, but if not it does not matter.

Immerse the whole specimen in a pailof lukewarm water, moving it about a fewseconds to remove air bubbles and insureall parts of the skin being wetted. Float apiece of board on the water to keep yourspecimen fully immersed. A specimen up

to the size of a crow will usually becomerelaxed in 12 to 16 hours, so if it is putinto water at night it should be ready tomount the next day. Birds the size of acrow or over should have the legs and feetwrapped in wet cloths for about twelvehours before placing the specimen inwater. The skin of the feet and legs is sodry and tough that otherwise they wouldnot be relaxed enough to bend freely whenthe remainder of the skin was ready formounting.

Rub the skin inside thoroughly with thethumb nails, or if it is a large bird scrapeit with a knife to remove fibre or fat. Rubthe inside of the neck and head with aknitting needle, inserted through the neck

or eye as is most convenient. Then putyour skin back into a pail of fresh warmwater, and leave for a couple of hourslonger.

Now turn the skin inside out, workingvery carefully for the skin will not yetgive as much as that of a fresh bird.Thoroughly rub the neck and head with thethumb nails, paying particular attention tothe parts that seem the hardest; dip the skinin the water at frequent intervals so as towork it into the skin as you rub.

Turn the skin back to its normalposition and squeeze between the hands soas to get it as dry as possible; do notwring it; just a simple squeeze. Place theskin in a jar or deep dish containing justenough naptha to cover it; move it aboutfor a few seconds to be sure that the skin

will be thoroughly saturated. Leave it inthe naptha for about thirty minutes; theobject of this bath is to remove any greasethat may still be upon the skin and torender it more easy to dry off.

Remove it from the naptha and againsqueeze the skin as dry as yon can. Unlessyou are working on a white bird, or onewith an immaculate breast, we would

advise you to dry it as thoroughly aspossible in sawdust, dusting and brushingit into the feathers to absorb the moisture;then use plaster in the same manner tobring the feathers out as fluffy as theywere on the live bird.

White birds should not be put in thesawdust but directly into the plaster; bearin mind that plaster hardens very rapidlyupon getting wet or moist, so you mustwork quickly, keeping your bird movingand continually shaking and brushing theplaster out of the feathers; if it is allowedto stand on the feathers in any one placemore than a second or two it is apt to stickand be very difficult to remove. Plaster isone of the best friends of the taxidermistbut it has to be handled with skill andspeed.

If you have thoroughly worked andscraped the skin and dried it well, it willnow be in as good a condition as whenfirst taken off the bird.

Fill the skull with cotton, soap the skinwell and it is already to mount the same asa fresh bird. Very greasy birds such asducks or gannets we usually soften up inwarm soapy water. A skin that is so dirtyas to be apparently worthless can usuallybe brought out in good condition.

MAKING A BIRD SKIN

The object in making a bird skin is tokeep the specimen for all time. It hasscientific value for study purposes andcan, if desired, be mounted at any time.For a systematic and diagnostic study ofthe plumage, skins are always used whenprocurable because they are easilyhandled without injury, while a mounted

specimen becomes utterly ruined aftermuch handling.

Tools Necessary

1.—Brush for cleaning feathers. This isa stiff bristle brush resembling a largetooth brush. You can procure one of adealer or from most druggists.

2.—Needles and thread. Any mediumsized needle will do but a surgical one isbest. You can get these from dealers insupplies or druggists. For thread werecommend a spool of white silk and oneof white linen.

3- -A plentiful supply of cotton and abox of plaster-of-paris will complete thenecessities for making a bird into a skin.

Mockingbird(With painted background and natural

surroundings)

Cleaning the Feathers

After you have skinned a bird, whetheryou are to mount it or put it into a skin,you must first be sure that the feathers areentirely free from stains of any character.

Blood stains are most easily removedby applying luke-warm water with a pieceof cotton; keep rinsing the cotton off, ortake fresh pieces until you can wipe overthe feathers without getting any stain onthe cotton. Do not wet the feathers anymore than necessary except on the spotyou wish to remove, as they must be driedout again. This drying of the feathers can

be accomplished most readily by thecontinued application of sawdust, workingit into the feathers with your brush untilthe bulk of the moisture is removed; thendust the spot with plaster, applied with thebrush until it is thoroughly dry. The plasterand sawdust must all be shaken or brushedout of the plumage before the nextoperation.

If your bird seems to be dirty or thefeathers gummed-up, as is often the casewith hawks or owls, you will find thatthey will clean best with soap and water,

afterwards drying them the same asbefore.

Making the Skin

See to it that the feathers of your birdall lie smoothly in their proper places,picking them into position with thetweezers. Stretch each wing and allow itto fold back again, making sure that all thefeathers properly overlap. Inserting yourtweezer points between the eyelidsslightly pull the cotton, with which youhave filled the skull, out so that it willhold the eyelids in a natural and roundposition.

In making up birds up to the size of aBlue Jay, the wing bones may or may notbe tied together as you wish, but on birdslarger than this, it is poor practice not todo so. For our part, we always tie the

wing bones together even in making ahummingbird skin; it makes the skinstronger and also insures that the feathersbetween the shoulders will lie naturallyand smoothly. Tie the two wing bonestogether, inside the skin, so that theshoulder joints will be a little closertogether than they were in the specimenbefore it was skinned.

For a cabinet specimen, one that will inall probability always remain as a skin, itis best practice to make them with asplinter of wood or a wire extending fromthe base of the skull to bhe root of the tail.Cut a splinter of wood or the twig of atree (a quarter of an inch or less indiameter) of a suitable length to reachfrom the skull to the base of the tail whenyour specimen is laid in a normal

position. Commencing at the head end ofyour stick, wind it with cotton, thinly onthe neck (which must be no larger than theoriginal) and more heavily on the rearend, always keeping the cotton fluffy andspringy. The body must not be larger thanthe one you removed from the specimen.

This cotton-wound splinter is nowinserted into the neck and body of yourbird and the edges of the skin drawntogether over the breast and fastenedtogether with a single stitch, for birds no

larger than a Blue Jay. Larger birds mayrequire more stitches. Lay the bird in thehollow of your left hand, belly down, andwith your right raise the two wings,pressing them together over the back so asto be sure no cotton is between theshoulders or elbows. Now pass yourspecimen from hand to hand, keeping thewings well on the back and graduallycaressing the feathers into position. Yourobject is to make your skin look like adead bird with feathers smooth and thebill extending horizontally in front,forming a straight line with the back andtail. Never allow a bird’s bill to tilt up atan angle in a completed skin.

Lay your specimen carefully down uponits back. then cross its legs and tie themtogether at the point where they cross.

Leave the ends of this thread long enoughso that you can attach a label to it.

Roll up a paper cylinder a trifle longerthan your specimen and of a diameter

equal to that of his greatest girth. (You canhold this cylinder in form by tying a threadabout its middle).

Caress your bird from hand to handagain, making sure that all feathers,especially those on the shoulders laysmoothly, then carefully slide it into thecylinder head first. Never use a papercone in making skins; it makes themhollow-chested and pot-bellied, with nosemblance to grace. Good skins can alsobe made by wrapping them in thin layersof cotton batting, but I think the use ofcylinders the most practical and certainlythe specimens are less liable to injury.

Unusual Forms for Skins

These instructions as given apply tonearly all the land, or perching birds,grouse, hawks, and owls. Some birds,especially those with long necks or legsrequire special treatment as to the bestform in which to leave the finished skin.Obviously it would not do to make a BlueHeron skin with its long neck stretching acouple of feet in front of the body and thelegs as much behind. This is overcome bydoubling the legs up against the breast andfolding the neck down over the back (afterit has been carefully and smoothly filledwith cotton). Some collectors fold thehead and neck back under the wing; this isall right, for compactness, when the skin isto be mounted, but for cabinet specimensthey are far better with the head over theback, and fastened by means of a string

through the nostrils passing through thebody and tied to the legs.

Most ducks make a neater skin, and oneless liable to injury if the neck is foldedover the back; the same can be said of thelarger sandpipers.

Birds having a large and conspicuouscrest, such as cardinals, jays, pileatedwoodpeckers, trogons, etc., should bemade into skins with the head turned onone side but with the bill pointing asnearly straight forward as possible.

Hanging “Dead Game” Birds

You may have occasion to hang a birdas though it were dead. Many sportsmenlike to have their trophies so mounted. Thespecimen is to be skinned and wired in theusual manner, except that the wings must

be wired as for spread birds.A bird may be hung breast out, back out

or on its side. In case you are mounting butone bird, we think they usually look thebest the latter way, but it depends largelyupon the markings of the bird. Alwaysmount your specimen to show it off to thebest advantage. If you hang a pair of birdsto gether it is well to mount one on theside and the other breast out.

The wings being properly, wired, willeasily bend to the desired position andstay there.

The birds must be fastened to a

temporary board by driving a stout wirethrough the middle of their bodies into theboard. Drive pins around the birds veryobliquely, smooth their feathers well andwind by passing the cops from one pin tothe other.

Positions for hanging birds are wellillustrated by the marginal sketches on thispage.

CHAP. 3--MountingAnimals

Part 1--Small Mammals

The mounting of mammals can best bedivided into two parts: small, such assquirrels and rodents, and carnivorousanimals up to the size of a fox or coyote.These are mounted by the semi-modelingprocess as will be described in thefollowing pages; large mammals abovethe size of a fox, and short-haired animalslike many of the dogs are mounted by thefull modeling process as described in thenext Part.

Skinning

We will take for our subject for thislesson, a gray squirrel.

You will have at hand, ready for use, ascalpel; scissors; large scissors or boneshears; a box of fine sawdust, lackingwhich you can use corn meal.

As in the cast with birds it is better notto attempt skinning for a few hours afterthe death of the subject, or until it hasrelaxed from the “rigor mortis” that sets insoon after death. Bend the legs of yourspecimen wide apart so as to relax all thejoints. Make your opening cut frombetween the forelegs, down through themiddle of the breast to the vent. Skin eachside of this cut until you disclose the hindlegs. A small animal skins easily, usuallywith the fingers and with very littlecutting. Push the leg up inside the skin and

work your fingers so as to skin entirelyaround it; you can then sever it near thehip joint. Grasp each hind leg in turn, andby pulling on it and pushing away the skinyou can readily turn the legs inside outdown to the ankle joint. Remove all theflesh from these bones, with the scissorsand scalpel, but do not disjoint the bonesat the knee.

Gray Squirrel(A section of a log makes an excellent base for

an animal)Skin around the back of your subject,

from both sides until your fingers willmeet. Cut across the vent with yourscalpel and you will come to the junctionof the tail with the body.

The bony skeleton of the tail is now tobe pulled out of its covering, entire. Graspthe body with your right hand about theroots of the tail, and place the points ofyour scissors, one on either side of the

bony skeleton that is visible and thenbrace the points against the back edge ofyour bench. Do not cut with the scissors,or even pinch, but just simply let themclose against the tail bone so that the skincannot slip through when you pull with theright hand; you will find that the tail willslip out easily without injury to the skin.The tails of many animals up to the size ofa fox can be skinned in this way. Withsome animals, like cats or rats the tailcannot be pulled out but must be split theentire length on the under side and thenskinned. Of course, in this case, you haveto sew the cut up again, so it is best not tosplit the tail on any animal that you thinkcan be removed without.

You now have the entire lower portionof the body separated from the skin andhave reached the fore legs. Skin aroundthese and cut them off near the body;clean, the same as you did the hind legs.Continue skinning up the neck until youreach the ears. Sever these close to theskull and then skin to the eyes. Bystretching the skin slightly, you can,through the thin membrane that connectsthe eyelid and skull, see the outline of thelid, which appears as a straight whitishline. Cut between this and the skull and

you will avoid danger of cutting theeyelid. Continue your skinning down overthe head until you have entirely severedthe skin from the body at the nose.

You now have the skin entirelyseparated from the body and turned insideout. Clean off any pieces of flesh or fatthat may be on the skin, and, with thescissors very carefully cut about the lips,removing the gristly substance that is to befound there on all animals; try not to cutthrough the skin and be careful not to cutoff and loosen the ends of the “whiskers”on each side of the upper lip. Nowthoroughly poison the skin with yourarsenical soap. sprinkle it with sawdustand turn it right-side out again. It is best toroll the skin up and place it in a closedbox or else do it up in paper while you are

cleaning the skull and making the body forit. This will prevent the skin from drying;it can also be left over night and be ingood condition to work on the next day ifyou wish. It will probably take you anhour or so to get the body ready to put theskin on.

Cleaning the Skull

Cut off the end of the skull just back ofthe ears, using the skinning knife for smallanimals and the meat saw for large ones.

This will leave the brains exposed andthey can readily be scooped out with thepoint of the knife. Remove the eyes withyour scalpel and clean every vestige ofmeat from the skull. It will be best if youcan now put the skull in an oven and dry itfor fifteen minutes, although this is notnecessary.

Sharpen a No. 14 wire on both ends(for gray squirrel) and thrust one end inthe brain cavity, through the skull so as tocome out one of the nostril openings; bendthe end sharply back, hook shaped, anddraw it back so the point will enterthrough the other nostril. The wire shouldbe doubled long enough so as to enter thebrain cavity again, while the bend will fillup the end of the nose. Mix a smallquantity of plaster and squeeze some into

the skull cavity; this will hold the wirefirmly. Put some plaster also on the noseand cheek to replace flesh or cartilageremoved. Set the eyes in plaster and buildover them a trifle.

Making the Body

Wind up a body of excelsior slightly

smaller than the one removed and of thesame length, winding it fairly hard andsmooth and try to keep as closely aspossible to the form of the original. Thiswill be wound with cotton string aroundthe body endwise as well as crosswise.Thrust the wire, which is attached to theskull, completely through this body, fromend to end and clinch, making the body,from the tip of the nose to the end, just thesame length that your specimen was fromhis nose to the root of the tail. Wind alittle tow around the junction of the skullwith the neck, and also a thin layer on theback, winding both down smoothly withthe cops. Whatever the position of youranimal is going to be, bend the body intoapproximately the shape that it is tooccupy. If you want your squirrel sitting

up with a nut in his paws, bend the neckupward, the head horizontal and put asharp graceful curve on the remainder ofthe body.

Insert the body into your specimen (andif you have left it rolled up over night itwill be best to give it another coat of soapfirst) insinuating the head up through theneck to its proper position. The bodyshould now just fill the skin and whensmoothed down the back, the tail shouldcome in its proper position at the end.

Number 14 wire is the proper size forthe four legs and the tail. You will wantfour pieces a foot long, sharp on one end,and one piece about 18 in. long, sharp onone end and rounded on the other, this lastone being for the tail. Wire the fore legsfirst, running the wire through the sole ofthe foot. up through the back of the legunder the skin until it appears inside. Turnthe leg inside out down to the wrist jointand wind about the bone and wire with

tow, winding it firmly with cops toconform with his natural leg; this shouldhe wound way to the end of the bone so asto complete the leg to its junction with thebody. Insert the point of the wire at thespot corresponding to the shoulder andpush it through the body, pulling the legdown on the wire sufficiently to allow thelatter to extend through about three incheson the opposite side. Turn the wire longenough to draw back through the body andclinch again. Wire the hind legs inprecisely the same way, winding them totheir proper shape and clinching the wirethrough the body twice. Dip the roundedend of the tail wire into your arsenicalsoap can; insert this and into the openingof the tail and you will find it will readilypush the whole length; if it sticks at any

point, a little judicious twisting of thewire, while holding the skin of the tailfirmly at the obstruction, will easily forceit through.

Flying Squirrels(The upper squirrel suspended by a wire from

the stump)

When the rounded end brings up against

the tip of the tail, twist it as though youwere using an awl, and you can bore rightthrough. Push the wire through sufficientlyfar to enable you to stick the pointed endin its proper place in the end of the body;push the wire back through the body so theend will appear on the breast; make a longturn and draw it back, clinching a secondtime where the point appears again (thisshould he about on the rump).

Your specimen is now all wired, butthe legs are sticking straight from the

body. Bend them to correspond to theposition you have selected for youranimal, and we should advise for yourfirst attempts that you take some of theillustrations that we show, for models, foryou can readily see just how to do yourwork to accomplish a certain result. Ifyour squirrel is to be sitting up. see to itthat he sits upon his heels. Nothing looksso disgusting or unnatural as to have asquirrel sitting practically upon its tailwith his legs sprawled out in front, yet thisis the way that, even now, the majority ofprofessional taxidermists do their work.We want you to aim to do perfect work; toimitate nature. Do not let the dollar behindyour work look so large that you can seenothing else; this is a common mistakewith taxidermists.

A wisp of tow around the junction ofeach leg with the body will fill up theslight hollow that is usually left there. Youcan now sew the opening cut together,sewing continuously from one end to theother, always entering the needle from theskin side. Instead of putting a knot in theend of the thread it is better to tie the firststitch, while the last one is fastened bytaking several half-stitches about the laststitch.

Your specimen is now ready to placeupon its permanent stand. No neater ormore appropriate stand can be made forsquirrels than natural stumps fastened on a

sanded stand for the table or on a shield tohang on the wall. See that the eyelids ofyour specimen are in their proper placeand, if necessary, pin them there. For thefirst three or four days, while yoursquirrel is drying, it will be well to pinchthe ears into shape so they will drywithout any shriveling.

Larger animals always have the earsskinned and tin inserted, but those ofsquirrels and other small rodents dry bestwith nothing in them.

Be sure that the hair all lies smoothly.The body of your animal is hard enough towithstand any shrinkage of the skin, yet itcan be pinched with the fingers toaccentuate any curves desired; by clever

manipulation, very natural specimens canbe made. If you are to have a nut in thespecimen’s paws, put it in before drying,cutting the wires off just short enough toinsert in holes bored in each side of thenut. Many taxidermists sew up the mouthsof small animals from the inside as soonas they are skinned. This answers verywell for commercial taxidermy, but theresults cannot compare to those obtainedby pinning the lips to the plaster form.Squirrels, especially, always show theirfront teeth and should, also, when they aremounted. Several times a day, for three orfour days, while the squirrel is drying youshould run the hand down the tail, thewrong way of the fur; this will keep itstanding on end and give the tail the fluffyappearance of life. On page 94 is a well

mounted squirrel, in a correct position, ashe sits on a log eating a nut.

Large Mammals

The following instructions apply foranimals from the size of a fox, up; and forvery short-haired smaller animals. A foxor long-haired dog can be mounted byeither method, commercial taxidermistsusually using the preceding, while museumtaxidermists, having more time at theircommand, use the following whichunquestionably is the best.

Skinning

The opening cut is made from between

the fore legs to the anus; another cutacross the breast down the inside of eachfore leg to the ankle joint; a third cut ismade across the abdomen and down theinside of each hind leg. The skinning isthen proceeded with as before, but thelegs are skinned way down to the last jointand the bones dislocated and taken out. Ifthe tail can be pulled out as described inthe foregoing instructions, do so, but mostanimals that are mounted in this wayrequire that the tail be split the wholelength on the underside before it can beskinned.

The ears should also be skinned, out,that is, the skin on the back of the earshould be separated from the cartilage.This is done from the inside of the skin,turning the ear inside out, and pushing the

skin away from the cartilage with the nailsor handle of the scalpel. They usually skinquite easily and seldom require cuttingwith a knife.

Weasel (Winter Fur)Raccoon (Cork-bark Stump)

The skin is now cured with arsenicalsoap if you are going to mount itimmediately, or put into the salt bath asdescribed in Chapter 10 if you are to keepit a number of days before mounting. Thewhole skin of any animal may be salted asdescribed for deer scalps on page 127,and will then keep indefinitely and beready for mounting at any time uponsoaking the skin in water. Of course, youwill see the necessity of taking a numberof measurements ; the more the better. Youwant (a) the entire length of the animal;(b) from nose to back of skull; (c) fromback of skull to shoulder joint; (d) fromshoulder to hip joints; (e) from shoulder toroot of tail; (f) width of body at shoulders;

(g) width at hips; (h) girth back of forelegs; (i) girth in front of hind legs; (j) girthof neck back of ears; (k) at base; (I) heightof animal at fore shoulder; (m) height athind shoulder or hip.

With these measurements you cannot go

farastray as to the size of the body, but youstill need a drawing, even a crude one,showing the location of prominentmuscles, ribs or hollows.

Disjoint the two forward legs at theshoulder joint and the hind ones at the hipjoint. The flesh and muscles are all to becleaned from these, using the scissors orscalpel as may be the most convenient.They must then be thoroughly poisonedwith the soap, and set aside until we havethe frame ready to put them on.

Making the Framework for aManikin

We will now confine our instructions to

the mounting of a pointer dog, the differentsteps of which are clearly shown insketches. All other animals are modeled inthe same manner, the only difference beingin the size and shape of the body and sizeof rods or wires. Very large animals suchas from a horse to an elephant have ahollow framework of wood in place ofusing so much excelsior. Otherwise theyare modeled the same.

Yon will want six three-sixteenth inchrods and their length will depend onwhether you prefer to have them threadedfor nuts or attach them to the frame withstaples. A wire of this size can beattached in either way, while any of thelarger rods, 1-4 inch up should bethreaded. The sketch on this page showsthe method of attaching the wire either

way. We usually use staples on animals ofthis size so will make the followingdirections to conform. You will want yourrods each about 36 inches in length.

Make a centerboard of inch stock, thesize and shape to correspond to the outlineof your specimen’s body. Nail blocks ofwood about two inches thick on each sideof the centerboard at points to correspondto the joints of the shoulder and hips.

Fasten the wire to the dog’s skull, aswith a squirrel, and fix it firmly with adab of plaster inside the skull, coveringthe wire. Fasten it to the centerboard by

driving staples around the bent wire,being sure that the distance from theshoulder joint to the base of the skullcorresponds to your measurements. Wireeach leg bone to its rod and bend to theshape to correspond to that of yourfinished specimen, the wire passing upalong the back of the bones. Bend a loopin the end that projects beyond the upperend of the bone and fasten with staples tothe leg blocks. Fasten your specimenupright on a temporary base. (See sketch).If it were put on a finished base at thistime, the latter would get scratched orsoiled during succeeding operations. Besure that the centerboard comes verynearly to your measured heights of yourspecimen. from the base. Staple the tailwire to the centerboard and cut it off to its

required length. If your work is correctlydone you can, in your imagination, see theform of your specimen from thisframework of bone, wire and wood.

Exceptional Cases

If you are mounting an animal thatrequires a neck rod of a quarter-inch ormore, it will be best to fasten the skull tothe centerboard by means of a neck pieceof wood, similar to that used for mountinga deer head. (See Chap. 4). This neckpiece may be made in one or severalpieces to conform to the position of thehead. It makes a more substantialframework and one easier to make forlarge specimens. The legs in elephants aremade of straight pieces of joist,dispensing with both bones and rods.

Forming the Body

The body, neck and legs must now beformed of excelsior, winding it tightly tothe frame, to conform to the animal’s trueshape, but of slightly smaller dimensionsto allow for the coat of plaster that is to beapplied, and for the skin. The tail and legswill be smoother if tow is wound oninstead of excelsior.

The covered framework should nowlook very respectable, and begin to give agood idea of what the finished product isto he. The muscles are not reproduced

until the next stage, but the general formshould be correct.

Covering the Manikin

This can be done with plaster, clay orpapier-mache. Most taxidermists use clay,chiefly because it is more easily andquickly worked, especially by theunskilled workman. We prefer eitherpapier-mache or plaster and think theresults are more permanent andsatisfactory. Cover the entire manikinfrom head to tail with plaster, building upthe muscles and points as indicated by thedrawings and measurements of theoriginal. Remember that plaster hardensquickly, so work fast and don’t mix larger

doses than you can handle. By mixing up asmall pail or dipper full many times youwill get much better results than if you mixa large quantity and try to cover the wholeform at once.

Red Fox (On artificial rock)Ocelot (On natural stump)

Put the plaster on as smoothly aspossible and scrape away for the hollowsand build up for the muscles, rememberingthat everything wants to be a little moreprominent in the manikin than you wish itto be in the finished specimen.

Set the eyes in plaster, taking care thatthey are looking slightly forward, as allanimals do in life. Fashion the nose, digout the nostrils, and make the lips; we canassure you that these operations will giveyou a chance to exercise your ingenuityand display your artistic ability. Yourwork, now, with a little scraping andsmoothing, should look like a Pointer dog,lacking only the ears and hair.

A finely modeled manikin can be madeequal to any sculptor’s work; the animal isall there save for its ears and feet, and theoutlines of the hair. It is not necessary,

however, to make it as smooth as if it wasnot going to be covered. Frequently time,plaster and weight can he saved by notcovering all of the excelsior; especially isthis true when mounting long-haired largeanimals. The mounting of a short-haireddog is one of the most difficult works oftaxidermy and we would strongly adviseagainst your undertaking it until you havehad your practice on smaller animals bythe previous method, and also on shaggyones by this method. Do not “tackle” themost difficult job first, for unless you area wonder, failure will be verydisheartening; the more so on account ofthe time consumed. We have outlined thesteps as fully as possible, but taxidermy isan art and art can be developed by nothingexcept practice.

Putting on the Skin

Your manikin is now completed with

all the muscles showing, and finisheddown to the last joint on all the legs,which of course, must be sufficientlyelevated from the base to allow the feet tobe placed under them.

The skin should be thoroughly relaxed;if you have not allowed it to dry up, agood coating of arsenical soap will put itinto good condition. If dried, soak the skinin water as described for deer scalpsunder “mounting heads.” Short-haireddogs or members of the deer family do notrequire that the hair should be dried outbefore putting the skin on the manikin, butif your specimen has long hair, like ashepherd or Newfoundland dog, bear, etc.,it will be necessary to thoroughly dry thehair or fur; be sure and get all the sawdustout of the hair before you put it on the

manikin, otherwise you will find sawdustsifting out of your specimen for yearsafter.

You must now cut a thin piece of sheetlead to conform to the shape of each ear,cutting it, of course, a trifle smaller as it isto go inside. Place these in position beforeputting the skin on the subject. We usesheet lead for animals having large, short-haired, flexible ears rather than tin such aswe use on deer and moose. While not asstiff as tin, it can be bent to the propershape much more readily.

Place the skin in position on the form.The backs of all the feet should be cutwith the scissors so as to allow them to fitabout the wire. Fill the ankle joints with

clay (mixed as per instructions in Chap.10) so they will make good connectionswith the lower ends of the legs on themanikin. You now have a good, long,tedious task before you,—that of sewingup the cuts on the legs and belly. For thepointer dog, black linen thread useddouble and thoroughly waxed, will bebest. Larger animals often need stronghemp twine for this purpose. Start at thebottom of one of the legs, using a three-cornered straight surgical needle. Tie thefirst stitch, then continue up until youreach the junction of the leg with the body,always, on each edge of the cut, pushingthe needle through from the skin side; thiswill draw the stitches down into the hairso as to be invisible. You will probablyhave to renew the thread one or more

times on each leg; always tie your laststitch firmly, and then tie the first stitch ofthe new thread. The skin under theshoulder and hip joints will be loose andmust be tucked up in under as in life andpinned there. You will now start sewing atthe breast and continue along the cut to thetip of the tail. If your measurements arecorrectly taken and followed in making themanikin, the skin will fit perfectlyeverywhere.

If your specimen were any hornedanimal, you would have had to also makea cut down the back of the neck in order toget the skin off over the horns; in the caseof a moose or elk it would also benecessary to continue this cut down overthe back side of the fore shoulder to meet

the cut on the breast. Thus you will seethat a horned animal requires yards moresewing to get the skin on the manikin, thandoes the pointer that we illustrate. Finishup the head by taking the nostrils and lipsinto place and pinning them; make theeyelids correctly fit the eyes of themanikin, pinning the lids where necessary.Insert clay through the outside opening ofthe ear to model its junction with themanikin, and bend the ears to their propershape, those of a pointer of course hangingdown as is shown on next page. Thisfigure shows the dog when finished and ona stand. Your specimen at the presentstage should look just the same except forthe stand. You can drive common pins intothe body in any hollows to hold the skin incontact with them, and it is well to wind

narrow strips of cotton cloth around thebody at the hip and shoulder joints to keepthe skin in the proper position duringdrying; of course this does not apply toany long-haired animals, for the stripswould make ridges that could never beeffaced.

The specimen should dry thoroughlybefore placing it on its permanent stand.Then brush it well, comb the hair outsmoothly, wax about the eyes, if

necessary. With a small brush paint theeyelids dark brown and the muzzle thecolor of life, which varies from blackishto gray or pink.

Black Bear Pointer DogWe advise the mounting of pet animals

on finished oak bases, while wild animalslook the best on artificial rock orgroundwork, direction for making whichare given in Chapter 12.

Making Animal Skins

Animals, especially for study purposes,are frequently made into scientific skinsinstead of being mounted. The animalshould be skinned the same as though itwere to be mounted.

Poison the skin well; clean and poisonthe skull and, after wrapping a little cottonabout it replace it in the skin. Wrap eachleg bone lightly with cotton and turn back.Fill the neck and body of the animal

loosely with cotton or excelsior, so as tomake the body evenly distended but rathersmaller than it was in life. Small animals(no larger than a fox) can have the frontlegs stretched in front one on either side ofthe head, and the back ones straightbehind. On larger specimens the fore andhind legs are respectively doubled upagainst the breast and abdomen. Noattempt is made to have an animal skinresemble a dead animal. The head may befilled out a trifle through the eyes, and thelids left in approximate the correct shape;it is well to have the body rather flattenedthan round, for the skin will then lay in adraw without rolling all about. Very largeskins are simply “baled up” that is saltedwell, partially dried and folded and tiedso as to make as small a package as

possible. In such cases the skull is usuallykept separately but of course both skulland skin must be marked.

CHAP. 4--MountingHeads of Animals

Mounted heads of any of the larger

birds or animals make attractive walldecorations and are valuable reminders ofthe chase. You will often want to do thiswork for yourself, and many taxidermistsderive their chief income from themounting of deer heads. The methods formounting animal heads have been, and are,subject to a great many variations. Most ofthese methods are, however, stuffing, pureand simple, and modern taxidermy doesnot allow of that. All heads should bemodeled, that is the head should bemodeled to its true form and have the eyesset before the skin is put on. Mosttaxidermists continue to use clay for thispurpose, but it is far inferior to eitherplaster or papier-mache, and is usedsimply because it requires slightly lesstime and skill. We will describe and

illustrate the best method.

Mounting Deer Heads

The instructions that follow applyequally well for mounting any kind of ananimal head, large or small.

Before skinning the head, takemeasurements from the base of the hornsto the end of nose, circumference of neckat smallest part and also lower down, atabout the point that you decide to cut it off.

Skinning—All horned animals must beopened down the back of the neck, andmust never be split up the throat. Startfrom between the horns and make a cleancut down the middle of the neck to the

shoulders; thence around the neck bothsides, meeting at the base of the fore-neck.This wilt leave plenty of skin to workwith, no matter how long or short you mayafterward decide to have the neck on yourspecimen. Most guides and market-menmake the mistake of leaving too little ofthe neck and the taxidermist is oftenforced to make his mount fit the skinwithout regard to its best effect.

From the opening cuts you have made,gradually fold the skin back, cutting itaway from the flesh with a keen-edgedskinning knife; this work requires a larger

and stronger knife than your scalpel thatwas used on birds. After having skinnedthe neck you will come to the ears. Severthese by cutting directly through the tissuesand cartilage. Then skin around the baseof the horns; this is a rather tediousprocess for the novice, but patience andcontinued sharpening of the knife willaccomplish it. Of course, in order to skinabout the horns you must make a cut fromhorn to horn, across the end of your firstneck cut. From the horns on, as theskinning progresses, the scalp is turnedinside out like the taking off of a glove.Care must be taken in cutting through themembrane of the eye not to also cutthrough the lid, which shows through it asa whitish line. Also use caution just infront of the eye, where the tear duct is

located; the skin here lies in a hollow inthe skull and must be cut out carefully. Thenext point to look out for is the corner ofthe mouth; here you want to cut through theskin on the inside of the lip. In cuttingthrough the nostrils, which you will nextmeet, keep rather close to the skull so asto leave enough of the skin inside thenostrils to well fill it on the mountedspecimen. No further difficulties will beencountered and the skin is entirelydetached from the skull.

Albino Maine Deer

Cleaning the Skull

This and cleaning up a scalp or head-skin, are among the most disagreeablepieces of work a taxidermist is calledupon to perform, but they must be doneand if done with a vim and apparentrelish, it will be gotten through withquicker and with most satisfaction. With ameat saw you must saw off the back of theskull, a little back of the horns; you willfind that is most convenient to rest thehead on the horns and saw through from apoint just back of the lower jaws. Thisexposes the brains which must be scoopedout; hold the skull with the cavitydownward and this can readily be donewith the skinning knife. The eyes must betaken out, first, loosening them around thecircumference, then cutting the opticnerves and allowing them to come out

whole. Clean all flesh from the skulleverywhere, using knife, scissors orfingers, and even a hatchet does not goamiss. Now give the skull a good coat ofarsenical soap and put it away to dry,remembering that it must be out of reach ofchildren or any pet animals as it is nowdangerous.

Cleaning the Scalp

To do this you will need a pair of heavyscissors, those illustrated in Chapter 10are the best and most durable. Cut off allflesh or fat that may have been left on theskin. Carefully thin the skin down aroundthe eyes and lips; keep your fingersunderneath where you are cutting to keep

the skin up firmly against the shears; itwill make you more careful too, for if youcut through the skin your fingers are apt tosuffer. With your scalpel split downbetween the inner and outer skins of thenose, and cut all fat and gristle from each.

Skinning the Ears

All large animals and especiallymembers of the deer family, should have

the ears skinned and tinned, otherwisethey are almost certain to shrink and warpout of shape at some time, even thoughthey are held firmly in shape during theprocess of drying.

Ears are skinned by turning them insideout, from the inside of the skin. Startcutting the skin away from the back of thecartilage that fills the ear; you will findthat as soon as you have proceeded a littleways you can easily push the skin apartfrom the cartilage with the finger nails orthe wooden handle of your scalpel. Theskin on the back of the ear should beentirely loosened from the cartilage evento the tip. Rub the ear thoroughly with saltand turn it back again.

Curing the Scalp

When you have the scalp thoroughlycleaned it can be cured in either of twoways:—The salt bath, directions formaking which are given in Chap 10. Thiswill keep a skin that is immersed in it,indefinitely and in a soft condition. Forour work we prefer thorough salting of theskin, using fine table salt and rubbing itinto all parts of the skin; let the skin layflat for twenty-four hours, then pour offwater that has accumulated and salt again,this time folding it carefully up twice. Itcan then be put away and mounted at anytime, it only requiring to be put in a tub ofwater over night, which will bring it outas well as when first skinned. Each skin

should be tagged, giving the length of noseand girth about ears and back of neck. Ifyour skin is to go in pickle, it is best towrite this with pencil on a flat woodentag.

Making the Form

The first piece to get out is the pear-shaped neck board. This is to set in theback of the neck on an angle and shouldconsequently be a couple of inches larger

than the circumference of the neck at thispoint. For a medium-sized deer taken inthe hunting season, this will usually be justabout 24 in., so a neck board of 26 in.would be correct; these figures are notfixed and you must make yourmeasurements to correspond to your head.Make this neck board out of inch pineboard. The neck piece is made of twopieces of this board, about four incheswide, nailed together; the shield endshould be cut on about an angle of 45degrees. The length of this piece willdepend upon how long a neck you want onyour specimen. A medium length is thebest and the neck piece usually averagesabout 12 in. long, measured along the top(this is the shortest side). The back of theskull is chopped out with a hatchet to

accommodate the end of this neck piece,and the top end of the latter is rounded alittle to fit the shape of the skull. Thesketches show both these neck pieces andthe method of attaching the skull. The skullshould he nailed to the neck so that whenplaced upon the wall the bottom of theunder jaw will slant slightly downward.

You will notice in the plate on page150, that the nose of the skull has been cutoff just in front of the teeth, and that thereis no lower jaw. This method saves time,both in cleaning and mounting, for theprofessional who has many heads to mountbut is not necessary or advisable for theamateur. When mounting in this way wehave a mould and make a plaster cast toreplace the end cut off. The mould is madefrom a model and casts from the same

mould used on all deer heads, shavingthem down slightly for very small heads.Unless you are going to mount a greatmany herds it will he best for you to leavethe skull entire and build up the nose on it.The neck is formed of excelsior andtightly and smoothly wound witli string,keeping the desired form always in mindand being sure that both sides are even(that one does not bulge where the otherhollows). The plate shows the form readyto receive its final coating, .and this mayconsist of plaster, papier-mache or evenclay, but we do not recommend the latter.

The one that we illustrate is made withplaster; if you prefer papier-mache, theoperations will be the same; directions formaking this material are given in Chapter10. We describe the plaster methodbecause we believe it to be a little more

simple for the novice to master. The onlyadvantage in the use of papier-mache is inlightness, which amounts to little afteryour specimen is done and on the wall,and is more apt to shrink or warp underweather changes.

For use, plaster-of-paris is mixed toabout the consistency of cream, with

water. It hardens very quickly, so must beworked rapidly. We advise not mixingmore than a pint at a time until you areused to working it. Apply with a puttyknife or wooden paddle, evenly andsmoothly covering the whole neck. Youwill have to mix several lots before yourwork is completed, so quickly does itharden.

Model the nose to as nearly the size andshape of the original as you can, makingallowance for the thickness of the skin thatis to cover it. Have the eyes in readiness,and put a dab of plaster. each eye-socket;as soon as it commences to harden set one

eye in the center of each socket, being surethat they both slant the same way and thatthe pupils are horizontal. It is a neat pieceof work to get both eyes in exactly theright position. Usually you will have to doone of them over several times, until youget used to it. As soon as you have botheyes firmly and evenly planted, you canadd a touch of plaster above each,bringing it down so as to form a lid; alsobuild up all muscles and flesh on the faceto about their original form. Rememberthat the more evenly and smoothly youdistribute your plaster the less scrapingyou will have to do to finish it. A longcarving knife will be found very useful forsmoothing the plaster and scraping it toproper shape, after it is thoroughly hard.The nostrils, mouth and about the eyes can

be whittled into shape with the smallblade of an old jack-knife ; an opening hasto be cut for the nostril into which the skincan be tucked, and the same in regard tothe mouth. The cut on page 150 shows ahead all finished in plaster and ready tohave the scadp put on.

Re-laxing a Deer Scalp

If it has been pickled in your bath, itwill need no relaxing, just simple rinsing

in fresh water. If cured with salt, immersethe skin over night in a tub of water, beingsure that all parts are held beneath thesurface (a heavy board floating on thesurface of the water is the best means ofkeeping a skin entirely under). The nextmorning it will be limp and can be put intoa pail of luke-warm water, rubbing anyplaces that have not become thoroughlysoft, before doing so.

After soaking a couple of hours more,squeeze out as much water as you can,spread the skin on your bench andthoroughly apply arsenical soap to the skinside, and it is ready to put on.

Put the skin in position, pull it in placearound the horns and take a stitch back ofeach, to hold the skin in place, usingwaxed strong twine and a large three-

cornered needle. If you prefer, you canmake a hole with your awl on each edgeof the skin where it comes together, andwire them together with copper wire.Either method is equally good and we useone about as much as the other. You willneed only two stitches, or, at the most,four, since the skin along the back of theneck is to be tacked to the neck-piece,using inch flat-headed wire nails. (Thisshould be tacked about every inch alongboth edges of the cut). The skin is thendrawn evenly down and tacked on theedge of the neck board at intervals ofabout one inch.

The ears are each to have a piece ofsheet tin in them, cut to the shape and atrifle smaller than the ear. This is insertedbetween the skin on the back of the ear

and the cartilage and can be put in place atthis time from the outside or, perhaps itwill be better for the novice, before theskin is put on the head at all. The nostrilsshould be tucked in the cavities made forthem and a small wad of cotton pushed ineach to keep the skin in position. Theupper, then the under lips must be tuckedinto their recesses and pinned there, usingcommon pins for the purpose, drivingthem into the plaster with a tack hammer.The tear-duct should be in place and aflat-headed wire nail driven through it intothe skull, the head of the nail drawing theskin down and keeping it in the cavity inthe skull. The eyelids are to be carefullytacked into position and a great deal of thesuccess of your mount will depend uponthe artistic skill with which you can make

these little finishing touches. With a sharp-edged skinning knife now cut off thesuperfluous neck skin, cutting close to theneck board. The head is now rested uponits horns and a temporary board screwedon the back-board. This should be quite abit larger than the neck-board and shouldhave a large hole bored near the top edgeso you can hang the head up to dry.

The ear, which is already tinned, shouldbe bent into shape and held in position bydriving a straight, pointed piece of No. 10wire through its opening, the plaster, tow

and into the neck piece’. The wire is nowsharply bent over the upper edge of the earand pinched so as to hold the ear firmly.The natural position for the ears, that is,the one that makes the best and most life-like mount, is to have their top edge justtouching the under side of the horns; thisthrows the ears forward in a very attentiveor expectant manner.

Finishing the Head

Your specimen should be allowed todry for at least a week before doinganything further with it. and longer if yourroom is cold or damp. Cut off the pinsabout the mouth as close to the skin aspossible, and then, with a nail-set or an

inverted nail, drive them in so they willnot show. The pins about the eyes shouldbe carefully pulled out with a twistingmotion so as not to separate the skin fromthe eyes. If the lips have been properlytucked in, the mouth will need no furtherattention. Remove the cotton from thenostrils and smooth up the cavity, if itneeds it, with a little melted wax. Waxshould nlso be used to fill any crack thatmay show about the eyes. Brush the headup well, comb the hair on the neck, and itis ready to be put on its shield.

The shape of the shield and the materialof which it is made are entirely matters forindividual taste. Sketches on page 139show some common and artistic forms that

are used. Your dealer in supplies canprobably furnish you with shields or youcan have a cabinet maker make up yourown design.

Having the head on the shield, itremains but to paint the eyelids and tear-ducts dark brown and the muzzle black,when your work will be entirelycompleted. These directions may appearto be lengthy and to, at first glance, giveone the idea that mounting a head is a verydifficult piece of work. The contrary is thecase; it is easily done, but we believe thatexplicit instructions are better than toomeagre ones, and so have explainedeverything as fully as possible. As amatter of fact, anyone, by working hisbrains a bit. can go ahead and mount avery successful deer head by the aid ofthese accompanying illustrations alone.

Mounting Other Heads

The foregoing instructions are adaptedwithout change for mounting elk, moose,coribou, antelope. or any member of thedeer family.

Fur-bearing animals, such as bears,dogs, cats, etc., should have the hairthoroughly dried out in sawdust beforemounting. The Rocky Mountain Goat is theonly hair-bearing American animal thatrequires drying of the hair beforemounting.

This animal has fine, pure white hairand should be washed in soap and water,given a naptha bath and then dried byrapidly dusting dry plaster through thehair. The forms for all animal heads aremade the same,—out of wood, skull andplaster, or papier-mache.

Open Mouths

The head is mounted as alreadyexplained but of course we must make anartificial tongue. This is whittled to as truea shape as possible out of wood and thenwaxed. The wax should be melted and alittle color added, either oil paint or drypowder will do. It will then give thetongue a very natural appearance. Fastenthe tongue in place with wax also.

Bird Heads

These should have a wire firmly

attached to the skull when the skin isturned inside out, and the neck wound withcotton. Draw the wire down and attachfirmly to the shield and the neck featherswill spread out and form an attractivefinish.

CHAP. 5--TanningSkins

Every taxidermist has to know how tomake rugs, tan skins for boas, muffs, etc.For home decoration, where one fox ismounted probably twenty will be madeinto rugs and the proportion of largeranimals is even greater. The tanning ofbear, dear and coon skins by hand is alaborious undertaking, but it can be doneand done well. However we shouldadvise anyone having large work to sendit to a professional tanner, who has theproper machinery for breaking up thefibre.

We will first describe the tanning of afox skin and the making it into a rug. Otheranimals are done in just the same way, theonly difference being in the amount of

work necessary to make the skin soft andpliable.

Preparing a Skin for Tanning

Your fox may be freshly killed or, asmost often happens, it may be sent to youskinned and dried. In the latter case, itshould be split up the middle of the bellyto the chin, and across on the inside ofeach foreleg to the toes. Then immerse it,tail and all, in luke-warm soapy water andleave over night. In the morning it will bethoroughly relaxed, and should besqueezed out and thoroughly dried insawdust.

Mastiff St. BernardIf your fox is in the flesh, make a cut

from the chin to the root of the tail, anddown the middle of each leg to the toes;remove the skin and clean off’ all flesh orfat, either with the fingers or scissors. Itwill then be ready for stretching.

A skin for a rug may have the headmounted with an open mouth, showingteeth and tongue; it may be mounted with ahalf head, mouth closed; or it may be left

flat with no eyes in. If the head is to bemounted at all it should be done before theskin is stretched.

Mounting the Head

You can either use the natural skull oran entirely artificial head. Your dealer innaturalist’s supplies will carry in stock,papier-mache heads of either the half-heador open-mouth variety, and for most anykind of an animal.

If you wish to make the head yourself,clean the skull well, and dry it with thejaws set in the position you wish; it isadvisable not to have the mouth very wideopen. When the skull is well dried you cancover it with papier-mache, to replace the

flesh and muscles that formerly covered it.We would advise that you put the eyes inthe head as you model it. Remember theexcellence of your completed workdepends wholly upon the correctness ofform and symmetry that you give to thismodel. If you wish to make the rug with ahalf-head the skull would be not onlyuseless but a hindrance. The half-head thatyour dealer can furnish will be muchbetter for this purpose than any you couldmake, unless you went to the trouble ofmaking a mould and making the heads ofpaper, as he does.

With the head all made and dry, it is asimple matter to place the skin on it andpin in position. It is best to use short pinsaround the mouth and to drive them way

in, the hair covering the heads. Whenusing a ready-made head, you will usuallyhave to fill in a trifle over the eyes withcotton, and, of course, the glass eyes willhave to be set in, in putty, after you havethe skin tacked on.

Stretching Skins for Rugs

For this purpose you will need astretching board about three by four feet.You can make this by cleating boardstogether or you can use the side of a largebox. The board must be in a horizontalposition when the skin is tanning, so donot figure on using the side of the barn forstretching board. Lay the skin down onthis board, hair side down. and if the head

is mounted let it project beyond the boardso as not to flatten the ears. Drive a nail orwire through the back end of the mountedhead so as to hold it to the board in such away that its bottom will be about on thesame plane as the surface of the board.Next draw the base of the tail down as faras possible without unduly stretching theskin, and nail through the skin.

The skin should be tacked to the boardabout every inch around the edge; one inchflat-headed wire nails are the best for thepurpose. Stretch points on opposite sides

of the skin at the same time so that youmay get it even.

Pour tanning liquor (receipt for whichis given in Chapter 10) on the skin insmall quantities, rubbing it in with a wadof tow or excelsior until the skin is wellwetted with it. Then put the board awayand allow the skin to dry. The skin willturn white under the influence of thetanning liquor, which eats into the fibre soas to make it break up readily. Thefollowing day or at least in two days theskin should be dry.

American MagpieA single application of the liquor is

usually enough for a fox skin, while a dog,coon or larger animal may require two oreven three applications, letting the skindry between each, and rubbing it withsome blunt ended instrument, such as thesquare end of a file or even the end of astick of wood.

The skin can now be removed from theboard and the edges be trimmed with asharp scalpel. By brisk and continuedrubbing of all parts of the skin between thehands, the fibre may all be broken and the

skin made very soft and pliable. Thelonger it is rubbed the better the tan willbe, although fifteen or twenty minutesshould suffice for a fox skin that has beenproperly treated.

Lining the Skin

After the skin has been made pliable itcan be lined to suit the taste. Rugs areusually lined with two rows of felt, havingthe edges “Pinked.” Skins the size of a foxor small dog usually are entirely linedwith felt, while larger ones may have theun-derpart of the skin covered with denimand two rows of felt outside of this. Thecolor of felt to use must suit your owntaste; as a rule it is best to have the inner

row of felt a similar color to the skin as itgives the rug a larger appearance. Forfoxes we usually use black and old gold,or an olive green and old gold; the goldcoming next to the hair.

Fox Rug(Mounted with a half head and lined with two

rows of felt)For the outer piece of felt, you will

need a piece about eight inches larger thanthe skin is, exclusive of the tail, which isnot lined unless it has to be split in theskinning.

Lay the skin on this piece of felt andwith a piece of chalk mark around it aboutfour inches from the skin. Cut the insidecolor into four inch strips; these are

pinned to the other pieces, gathering it soit will turn all corners, and allowing abouttwo inches of the lower felt to show. It isthen stitched together either on themachine or by hand. The skin is nowsewed on with strong linen thread, sewingover and over all around the edge. Makeawl holes in the edge of the head atseveral points where it touches the feltand sew through these.

The iron to “pink’- the felt can beobtained at any hardware dealer’s. Thefelt is laid on the end of a smooth block (achopping block will do) and the irontapped through it with a hammer. Ofcourse this is to be done before the feltsare sewed together. Irons can be had toproduce various shapes, but the one weillustrate on this page is most commonly

used and most satisfactory. One that makesa scallop an inch wide will be the mostserviceable. A machine can be had fordoing this pinking, but it is quiteexpensive and hand work will sufficeunless you are going to make rugs by thehundred.

The tanning of deer, bear skins, etc.,can be done with this same liquor, but it ishard work and no taxidermist would wantto undertake it for the price that he can getit done at a tanner’s.

Such skins have to be pared and shaveddown fairly thin with a tanner’s knife (or asharp draw-shave will answer), beforestretching and applying the liquor.

Tanning Skins Whole

If a skin is to be used for a boa or issimply to be hung up for decoration, it isbest not to slit it down the belly; the cutshould be made across the abdomen anddown each hind leg, the skin then readilyturning inside out, from off the wholebody. Skins to be tanned this way shouldhave a board (for a fox about six incheswide and three feet long) with a slightlytapering end, inserted inside the skinwhile it is skin side out, and then draw the

skin down to make it as long as possibleand tack to the board at the root of the tail.It is then tanned the same as before.

Making Manikin for a Deer Head

CHAP. 6--MountingFish

In the days of the “old school” oftaxidermy, fish were regarded as the mostdifficult objects to “stuff.” In the presentday, most of the difficulties have beenovercome, but still a fish represents one ofthe “nicest” pieces of work that ataxidermist can undertake. A bird has itsfeathers and an animal its hair to hidedefects in the making of the body, but theskin of a fish will only serve to magnifythem. Years ago, fish were “stuffed” withtow and then sewed up; after that theywere sewed up and filled with sandthrough the mouth (we have seen some

very fair fish mounted by this method too); the next step was forming a body of twoand covering it with clay. This method islargely used today, but the results obtainedby most taxidermists are only awkwardcaricatures of the original, and far, far,from being satisfactory. In 1885 we firstintroduced the method of making a solidbody of wood, and we mount them thesame way to-day, without change. Othertaxidermists are gradually adopting thismethod, which is really the only one thathas ever been wholly satisfactory.

Caring For and PreservingFish

It frequently happens that you will seeor catch a fish that you would like tomount, yet you may be far from yourheadquarters. You can preserve the fishentire, for an indefinite period, but puttingit in a jar containing either an alcohol orformaldehyde bath. Directions for makingboth of these are given under theirheadings in Chapter 10.

If you make an accurate life-sizeddrawing of the fish, you can skin it andpreserve the skin either by salt or in thesame alcohol bath. It is much better,

however, to keep the fish wet until after itis mounted.

Skinning a Fish

There are two methods of exhibitingfish,— fastened on panels, showing oneside only, or elevated on a standard bymeans of two upright rods, showing citherside. We think the former is by far thepreferable. Both sides of a fish are exactlyalike; one mounted on a panel occupiesless space than if on a standard; and theopening cut does not show, for no one isso expert that he can cover it so it cannotbe seen. In either case the fish is skinnedthe same way, the only difference beingthat to mount on standards the opening cut

is made on the belly, from the tail to thepoint of the lower jaw. We will describeand illustrate the panel method.

Remember to always keep a fish wetwhile you are working upon it. Put a wetcloth on your bench and have a bowl ofwater and a piece of cotton with which tokeep moistening the fins, tail and scales.

The fins tear easily when drying and thescales fall out only too readily, so wemust exercise every precaution to preventthis.

You will need no sawdust or mealwhen skinning a fish; just water. Select thebest side of your fish, the one that has theleast blemishes, for the front and lay it on

the bench with that side down. A littleabove the middle of the side on nearlyevery species of fish, you will notice whatis called the median line; on some fish itreally looks as though the skin werestitched together along this line. Theopening cut is made along this line fromthe gills to the root of the tail. You willfind that you can do this most easily withthe scissors, by inserting one point underthe skin and cutting along the line.

A trout is the easiest and mostsatisfactory fish to mount, so we wouldadvise you to try your skill on one ofthese.

As a rule those fish are the easiest tomount that have the smallest scales,because the loss of a few scales is lessnoticeable, and this loss is very difficultto repair on any fish.

Lift the skin up along the cut, a little at atime. pushing or cutting the flesh awayfrom it.

On some fish the flesh separates fromthe skin easily while on others it has to becut away all over the whole body. With

the scissors, you will have to cut throughbony edge of the skin back of the gills,from the point where the median linemeets it to the apex under the lower jaw;then continue down around the bony edgeuntil you meet the median line on theopposite side of the fish (the front side).As you skin down the side of the fishtowards the belly the first obstruction youmeet is one of the pectoral fins, those thatare on the side of the fish nearest its head.Insert the scissors under this and cut it off.Do the same with the ventral fins, the twothat are located side by side aboutmidway of the belly of the fish. The nextfin that you will strike on the belly side ofthe fish is the anal (the large one near thetail) ; cut its bony connecting links asclose to the skin as possible, using care

not to cut through the skin. Do the same onthe back of the fish with what is called thedorsal fin.

You now have one-half the skin on the

fish clear from the body, and we trust thatyou have not forgotten to keep the wholeskin and fins wet during this time. Cutthrough the bony root of the tail until youcome to the skin on the other side, takingcare not to cut through that.

You now turn the fish over, with itsbody resting on the cloth and the loosenedskin spread on either side. Lift the tail upand gradually work the flesh away, turningthe skin carefully back so as not to disturbthe scales, until you reach the head.

With your large scissors cut rightthrough the backbone (inside the skin ofcourse), just back of the head; the bodywill then be free from the skin. Cleaningout the head is a slow undertaking. It hasto all be cut out with the scissors; bykeeping as closely to the skin as possible

you will be able to get out a fairly largechunk, including the eyes and what littlebrains a fish has. Most of it, however,will come out in very small pieces; keepat it until you have the upper part or thehead fairly clean. You can leave the lowerjaw in, but cut out the tongue and scrapeaway as much flesh as possible. Incleaning the head, look out for the teethwith which most fish are armed; they makesevere and painful scratches if you arecareless.

Wash out the cloth on which you havebeen skinning and lay it as smoothly asyou can on your bench. Spread the fishskin, skin side up, on it just as smoothly aspossible. Hold the skin firmly down with

the left hand to prevent slipping and, withthe blade of the scalpel, carefully scrapethe skin, getting off all particles of flesh orfibre that cling to it. Trim the fin bones offflush with the skin inside. You will findthat they can be dislocated on the woodenform; if this is not going to be done atonce, put the skin in a jar of water.

Making the Form

If you have a fresh, unskinned fish atyour workroom, you should always makethe wooden form for its body beforeskinning the subject. If the fish is alreadyskinned you will have to make the formfrom measurements.

Newfoundland CaribouLay the fish the most perfect side up, on

a piece of paper in the position that youwish to mount it. Mark carefully around itwith a pencil. Cut this paper out withscissors along the line.

Get a piece of straight-grained soft pinethe length of the fish from nose to root oftail and of a thickness equal to that of thefish in his largest part. Place the paperpattern on this block and mark around it.

By holding this block in a vise you canwhittle it into shape with a sharp draw-shave. The finished specimen should havethe tail laying in the same plane as theback side of the body, so you will curvethe body slightly, being sure that you curvethe right side so as to show the best sideof your specimen in front. We have seen abody made curved one way and then thefish opened on the wrong side whenskinned; be careful that you do not get intothis fix. The body must correspond inevery respect of form and measurement tothe fish as it lays on your bench.(Remember to keep the fish on wet cloth).It can be smoothed up with a spoke-shaveand then sandpapered. The head will wanta hollow groove cut in it where the lowerjaw-bone is located and a hole to come

beneath the eye hole in the skin. Give thebody a good coat of white lead paint andlet it dry while you are skinning the fish. Itwill be better if you keep the fish skin inwater and do not mount it until thefollowing day so as to give the paint achance to harden.

Of course, your paper pattern must bemade without regard to the fins and tail,and your wooden form is to be devoid ofthese appendages.

Putting the Skin on Form

You will still need the piece of wetcloth on your bench, and every few

minutes until your fish is completed, youmust wet the fins. Lay the form on yourbench, front side up. Place the skincarefully in position taking care that noflesh or foreign matter get between theskin and form to cause unsightly humps.Rub a little mixed clay on all the fin jointsinside the skin, after having carefullyturned the body over, in the meantimeholding the skin firmly from slipping on it.Draw the edges of the skin together andthey should just “meet, if the body wasmade just correctly; if they come within asmall fraction of an inch it will be allright, since the joint is not to show; stillthe careful workman will always see thatit does meet correctly and there is a greatdeal of satisfaction in having your workright.

Tack it along both edges of the cut,using ordinary small flat-headed tacks, (ifyou should have opened your specimen onthe belly you will have to tack it withcommon pins, cutting each off short afteryou have driven it in a short distance).

Put a thin layer of clay on the inside ofthe top and cheeks of the head; this isnecessary because it is impossible tothoroughly clean all particles from these

regions. Pin the apex, at the front ot thebelly-skin, in position between the gills,and draw these latter into their properplace and pin them there (driving commonpins through the bony structure into thewood, and afterwards cutting them offshort).

Pin the upper and lower jaws intoplace, the latter fitting in the hollow madefor it in the wooden form. Set the eyes inclay. You will notice that fish havedifferent eyes from any of the birds oranimals. The pupil is irregular and the irisoften colored with gold or silver. Yourdealer will probably have fish eyes instock; if not you can get. the uncoloredeyes, having only the pupil and color themyourself.

The pectoral fins of a fish are usually

carried at the side or out a little from thebody, so the one on the back side of yourspecimen will not show and can be pinnedto the side.

Screw a temporary board to the back ofthe fish; this will serve to protect the finsand to hang it up while drying. Thepectoral and ventral fins are held at the

proper angle from the body by driving apin through the base of each into the form.The pectoral, ventral, anal and dorsal finsare spread and held in position with astrip of ising-glass or mica on each side,clamping the two pieces together withwires.

The tail should lay flat against theboard; it should be spread and held with astrip of card tacked to the temporarypanel. Put your specimen where it will notbe disturbed until dry. Fish dry quicklyand if the room is of ordinary temperatureit should be dry in about two days.

Painting

When the fish is dry, you will find that

the colors-have nearly all faded, butprobably most of the markings will still befaintly visible. This is the best time topaint the subject, for in time even themarkings will entirely disappear.

It will be far preferable if, when youare ready to paint the fish, you can obtaina fresh one to refer to, as well as yourdrawing. At any rate, do not attempt tomount a fish without first making a recordof all the colors. You will find that youcan carry them in your mind perfectly aslong as the specimen stays bright; as hebegins to fade, so will his naturalappearance from your mind; when hiscolors have entirely gone, you will find, toyour sorrow (if you have no sketch) thatyour recollection as to its appearance isabout as blank as the skin of the fish.

All fish shade from darker on the backto light on the belly. Paint the back andsides of your specimen first, using thecolors very thin (use transparent oil

paint), so that the fish will not have a“painty” appearance; next put the groundcolor on the belly and blend it with that ofthe back and sides. If any of the scales areoff, you will have to outline them with afine brush.

You can now strengthen the markings onthe specimen, if it naturally has any, suchas stripes or spots. If the head is notperfectly smooth, wax it before paintingso as to make it so.

Having completed the painting, you willhave to let it dry about two days more;then you can give it a coat of good qualityvarnish. This will bring out the color andgive the glossy appearance a fish has onbeing pulled from the water.

When the varnish is dry, take the fishfrom the board, lay it front down on a soft

dry cloth: wax the opening cut and paintthe back, of course, paying the mostattention to those parts nearest the top andbottom of the fish, which may show whenit is on its panel. Let it stand until dry.

Finishing

A fish can be displayed to goodadvantage on either an oval or rectangularoak panel; or it can be placed in a hollowbox, with painted background and galssfront. The best method of displaying a fishfor house decoration is to put it under anoval, convex glass, with a paintedbackground and neat frame. This methodwill be the most expensive, but it makes adining-room decoration that cannot be

surpassed; a well-mounted and coloredfish is worthy of being so framed.

Mounting Large Fish

Fish not more than three feet in length,we always mount with solid woodenbodies. Fish of more than that length arebest done by making a wooden centerhoard, winding it with tow or excelsiorand covering with either plaster or papier-mache the same as in making a manikin fora large animal. This manikin, when dry,should have one or two coats of whitelead, the same as the wooden one.

Snowy Herone(With background reproduced from Nature)

CHAP. 7--ReptilesMost persons have a horror of snakes.

This dislike also is common among manytaxidermists, a great many of whom willrefuse to mount one, either because theydo not know how or are afraid to. Withfew exceptions, snakes are about asharmless creatures as we have. If one willlose sight of the fact that they are just“snakes’’ he will soon see that there are agreat many beautiful species. Themounting of them is difficult but they makea very interesting collection.

Skinning

A snake skins very easily; in fact, it ismuch easier to skin a snake than it is tokill it. Snakes, that is the majority of them,are useful creatures so do not kill oneunless you have use for it, and then do notsmash its head with a club or rock. Catchyour snake by pinning it to the ground witha stick so that you can grasp it by the neckwith the left hand; then kill it by forcingthe blade of your jack-knife into its mouthand severing the backbone just back of thehead, taking care not to cut through theskin.

Aside from the use of chloroform, thisis the most painless method of killing areptile; then it will take some minutesbefore all motion will cease.

A snake sheds its skin by breaking itabout the neck and then crawling out; youcan skin one in nearly the same manner, by

making a short slit on the throat and thendrawing the body from the skin, but thismethod loosens most of the scales on thebody and is to be strongly condemned.The only correct way to skin a snake is tosplit it the entire length of the under side,after which you can lay the skin back andeasily remove the body, without the lossof a single scale. The bony structure of thehead has to be cut out with the scissors.Poison the skin well with arsenical soap.

Mounting

If you have a freshly killed snake it ismuch better to make the body before youskin the specimen. You can then be certainthat it is exactly as it should be. Two

wires are used in a snake body, one fromthe head to the vent and thence out throughthe skin; this wire is usually the onlysupport needed and should be largeenough to sustain the snake in the positionthat you intend to place it in. The otherwire is twisted about this above the ventand continues on down to the end of thetail.

Wind this wire form with tow so as tobe slightly smoother than the specimen;wind it firmly and smoothly with the copsand bear in mind that the smoother you getthe body the better the finished work willbe. It must now be bent to approximatelythe shape that you wish the snake tooccupy. If it is to be coiled, have the coilsseparated so that you can get at it to sewthe skin on; they can then easily be closed

together without destroying the shape ofthe specimen. This tow body must besmoothly covered with either papier-mache or clay.

The snake is then skinned as describedabove and the skin very carefully put uponthe manikin. Of course the excellency ofyour work will depend entirely upon thebody you have made; the skin should justmeet the whole length. It must now besewed up the whole length, a tedious joband one requiring skill and a delicatetouch to avoid destroying the contour ofthe body. You can now fasten thespecimen on a temporary board by meansof the wire which projects from the vent,adjust the coils as you want them and seethat the whole body is entirely free fromhumps or hollows.

Prong-Horn AntelopeThe eyes for the specimen will have to

have vertical pupils. You can get theproper size of clear glass and color themyourself. They can be set in putty as soonas the specimen is mounted or if you donot happen to have the eyes on hand youcan put them in by softening the lids, atany time.

When the specimen is dry, the seam onthe underside should be waxed whereverit is visible and the specimen, especiallyif it was a bright colored one will have to

be retouched with oil paint for the colorfades a great deal on all serpents.

Another Method

The snake can be skinned as before andfilled with either sand or fine sawdust.Commencing at the tail, sew up a coupleinches, then fill this section with sand,pressing it firmly into a round shape; thensew up a couple inches more and so onuntil you have the entire specimen filledbut not “stuffed” beyond its originalproportions. When using this method it isbest to bend the body in position as youfill it, for it is difficult to bend itafterwards without destroying itssymmetry. If you wish, and we think it is

the better way, you can start a wire in thebody at the tail and keep it in the centerthe whole length.

This gives a great deal of firmness thatis often necessary. We consider the first

method to be by far the best, but have bothseen and done very satisfactory work byusing either. It is best to mount yourspecimen with the mouth closed until youhave become quite expert; it requires agreat deal of artistic talent to successfullymodel the interior of a serpent’s mouth.

CHAP. 8

Collecting andMounting Butterflies

and MothsA taxidermist is supposed to, and

should, know how to mount anything thatmay be brought to him.

Few collectors confine themselves tojust one branch; they should be familiarwith the members of other branches andknow what to collect and how to preserveanything they may come across. So a fewwords relatives to the collecting andmounting of various kinds of insects will

not be amiss in this volume.Butterflies and moths form very

beautiful and interesting collections. Ofcourse they are very fragile and, untilimprovements within recent years. thecaring for a collection has been a tryingjob.

Now with the Denton and Riker mounts,they can be collected with the assurancethat they will be safe from the ravages ofinsects and from breakage.

Collecting

We will not go into extensive

discussion of the many methods by whichinsects can be caught. The butterfly net isthe instrument most often used. The mostsimple form of net, that of a hoop of wire,covered with muslin or mosquito netting,and attached to the end of a stick is aseffective as any and can be made at homeby anyone. The hoop should be about afoot in diameter and the net should bagabout eighteen inches. Many forms offolding nets have been made. The mostserviceable one that we know of is onethat is made for a landing net forfishermen. You can find one at a sportinggoods house or at many hardware dealers.Of course the fish net has to be removedand a fine net bag substituted. It comeswith a short handle which may bereplaced with a longer one if desired.

This net folds into a package about an inchin diameter and a couple feet long, whilewhen open it is as rigid as a non-foldingnet. As soon as a fly is caught a slighttwist of the wrist will fold the bag overthe frame so as to imprison the insect inthe lower end.

Of course the most perfect flies arethose raised from cocoons or chrysalids;these can often be found on the ground orhanging to branches or rails. Often you can

get the worms or caterpillars and byfeeding them upon the leaves upon whichyou find them, they will usually transformt h e m selves into either cocoons orchrysalids from which the moth orbutterfly will later emerge.

Bright lights attract most moths and themost fruitful places in which to find theseare about arc lights on the outskirts of acity at night.

Killing Insects

All butterflies can readily be killed by

compressing the body, between the thumband fore-finger. directly under the wings;if care is used their feathers will not beinjured in the least. They can be pinchedright through the net before removing.Moths have large bodies and if treated inthe same way the juices would soil them.These are best killed with a drop ofnaptha or benzine on the head. This is alsoused for killing any kinds of bugs. Anyspecimen should be mounted as soon aspossible after killing with naptha for ithardens the joints much quicker than ifthey are killed in other ways. Many killtheir specimens by putting them in acyanide jar. The making and use of this isdescribed under the head of cyanide inChapter 10.

Mounting

With the mounts that are now used fordisplaying flies, it is unnecessary to havethe setting boards with a groove for theinsect’s body, such as were formerly used.Tack a piece of card to a smooth board;spread the wings of the fly and lay it, topdown, on this. Pin through the center of thebody into the board and stretch each winginto the proper position and pin it (withone pin close to the body).

In a correctly mounted, fully-spread flythe lower edge of the upper wings shouldform a straight line across on either sideof the body. All insects for a collection

should be mounted in this way. When youhave the wings spread, pin a strip of cardacross both the upper and lower ones.

The pin in the body may now becarefully drawn out and the antennae mustbe pinned evenly in front of the head. Theywill dry and be ready to put in the mountin a couple days.

The Riker mount is composed of cottonin a box, with a glass cover. The fly islaid on the cotton and the cover put on,this pressing the specimen firmly into thecotton and protecting it from moths orbreakage. A folded fly may be put in thesame mount with a spread one to showboth the upper and under sides; thechrysalids and mounted caterpillars aswell as the pressed plants that they feedupon are often also included, thus giving a

life history of the species. These mountslend themselves readily to manydecorative effects for wall ornaments, bycombining pressed flowers with brightcolored butterflies.

The Denton mount is made of plaster,with a depression in the center for theinsect’s body.

The fly is put in position with a touch ofglue under each wing and the cover glassput on and bound with paper. AnotherDenton mount has glass both front andback to show both sides of a fly. This isan excellent one for scientific study of theinsect.

Caterpillars and worms can bemounted as follows:

Squeeze the insides entirely out throughthe anus. It will probably require somepractice before you can be sure of doingthis successfully.

Insert the end of a straw or small tubein this opening and expand the skin withthe breath, at the same time holding itabove heat (a lamp will do) andcontinually turning it so it will dry evenlyand in the proper position. Take care notto stretch the skin or to get it near enoughto the heat to scorch it. The tube may beeither cut off short or removed. Manybright colored specimens will have to beretouched with oil paint as the colors arevery apt to leave.

CHAP. 9

Collecting andPreparing Eggs

Only a very few years ago thecollecting of bird eggs was a verycommon thing; scarcely a boy but had asmall collection. Fortunately this has beendiscouraged as well as prohibited by law,so that at present it is necessary to have apermit from the state to collect and thenonly for scientific purposes. Unless ourreader intends to make Ornithology orOology a special and permanent study, weentreat him not to start a collection of

eggs.

Such collecting is permissible and maybe beneficial to science if properly andconscientiously carried out.

In some parts of the country birds can

be found nesting at all seasons of the year,but, as a rule, the nesting season occurs inthe months of May, June and July.

For collecting eggs in the field, a smallsatchel, a fish basket or even a dinner boxswung over the shoulder with a strap, arethe best receptacles. Each egg must besnugly wrapped in cotton and carefully putaway in the box.

Wood Duck(The most beautiful of all ducks)

Single eggs are worthless; they must becollected in whole, original sets andusually the nest should be taken along withthem. One of the worst practices that everprevailed was the taking of a single eggfrom a nest. Nine out of ten of our wild

birds will immediately leave a nest if asingle egg is taken.

Eggs must be blown with but a singlehole, and that in the side, otherwise they

are of no value. Drills made expressly forthis purpose may be obtained of yourdealer in supplies. They have finemachine-cut burs on the head, which whenthe drill is rotated between the fingers,rapidly cuts a round hole in the side of anegg. An egg shell is very fragile and thedrill must be handled with the greatest ofcare. Sometimes it is best to start the holewith the point of a small pin. The contentsof the egg are easily removed by forcingair through this hole with a blowpipe. Theend of the pipe must never be inserted inthe egg. Simply blow the air through it,with the mouth, into the opening and thecontents will come out the same hole. Weconsider that any form of water or handblower is useless. Eggs must not becollected in any quantity sufficient to make

a water blower necessary and for a smallnumber of eggs at a time, your ownbellows are far better than any artificialones.

Sometimes eggs will be collected, thathave well formed young in them. Ofcourse, unless it should be some rarespecies, they should not be taken unlessthey are believed to be fresh. By usingcare a good sized chick can be removedwithout damage to the shell if you haveembryo scissors and a hook with which tocut it up. After you have the contentscleaned out of the egg, blow a mouthful ofwater in to rinse it out. Wipe it carefullywith a soft cloth and the egg is ready to bemarked for the cabinet.

Of course an egg the identity of whoseparents is unknown, is useless; so nevertake a set unless you know what it is, orsecure the bird to identify it by.

Eggs are marked with a soft blackpencil; each egg has to have the A. O. U.

No. of the bird, followed by the setnumber. Suppose you find one set of 3Blue Jays and two sets of 4 eggs each. Thefirst set would be marked 477 1-3, thesecond 477 1-4 and the third 477 2-4.Each egg of a set must be numbered withthe same set mark. A good form of datablank is shown in the marginal sketch onthis page. Each set of eggs must beaccompanied by a data such as this. Everyset of eggs collected should be entered onyour register of specimens collected andgiven its consecutive number on the datablank just after the heading “Remarks’’which is intended for the composition andposition of the nest. This register ofspecimens should be in one book or set ofbooks and every specimen you collectshould be entered under a consecutive

number regardless of whether it is beast,bird, fish or egg.

The matter of style of cabinet in whichto keep a collection of eggs depends uponindividual taste and the amount of moneyyou can put into it. Most collections are incases of shallow drawers, each set being

in a pasteboard tray, which also containsthe data, neatly folded. These trays are ofdifferent sizes but all of a uniform depth,3-4 in.

The following sizes are most often usedand they are such that they will fituniformly into the drawers, each sizeoccupying just twice the space of the sizenext smaller: 1 1-2x2; 2x3; 3x4; and 4x6;these sizes will accommodate most anyset. The eggs are safest laid in these trayswith no cotton packing whatever.

A better but more expensive method ofexhibiting an egg collection is to havethem in trays about two inches deep andwith a cover having a glass top. The eggsare set lightly in cotton and the glass holdsthem firmly in place; they can be handled

by anyone without danger of breakage.The best method, and also the most

costly, is to have the glass-toppedpasteboard boxes large enough to take inboth the nest and eggs. This of coursecalls for large boxes and very largecabinets. This last method is the oneadopted in the museum of Mr. J. E.Thayer, at Lancaster, Mass., whosecollection is one of the finest and mostcomplete in the country.

CHAP. 10

Tools and MaterialsUsed by theTaxidermist

HOW TO MAKE, OR WHERE TO OBTAINTHEM. HOW TO USE THEM

We do not want you to think that all ofthese following articles are absolutelyessential to the taxidermist. Until you getto be an expert you can get along with avery few of them.

We have endeavored to list inalphabetical order practically all the

things that any taxidermist will ever wish.Any materials mentioned in the text willbe found here, telling where to get them orhow to make them, and how to use them.

Alcohol

This is the chief ingredient of shellacand is used for thinning the same when itbecomes too thick for use.

One of the most important uses foralcohol is the preserving, entire, of smallspecimens. These may be taken out andmounted at any time, but specimens suchas snakes, lizards, fish, etc., are frequentlypreserved for exhibition in alcohol.

Deer Head(Turned sharply to left)

Many druggists sell adulterated alcohol;it should contain at least 91% of absolutealcohol which is recognized as pure. Foruse the alcohol should be diluted withone-third its bulk of water.

It is best to put it in large-mouthed glassjars, just a bit larger than your specimensrequire. Whatever the specimen you wishto preserve, it is best to first make a deepcut on the abdomen so the liquid will havefree action on their interior.

You can get alcohol at druggists andoften at paint stores, but you want grainalcohol and not wood, such as dealers inpaints most often use.

Alum

Powdered alum is often used by thetaxidermist. It is a hardening substance,that is, it will cause the skin of an animalto shrink and harden. It is used chiefly inthe “salt and alum” bath, which isdescribed under salt.

Arsenic

By this we do not mean the mineralarsenic, but the white powdered form(arsenious acid). This very necessaryarticle is Poisonous, taken internally or if

it gets in cuts or scratches, so it mustalways be handled with due caution andnever left where anyone else can get holdof it; it should always be plainly markedPoison. Its fumes are harmless and weknow of no case of poisoning exceptthrough gross negligence of ordinaryprecautions. It can be rubbed on the insideof a bird or animal skin in its dry form, butwe advise its use in the form of ArsenicalSoap. You can buy this already preparedof your dealer in taxidermists’ supplies oryou can make it as follows: Slice twopound bars of white soap into two quartsof water and boil until the soap is melted.Add two pounds of powdered arsenic andfour ounces of camphor, stirring the massto prevent its burning. Add water to makeit the consistency of cream, then allow it

to cool, stirring it occasionally to preventthe arsenic from settling. Apply it with anordinary. round stiff-bristled paint brushto any skin that you wish to poison. Anagate pail is the best in which to make thesoap; do not use any of the family cookingutensils. Keep it in cans, plainly labelled.Hard Soap is often used if you are tomake an extended trip. It is made just asbefore but is not thinned, so when it coolsit will be about the consistency of butter.This should be kept in tin boxes. It can beused by wetting the brush and working thesoap into a lather.

Arsenic Solution

This solution is often used to dip animal

skins into, to make them insect proof.It is made by placing 2 pounds of

crystallized arsenic and 1 pound ofBicarbonate of Soda in 4 quarts of waterand boiling until the ingredients havethoroughly dissolved. This solution shouldbe kept in a tight bottle and for use bediluted with four times its bulk of water.The skin may be entirely immersed in it orthe solution may be sprayed on the furwith an atomizer. This solution answersthe purpose very well, but we prefereither Corrosive Sublimate or a SulphuricAcid solution as described under theseheads.

Blowpipe

This is used for blowing bird eggs. It is

a brass tube with the end drawn out to afine point and slightly up-turned. The pointis not to be inserted in the hole in the egg,but held close to it, forcing the air in,which in turn, forces the contents out. Youcan obtain this from a naturalists’ supplydealer.

Bone Shears

These are large strong scissors capableof cutting through wing and leg bones oflarge birds.

Brain Spoon

This is a metal rod with the end forged

into a small scoop. It is used for removingbrains from the heads of birds or animals.A great many taxidermists use thisinstrument but we have always failed tosee any superiority in it over the blade ofthe scalpel or points of the scissors, andwe certainly would not advise having anyadditional tools unless there is somedistinct advantage to be gained therefrom.Your supply dealer will have them if youwish to try one.

Chain and Hooks

This is an article that most booksadvise and that some taxidermists use. It iscomposed of three stout hooks (notbarbed) each attached by a chain to a ring.

They are used to suspend the bodies ofpartly skinned specimens for the purposeof assisting in the operation.

A block and tackle with a good stouthook is useful when skinning largeanimals that are too heavy to handle, butthere are no birds in this country but whatwe should prefer to skin without the aid ofa chain and hooks.

When using this contrivance on birds,one hook is to go through the small of theback after you have skinned that far; thenwhen you reach the wings the other twoare brought into play. Your supply dealercan furnish them.

Clay

Potter’s clay is always a very usefuland often a necessary article for ataxidermist to have in stock. Many use itfor modelling the faces of animals and forreproducing muscles on the body and legs(for this purpose, in the majority of cases,either plaster or papier-mache arepreferable) while for the mounting ofreptiles it is indispen-sible. Clay comes indry lumps and is heavy, so if you have toorder it from a distance it is best to get aquantity and have it come by freight. Yoursupply dealer will have it, or if there is aniron foundry near, you can get it there. Foruse, clay is either broken up finely with ahammer or rolled out with a wooden roll.

Water is added in small quantities andmixed until the clay becomes stiff, so itcan be worked and moulded with thehands. It is best to cut up a small quantity

of tow, as finely as possible and stir thisin with the clay. This adds much to thestrength of the clay when it is dry.

Cops

For winding the plumage of birds aswell as for winding the bodies, nothing isas good as cops. This is fine, soft, cottonthread that is used for spinning in cottonmills. It is so fine that enormous quantitiesare wound on a small paper core. Itshould have a wire hooked into theprojecting end of the paper core, and besuspended from the ceiling over yourwork bench. Your dealer in supplies hasthese.

Cork Bark

This is a thick, but light, bark of a SouthAmerican tree. It is very useful in bothcommercial and ornamental taxidermy, forthe making of artificial stumps. It comes in

pieces up to as large as eight or nineinches in diameter and three or four feetlong. Your supply dealer will have it.

Corn Meal

Unbolted corn meal may be used inplaces of sawdust for taking up moisturewhen skinning specimens. It is necessaryto use this if the flesh is to be saved foreating, because it washes off easily whilesawdust sticks. Sawdust is much the bestthough for specimens whose meat is not tobe saved. Every grocery store keeps it.

Cortosive Sublimate(Bicloride of Mercury)

This is a poison, a solution of which isused for preventing the destruction ofspecimens by insect pests. To a pint ofalcohol is added one ounce of corrosive

sublimate (which is a white powder);shake it and then allow to stand for acouple hours. The powder will notentirely dissolve but you will have theliquid above it fully saturated with thepoison. Carefully pour this liquid off intoanother jar with an equal quantity ofwater. A skin may be immersed in theliquid and then dried or it may be sprayedon with an atomizer. Some taxidermistskeep a metal-lined box filled with finewhite sand saturated with this solution,and bury their skins to be poisoned in thisbox for twenty-four hours. Moths will nottouch a skin so treated.

Cotton

This is one of the necessities for the

taxidermist. It is used almost exclusivelyfor the filling, in making up skins, and forwinding the artificial necks of most birds.Ordinary cotton batting such as all drygoods stores sell is the best for thispurpose, and will answer all therequirements of the taxidermist. Absorbentcotton is the best for putting in the mouthsof freshly killed birds and for stopping upshot holes, but it is much more expensivethan the ordinary and the latter will do.

Cyanide of Potash

Is used in the making of cyanide jars forthe killing of moths and butterflies. Youshould have a wide-mouthed jar,preferably one with a ground glass

stopper for it is necessary to keep the jarclosely stoppered when not in use. Place alayer of the crystals in the bottom of thejar and cover them lightly with cotton. Cuta piece of card the size of the inside of thejar, and prick it full of pinholes, push itdown on the cotton and fasten with fourpieces of gummed paper at equaldistances around the edge. A butterfly ormoth placed in this jar succumbs in a fewminutes, and then should be transferred tothe collecting box.

Egg Drill

For drilling holes in birds eggspreparatory to blowing them. These, withfine machine-cut burr, can be procuredfrom your supply dealer. Eggs are blownthrough one hole in the side, and that holeshould be as small as possible.

Embryo Hook

Used for tearing to pieces and pullingembryos from bird eggs. An instrumentwith a fine hooked point.

Embryo Scissors

Very small scissors, being slenderwhere the two parts cross, so they willwork inside of small eggs. Of course the

hole is drilled much larger when a chickis in the egg.

Pileated Woodpeckers(One of the largest of the species)

Excelsior

Used for the filling of mountedspecimens more than any other material.You should get the finest possible,especially for small work.

You can get it of your supply dealer, atfurniture stores, mattress makers, at manygrocers or in fact any merchant who hasgoods packed in it.

Eyes

See Chapter 11 for sizes and styles of

eyes to use for birds, animals, etc.

Forceps

See tweezers.

Formaldehyde

A five per cent, solution of this (onepart formaldehyde to twenty of water)makes an excellent bath for preservingspecimens in the flesh. It is equally asgood as alcohol and costs but a fraction asmuch. You can get it at the druggists.

Glue

Glue has no end of uses for thetaxidermist, chief of which is probably inthe making of stands and rockwork forfinished specimens. Prepared liquid glueis all right for putting feathers in birds orpatches of hair on animals that needrepairing, but pulverized glue is much thebest for making bases. Yon can produce itof any dealer in hardware. It has to bemade in a glue-pot or double pail. Twolard pails, one that will go in the otherwith an inch all around, make an excellentglue-pot. A quart of water and half apound of glue (or in that proportion) areplaced in the small pail and this is set inthe large one, which must be half full ofwater. It must be heated on the stove untilthe glue melts. It should be of aconsistency to run readily but not be

watery. It is applied with a stiff-bristlebrush.

Glycerine and Carbolic Acid

Solution

By means of this solution, specimensafter having been skinned can be kept forseveral months in a soft state, and requirelittle or no further relaxation beforemounting. It is very useful for a busycollector on a long field journey as itsaves him much time and the skins can bepacked flat thus saving a great deal ofroom.

The solution is made of 2-3 glycerineand 1-8 carbolic acid. It should bethoroughly applied with a soft brush toevery part of the inside skin of yourspecimen. If you are careful you can coverthe inside of the skin and get none on thefur or feathers; even if you do no harm is

done but you will have to wash it offbefore mounting. A skin prepared in thisway should have a piece of wet cottonplaced inside the night before you wish tomount it. The feet should also beimmersed for they will become hard.

Grasses

You can get various kinds of dried andcolored grasses of your supply dealer.These are used on bases and in makingnatural surrounding for case work asdescribed in Chapted 12.

Icicles

You can buy these ready made of your

supply dealer or you can make themyourself as follows:

Get several pieces of glass tubing,ranging in diameter from 1-4 to 1-2 in.from your druggist. You will need aBunsen burner (if you have gas in thehouse, if not an alcohol lamp will do) anda piece of number 14 wire. The lattershould be cut into four-inch pieces. Heatthe end of one of the tubes and also theend of one of the wires in the flame at thesame time. When both are red hot, you canunite them firmly by twisting the wire inthe red hot tube; let this cool a bit, then putthe tube in the flame again at a point aninch or more from the wire according tothe length that yon wish to make the icicle;as the glass begins to soften pull gently onthe wire and the cold end of the tube, and

the glass will commence to stretch.By removing the tube slowly along

through the flame, away from the wire,you can draw it down smaller and smallerand finally terminate it by melting theglass entirely off. A little practice willenable you to make these quickly andnaturally

They are attached to branches orrockwork by the wires. See Snow Scenesin Chapter 12.

Leaves

See under Foliage in Chapter 12.

Leg Drill

This instrument is often useful inmaking holes in the legs of dried skins soas to allow the wire to pass through whenmounting.

You can buy these of your supply dealeror make small sizes out of knittingneedles. Get an awl handle at thehardware store; heat one end of the needlered hot, then flatten it on a flat or any ironsurface with a hammer. Hold the needlefirmly in a vise and drive the awl handleon the flattened end. The other end can be

sharply pointed with a file.

Mica Flakes

This is very finely flaked white mica;used commonly in making snow scenes.See Chapter 12. You can get it of yoursupply dealer.

Moss—See under foliage in Chapter12.

Naptha

One of the most useful articles for thetaxidermist. Used for removing greasefrom the skins, feathers or fur ofspecimens before mounting; the best agentfor cleaning old mounted birds; for killing

moths or dermestes, that may haveinfected specimens, and for killingbutterflies and moths for the entomologist.You can get it at a druggist or a dealer inpaints. It is very inflammable and must notbe kept or used near a fire or light.

Napthaline Flake

It is well to sprinkle the bottoms of all

drawers containing skins with this, aswell as to pack it in plentifully with skins,furs or mounted specimens that are boxedfor storage. Moths dislike its odor andrarely touch the contents of a boxcontaining it. Druggists keep it.

Needles

Ordinary needles you will of course getfrom dealer in dry goods. Three-corneredstraight or curved needles are the best forsewing up either birds or animals as theedges of the point cut through the skinmuch more readily than a round point will.You can get these of your dealer insupplies.

Paint

Many colors and kinds of paints areuseful to the professional taxidermist, forcoloring bird’s feet and bills, fish, andespecially for making rock work andstumps. Anyone can get along very nicelywith the following oil paints which comein tubes: Chrome yellow medium, chromegreen, ivory black, flake white,vermillion, VanDyke brown, Prussianblue and burnt sienna. With these colorsyou can obtain any shade that you maywish. A little dab of each color that youwish to use is squeezed on a clean pieceof glass. Dip your brush into a jar ofturpentine and then into the paint.

Papier Mache

Has as many or more uses than anyother material used by the taxidermist. It isvery inexpensive, very strong and, whendry, very light. You can make it as

follows: Tear several newspapers into assmall pieces as possible , and bear inmind that the cheaper the paper the betterpulp it will make; do not use a glazedpaper. Soak these in warm water for twoor three hours then rub the resulting pulpbetween the hand until no recognizablepieces of paper are left. Squeeze itpartially dry and crumble into anotherdish; add sufficient melted glue (preparedas described under that head in thisChapter) to form a very sticky mass whenstirred with a putty knife. Add whiting andwork the mass between the fingers until itbecomes smooth, with absolutely nolumps and only slightly sticky to the hands.It should be used as soon as possible aftermaking and you should make no more thanyou wish to use for it only keeps a day or

two before becoming too hard to work.You can apply it wherever wanted with aputty knife or wooden paddle and shape itwith the fingers. It is used for coveringskulls for open mouth heads for rug work;covering the skull and neck for mountingdeer heads, etc.; repairing broken bills orlegs of birds; for rock and stump work. Asit dries exceedingly hard it should be leftin just the shape and degree of smoothnessthat you wish before setting the workaway to dry.

Pinking Iron

An iron instrument having a sharp-toothed edge for cutting through felt orcloth to make a scalloped edge. Hardwaredealers keep them in stock.

Pliers

You can get any size pliers or pinchersthat you wish at your hardware dealers.See under Wire Cutters for the best kind.

Pins

While sharpened wires will answer forpinning the wings of any birds, pins are

more convenient. For small birds numbers2 and 6 Insect Pins are the best. (Theseare longer and more slender than commonpins) ; for large birds Taxidermists Pinscan be used. (These are about 2 1-2 inchesin length). Either kind can be obtainedfrom your dealer in supplies.

Plaster

Has many uses in the art of taxidermy,chief of which are the covering of manikinfor mounted animals and heads, and fordrying the plumage of birds. For the firstpurpose it is mixed with water insufficient quantity to make it of theconsistency of cream, and then applied tothe subject with a putty knife as soon as it

commences to harden. It hardens within afew minutes and consequently has to beworked very rapidly. You can get it at adealer in paints, a grain store or often athardware stores; call for plaster-of-paris.

Putty

Is used chiefly for the setting of the eyes

in finished specimens of birds. Get it at apaint store. If it gets too soft, so as to besticky or oily, add whiting; if it gets toohard to be worked, add boiled oil. Both ofthese materials you get at the same place.

Sand

You can get mica sand or shell sand ofyour dealer in supplies. Grits, such asgrain dealers keep for chickens, makes agood sand with which to cover bases.When ground fine it imitates granite verywell.

Saws

Of course every home or shop should

have an ordinary hand saw. A taxidermistshould have a meat saw for cutting throughskulls of large animals and a hack saw forsawing off iron rods for mounting largeanimals. If your work is confined to birdsyou will need only the hand, wood saw.

Salt

Common table salt is used forpreserving skins after they have beenremoved from the animal and wellcleaned. If well rubbed with salt anddried they will keep indefinitely and canbe mounted at any time.

Salt and Alum Pickling Bath

This bath is used by most taxidermistsfor picking deer heads and keeping themsoft until ready for mounting.

It is made as follows: To every gallonof boiling water add 3 ounces of alum andeight ounces of table salt. Stir until theingredients are entirely dissolved thenallow it to cool and put in large earthenjars, or if you have a large number of

skins, in a lead-lined wooden tank. Itshould be kept covered as it loses itsstrength if exposed to the air. Skins kept inthis will be in condition to mount at anytime, even years after they were taken.

Sawdust

This is the best material to use whenskinning birds or animals, to take up bloodor moisture and prevent soiling of thefeathers. Corn meal is best if the specimenis to be eaten, but for other cases it cannotcompare with this.

Fine hard-wood sawdust is the best; ifyou cannot get that any fine quality willdo. Get it at any wood-workingestablishment where they use power saws.

Scalpel

This is the usual surgeons scalpel; afinely tempered blade in a thin ebonyhandle. It is the best possible knife forskinning small or medium sizedspecimens. Your dealer in supplies willhave them.

Skinning Knife

A much larger knife than the last, usedfor skinning large animals or cutting offthe back of the skulls on birds. Yourdealer can furnish you with one.

Scissors

All scissors used by taxidermistsshould have sharp points on both jaws. A

medium sized pair (about 8 in. in length)is suitable for most bird work, and aheavy pair of bone shears is very usefulfor disjointing and cutting through bonesof wings and legs. Your dealer can supplyboth kinds of best quality steel.

Ruffed Grouse(Under convex glass; painted background)

Shellac

Is used for painting over stands afterthey have been sanded. It fixes the sandmore firmly in place so it will never falloff. It also brings out the color of paintmore strongly and adds gloss if wanted.

Stuffing Forceps

These forceps have very long jaws andscissor handles. They are useful forputting cotton in the necks of long-neckedspecies. One twelve inches long is themost useful. Your supply dealer keepsthem.

Tanning Liquors

To make, use: Water, 1 gallon; salt, 2pounds; alum, 1-2 pound; sulphuric acid, 1ounce. Mix these thoroughly, adding theacid the last. This acid is poison, andburns clothes as well as flesh so becareful in using it. Keep the liquor inclosely stoppered bottles. Its use isexplained in Chapter 5.

Tow

Is finer than excelsior and is better for

making bodies of small birds and for thenecks of large ones. Oakum, on account ofits tar odor, which is offensive to insects,is better than the common tow, but costs atrifle more. You can obtain either of yourdealer in supplies.

Tweezers

These instruments are indispensable forthe taxidermist. A small pair with sharppoints is best for picking over andsmoothing the plumage of birds. Yourdealer can supply you or you can often getthem of a hardware dealer.

Wax

This is very useful for finishing aboutthe eyes and mouths of large animals, andon fish and reptiles. The white wax is thebest. You can get it of a druggist. For use,melt it in a tin, over a fire or lamp; use asmall tin cover and only melt the quantityyou wish to use; when melted stir in a dabof paint, the color that you want. Thecolors most used are black or vermillionand white. You can apply the melted waxwith a small stick, wire or brush.

Whiting

Is used for hardening putty that is toosoft or sticky; in making papier-mache; formixing with glue-water to make white for

winter scenes; and to rub on skins afterhaving tanned them to make them whiterand softer. Any dealer in paints will havethis.

Wire

See Chapter 11 for sizes of wire fordifferent subjects.

Wire Cutters

The best kind of cutters that you can getare Parallel Pliers with cutters attached.These give a double leverage so as to cutwire easily and also are the best pliersmade. They have an opening through thehandle that will allow a No. 10 wire to

pass through, so by using a sharp wire itserves as an excellent leg-drill. Yourdealer in supplies or a hardware dealerwill keep them.

CHAP. XI

Sizes and Colors of Eyes---Wire

Glass eyes are used to replace the,natural ones in all mounted work. You canget eyes of any dealer in naturalistssupplies. We can recommend the goodssold by those mentioned in the last fewpages in this book.

The eyes of different specimens varyvery greatly in size, color and shapes ofthe pupil. All birds have a round blackpupil and a uniformly colored iris;animals may have a round, elongated or

vertical pupil and usually have the irisveined; fish have an irregular shapedpupil and the iris gold or silver withdarker streaks.

For convenience, dealers list eyesunder three styles: Style 1 has the pupilround and the iris any plain color or evenclear glass. These are used for all birds.Style 2 may have a, round or elongatedpupil and has the iris veined. Style 3 is thesame as Style 2 but has white corners.Either 2 or 3 are used for animals.

Of course you should note the color of aspecimen’s eye before you skin it and getone to correspond; we give the followinglist of eyes suitable for a great manyspecimens. It will prove of assistance ifyou are mounting from skins and do notknow what eyes the bird should have. The

diagram gives the sizes and shapes of thedifferent styles. Your dealer will send youa price list. All black eyes are muchcheaper and are often used for small birdsand squirrels where the natural eyes aredark brown.

NO.

1. Brown—Hummingbird; Bats.2. Brown (or black)—Small Sparrows;

Warblers ; Chickadees; Mice.3. Brown (or black)—Large Sparrows;

Vireos.4 and 5. Brown—Orioles; Bluebirds;

Swallows; Blackbirds; smallestSandpipers, Weasel.

6 and 7. Brown—Robins; Jays;Meadowlark; Shrikes; most Woodpeckers;C h i p m u n k . Red— Red-belliedWoodpecker; Anhinga. Yellow— LeastBittern, Rusty Grackle.

8 or 9. Brown—Crow; Partridge(Quail); Mallard; Scaup; Teal; Widgeon;Sparrow Hawk; Pigeon Hawk; Mink; RedSquirrel; Skunk; Rats. Yellow—Sharp-shinned Hawk; Pileated and Ivory billedWoodpecker; Hooded Merganser;Redhead (orange); Golden-eye; Snowy,Green, and Little Blue Herons ;

Bufflehead. Red—Glossy Ibis; Canvas-back; Red-breasted and AmericanMergansers; Louisiana Heron. Green.—Cormorants. White— White Ibis.

10 or 11. Brown (or hazel)—Broad-wing Hawk; Grouse, Woodcock; Gray andFox Squirrels. Yellow—Hawk, Acadian,

Long and Short-eared Owls; CooperHawk; Bittern. Blue-White —Flamingo.

12 or 13. Brown—Geese; Red-shouldered and adult Red-tail Hawks;Duck and Rough-leg Hawks; Raccoon.Yellow—Young Red-tail Hawk; Herringand Black-backed Gulls. Red—WoodDuck; Wood Ibis; Goshawk.

14 or 15. Brown—Golden and youngBald Eagles; Rabbits and Hares. Yellow—Adult Bald Eagle; Screech and Great GrayOwls; Fish Hawk; young Night Heron.Red—Adult Night Herons; Loons.White—White or Brown Pelicans.

16 or 17. Brown—Foxes and smallDogs; Bear. Black (or blue-black)—Barred Owl.

18 to 20. Brown—Dog, Wolf, Grizzly.Yellow—Horned and Snowy Owls; Lynx.

22. Small Deer; Panther.24. Large Deer; Tiger (yellow).25 to 27. Elk and Moose; Mountain

Sheep (pale brownish white) ; Caribou.

Approximate Sizes of Wire toUse

For taxidermy work you should alwaysuse annealed wire. If you cannot secureanything but spring wire yon can anneal itby heating red hot and allowing it to coolgradually. It will be most convenient tobuy wire of your supply dealer, cm andstraightened. If you buy it in coils, you canstraighten any size up to number 12 asfollows:

Fasten one end firmly in a vice, or bendit about a hook or a nail driven in thefloor; reel off a piece about ten feet long,cut it and grasp the end firmly in thepliers. Pull and as soon as it stretches a

bit it will remain straight. It should then becut into 18 in. lengths as this is the mostconvenient length to handle. The followinglist will give you an idea of what sizesyou will need. The sizes as given are forthe leg wires of birds; except in the caseof long-necked birds the neck wire can beone or two numbers smaller in size thanthe leg wires.

No. 26. This fine wire will come upona spool; it is used for Hummingbirds,small Warblers and Titmice.

No. 24. You can get this either on aspool or in coil; use it for Warblers,Sparrows, Vireos and birds of like size.

No. 22. Suitable for Finches, Thrushes,Bluebirds, and Flycatchers.

No. 20. Small Sandpipers, Kingbirds,Grosbeaks, Orioles.

No. 18. Terns, large Sandpipers andPlover, Quail, Jays, Flickers, Robins,Grackles, Thrashers, Rats and Chipmunks.

No. 16. Yellowlegs, Black-belliedPlover, Doves, small Owls, Kingfishers,Mink, Red Squirrel.

No. 14. Long, Short-eared and BarnOwls, Grebes, small Gulls, Coots,Hooded Merganser, Teal, Bufflehead,Ruddy Duck, Grouse, small Hawks,

Crow, Gray Squirrel.No. 12. Large Owls, Hawks, Ducks,

Gulls, Night Heron, Bittern, Skunk,Muskrat, Opossum, Woodchuck.

No. 10. Loon, Goose, Blue Heron,Spoonbill, Osprey, Wood Ibis, Raccoon.

No. 8. Flamingo, Pelicans, Eagles,Wild Cat, Fox.

American Elk(Large mammals are mounted over a papier-

maclie covered manildn)No. 6. Swan, Sandhill and Whooping

Cranes, Wild Turkeys.

1-4 in. rod for large Dogs, Wolves,Fawns.

1-2 in. rod for Deer, Caribou, Ostrich.5-8 in. rod for Elk and Moose.If you are in doubt at any time as to

what size wire to use for a specimen, usethe largest size; do not have your finishedspecimen “wabbly.”

Large birds with spread wings shouldhave a size larger wire than the same birdfolded; the wings can have a size smallerwire than the legs. The tail wires shouldalways be a couple of sizes smaller than

the leg wires.

CHAP. XII

Stands, Stumps, Rock,Foliage Etc.

Stands for specimens intended asornamental or decorative can be made asfancy as you wish. If you are making ascientific collection, either have all thespecimens on severely plain mounts or, ifyou have plenty of room, try to make yourcase work so near natural as to defydetection.

A large collection of birds looks verywell mounted on plain T perches for theperching birds, and flat boards for allothers; the stands being all uniform leavenothing to attract the attention from the

specimens, which of course are the mainobjects of a collection.

Our preference for a scientificcollection is to have each group (male,female and young) on one stand, either astump or suitable twig rising from a round,white base with no foliage. On followingpage is a group taken from our collectionof Worcester County Birds. If you have anabundance of room it is well toincorporate the nest and eggs and naturalsurroundings for each group.

The same is true of a collection ofmammals; either mount them severelyplain or take the space to properlyrepresent the group of each species withits surroundings.

T Perches.—These are the simplest formsof stands. You can easily make them out ofround doweling and pine stock ofthickness to correspond to the size. Themethod of construction can be plainly seenon the marginal sketches opposite this.These can be left in a rough state fortemporary perches or can be finished adead white color for museum purposes.

Turned T Perches .—These are turned,usually out of hard wood; on a lathe andfinished with shellac and oil at the sametime. These make excellent stands forhawks and owls, and are often used onbirds for house decoration rather than thenatural stumps. The sketch opposite thisshows a good form for a turned stand.

Flat Stands.—Can be made of hardwood and polished or of soft wood eitherpainted or stained. The edges should bebeveled.

Black-poll Warbler(An excellent method of mounting for

museum exhibition)Artificial Stumps, Rocks and

Groundwork.— This work is a good testfor your skill and patience. You can makeyour work crude or a very good imitationof Nature, according to the degree ofperfection you have attained or the timeyou care to put into it. Stumps, rocks andgroundwork are made in the same way, theonly difference being in the shapes and thefinal finish.

Make the bottom board of soft wood ofa proper size to accommodate thespecimen for which it is intended, and

bevel the edges. If the feet of yourspecimen are to be upon the top of therock or stump you must make an uprightand crosspiece of wood in the properplace. The marginal sketches oppositeillustrate the method of making a standsuitable for an eagle, heron or duck. It hasone crosspiece in the middle, this beingintended for the reception of the wires inthe specimen’s legs. Any other prominentelevations may have a block of wood tosupport the wire mosquito netting that is tobe tacked over the frame and along theedges of the base. This frame can bedented to make a rock of any shape or tomake an uneven ground. If you are makinga stump, of course the wire will be bentaround your upright piece in a circularshape.

Mix a batch of papier-mache (seeChapter 10) and squeeze it into the wiremesh leaving the outside rough or smoothas your subject may call for. A stumpshould have a few knots and brokenbranches fashioned on it with the papier-mache and the whole exterior should begrooved to represent the bark, this beingdone with a piece of wire or wood.Rockwork may have fine granite or micasand sprinkled over it and lightly pushedinto the papier-mache or it may be paintedto imitate rocks after it is dry. A stumpmay be painted when dry or it may havemosses and litchens glued to it.

Artificial Trees and Branches .—Weprefer to use natural branches when theycan be obtained of the right shape for ourneeds, but it is often necessary to build

artificial ones, especially for decorativepurposes. A tree may be made for a singlebird, or as we have often done, it may bemade to fill a case six feet in height and toaccommodate several hundred birds.

We will describe the making of a smallbranch suitable for a single Bluejay. Thesketches opposite illustrate the method ofmaking. Bore two awl holes, 3-4 in. apart,in the middle of your beveled base board;take an 18 in. piece of No. 16 wire andbend it back so one arm will be about 5in. and the other 13; insert this through theholes in the base from the bottom andtwist the wires together above the base forabout 3 in., and bend as in Fig. A, twistinga shorter piece of wire on to make theother two branches. Fig. 2 shows themethod of winding the tree with strips of

cloth and the way to fasten the artificialleaves upon it; the last turn of the clothabout the end of the limb should enclosethe wire stem of the leaf and the cloth befirmly tied to the wire with thread. Thetrunk of the tree may have to have severalstrips wound on to make it of a propersize; on large trees, the trunk is usuallywound with tow, before using the cloth. Atthis stage the tree may be painted withglue and covered with ground litchens, or,and this is the better way, you can coverthe trunk and larger limbs with papier-mache and when dry, color this toresemble the tree it is intended for. Entirecollections should never be placed uponthese artificial trees as they are suitableonly for commercial or decorativepurposes.

Artificial Leaves and Ferns.—You canbuy these already made of your dealer innaturalists’ supplies. They come put up ingross lots. If you have a couple of

varieties of small ferns and some smalloak, maple and elm leaves, and perhaps afew aquatic leaves it will answer mostrequirements that you will have forartificial foliage. Leaves, ferns andgrasses can be made out of heavy,starched cloth such as is used for windowcurtains; cut pieces the exact shape andsize you wish the leaves; glue a piece ofNo. 26 wire the whole length on the backof the leaf and let it extend beyond to forma stem; wax the leaf and the wire on theback of it; by laying the leaf on a softboard you can make the proper creasesand veins with a wire or stick; you mustnow paint the leaf its natural color; afterhaving been fastened to the branch thewire must also be waxed and painted.

Deer Head(Mounted very obliquely on a rustic panel)

Natural Leaves.—Some kinds ofleaves can be preserved for casedecoration by drying them in a box of sandand painting them their natural colors.

These will be very fragile and should notbe used except under glass. Dried grassesand rushes, when properly colored makeexcellent case decorations.

Moss.—Lichens and tree mosses of allkinds dry well and can be used eitherdead color or dyed pale green. Yoursupply dealer will probably have Frenchmoss and dyed lace moss for sale.

For case decoration it is well to alwayshave on hand a supply of dead leaves,chestnut-burs, twigs, etc.

Winter Scenes.—After a stump, rock orpiece of groundwork is made, aspreviously described, it can readily bemade into a snow scene as follows:—

Dissolve 1 ounce of pulverized glue in 1pint of boiling water and add 4 ounces ofwhiting. As soon as this is cool it is readyfor use; wherever you want snow on thebase, paint it with this whiting and gluemixture and then sprinkle on a few flakesof Mica Flakes. The foliage and grassesmay also have touches of this snow andyou will have a very frosty stand; icicles,made as described in Chapter 10, can beattached to rockwood or stumps.

CHAP. XIII

Prices for MountingSpecimens

There are no fixed prices for taxidermywork but those of expert taxidermists forthe best of work will average about thesame all over the country. The followingschedule of prices is averaged from oursand other leading taxidermists.

We have frequently seen specimensmounted for half these prices or less, buteven that was more than they were worth.If you are going to do taxidermy, make upyour mind to become an expert, do thebest work and get paid accordingly.

Birds

$1.25.—Hummers, Warblers, Sparrowsand other birds up to the size of aBluebird. The same birds with spreadwings—$1.50.

$1.50.—Jays, Robins, Flickers,Blackbirds, Meadowlark and others ofsame size. Spread— $1.75.

$1.75.—Kingfisher, Sharp-shinned,Sparrow and Pigeon Hawks, AcadianOwl, large Plover, Bob White,Woodcock, Petrel, Common Terns, etc.Spread, $2.00.

Moose(A plain, oval, oak shield makes an excellent

mounting for any head, and especially forlarge ones)

$2.00.—Grebe, Guillemot, Coot,Doves and Pigeons, Screech and Hawk

Owls, Paraquets, Pileated Woodpeckers,etc. Spread, $2.25.

$2.50.—Puffin, Murre, Laughing andBonaparte Gull, Green and Little BlueHeron, Spruce Grouse, Cooper andBroad-wing Hawks, etc. Wings spread,$2.75.

$3.00.—Kittiwake and Ring-bill Gulls,Green and Blue-wing Teals, Snow andLouisiana Herons, Ptarmigan, Grouse,Red-shouldered Hawk, Long and Short-eared Owls, etc. Wings spread, $3.50.

$3.50.—J aegers, Calif. Gull,Heermann Gull, Caspian Tern,Shearwaters, Anhinga, Shoveller, Ring-neck and Old Squaw Ducks, White andGlossy Ibises, Bittern, Night Heron,Prairie Hen and Sharp-tail Grouse, Marsh,Gos, and Red-tail Hawks, Barn andBarred Owls. Wings spread, $4.00.

$4.00.—Herring Gull, CrestedCormorants, Mallard, Redhead,Canvasback and Scoter Ducks. Spread,$4.50.

$5.00.—Loons, Black-backed Gull,Booby Cormorant, Tropic Birds, EiderDuck, Brant, Spoonbills, etc. Wingsspread, $5.50.

$6.00.—Gannet, Brown Pelican, Man-of-war Bird, Geese, Blue Heron, etc.Spread, $6.50.

$10.00.—White Pelican, Eagles,Flamingo. Spread, $12.00.

$12.00.—Swan.

Animals

$1.50.—Mice, Moles, etc. $2.00.—Rats, Chipmunk, Red Squirrel, Weasel.$2.50.—Gray Squirrels. $4.00.—Woodchuck, Muskrat, Opossum. $8.00 to$12.00.—Coons, Foxes, Wild Cat. $l.-

).00 to $25.00.—Dogs, Coyotes andWolves. $25.00 to $75.00.—Leopards,Sheep, Goats and Deer.

Heads

Deer, $10.00 to $15.00; Moose, $25.00to $35.00; Caribou, $15.00 to $25.00; Elk,$25.00; Sheep and Goats, $15.00 to$25.00.

Miscellaneous

Fish, from $5.00 up, reckoning about adollar a pound up to fifteen pounds.Reptiles, from $5.00 up.

CHAP. XIVList of Birds of North America,

together with a fair valuation of the eggs,skins and mounted specimens of each.

This list is carefully prepared so thatour readers may have a basis for exchangewith collectors in other parts of thecountry. The values as given are for firstclass specimens; of course other than firstclass ones have very little value anyway.

The numbers before each name arethose given to the different species by theAmerican Ornithologists’ Union andshould be used in marking eggs. Wherethese numbers are in brackets, it signifiesthat the bird can hardly be calledAmerican, and it has occurred but once or

twice and probably by accident.A star following the price of the egg

means that the price is for Europeancollected specimens. In such casesAmerican eggs of the same species wouldbe higher.

INDEXAlcohol 185Alum 187Animals, Skinning 93Animals, Mounting Small 100Animals, Mounting Large 105Animal Heads, Mounting 121Arsenic 187Arsenical Soap, How to Make 188Arsenical Solution 189Artificial Rocks, Trees, etc 220Bird Eggs, Preparing 179Bird Skins, Making 88Birds, Skinning and Mounting 52Brain Spoon 190Butterflies, Mounting 173Caring for Specimens 27

Carrying Game 28Chain and Hooks 190Cleaning Feathers 87Clay 191Collecting 187Cops 191Cork Bark 193Corn Meal 193Corrosive Sublimate 193Cotton 194Cyanide of Potash 194Dead Game, Mounting 92Dogs 30Eggs, Collecting 179Egg Drill 195Embryo Scissors 195Embryo Hook 195Excelsior 195Eyes, Putting in Birds 65

Eyes, Sizes for Specimens 213Fish, Mounting 151Forceps 197Formaldehyde 197Glue 197Glycerine Solution 19SGrasses and Moss 199Guns 20Hanging Birds, Mounting 92Heads, Mounting 121Icicles, How to Make 199Insects, How to Prepare 173Killing Wounded Birds 25Labelling Specimens 38Leaves, Artificial 227Leg Drill 200Materials Used 185Mica Snow 200Mounting Birds 52

“ Mammals 92“ Animal Heads 121“ Heads for Rugs 141“ Fish 151“ Reptiles 167“ Butterflies 173

Naptha, Uses for 200Napthaline Flakes 201Needles 201Note Book, How to Keep a 32Paints, Colors Needed 201Papier-Mache 203Perches, How to Make 87Pinking Iron 204Pins, Insect and Taxidermist 204Plaster-of-Paris 205Pliers 229Prices for Work 229Price List of Bird Skins 233

Putty 205Re-laxing Dried Skins 81Reptiles, Mounting 167Rugs, Making 145Salt and Alum Bath 206Sand 205Sawdust 207Scalpel 207Scissors 207Sex of Birds, Determining 35Shellac 209Shooting 29Skin, Making a Bird Skin. 88Skinning Birds 38Skinning Knife 207Snakes, Mounting 167Spread Wings, Mounting 70Stands 220Stuffing Forceps 209

Tanning Liquor 209Tanning Skins 139Tools 185Tow 209Tweezers 209Wax 210Whiting 210Winter Scenes 228Wire, Sizes to Use 216Wire Cutters 211