No. 1. STURNUS VULGARIS, L. (Starling).Sex. — Male Juv.Colour of irides — Dark brown.Colour of beak — Dark slate.Colour of legs & toes — Reddish-brown.Leicester, 21/9/83. Collector, MB.
No. 1. STURNUS VULGARIS, L. (Starling).Sex. — Male Juv.Colour of irides — Dark brown.Colour of beak — Dark slate.Colour of legs & toes — Reddish-brown.Leicester, 21/9/83. Collector, MB.
No. 1. STURNUS VULGARIS, L. (Starling).
Sex. — Male Juv.
Colour of irides — Dark brown.
Colour of beak — Dark slate.
Colour of legs & toes — Reddish-brown.
Leicester, 21/9/83. Collector, MB.
In the cases of such birds as the hawks, which have bare spaces around the eyes (sub, and super-ciliary patches) and around the base of the beak (cere), note down the colours of these parts also. In the cases of rare birds the measurements of the extreme length from tip of beak to tail — again from inner edge of gape to vent, the bill and tail being measured separately from those points — should be carefully taken, as also the length of culmen, carpus, and tarsus, and set down in inches and tenths, on the label, or in the note book, when the matter becomes too voluminous. The reference number and name, in the latter case, will be sufficient for the label, thus keeping it very small. In ordinary cases, all information, excepting name, date, and collector's name, may be written on the back. Part of the label may be printed ready for filling in.
Another plan of skinning a bird is to work upward instead of downward, and by raising the skin on top of the breast and throat to approach the neck, which is then cut off by slipping the point of the scissors underneath. This gives room for one wing to be loosened, and ultimately cut off, the other one then easily follows as a matter of course, and by alternately skinning away the back and the breast, the legs and the tail are arrived at, which are treated as before described. This method is useful in cases where the lower extremities are badly shot or "high," but is otherwise objectionable, as, in any other but the most careful hands, it is apt to stretch or split any delicate skin, in the attempt to get the shoulders out, but for which I should have nothing to say against it. Curiously enough, however, it is more practised by amateurs than by professionals.
One of the most important, however, of all methods of skinning ever invented, is that known as skinning from under the wing; it is perhaps more difficult to a beginner than the other way of skinning, but its advantages are enormous. Supposing you have a bird very badly shot, or one with its wing half torn off or ripped underneath, as sometimes happens, you then, instead of complicating matters by making an incision in another place, take advantage of the ripped side and cut it open there.
The birds, however, for which this system is invaluable are sea birds, or all birds having white or very light coloured breasts. To cut such birds on the breast practically ruins them, for however well a sea bird's skin may be cleaned, there still remains some little greasiness between the roots of the feathers; and in spite of the most careful sewing, the capillary action of the thread used in stitching up (aided, of course, by the position of the mounted bird — breast downward) is sufficient to draw to the surface whatever oily fat or grease remains in the skin; and though it may not show for a few months, yet, sooner or later, a rust coloured line of grease appears, and in spite of all cleaning will reappear, and gradually spread over the breast, destroying the beauty of perhaps a unique specimen.
To skin a bird from under the wing, select the worst side, or that injured the most by shot, etc.., and laying the bird with that side uppermost, make an incision from just above the leg to just under the wing. Push the leg-bone up, and cut it off with a pair of scissors; then work the skin away a little from the back, and as much as possible from the breast, gradually working your way until you see the wing-bone, which cut off. Careful skinning brings you to the neck and windpipe, which also cut off. The whole of one side of the bird is now skinned out with the exception of the tail; come downward on the opposite side to your incision, and across the breast until you can cut off the remaining wing; having done this, keep skinning downward until the leg is arrived at, and cut off. Nothing now holds the skin to the body but the tail-bone, which separate. Clean and finish the bird in the ordinary way.
I shall now suppose that, instead of making a skin (as previously described), you desire to stuff the specimen with the ultimate idea of its forming part of a collection mounted in the same manner as the birds are mounted in the British Museum — namely, on turned stands as perches; or, as is usual now, to form a unit of a characteristic group mounted in a more artistic manner in a shade or a case.
For the purpose of this lesson I have "relaxed" the original starling we before made into a skin, and shall now mount it, keeping to one bird, so as not to confuse the learner.
In "setting up" a bird we require to use wires. The sizes of wires are determined by gauges. Thus the smallest sized wire made is that known as Gauge 28. This and the two following numbers, 26 and 27, are only required for the humming birds; 28 is, however, a good size for the least. 24 will be found a good size for the smaller kinds of warblers and finches up to canaries. 21 is a useful general size for a great number of small birds, and will do for such a bird as the hawfinch. 19 is a good size for thrushes and starlings, and will also do very well for squirrels. 16 is a good useful size for many things — will do for such birds as the landrail or pigeons. 13 is a good size for such birds as parrots, and that or the next largest size will do for owls. 12 will do for the larger hawks, such as the peregrine falcon, etc.., and for small dogs. 9 is more suitable for foxes and larger dogs. 7 will do for eagles. 5, 3, and 1 approach so nearly to bars as to be fit only for the larger animals.
As a rule, however, practice enables a person to use smaller sized wires than appears possible to him at first. I would here also recommend that "galvanised" be used instead of the common "annealed" wire (never use "hard" wire) for all purposes, excepting for large animals. Its advantages are very great, as I can personally testify.
If you decide on mounting your bird on a turned stand, you will, if not possessing a lathe yourself, have to call in the assistance of a turner, who will, for a small sum, turn the requisite stands, which may be either in mahogany, boxwood, ebony, or ivory, according to your taste and the length of your pocket. If, on the contrary, you decide to ultimately mount your specimen in a case or a shade, you had better provide yourself with some wire of a suitable strength, and some tow, which latter you will proceed to wrap round the wire to within a couple of inches of one end — forming, in fact, an artificial twig, which you may bend to any shape, riveting the unbound end through a piece of wood of sufficient weight to balance the bird when set up.
Having, then, before you, as the first indispensable adjunct, the turned stand or artificial twig (a natural one does in some cases), the stuffing irons, file, crooked awl, pliers, scissors, wire, tow, needle and thread, pins, and some fine darning cotton, which is called "wrapping cotton," you proceed to business thus: The bird being skinned, all the flesh cleaned out, and well dressed with the preservative up to the point previously described — leg bones being wrapped and wings being tied — lay the bird down on a clean piece of paper.
Having selected the wire of two sizes, of a suitable thickness, the thinner for the body wire and the other for the leg wires, cut the three, with the aid of the pliers, a little longer than the body and legs respectively, pointing each wire at one end with a file — not rounding the points, but leaving them with cutting edges.
Taking up the thicker or body wire in the right hand and some tow in the left, commence at about an inch from the point to tightly and neatly bind on the tow in the shape of the neck, and of nearly the same length that the neck was before being cut off — that is to say, making the artificial neck somewhat longer than the neck of the skin (if properly taken off and not abnormally lengthened) appears to be. The reason for this is that the natural neck, being carried between the clavicles forming the furculum or "merry-thought," is bent downward and forward between them when perching (see Fig. 22); hence the artificial neck must imitate nature so far as that, when inserted in the skin, it may be also bent forward and downward, and afterwards thrown back on the body in a natural position.
Of course, if a bird's neck is to be represented very short, as it will be in certain attitudes, the artificial neck must be almost, if not quite, done away with; indeed, the shortening of the neck of the mounted specimen depends almost entirely on the absence of stuffing above the shoulders. Be sure, also, not to stuff the skin too wide about the shoulders; if so, the "butts" of the wings will never come into place, nor allow the feathers of the breast to be brought over them in a natural manner.
It is exceedingly difficult to instruct in these niceties of detail; close observation — note a canary or any song bird at rest — added to experience, will alone teach the amateur these points. To excel in mounting animals the arts of drawing and modelling from living examples must be cultivated; the amateur taxidermist thus gains the requisite knowledge to help him in his art.[Footnote:It may perhaps, be necessary to warn the non-scientific that whenever I speak of animals I include fishes, reptiles, and birds with the mammals.]
Having shaped the neck to your own satisfaction, proceed thence to form the body, by continuously wrapping the tow round and round the wire, keeping the shape, however, somewhat flat on the sides, full on the breast and back, and narrowest at the lower extremity of the body, where it comes in between the legs to the tail. About an inch of the wire should now be left unbound, which turn up on the back of the false body to prevent the tow slipping off; next take some cotton, which wind all over the false body to keep the tow in its place, adding, as you go on, small pieces of tow, and binding them on where depressions or faults appear.
This being finishedsecundum artem, insert the pointed end of the wire or false neck up the neck of the specimen, pushing the point of the wire right through the skull until it comes out at the crown of the head. Now gradually, by persuasive means, pull the skin over the false body; and lift the starling up and observe what faults are apparent — possibly a little difficulty exists at the shoulders, if so, press them in with the thumbs, and then note if there are any apparently hollow places; if so, fill them out with a little more tow. See that the back is nicely sloped, that the breast is full enough, and especially if it be even and narrow between the legs. Having observed all these points with great exactness, proceed to nicely sew up the skin with the stitch previously mentioned.
Then select two other pieces of wire of the right size, and point them each at one end. (Note. — The wires are generally a size or so stronger for the legs than for the body.) Taking a wire in the right hand, open the claws of the bird with the other, so as to expose the sole of the foot, into which push the point of the wire, forcing it up the leg on its under side between the skin and the bone — be careful how you pass under the so-called "knee" joint. Pulling the leg now downward and upward, that is to say, toward the breast, push the wire right through the false body to the other side, until it comes out under the wing on the side farthest from the leg. With a small pair of pliers turn the point downward, pull the wire at the foot, and it is thus clenched and firmly fixed; do the same with the other leg.
Remember that if the leg wires are not firmly clenched in the made body, and are not perfectly stiff and tight, all your labour goes for nothing. Now bring together the skin at the lower part with your fingers, and push a small wire through the root of the tail up into the made body.
Picking the bird up with one hand, bend the legs into their proper position, bend the neck a little downward and backward on the front, then forward and downward from the back of the head. Place the leg wires through two holes bored in the crosspiece of the stand, or through the natural twig, or wind them round on the false twig and make them secure. Run a fine pin (entomological pin, No. 2) through the shafts of the feathers of the tail to cause them to dry in proper shape, then neatly insert the eyes (putting a small piece of putty in the orbit previously), bringing the eyelids over with a fine needle, being exceedingly careful not to rip them, and not to have them too staring, a very common fault with the amateur. See that the wings are fixed in their right places with one or more pins or wires.
Place one pin in the centre of the breast and in the middle of the back (all of these pins must be left half-way out), proceed to nicely arrange the feathers in their proper places by the aid of the crooked awl and feather pliers (see Fig. 19). Having done this till it appears as nearly like the living bird as possible (which constant practice and close attention alone will enable you to do), take the "wrapping cotton," and, having made a loop on one end, fix it to the pin on the back. Bring it across to the pin on one of the wings, and across in a zig-zag manner to the other pins in the wings, binding down the back first. Then attend to the breast and under tail coverts, taking care to bind down more securely than the others those feathers which will start up (usually the upper wing coverts). A careful binder working properly will shape his bird by binding. Tie the mandibles if they are wanted closed, and cut the wire off the head, as it permanently raffles the feathers if left until the specimen is dry.
This is binding for a closed-winged bird; but for one whose wings are to be thrown up, say a hawk on flight, the modus operandi is slightly different; wire stays and card braces now supplement "wrapping" cotton. The bird being opened on its worst side is stuffed in the usual manner as far as getting the neck up into the skull, the attached body is now bolted through near the top of the cut by the wing, by a long wire sufficiently strong to keep the bird suspended; this wire, beingfirmlyclenched on the opposite side of the body to the cut, has its free end, of course, depending from the incision under the wing.
The next thing to do is to support the wings in the position necessary to represent flight. For this purpose, point four wires sufficiently long to extend the wings, and to come through the body to be clenched. Two of these wires should be of a size thinner than the other two. Select the wing on the side of the body farthest from the cut, and enter the point of one of the thickest wires in the wing at the end of the part called the "metacarpus" (i, Plate II); push it gently along between the bone and the skin — meanwhile holding the wing with the left-hand fingers — along the side of or between the "radius and ulna," finally pushing it into the body at the shoulder, and clenching it when it comes through, which it should do under the opposite wing at the cut. It is often very difficult or impossible to get the wire to go through the "carpus;" it will suffice, therefore, if, after coming along the metacarpus, it just misses the carpus and enters the skin again at the junction of the radius and ulna. If properly managed, the wire will be snugly hidden in the skin of the wing by the feathers of the parts along which it has travelled.
Do likewise with the other wing, but this wire often cannot be carried right through to the opposite side, and must therefore be firmly secured in the body on its own side; next fix the legs in the manner before detailed, or, as the bird is to be represented on flight, the wires need only be entered at the tibia-tarsal joint (q, Plate II). Push a wire in the tail, and sew up the incision under the wing.
The bird has now its wings, legs, and tail fixed, and the free end of the supporting wire is sticking out from under the wing. Fix this wire firmly through the top of a narrow strip of board at such a distance as to miss the outspread wing; let this board also be long enough to allow of one end being fixed in a vice or screwed to the edge of a table, whilst the hawk or other bird clears its surface. The bird being now "shaped up" a little, take the two thinnest wires and enter the point of one in each wing at the end of the fleshy part of the wing (really the bird's middle finger), or through the base of the first quill, an inch or so from the other wire. This last wire travels along theoutsideof the feathers under the wing, and is consequently not hidden at all when pushed into the body: its use is to curve the wing upon it into a graceful shape, and when the bird is sufficiently dry it is pulled out, the first wire at the shoulder being quite sufficient to bear up the wing when set.
As, however, the wing feathers start up here and there, and do not readily conform to all the curves of the wires, the wiring and binding must be supplemented by "braces," which are narrow strips of cardboard pinned in pairs at intervals below and above the wing, and held in position by pins running through both braces from the under to the upper surface. For explanation of this see Plate I (Frontispiece), a hawk properly "set up" and "bound" to represent it swooping on its prey.
Putty sometimes greases light-coloured skins around the eyes; it will be well, therefore, to insert in its stead a little "pipe" or modelling clay worked up stiff. (Clay will be treated of in a subsequent chapter. It will be found useful for the faces of some sea-birds and hawks, and indeed for the greater part of the body and legs of large birds. The Cassowary in the Leicester Museum has been worked up largely in this manner.)
Steel pins with black bead heads are first-rate helps to binding. They are sold in various lengths, and being long, sharp, and fine, quite supersede ordinary pins.
Audi alteram partem! Let us now take the evidence of Waterton:
"You will observe how beautifully the feathers of a bird are arranged; one falling over the other in nicest order, and that, where this charming harmony is interrupted, the defeat, though not noticed by an ordinary spectator, will appear immediately to the eye of a naturalist. Thus, a bird not wounded, and in perfect feather, must be procured, if possible, for the loss of feathers can seldom be made good; and where the deficiency is great all the skill of the artist will avail him little in his attempt to conceal the defect; because, in order to hide it, he must contract the skin, bring down the upper feathers and shove in the lower ones, which would throw all the surrounding parts into contortion.
You will also observe that the whole of the skin does not produce feathers, and that it is very tender where the feathers do not grow. The bare parts are admirably formed for expansion about the throat and stomach, and they fit into the different cavities of the body at the wings, shoulder, rump, and thighs, with wonderful exactness, so that in stuffing the bird, if you make an even rotund surface of the skin, where the cavities existed, in lieu of re-forming them, all symmetry, order, and proportion are lost for ever.
You must lay it down as an absolute rule that the bird is to be entirely skinned, otherwise you can never succeed in forming a true and pleasing specimen.
You will allow this to be just, after reflecting a moment on the nature of the fleshy parts and tendons, which are often left in. First, they require to be well seasoned with aromatic spices; secondly, they must be put into the oven to dry; thirdly, the heat of the fire, and the natural tendency all cured flesh has to shrink and become hard, render the specimen withered, distorted, and too small; fourthly, the inside then becomes like a ham or any other dried meat. Ere long the insects claim it as their own, the feathers begin to drop off, and you have the hideous spectacle of death in ragged plumage.
Wire is of no manner of use, but, on the contrary, a great nuisance, for, when it is introduced, a disagreeable stiffness and disarrangement of symmetry follow.
The head and neck can be placed in any attitude; the body supported, the wings closed, extended, or elevated; the tail depressed, raised, or expanded; the thighs set horizontal, or oblique, without any aid from wire. Cotton will effect all this.
A very small proportion of the skull bone — say from the fore part of the eyes to the bill — is to be left in, though even this is not absolutely necessary. Part of the wing bones, the jaw bones, and half the thigh bones remain. Everything else — flesh, fat, eyes, bones, brain and tendons — are all to be taken away.
While dissecting, it will be of use to keep in mind that, in taking off the skin from the body, by means of your fingers and a little knife, you must try to shove it, in lieu of pulling it, lest you stretch it.
That you must press as lightly as possible on the bird, and every now and then take a view of it, to see that the feathers are all right.
That, when you come to the head, you must take care that the body of the skin rests on your knee; for, if you allow it to dangle from your hand, its own weight will stretch it too much.
That throughout the whole operation, as fast as you detach the skin from the body you must put cotton immediately between the body and it, and this will effectually prevent any fat, blood, or moisture from coming in contact with the plumage. Here it may be observed that on the belly you find an inner skin which keeps the bowels in their place.
By a nice operation with the knife you can cut through the outer skin, and leave the inner skin whole. Attention to this will render your work very clean, so that, with a little care in other parts, you may skin a bird without even soiling your finger ends.
As you can seldom get a bird without shooting it, a line or two on this head will be necessary. If the bird be still alive, press it hard with your finger and thumb just behind the wings, and it will soon expire. Carry it by the legs, and then, the body being reversed, blood cannot escape down the plumage through the shot holes.
As blood will often have issued out before you have laid hold of the bird, find out the shot holes by dividing the feathers with your fingers and blowing on them, and then, with your penknife or the leaf of a tree, carefully remove the clotted blood, and put a little cotton in the hole. If, after all, the plumage has not escaped the marks of blood, or if it has imbibed slime from the ground, wash the part in water without soap, and keep gently agitating the feathers with your fingers till they are quite dry. Were you to wash them and leave them to dry by themselves they would have a very mean and shrivelled appearance.
In the act of skinning a bird you must either have it upon a table or upon your knee. Probably you will prefer your knee, because, when you cross one knee over the other, and have the bird upon the uppermost, you can raise it to your eye, or lower it at pleasure, by means of the foot on the ground, and then your knee will always move in unison with your body, by which much stooping will be avoided and lassitude prevented.
With these precautionary hints in mind, we will now proceed to dissect a bird. Supposing we take a hawk. The little birds will thank us with a song for his death, for he has oppressed them sorely; and in size he is just the thing. His skin is also pretty tough and the feathers adhere to it.
We will put close by us a little bottle of the solution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol, also a stick like a common knitting needle, and a handful or two of cotton.
Now fill the mouth and nostrils of the bird with cotton, and place it upon your knee on its back with its head pointing to your left shoulder. Take hold of the knife with your two first fingers and thumb, the edge upwards. You must not keep the point of the knife perpendicular to the body of the bird, because, were you to hold it so, you would cut the inner skin of the belly and thus let the bowels out. To avoid this, let your knife be parallel to the body, and then you will divide the outer skin with great ease.
Begin on the belly below the breastbone, and cut down the middle quite to the vent. This done, put the bird in any convenient position, and separate the skin from the body till you get at the middle joint of the thigh. Cut it through, and do no more there at present, except introducing cotton all the way on that side from the vent to the breastbone. Do exactly the same on the opposite side.
Now place the bird perpendicular, the breast resting on your knee, with its back towards you. Separate the skin from the body on each side at the vent, and never mind at present the part from the vent to the root of the tail. Bend the tail gently down to the back, and while your fingers and thumb are keeping down the detached parts of the skin on each side of the vent, cut quite across and deep till you see the backbone near the oil gland at the root of the tail. Sever the backbone at the joint, and then all the root of the tail together, with the oil gland dissected from the body. Apply plenty of cotton.
After this seize the end of the backbone with the finger and thumb, and now you can hold up the bird clear of your knee and turn it round and round as occasion requires.
While you are holding it thus, contrive, with the help of your other hand and knife, by cutting and shoving, to get the skin pushed up till you come to where the wings join on the body.
Forget not to apply cotton; cut these joints through, add cotton, and gently push the skin over the head, cut out the roots of the ears, which lie very deep in the head, and continue skinning till you reach the middle of the eye; cut the nictating membrane quite through, otherwise you would tear the orbit of the eye; and after this nothing difficult intervenes to prevent your arriving at the root of the bill.
When this is effected cut away the body, leaving a little bit of skull, just as much as will reach to the fore-part of the eye, clean well the jaw bones, fasten a little cotton at the end of your stick, dip it into the solution, and touch the skull and corresponding parts of the skin, as you cannot well get at these places afterwards.
From the time of pushing the skin over the head you are supposed to have had the bird resting upon your knee. Keep it there still, and with great caution and tenderness return the head through the inverted skin, and when you see the beak appearing pull it very gently till the head comes out unruffled and unstained.
You may now take the cotton out of the mouth. Cut away all the remaining flesh from the palate, and whatever may have remained at the under jaw.
Here is now before you the skin without loss of any feathers, and all the flesh, fat, and unclean bones out of it, except the middle joint of the wings, one bone of the thighs, and the fleshy root of the tail. The extreme point of the wing is very small, and has no flesh on it, comparatively speaking, so that it requires no attention except touching it with the solution from the outside. Take all the flesh from the remaining joint of the wing, and tie a thread about four inches long to the end of it, touch all with the solution, and put the wing bone back into its place. In baring this bone you must by no means pull the skin. You would have it to pieces beyond all doubt, for the ends of the long feathers are attached to the bone itself. You must push off the skin with your thumb and forefinger. Now skin the thigh, quite to the bone, cut away all flesh and tendons, and bare the bone, form an artificial thigh round it with cotton, apply the solution, and draw back the skin over the artificial thigh; the same to the other thigh.
Lastly, proceed to the tail, take out the inside of the oil gland, remove all the remaining flesh from the root till you see the ends of the tail feathers, give it the solution and replace it. Now take out all the cotton which you have been putting into the body from time to time to preserve the feathers from grease and stain.
Place the bird upon your knee, on its back, tie together the two threads which you had fastened to the ends of the wing joints, leaving exactly the same space betwixt them as your knowledge of anatomy informs you existed there when the bird was entire, hold the skin open with your finger and thumb, and apply the solution to every part of the inside. Neglect the head and neck at present; they are to receive it afterwards.
Fill the body moderately with cotton lest the feathers on the belly should be injured. Whilst you are about the following operation you must recollect that half of the thigh — or, in other words, one joint of the thigh bone — has been out away. Now, as this bone never moved perpendicular to the body, but, on the contrary, in an oblique direction, of course, as soon as it is cut off, the remaining part of the thigh and leg, having nothing to support them obliquely, must naturally fall to their perpendicular; hence the reason why the legs appear too long. To correct this, take your needle and thread, fasten the end round the bone inside, and then push the needle through the skin just opposite to it; look on the outside, and after finding the needle amongst the feathers, tack up the thigh under the wing with several strong stitches. This will shorten the thigh and render it quite capable of supporting the weight of the body without the help of wire.
This done take out every bit of cotton except the artificial thighs, and adjust the wing bones (which are connected by the thread) in the most even manner possible, so that one joint does not appear to be lower than the other, for unless they are quite equal the wings themselves will be unequal when you come to put them in their proper attitude. Here, then, rests the shell of the poor hawk ready to receive from your skill and judgment, the size, the shape, the features, and expression it bad ere death and your dissecting hand brought it to its present still and formless state. The cold hand of death stamps deep its mark upon the prostrate victim. When the heart ceases to beat and the blood no longer courses through the veins, the features collapse, and the whole frame seems to shrink within itself. If, then, you have formed your idea of the real appearance of the bird from a dead specimen you will be in error. With this in mind, and at the same time forming your specimen a trifle larger than life to make up for what it will lose in drying, you will reproduce a bird that will please you.
It is now time to introduce the cotton for an artificial body by means of the little stick like a knitting needle; and without any other aid or substance than that of this little stick and cotton your own genius must produce those swellings and cavities, that just proportion, that elegance and harmony of the whole, so much admired in animated nature, so little attended to in preserved specimens. After you have introduced the cotton, sew up the orifice you originally made in the belly, beginning at the vent. And from time to time, till you arrive at the last stitch, keep adding a little cotton in order that there may be no deficiency there. Lastly, dip your stick into the solution and put it down the throat three or four times in order that every part may receive it.
When the head and neck are filled with cotton quite to your liking, close the bill as in nature. A little bit of beeswax at the end of it will keep the mandibles in their proper place. A needle must be stuck into the lower mandible perpendicularly.
You will shortly see the use of it. Bring also the feet together by a pin, and then run a thread through the knees, by which you may draw them to each other as near as you judge proper. Nothing now remains to be added but the eyes. With your little stick make a hollow in the cotton within the orbit, and introduce the glass eyes through the orbit; adjust the orbit to them as in nature, and that requires no other fastener.
Your close inspection of the eyes of animals will already have informed you that the orbit is capable of receiving a much larger body than that part of the eye which appears within it when in life, so that were you to proportion your eye to the size the orbit is capable of receiving it would be far too large. Inattention to this has caused the eyes of every specimen in the best cabinets of natural history to be out of all proportion. To prevent this, contract the orbit, by means of a very small delicate needle and thread, at that part of it farthest from the beak. This may be done with such nicety that the stitch cannot be observed, and thus you have the artificial eye in true proportion.
After this touch the bill, orbits, feet, and former oil-gland at the root of the tail with the solution, and then you have given to the hawk everything necessary, except attitude and a proper degree of elasticity — two qualities very essential.
Procure any common ordinary box, fill one end of it about three-fourths up to the top with cotton, forming a sloping plane. Make a moderate hollow in it to receive the bird. Now take the hawk in your hands, and after putting the wings in order, place it in the cotton with its legs in a sitting posture. The head will fall down; never mind. Get a cork and run three pins into the end, just like a three-legged stool. Place it under the bird's bill, and run the needle, which you formerly fixed there, into the head of the cork. This will support the bird's head admirably. If you wish to lengthen the neck, raise the cork by putting more cotton under it. If the head is to be brought forward, bring the cork nearer to the end of the box. If it requires to be set backwards on the shoulders, move back the cork.
As in drying the back part of the neck will shrink more than the fore part, and thus throw the beak higher than you wish it to be — putting you in mind of a star-gazing horse — prevent this fault by tying a thread to the beak and fastening it to the end of the box with a pin or needle. If you choose to elevate the wings, do so, and support them with cotton; and should you wish to have them particularly high, apply a little stick under each wing, and fasten the ends of them to the side of the box with a little beeswax.
If you would have the tail expanded, reverse the order of the feathers, beginning from the two middle ones. When dry, replace them in their true order, and the tail will preserve for ever the expansion you have given it. Is the crest to be erect? Move the feathers in a contrary direction to that in which they lie for a day or two, and it will never fall down after.
Place the box anywhere in your room out of the influence of the sun, wind, and fire, for the specimen must dry very slowly if you wish to reproduce every feature. On this account the solution of corrosive sublimate is uncommonly serviceable, for, at the same time that it totally prevents putrefaction, it renders the skin moist and flexible for many days. While the bird is drying, take it out and replace it in its position once every day. Then, if you see that any part begins to shrink into disproportion, you can easily remedy ft.
The small covert feathers of the wings are apt to rise a little, because the skin will come in contact with the bone which remains in the wing. Pull gently the part that rises with your finger and thumb for a day or two; press the feathers down; the skin will adhere no more to the bone, and they will cease to rise.
Every now and then, touch and re-touch all the different parts of the feathers, in order to render them distinct and visible, correcting at the same time any harshness or unnatural risings or sinkings, flatness, or rotundity. This is putting the last finishing touch to it.
In three or four days the feet lose their natural elasticity, and the knees begin to stiffen. When you observe this, it is time to give the legs any angle you wish, and arrange the toes for a standing position, or curve them to your finger. If you wish to set the bird on a branch, bore a little hole under each foot a little way up the leg, and, having fixed two proportional spikes on the branch, you can in a moment transfer the bird from your finger to it, and from it to your finger, at pleasure.
When the bird is quite dry, pull the thread out of the knees, take away the needle, etc.., from under the bill, and all is done.
In lieu of being stiff with wires, the cotton will have given a considerable elasticity to every part of your bird, so that when perching on your finger, if you press it down with the other hand, it will rise again. You need not fear that your hawk will alter, or its colours fade.
The alcohol has introduced the sublimate into every part and pore of the skin, quite to the roots of the feathers. Its use is twofold: First, it, has totally prevented all tendency to putrefaction, and thus a sound skin has attached itself to the roots of the feathers. You may take hold of a single one, and from it suspend five times the weight of the bird; you may jerk it, it will still adhere to the akin, and, after repeated trials, often break short. Secondly, as no part of the skin has escaped receiving particles of sublimate contained in the alcohol, there is not a spot exposed to the depredation of insects; for they will never venture to attack any substance which has received corrosive sublimate.
You are aware that corrosive sublimate is the most fatal poison to insects that is known. It is anti-putrescent, so is alcohol, and they are both colourless. Of course, they cannot leave a stain behind them. The spirit penetrates the pores of the skin with wonderful velocity, deposits invisible parts of the sublimate, and flies off. The sublimate will not injure the skin, and nothing can detach it from the part where the alcohol has left it.
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All the feathers require to be touched with the solution in order that they may be preserved from the depredation of the moth. The surest way of proceeding is to immerse the bird in the solution of corrosive sublimate, and then dry it before you begin to dissect it." — (Waterton's "Wanderings in South America.")
On reference to the instructions given previously, and those last quoted, it will be seen that the two systems are diametrically opposed to each other. I will, therefore, now point out the objections to a general use of Waterton's plan.
First, let me premise that I entirely agree with him in his opening paragraph as to selecting, when practicable, a bird as little damaged as possible; but I need not remind professionals, or amateurs of some practice, how seldom these conditions exist, especially in the instance of birds sent to them for mounting, by people totally ignorant of the first principles of taxidermy. Where a great number of feathers are missing, the loss must be repaired by the insertion of similar feathers placed one by one in position by the aid of strong paste, in which a little of the corrosive sublimate preparation (see chapter on Preservatives,ante) or carbolic acid has previously been stirred. He is also quite right when he insists upon the specimen not being stuffed as a round ball of feathers, as some tyros are in the habit of doing, and also when he says that the bird must be well skinned.
With the next paragraph, as to the uselessness of wire, I totally disagree, and for this reason, that, although I have myself proved it possible — having many years ago followed Waterton's instructions — to mount a bird entirely without wire, still it is at the best but an amateur's "dodge;" and I can fearlessly assert that it will not stand the test of work and expediency. It is, in fact, impossible to dispense with wire, if taxidermy is to be followed as a profession.
As to putting cotton wool between the flesh and the skin, practice will enable one to do without this. To me it would be a great nuisance, unless in the case of much grease, of persistent bleeding, or clots of extravasated blood occurring. All the rest of the instructions on skinning are sound and practical, except where he advises the knee to be used instead of a table. A little reflection, or, better still, a trial, will convince anyone that nothing can compare in practice with a table or bench for comfortable working.
I do not hold, either, with the total removal of the skull. For instance, how are you to exhibit the superciliary ridge which gives so distinctive a character to the very bird Waterton selects — the hawk — if you cut it away? I have tried both plans, and I unhesitatingly say that you cannot give character to the heads of the larger birds if you remove the skull (unless, of course, you choose to model it up in clay, etc.., as in the heads of mammals), though I agree that you must free the skin from all its surroundings. I have at the present moment several birds (set up by a man in the West of England), in which the skulls have been removed; the skin has shrunk in at the back of the head and at the mandibles; and in one instance — an osprey — the bird has entirely lost its nobility and eagle-like appearance by the removal of the ridge above the eye.
I cannot urge the advisability of making the body larger to allow for shrinking, inasmuch as in the case of certain birds — notably gulls — which should present an even' surface on the breast, the opposite effect will be produced if the false body is unduly large, as then, in place of the evenness so desirable, a division will appear in the centre of the body, which entirely mars the beautiful symmetry of the sea-bird's breast. No perceptible shrinkage can, however, occur if the body is properly made and packed; and here is shown the vast superiority of the made body of well-wrapped tow over that made of loose cotton inserted in the skin, bit by bit.
The eyes I prefer to insert in the larger birds after the specimen is dry, as then any little fault in the shape of the head is easily rectified through the orbit, the eyelid, of course, being previously relaxed (with cotton wool dipped in warm water) to do this and to receive the artificial eye.
Waterton's method of setting up birds may be dismissed in a few words; it is impracticable for anyone but an amateur who has unlimited time at his disposal, and who does not object to spend about a couple of days over one specimen, and who has also ample room for the large collection of different-sized boxes he must accumulate.
In using the corrosive sublimate the student will do well to carefully read the chapter on Preservatives, and then make up his mind. I may here mention, however, that I should not advise anyone to work on a bird previously saturated with a solution of corrosive sublimate.
It has been said,De mortuis nil nisi bonum; but, while fully acknowledging the force of the remark, as also the great scientific attainments and love for natural history which distinguished the illustrious traveller, I cannot allow anyone who reads his entertaining works to be misled into wasting time in an unprofitable manner.
Another way of setting up a bird may be described as follows: Provide yourself with four wires — two of which are for the legs, a long one for the body, and a shorter one for the wings; let us suppose we have another starling in front of us. For this bird take a suitable piece of wire about three inches long (pointed at both ends), and bend it down at each end for the distance of an inch, which of course leaves one inch in the middle at a right angle to each end; this is called the wing-bearer. Then place a little piece of tow inside the skin to fit along the back, and on to the top of this lay the wing-bearer, pushing the pointed ends down and into the hollows of the wing-bones (which must be left nearly their full length to admit of this).
Next take the body wire, also sharpened at both ends, and a little longer than you require, and at a sufficient distance from one end form with the pliers a loop similar to Fig. 1, so that it comes about the centre of the projected body; one end will thus be much longer from the loop than the other. Run one end (the longest) right up the body to come out at the crown of the head (the head itself being previously stuffed), push it through a sufficient distance, so that the looped end falls within the incision of the skin; so soon as it is passed inside pull the looped end down, and push its point through the root of the tail; the loop should now, if accurately calculated, come just in the centre of the body incision.
Pack underneath the wire at all points with little pieces of finely cut tow, not forgetting the neck. The wire should now be protected from touching the bird on its underside. Now take the leg wires, point them and pass them up the legs as before described; when they appear within the skin by the side of the legs, push the ends of each one through the little loop on the body wire, and by the aid of the small pliers and your finger and thumb twist them tightly up or down the main wire. If properly done, the bird should be capable of being lifted by one leg wire and should feel perfectly stiff and firm. Proceed by the addition of cut tow to gradually form the body, which, when arranged to your liking, sew up.
This, in contradistinction to the other method, is called the soft body, and is not a plan which I at all recommend. Sometimes a cork is pushed on at the main or body wire to act in the place of the loop; the leg wires are then pushed through and clenched on the other side, and the skin is filled with cut tow as before.
Another system of forming an artificial body for a bird is by means of "peat."[Footnote:"Peat" is compressed vegetable fibre cut from old bogs, and is sold by the dealers, in dried cakes about 1 foot long by 6 inches by 2 inches.]Having provided yourself with one of these bricks of peat, you cut it with a sharp knife to as near the shape required as possible, having the natural body before you as a guide, finally inserting it in the bird.
My objection to the use of peat for this purpose is, first, the dust and dirt caused by the waste pieces; and, secondly, the fact that birds mounted on this system have a tendency to look "wooden," as, unlike a body formed of tow, that made of peat is stiff and unyielding, and, therefore, after it is once in the skin, it cannot be pressed into shape where defects appear, and is of course not so easily altered. After a long and patient trial of the peat body, I have become convinced of its many disadvantages, and have of late years returned to my first plan — the body made of well wrapped tow — nor do I think anything will compare with it, for the reasons above stated. Peat in the case of very large birds (ostriches, etc..) and mammals is useful, but for the ordinary run of birds I decidedly veto its application.
Birds with larger heads than necks, such as ducks, etc.., must be treated in one of three ways. First, after skinning out the body, and cutting off the neck from the inside, cut with the strong scissors a triangular piece away from the base of the skull, from which extract the brain, and then compress the sides of the face (mandibles) between your finger and thumb from the outside, at the same time endeavouring to "slip" the head (now somewhat elastic by the removal of the base of the skull) through the neck.
Do this whenever possible; but for those birds whose mandibles resist any amount of moderate pressure, of which the larger ducks, woodpeckers, etc.., are examples, the second plan must be adopted, which is to cut (after the removal of the body) on the crest of the head of a specimen — if a crested bird — or along the sides of the face if failing in this particular; the head may then be carefully skinned, leaving it attached as much as before directed, brains cleared out, eyes extracted, etc.., then painted with the preservative, head nicely stuffed with chopped tow, and returned in the skin, and finally very neatly sewn up. If this latter operation be well performed, and especially if the stitches are drawn tight, the seam ought not to show.
A more tedious method is to extract the brain and eyes through the roof of the mouth, or from the back of the head (after the neck has been cut off), but neither of these plans will bear comparison with "slipping," or with cutting on the crest, or by the side of the head, as by these latter methods you do not miss any flesh by the sides of the face in skinning out.
Let me give an instance. In the eider duck, the flesh of the face is protracted along the sides of the bill; if, therefore, you fail to open on the crown, or by the side of the face, you must of necessity miss these, or have ten times more trouble in feeling your way to it. If the processes by the side of the face are entirely missed, the consequences are an unsightly and inartistic shrivelling; it is as well, therefore, to make a note of all birds having such a peculiarity.
Amongst the birds which may be instanced as having heads too large to pass the neck in the usual manner, we may place the whole of the ducks, geese, and swans, though the heads of the herons and divers, which appear to be as large and yet have as small necks as the former birds, pass easily. Again, the head of the great or crested grebe passes, while that of the little grebe sticks. Of the three woodpeckers found in Britain, the heads of the great-spotted and lesser-spotted will not pass the neck, but the head of the other, the green woodpecker, the largest looking of the three, will pass if care be taken. These things being noted and borne in mind will save the tyro a considerable amount of trouble.
In concluding this chapter, let it be noted as an unalterable doctrine, that no white-breasted birds, sea birds especially, are, under any pretence whatever, to be cut on their breasts. How many birds pass through the hands of the professional, spoiled by a neglect or ignorance of this rule, it would be impossible to say, nor are amateurs the only offenders in this particular. Grebes, etc.., which have wings hardly sufficient to hide the cut beneath, can be cut on the back, between the wings, and skinned out that way; and if the breast is, as it should be, fronted for the "showpiece," the effect, if skilfully done, is very fine.
I have lately given a great deal of attention to this method of skinning from the back, having found it necessary in mounting young birds which otherwise showed an unsightly cut on their naked breasts. I found that the modelling was much truer and more effective by this method, and therefore extended it to mature specimens with the result that I now think no birds, excepting the very largest, perhaps, should ever be opened on the breast. I am quite convinced that if a person of any experience makes up his mind never to skin a bird by any other way than by the side or back, he will have no reason to ever regret his decision. Should a bird be required for flight, undoubtedly the proper place to cut it is under the side; the suspending wire then comes along the off side and is hidden by the wing. If the wings are to be raised and the breast or side shown, cut it on the back; if closed wings, the same; in either case the cut is perfectly hidden, and is where it should be, out of the way of grease.
Perhaps it may be as well to state here that — contrary to my usual custom of working from the lowest to the highest animal form — I have written upon birds out of their proper natural order; the reason being that birds are always selected because of easiness of treatment for the student's first lessons in taxidermy, before his teacher allows him to "try his 'prentice hand" on the more difficult branches of the art.
CHAPTER VI.SKINNING AND PRESERVING MAMMALS.
Plate III Skeleton of Otter
images/Image160.gifExplanation:
A, skull;
B, lower maxillary (or jaw) at point of articulation with upper;
C, cervical vertebrae (7); D, dorsal Vertebrae;
E, lumbar vertebrae; F, sacral vertebrae ;
G, caudal vertebrae ;
H pelvic girdle, or "ossa innominata" (ilium, ischium, and pubes anchylosed);
I, femur; i, patella, or "knee pan";
J, tibia ; K, fibula;
L, tarsal, and meta-tarsal bones, and phalanges of digits, of pes or hind foot ;
M, scapula; N, humerus ; O, radius ; P, ulna ;
Q, carpal and meta-carpal bones, and phalanges, of digits, of manes or fore-foot;
R, dorsal and sternal ribs.
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THE art of setting up quadrupeds in a natural and life-like manner is of so recent a date that few, if any, of the manuals on taxidermy do more than glance at it. True, they nearly all give directions, in an off-hand way, as to the skinning of mammals; but their instructions are so vague and meagre that, though confessing that the subject is no easy one to write upon, I yet feel that we may, perhaps, improve, in point of detail, on what has gone before.
In accordance with my usual custom, I have procured an animal — a fox — to illustrate my instructions, and, the learner having got out the whole of the knives (previously figured) and the whetstone, may proceed to work in the following manner:
Measure the fox, as a preliminary, taking note of his length, breadth, and fineness of limb; length and thickness of muzzle and side of face; and, having aided the recollection by the use of the callipers, and made all necessary notes, lay him on the skinning table, back downwards, and, separating the fur on the stomach at about two inches from the root of the tail, gently insert the point of the skinning knife (keeping the handle well down) under the skin, and continue the cut to within about ten inches of the chest, between the fore limbs--that is to say, up to the first rib, which may be felt with the finger and thumb. If an ordinary-sized fox, this will allow the cut to be of about the same length, viz., ten inches. Be very careful, in making this incision, to cut the top skin only, and not that which retains the bowels.
Having done this, commence to clear away the skin from the flesh on one side by using the point of the knife in a slanting manner between skin and flesh. The fox being with its head from you and directly to your front, the side which you naturally begin on first would be the one on your left; turn the fox now so that its head comes to your left hand instead of directly to your front, and skin in the same manner on the other side, which is now from you. The skin of a fox being very thin about this part, as indeed, nearly all over its body, you must be careful while making your cuts to release the skin, not to push the point of your knife through. As you get along the side of the fox, use your knife, point downward, cutting edge toward you, on the inner side, and from you on the outer, with a scraping motion to separate the skin from the body at the sides.
No doubt, by this time you will be somewhat troubled with a discharge of blood; if so, use sawdust or silver sand, either of which will not dirty the skin, but yet affords a good grip. (Plaster is very commonly used instead of either, but, though a capital absorbent of blood and grease, I object to it, except in the instances of white or very light coloured furs.) Silver sand is, I think, the best of all, as sawdust is apt to get into some furs, and it requires a great deal of pains to get it out again.
By a little management of the point of the knife, and by undercutting slightly, you expose the thighs of the hind limbs. The fox lies still in front of you with its head to your left. Changing your position, go to the tail, and, seizing the foot nearest to you with your right hand, and the skin with your left, push and pull at one and the same time until you expose the knee-joint, or rather — to speak more correctly — the articulation of the "femur" or thigh bone (i, Plate III.) with the two smaller bones ("fibula" and "tibia") which form the shank (K and J).
Let go with your right hand, and by an arrangement of the fingers of the left — difficult to describe — retain your hold of both the skin and flesh of the leg, and re-commence skinning with the knife on each side of the leg until you arrive at the hollow which lies behind, just above the shank; this exposes daylight between skin and flesh, and thus you may get your fingers between the two skins, and, finding the articulation, or joint of the thigh (just mentioned), you push the point of your knife in, and sever the ligaments, and then return the loose shank to its skin.
Holding the fingers of your left hand underneath the skin — thumb and bottom of the palm of the hand opposing — skin out the rest of the thigh, which brings you just on top of the root of the tail. Turn the fox in an exactly opposite direction, and repeat the process; you will before doing this find yourself, perhaps, restrained by the skin of the ventral orifice, which carefully cut out; this frees the limb considerably. (I may mention that the animal skinner must not be afraid of handling his subject; it is not so pleasant nor so delicate an operation as skinning a bird, and, consequently, does not require so fine a touch.)
You will now have exposed the tail at its back and front. Now double up the fox, supporting it with your left hand, and get the whole of the tail free at the root. Letting it rest on the table again, you skin as far up the tail as you can go. The two thighs and part of the back are entirely freed from the skin, but the tail still holds at about three inches up.
Now get a pair of common pincers, such as are used for pulling nails out, and place them so that the tail comes between their hollows; push this against the part still unskinned; hold this firmly down on the table with the left hand, and pull from the root of the tail with the right. Very often the tail will not move past this point; in that case there is nothing left but to cut it off at the root, and place the latter firmly in a vice (after the animal is skinned out), and taking both hands to the skin, cross the thumbs and two first fingers, so as to obtain a good grip and yet prevent the skin of the tail from turning inside out, and pull with all your might (jerking it at the same time) until it slides.
Now free the skin from the back, working round to the front. During this operation the fox must be frequently turned to get round the sides and back. The knife being held short in the hand and guided near the tip by the fore-finger considerably facilitates this. Endeavour as much as possible to keep all the flesh and fat (if any) on the body, and not on the skin.
Coming up now to the fore limbs you will find the skin hold considerably between them at the chest. This is the place where an amateur generally runs his knife through, which, I need hardly say, is one of the worst places in which this accident could happen. Having released the chest, skin all away from the back and shoulder; the fore-arm now appears, showing the articulation of the humerus with the radius and ulna. Skin all round it until you come to the return of the fore-arm in precisely the same manner as you have done with the hind limbs. This point is not so easy to find as is that of the hind legs, but if you will twist the leg you will at once see the point of junction, where slip the knife in and cut off as before. Turn the fox, and treat the other leg in the same manner.
Arrived at the neck, skin all round until you arrive at the base of the skull; you will then become aware of two cartilaginous bodies standing up one on each side — these are the ears. Having skinned a little on top of these, with your finger and thumb raise them slightly and cut them away from their attachment at their bases.
Having freed both ears carefully, skin on the top of the head and the side of the face, until, at about two and a half inches from the ear, and in a line with it, you find the eye, which holds by a thin membrane at this point; carefully skin on the top until the eyeball shows through, and very carefully free it from its attachment all round, except at its lower angle,i.e., that nearest the nose; do the same with the other. Now skin a little more by the side of the jaw until you find it firmly held by a return angle of skin; there leave it attached. Turning the under jaw exactly uppermost, skin along the bone toward the lip as far as you can get, not, however, entirely relieving it from the jawbone at the side, but only until a thin blue membrane appears, which take care not to cut through; this is inside of the skin which comes between the lower lip and the teeth.
The fox's skin is now held to the body at five points, viz., the lower corners of each eye, two; at each return of the jaw just underneath, two more; and at the point of the junction of the two lower jawbones close to the under lip. Procure a saw and saw the head off, so as to expose the brain. On reaching the flesh under the jaw, slip the knife up between on each side of the jaw, which will have the effect of pulling out the tongue attached to the body; preserve the tongue for further operations. With a small chopper, or a mallet and chisel, cut away part of the bone by the palate, between which and the skull bones the brains are included. This considerably assists the removal of the brain.
A large quantity of flesh still remains at the top of the head, which must be cleanly removed, and the eyeballs taken out. You will then find just underneath the eye a bony ridge, running backward to the base of the skull. Surrounding this is a pad of flesh, which hides the attachment of the lower jaw with the upper. By digging underneath with the point of the knife you remove all this flesh, taking care, however, not to cut the attachments of the skin close by, which you previously left, nor the ligaments which hold the upper to the lower jaw. Both sides being served in the same manner, the skull presents a tolerably clean appearance.
The ears are now nearest to the operator. (You will recollect they have been cut off inside). All you can see of them, however, are two shapeless masses of gristle surrounding a small hole. On the sides of each — farthest from the head — you must begin cautiously skinning, and by pushing your left hand through the aperture of the skin of the body, assist this with your finger and thumb, pushed into the ear from the outside, until by skilfully working with the knife and left-hand fingers you turn the inside skin of each ear to its very edge and tip, until, in fact, each stands up inside the skin, completely reversed.
The next thing which engages your attention is the near fore leg, which you skin as far as you can go, in this instance to the next joint, the one above thecarpusor wrist joint. Repeat this with all the limbs, in each case removing all the flesh from the two bones (the radius and ulna of the fore limbs and the tibia and fibula of the hind), which together form those parts of the bones you leave in. If not done previously, now is the time to remove the tail bone. Finally, rub every part of the skin on its inside, as also all the bones left in, with the preservative recommended for mammals (No. 9), not forgetting to push some up the hollow of the brush where the tail bone has been.
Turn your fox's skin completely inside out, skull, leg bones and all, until it comes to its normal position. Commence now from the pad of each foot, and make an incision from near the toes to the point where you left off. Skin round carefully and as much underneath as possible, so as to expose all the flesh and sinews, which clear from off the bone. Be sure to push your knife well round on the top of the bones, which you may do by feeling with the knife and keeping the pad uppermost. This is for the purpose of freeing the attachment of skin around, to prevent ultimate shrivelling.
You may get nearly to the points of the toes in this manner, the only places it should hold to the bone being the top of the last joint and at the tips of the toes; the actual pad, which you will find loaded with a thick fat, must be trimmed as well as possible.
Whilst doing all this take notice of the points of attachment and shapes of sinews, etc.., which you remove, especially those of the hind legs.
It will be recollected that although we have returned the head, nothing has been done to the upper lip or nose from the outside. Accordingly the knife must be slipped the whole way round, beginning at the nose and keeping as close to the teeth as possible, in fact, on the very edges of the gums. This is important. Skin away now from the bone of the upper jaw on each side; having bared this, come back to the nose, the cartilage of which skin until you arrive at the extreme tip; in point of fact, skin it entirely out, which is best done by cutting a portion off inside, and then carefully skinning the little bit which is left until the extreme tip of the nostrils is arrived at. This requires great care, as the black skin on the top of the nose is extremely thin. This is the very worst place in which a cut could be made; and, although the cutting out of the nose could be done in five minutes, the tyro will do well if he completes it in half an hour.
This being satisfactorily ended, free the flesh from the bone, except at the attachment previously left at the corner of the eye. There is now a smooth and shiny skin between the upper lip and the cut you made to free it from the gums; this is the inner skin of the lips; the knife must, therefore, be slipped between this skin and the outer skin, and it must then be carefully separated the whole of the way round, to the extreme edge of the upper lip; this requires nice manipulation and great care. This inner skin now hangs down from the inner lip, and forms a bag, the uses of which will be seen hereafter.
There still remains the inside of the bone of the nose to be cleaned out with a pointed knife. The lower lip is now attached only at the extreme tip; this must be cut away from the gum at that place and the knife pushed underneath, by the side of the canine teeth, to still further free the skin.
The skin is now ready for stuffing, when you have thoroughly rubbed the preservative into the cut of the pads, and around the eyelids, outside the ears, mouth, nose, and vent, or any damaged parts. If the skin is allowed to remain for a night as it is, it will be all the better, as it allows time for the preservative to penetrate. Throw the tongue into a pickle of tannin and carbolic acid (see chapter IV, No. 15), and there leave it until wanted.
It will no doubt have been observed that I have used several tools not previously mentioned as necessaries; my reason is that I assume no one who aspires to become an amateur workman fails to provide himself with such everyday implements as saw, chisel, chopper, hammer, pincers, rule, etc.., the only tool not in ordinary use being the "callipers," which are made of various patterns, and are used to take measurements of breadths and depths in situations where the foot rule is useless, such as spherical and cylindrical bodies. The price of a pair of callipers need not exceed 1s.
When the skin is sufficiently penetrated with the preservative, lay it on its back ready for stuffing. First take hold of the bone of the nose and push the skull into the skin, so that it comes through the orifice of the skin of the body. The back of the skull being now toward you, proceed to push tow into the cavity whence the brains were removed, also in the cavity of each orbit, between the articulations of the jaws at the sides of the face, and the lower jaw — in fact, everywhere where the flesh has been removed, forming it as well as you possibly can to the shape which existed previously.
When you have modelled this as well as the nature of the tow will allow, return the head through the skin to its first position. Next cut four strong wires of suitable size, one a little stronger than the others and somewhat longer than the whole of your skin, including brush. Point this wire at one end and make two loops in it (each similar to that in Fig. 1); one loop to occur about 4 in. from the tail, and the other up in the chest, near the junction of the fore limbs. Spread a sufficient quantity of tow inside the skin to run all the way along the back and up the neck to join the head. Enter the point of the wire through the orifice of the skin, push it up the lower jaw into the hollow part of the skull, and holding the head in the left hand, calculate so that the wire may come through the skin at about the centre of the head, about 1.5 in. from, and above each eye.
Bear in mind that the skull being somewhat thick, it is the more necessary for your wire to have cutting edges, as before explained. Having pushed the wire through three or four inches, cut off the point with your large pliers (Fig. 16) to prevent injuring yourself, turning down the remainder to prevent the wire pulling through again. Push the other end of the wire right up the brush, to do which you must bend it back on itself about halfway up, straightening up as you proceed.
Next take four wires, somewhat longer than the legs, and pointed at each end. Push one of these right up the foot in at the pad, along the back of the leg, and up into the body, pushing it through its proper loop on the body wire, and twisting it round and round the same with your pliers until it is firmly attached. Fill the cut pad with chopped tow, and nicely sew it up to its normal shape. Do the same with the three remaining limbs. You should be able now to lift the fox by any one of the leg wires, and find it support the remainder.
Having by this time determined the shape which the fox shall assume — that is to say, if standing, running, or springing on its prey — commence by gradually filling up the neck with suitable pieces of tow, bending the head and neck as you wish; in point of fact, shaping as you go on. Next work down the chest, and then fill up the skin of the limbs with smaller pieces of tow, endeavouring to keep to the characteristic shapes of the thin and thick parts (various stuffing irons of different degrees of thickness will have to be used during the process). Having filled up the fore limbs, bend them to their required position and go to the hind, disregarding the body for the present.
The hind limbs have more character in them than the fore, and are, in consequence, harder to model; be the more careful, therefore, to pay particular attention to the proper development of these limbs, bending them into shape during work, and keeping the thighs nice and thin, and distinct from the body. All the limbs being shaped, model up the various parts of the body, not getting it like a sack, as is too frequently the case, but producing those fine flowing lines which are so necessary to ensure the perfect model of a zoological specimen. Lift your work up from time to time, noting where inequalities appear.
The fox being now fairly well shaped, sew it up with a three-cornered skin (or glover's) needle and string. A board is now to be procured, of the necessary length and thickness, in which holes are to be bored to receive the leg wires, which are then clenched underneath. This operation, no doubt, will knock the specimen somewhat out of shape, which, of course, is easily remedied, and having brought up the limbs to their proper position, you will now address yourself to the formation of the head and face.
This latter will possess but little expression, owing to the nose, etc.., being cut out. To remedy this procure a cork, which push into the cavity whence the cartilage of the nose has been removed, roughly shaping it, and covering it over with a pad of putty, pushing some also into the skin of the nostrils at the same time. The inner skin of the lips is still hanging down as a bag. Fill this up with sufficient putty to allow for shrinking, sewing it to the outer skin.
The lips may now be adjusted in position by sewing the upper to the under, if the fox is to be shown with a closed mouth, or by driving in "needle points" in various positions, if the mouth is to be open, until these parts set. Fill in the orbits with putty, attending to the eyebrows, reproducing the various muscles underneath, and insert the artificial eyes. All that now remains to be done is to push two pointed wires down the back of the ears, and run them along each edge, finally pushing them in the skin of the head, where required; the two loose ends being twisted together at the top keep the ears in position.
The tongue, if intended to be shown, must be removed from the pickle, cut on its under side, and skinned completely out to the tips and to each edge. All the included flesh must then be cut away, and replaced with putty, the cut sewn up, and it is then ready to be inserted in the mouth in the required position, when modelled into shape.
The animal being stuffed and mounted to your satisfaction, you must bear in mind, that although you have perfectly cured the skin — turning it, in fact, into a species of leather — you have not rendered it proof against the attacks of insects; it must, therefore, be washed over with one of the preparations given in Chapter IV.
The preceding method of skinning and stuffing an animal is given, not because it is the most scientific, but because it is the most satisfactory to the learner, and is, indeed, the method which obtains with the majority of taxidermists. Though perfectly efficient as far as it goes, it yet possesses the disadvantage of allowing a certain percentage of shrinkage, and that caused solely by the yielding nature of the tow used to fill out the places where the muscles formerly rested. To an educated eye this defect is at once recognised by the uneven contour of the cheeks, superciliary muscles, and various parts of the limbs, and also by the generally "wooden" appearance of the specimen.