TAXIDERMY
Copyright, 1913, by
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
| I. | Tools and Materials | 9 |
| II. | Preparing and Mounting a Bird | 19 |
| III. | Skinning, Preparing, and Mounting a Small Mammal | 45 |
| IV. | Preparing and Mounting Game Fishes and Small Reptiles | 65 |
| V. | Preparing and Mounting a Virginia Deer Head | 87 |
| VI. | Preparing and Mounting a Coyote | 107 |
TOOLS AND MATERIALS
TAXIDERMY
CHAPTER I
TOOLS AND MATERIALS
The art of taxidermy, with its many
methods of application, has furnished
subject-matter for numerous books,
most of these treating the subject in exhaustive
style, being written primarily for students
who desire to take up the work as a profession.
It is the present author’s purpose to set
forth herein a series of practical methods suited
to the needs of the sportsman-amateur who
desires personally to preserve trophies and
specimens taken on days spent afield with gun
or rod.
The lover of field and gun may spend many
fascinating hours at his bench, preparing, setting
up, and finishing specimens of his own
taking. Besides, the pursuit of this art will
afford an amount of remuneration to the amateur
who takes it up in a commercial way, doing
work for others who have neither the time nor{10}
inclination for preparing their own specimens.
The chief requisites for the beginner in taxidermy
are joy in working out detail and a
moderate amount of patience.
As suitable tools are the primary consideration
in contemplating any work in taxidermy, a
simple list follows. In this list no heavier work
than the mounting of a Virginia deer head is
dealt with. This outfit will be found practical
for general light use:
A pocket-knife, one or two small scalpels, a
kitchen paring-knife, an oil stone and can of
oil, a hand drill, a fine fur-comb, one bone
scraper, one small skin-scraper, one pair tinners’
shears, one pair five and one-half inch
diagonal wire cutters, one pair (same length)
Bernard combination wire cutter and pliers,
one pair small scissors, two or three assorted
flat files, one hollow handle tool holder with
tools and little saw, one good hand-saw, one
hack-saw, one upholsterer’s regulator, one pair
fine tweezers (such as jewelers use), one claw
hammer, an assortment of round and furriers’
needles, one or two darning needles, a sack
needle, and an assortment of artists’ small
bristle and sable brushes (both round and
flat).
Make your own stuffing rods, out of any size{11}
iron wire, by hammering flat one end of a suitable
length, filing teeth into the flat face thus
made, and then bending a loop handle on the
other end. This type of rod is easily curved
or straightened to suit every need.
Those not wishing to buy at once the complete
outfit named above will find that they can
do good small work to start on with the aid
of a pocket-knife, a pair of scissors, a pair of
Bernard combination wire cutter and pliers,
needles and thread, cord, a pair of tweezers,
a hammer and saw, and small drill set.
Suitable materials follow the tools in order.
Arsenic is needed for the preservation of all
specimens against moths. This is most effective
when used in solution, which is made as
follows: First dampen the arsenic powder with
alcohol to saturate it quickly, when water is
added. Place the arsenic in a large metal pail
and to one-half pound of the powder add two
gallons of water. Boil hard and steady over a
good fire until the arsenic is completely dissolved.
Place the solution thus made in an
earthenware jar with closed cover, plainly
marked “Poison,” and keep out of reach of
children. Allow solution to cool before applying
to skins. Do not use the pail that the
solution was made in for anything else.{12}
When using arsenic-water grease your hands
with a little tallow, rubbing well under and
around finger-nails and wiping the hands partially
dry so that none of the grease will soil
fur or feathers. This precaution will keep the
arsenic from entering your skin.
Wash the hands with soap powder and a
nail brush after work.
Apply arsenic-water with a brush, or a
cotton-and-wire swab, to all inner surfaces of
specimen skins.
Carbolic acid (best to procure U. S. P. pure
crystals if possible) is needed for use in dilute
form for relaxing dried skins. This prevents
decay and does not injure the specimen skin.
A few drops of the dissolved crystal to a quart
of water is sufficient. Keep carefully labeled
and in a safe place.
Following is a list of the materials needed
for general light work:
A quantity of fine excelsior, fine tow and
cotton batting, a quantity of various sizes of
galvanized soft steel wire, an assortment of
colored, enameled artificial eyes (procure a
taxidermist’s supply-house catalog and from
this order your special tools and sizes and
colors of eyes needed), a jar of liquid cement,
dry glue (for melting up for papier-mache),{13}
dry paper pulp, plaster of paris, Venetian
turpentine, boiled linseed oil, boracic acid,
some refined beeswax, a little balsam-fir, white
varnish, turpentine, alcohol, benzine and a student’s
palette of tube oil colors (such as vermilion,
rose madder, burnt sienna, yellow
ochre, cadmium yellow middle, zinc white, cobalt
blue, French ultramarine Blue, and Viridian).
Plastic compositions of papier-mache are
essential, especially in mammal and game-head
work, for properly finishing the details of ears,
face, and feet of specimens after the body has
been filled. These are applied partly as a last
detail before mounting and partly after the
figure is set up.
Compo. No. I is practical for all-around use.
Take one-third hot melted glue and two-thirds
flour paste (thick and thoroughly cooked). To
this add a little boracic acid, a little arsenic
powder, a very little of Venetian turpentine, a
quantity of gray building-paper pulp (soak
paper and squeeze and beat up even and then
squeeze water out). To furnish a body to this
mass, stir in dry white lead until middling
thick. Beat the whole well together.
When carried so far this compo. is a powerful
adhesive medium and may be employed to{14}
stick tanned deer scalps to mannikins, and ear
skin of same to the lead cartilages.
Compo. No. II is No. I with fine plaster of
paris added until of the consistency of modeling
clay or a trifle stiffer. This makes it ready
for filling ear butts, eye sockets, noses, and feet
for modeling into permanent shape. Sets by
drying.
Compo. No. III is for monkey faces, vulture
heads, lizards, turtles, etc. This composition
dries very slowly and must be touched up
now and then while drying, to preserve the
details without warping. When dry it is like
stone and holds the skin firmly. Take gray
paper-pulp, hot melted glue (quantity according
to amount of compo. needed), a little boracic
acid (to prevent decay of glue), boiled linseed
oil (fifty per cent. less than glue), a little
arsenic powder (to prevent dermestes from
eating into work), and to this mass add whiting
until desired stiffness for modeling under skin
is obtained. Beat and rub to an even smoothness
and stop adding whiting at point where
compo. is thick but still very sticky. Rub some
of the compo. into inner surface of skin to be
finished with it or skin will not take hold of
mannikin or compo. to stay.
After modeling is finished under the skin{15}
apply linseed oil on outside and repeat this
application several times during the period of
drying. Watch and remodel details if any distortion
attends the drying process.
Fine fleshy wrinkles and skin details can be
worked out with this compo. It will hold a
thin raw skin where it is put, but is not practical
under fur or feathers.
Compo. No. IV may be used with wire netting
or rough board as a base for making earth
bases, imitation rock stands, etc. Take one-third
hot melted glue, two-thirds flour paste,
a quantity of paper pulp, a small amount of
boiled linseed oil, a very little of Venetian turpentine,
boracic acid, and arsenic. Thicken to
modeling consistency with plaster of paris, coloring
by adding some dry raw umber or lamp
black and burnt umber.
Surface the bases made of this compo. by
pressing sand, gravel, or forest mold into the
face and when dry shake off the loose material.
Touch up with tube colors, as desired,
and when this is dry apply a very thin varnish
and turpentine finish to bring out a natural
damp look.
A foreword as to care of mountable specimens
in the field may save a great amount of
cleaning of mussed skins in the shop.{16}
All shot or bullet holes should be immediately
plugged with cotton when specimens are
taken. Take a little cotton along in your hunting
coat for this purpose.
In birds plug also the mouth, nostrils, and
vent to prevent escape of juices into plumage.
A small sharpened twig will serve to place the
plugs. Slip the bird head first into a paper
cone for carrying.
Mussed or blood-stained specimens should
not necessarily be discarded. Look them over
first. Many such specimens may be cleaned
very easily and come out in the finish as nearly
perfect as others that appeared much better at
the start.
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A BIRD
CHAPTER II
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A BIRD
With tools and materials assembled
and table in readiness, we come to
the real work and, in the order of
things, will address the preparing and mounting
of a fresh bird specimen. To many people
of long experience in the art of taxidermy this
task never ceases to be a delightful operation,
one of the pleasantest of many interesting bits
of work that may result from a day spent afield.
Figuratively, the specimen lies before us,
upon the bench. Make it any native bird your
fancy desires. The following notes will be
found to cover the ground:
A pencil and a sheet of wrapping paper will
first be brought into service. With these make
outlines of the specimen, top and side views,
laying the bird upon the paper and drawing
the pencil around it while looking straight
down upon it.
After the skinning, outline the body, top,
and side views, upon same sheet, with position{20}
of shoulder joint, hip joint, knee, and tail
marked in black spots.
This system of wrapping paper sketches will
be found of great value in all work, from
mounting a bird to setting up a deer head.
To begin skinning, lay the bird upon a newspaper,
head to left of you, on the bench. Have
cornmeal handy. Part the belly and breast
feathers up middle. With a scalpel make an
incision (see Fig. 1) from within one inch of
front end of breast bone back to a quarter-inch
forward of the vent in large birds, and to
the vent in small ones. Use care not to cut
through abdominal wall, which is usually very
thin and may easily be confused as a part of the
skin, being closely bound to it. The two are
easily separated, however.
The primary incision made, lift an edge of
the skin with finger and thumb nail and carefully{21}
tear skin free from body, using scalpel
when necessary to help.
When thigh of a leg is exposed, take hold of
leg outside of skin and push knee forward so
it is uncovered inside of skin. Sever knee joint
with scalpel or scissors, using care not to cut
through skin on outside of joint. Repeat on
other leg. Apply cornmeal or fine sawdust if
blood or juice starts.
Next set bird on end, tail up. Bend tail over
backward and cut through vent lining, tail
muscles, and vertebrae forward of the large
quills. Use care not to cut skin around tail,
as at knee.
With bird still held on end, start peeling
skin down over back and sides. Use scalpel if
skin adheres tightly.
When pelvis is uncovered, if a small bird,
take rump between two forefingers and thumb
of left hand; if a large bird, hang up on a
wire hook and cord, and skin down to
shoulders.
Press wings forward strongly to loosen joint
muscles. Cut through one shoulder joint and
then other, going carefully as at knee and tail,
so as not to cut skin on opposite side.
Plug with cotton or dry with meal wherever
necessary to stop flowing blood.{22}
Next peel the neck skin down over head to
bill, pulling out ear linings when met with and
using care to work close to skull when cutting
eyelids free.
When this is done, cut off base of skull.
With this the skin is free from the body and
inside out.
If the specimen is of a species with neck skin
too small to peel over the head, turn head and
neck back right side out when neck is only
partly skinned down. Make an incision from
middle of back of head down nearly half
length of neck, alongside where nape is bare
of feathers. Through this incision turn and
clean the head.
With the skin removed, turn attention to
details of cleaning away leg, wing, and tail
muscles, removing eyes, brain, and jaw muscles
from skull and scraping out whatever fat
is in the skin.
To clean leg bones, skin out the thick, meaty
shins, using thumb nail and scalpel to aid where
necessary, down to heel joint or upper end of
tarsus. Just above this joint sever the tendons,
front and back, and peel leg muscles off.
In owls skin on down the tarsus to as near
foot, or toes, as possible and clean out tarsus
muscles.{23}
In large birds, next split ball of foot, insert
point of a steel spindle under base of tarsus
tendons beside hind toe and draw these cords
out. This will sometimes require a strong pull.
Always do this after the leg above has been
cleaned. In small birds it is not necessary to
split ball of foot nor to remove these tendons.
Next remove the wing muscles. Peel skin
down to elbow. Cut tendons free just above
elbow and strip muscles off. To clean forearm
in a small bird, use the thumb nail to shove
skin forward toward wrist, on front of wing,
without breaking union of large, secondary
flight feathers with wing bone.
With scalpel cut and lift out elbow ends of
forearm muscles, strip them out down to as
near wrist as possible and cut off.
In a large bird, split skin of forearm and
hand along under side after carefully separating
feathers over bare strips of skin. Peel skin
back both ways and remove flesh neatly. Scrape
out whatever flesh is in evidence on hand bones
in same way. In a bird with no fat adhering
to the skin, the skull and tail only remain to be
cleaned in order to complete the skinning operation.
To clean skull, remove eyes with a scalpel,
scrape brains out through cut-off skull base,{24}
and trim away jaw muscles and a portion of
roof of mouth.
To clean tail, peel it out carefully and scrape
and cut away fat and meat adhering to bone
and base of quills.
If you have a specimen with fat adhering
to the skin in more or less loose patches, as in
hawks and owls, simply scrape or peel the fat
off with a knife and thumb and finger.
If a fat duck skin is to be prepared the inside
layer of skin over the fat tracts must be
sheared off carefully with scissors and the fat
then removed with a skin scraper or dull knife
blade, care being exercised not to tear the outer
skin or to pull through feathers with the grease.
To clean and degrease a bird skin which requires
such treatment to prepare for mounting,
wash it first in lukewarm ammonia water with
mild soap. Squeeze from this washing and put
through a bath of half-and-half alcohol and
spirits of turpentine. Squeeze from this thoroughly
and run through benzine. Compress
and relax the skin repeatedly while immersed
in both these baths. When squeezed from the
benzine, dry the plumage by first burying the
skin for some minutes in dry plaster of paris.
When nearly all the moisture is drawn out
dust skin in the plaster until natural fluffiness is{25}
restored. Do this last out of doors, where the
skin may be beaten well when thoroughly dry,
to free it of plaster dust. Lay skin, right side
out, over the left hand and beat with the right,
giving an occasional shaking, the better to
loosen plaster dust.
An A1 duster may be made from the brush
of an ox tail. Nail this on a short piece of
broomstick and square ends of hair with scissors.
This duster is used instead of beating
the plumage with the hand and does the work
much quicker and better. When the dusting is
done turn the skin inside out again (see Fig. 2)
and brush arsenic-water into all inner surfaces,
then turn skin right side out and brush a little
of the solution upon the feet, under side of
wings, and inside the bill.{26}
When poisoning the head, with skin inside
out, one step in preparation for mounting is
to be taken. After the arsenic-water is applied
to skull and scalp, fill eye sockets with chopped
tow or fine excelsior, put a light layer of cotton
smoothly around the skull, forward edge close
down to bill. Turn skin carefully back over
skull and finish poisoning skin.
It is best, if possible to do without risk of
decay, to fold the freshly prepared skin in a
clean paper, wrap in damp cloth, and lay over
one night in a cool place, before mounting.
This allows arsenic-water to penetrate through
into base of plumage, thus becoming more effective
against moths than if skin were immediately
filled with absorbent material which
would tend to draw out the freshly applied
solution.
With the skin preparation completed, construction
of an artificial body is the next step.
In all bird work, upholstery excelsior or “wood
wool” will be found most satisfactory for body
making and neck, wing, and leg wrapping.
This may be found at almost any upholstery
shop, as is also tow, a fine grade of which is
needed in making bird necks, as chopped, soft
filling, etc.
A good grade of long-fiber cotton is needed{27}
for wrapping skulls and wing and leg bones in
small birds, etc.
Various sizes of strong thread, both black
and white, and some small, strong, ball twine
will be needed for wrapping and sewing.
When making the artificial body, lay the outline
sketches before you and copy Nature’s
lines throughout the work of assembling the
specimen.
To make a firm core for the body, take a
thick wisp of excelsior twice the length of the
natural body and small or large according to
specimen. Hold this tightly in the left hand,
wrapping it very hard with thread or cord.
Wrap the squeezed excelsior where it protrudes
from between thumb and forefinger of
left hand, drawing cord tight at each round,
paying out the wisp until all is wrapped hard
(see Fig. 3).
Now double this “stick” of excelsior in the{28}
middle and bind it together tightly. This forms
a solid core the length of the body.
The body is finished around this base by
firmly binding upon it wisps or handfuls of
loose excelsior until the shape of the natural
body is approximated. To be correct this
form should appear oval from side view and
pear-shaped from end view (see Fig. 4).
All body wrapping must be firm so that wires
set in it will not be loose and cause the specimen
to wobble.
Next cut the neck, wing, and leg wires. Cut
neck wire three times natural length, wing wires
twice natural length, and leg wires three times
natural length. In the neck use a size wire
that will support the head firmly and still be
easy to manipulate.
If the wings are to be closed, use light wire
in them. If to be spread, use strong wire to
support with no wobbling. In the legs use as
large wire as will go easily through the tarsus{29}
and not rip the skin open, to insure rigidity in
the finished specimen. Use galvanized soft
steel wires if possible. If ordinary black iron
wire is used it should be waxed before placing.
For the tail cut one wire of a length to go half
way through the body and leave enough protruding
to allow of handily setting tail into
position.
Cut six or eight medium wires, twice length
of thickness of body, for wing pinning and
feather wrapping, if either or both of these
are found necessary. Make cornered points
on wires. Sharpen neck- and wing-wires at
both ends, leg, tail, and pinning-wires at one
end.
To set neck-wire in body, thrust it in a little
above center of larger end of body, run it diagonally
through and out at middle back (see
Fig. 5). Push two-thirds its length out of{30}
back, loop one-third back along its own length
and push it back through body so that both ends
protrude, shorter end beneath other in front.
Bend the short end squarely and force it into
front of body to anchor neck-wire firmly in
place. Consult note sketch and wrap a soft
neck of natural size upon the wire (see Fig. 6).
Leave head end of neck a little bit long to set
into brain cavity for solid anchorage. For
neck material use cotton in small birds, tow in
medium size, and fine excelsior in large birds.
Only excelsior will need tying down with thread
or cord.
To make cords in nape of neck, which support
the mane, thread a large sewing needle
with heavy thread for small birds, a darning
needle with string for larger. Double the cord
and knot its end heavily. Run the needle
through ridge of body just back of shoulders,
carry cord to a little below where skull will set
to and run cord through neck from back to
front so it will protrude between jaws when
they are set (see Fig. 7).{31}
Let long end of cord hang free so that it may
be passed through the mouth when skull is set
on neck-wire. With this done, lay aside the
body.
The next step is wiring the wings and legs
and substituting muscles of same. To place a
wing-wire draw the wing inside out. Take
wing bone in left hand. Place point of wire
under small tendon that draws across back of elbow
joint, push through and up to wrist. Turn
wing right side out and by parting feathers on
under side of wrist, locate two points of bone
at joint which have a cord or tendon drawn{32}
across between them. Work the wire through
under this.
The simplest way to anchor tip of wing-wire
is to push it outside skin just forward of wrist,
turn a short right angle bend near its tip with
pliers and carrying it forward, push the point
through a hollow pan which will be found in
the hand bones (see Fig. 8).
After a wing-wire is set, wrap cotton, tow,
or excelsior about the upper arm-bone to approximate
shape and size of flesh removed.
Wrap slightly with thread or cord and tie.
In a small bird in which the forearm was
skinned out from the inside, slip in a film of
cotton or tow to replace flesh of same. In a
large bird in which the wing was opened along
forearm and hand, lay in a soft filling after
skin is in place on artificial body and sewn up.
Sew wing incision carefully, beginning at body
and keeping feathers out of stitch.
To place the leg-wires, start sharpened end
into ball of foot, push wire upward through
back of leg to hock or heel joint. Take leg in
left hand, keeping heel straight, and push wire
through at back of joint. A little turning of
the wire will aid in passing through leg easily.
Now turn leg inside out and push wire to
just beyond end of shin bone (see Fig. 9).{33}
Slip wire rapidly back and forth in leg to make
it run easily. There should be no kinks in
wires.
Hold wire down to back of bone and wrap
on cotton, tow, or excelsior, according to size
of bird, to replace flesh. Tie this material
loosely with a few turns of thread or cord. See
that wing and leg wrapping is smooth and
nicely tapering from elbow and heel.
It now remains to place the body, set wings
and legs and tail, sew up the breast incision,
and, if a large bird, the wings.
In preparing to place the body, take a turn
of end of nape cord about tip of neck-wire and
twist a wisp of cotton about them both to prevent
wire catching in neck skin when passing
through. Hold up the bird-skin by the head,
shake it out loose and rattle neck-wire up
through the neck. Run wire out of mouth, remove
cotton and release free end of nape cord.
Draw wire back to base of skull, leaving nape
cord hanging from mouth. Now push wire{34}
through brain cavity, between eye sockets and
forward out of roof of mouth inside until neck
is seated in brain cavity. Tip of wire may have
to be curved to accomplish this, in curve-billed
birds.
When head is set take excelsior body in right
hand, hold it with head up, and with left hand
pull shoulder skin into place. Now lay the bird
down, take a wing-wire and start it through
the body at side of back, one-half to one and
one-half inches, according to size of bird, to
rear of actual position of shoulder joint.
Pull wire through on opposite side of breast.
When head of wing-bone is drawn down to
same distance as above, from body, bend wire
sharply forward to lay upon body, thus setting
shoulder joint so that it is flexible. Now turn
over end of wire left protruding from side of
breast and clinch it into body squarely. When
wings are set shake skin down over body and
set legs.
Having previously marked the hip joint with
a spot of ink, run a leg-wire through at this
point, quartering it out on opposite side where
thigh will set. Pull wire through to a considerable
length without drawing other end up into
the foot.{35}
Loop sharp end squarely, with long enough
point to go clear through body again, push it
back through, clinching tip down on other side.
Now pull the knee to its proper distance from
hip joint, thus leaving bare wire for thigh bone.
Bend thigh into place flat against side of body,
with knee at side of breast.
When legs are set shake and carefully pull
skin of rump into place. Take tail-wire and
push it through center of tail, under the bone,
using care that it does not disturb tail quills.
Push sharp end of wire into body above center
and forward of end of body.
Consult notes for actual set of tail. See that
wire supports tail without looseness. (For general
details of wiring, see Fig. 10.) Fill butt
of tail and thighs with a little chopped tow.
Now lay the bird upon its back. Turn the
legs out at the sides a little, leaving knees
against body. Draw edges of skin together
along incision and sew up with medium stitches,
neither short and labored or long and slouchy.
Begin at rump end of incision.
In a bird in which the neck was opened to
accommodate skinning the head, sew up this incision
carefully, beginning at body end and
sewing toward head.
When a large bird, in which the wings were
opened for cleaning, is to be mounted with
closed wings, very little sewing need be done,
but if the wings are to be raised or spread the
incision should be neatly stitched its entire
length.
Also in a large bird, in which the tendons
were drawn through ball of foot, the fatty tissue
of the ball should be replaced with chopped
tow and the short incision sewn up. Beeswax
will keep thread from fraying.
With the sewing all done, bend the legs into
semi-position, fold the wings, if to be closed,
and turn them sharply up over the back so that
their under side is outward and elbows meet
over center of back. Shake out the plumage a
little by grasping the feet. Drill the perch and
mount the bird upon it. Position the legs, body,{37}
and head, and set the tail as per Nature, to suit
the position.
Adjust the plumage a little with tweezers.
Compress the wings loosely to the sides. If
there is an unnatural hollowness between the
shoulders, lift the mane and at one side of it
where the skin is bare, make a short longitudinal
incision. Through this place a little soft
filling over and between the shoulders to fill
out hollowness. It is not necessary to sew up
this incision in a long feathered specimen.
Now settle down to the fascinating task of
adjusting the feather tracts, nicely manipulating
the plumage, in places feather by feather,
until characteristic markings of the species are
brought out in their normal position as though
the bird had just ruffled and then allowed the
feathers to settle back softly. Jewelers’ tweezers
are the finest thing to be had for this work.
Return to the head. Pull the nape cord taut
and tie it to neck-wire in roof of mouth. Cut
off the wire within the mouth so that the mandibles
close naturally. Tie the bill shut with
cord or thread. It is necessary in many specimens
to thread the cord through the nostrils to
accomplish this.
To set the eyes, wipe a drop of liquid glue
into the cotton of the eye sockets and inside the{38}
lids, using a bit of wire for the purpose. Set
the eyes with regard to expression to suit the
position, picking the lids over their edges with
needle and tweezers.
Pin, or tie with thread, the toes to grasp the
perch.
Cut two pieces of thin cardboard for the tail.
Curve them slightly. Place one over and one
under the long quills just clear of the coverts
and pin them through in two or three places to
hold the quills even until dry.
In mounting a specimen with spread wings,
card the flight feathers full length with curved
strips, same as tail, then run a long sharpened
wire into the body under each wing and lay a
loose bunch of cotton over it, under the quills,
to raise them and hold in proper position until
dry.
To wrap the body feathers for keeping place
until dry, stick two or three long pins in back
and breast, along center of both. These hold
the light wrapping of thread from slipping out
of place as it goes on. Lay the thread around
the specimen lightly. If the wings do not set
right without other aid than the wire already
in them, pin them with sharpened wires, one
through the double bone just forward of the
wrist and one through close forward of the elbow,{39}
running wires firmly into the body. (For
general details see Fig. 11.)
To soak up a dried bird skin for preparation
to mount, the simplest and quickest means
is immersion in a weak solution of carbolic acid
in water, leaving for a day or two until tissues
are soft.
When the skin is relaxed so that wings and
legs may be manipulated without breaking,
squeeze water from it and follow same method
given for cleaning a fresh skin. With this
treatment a good dry skin will come out as soft
and workable as a fresh one. Arsenic and
grease burnt skins are hard to get much out of.
To make up dry bird skins for keeping to{40}
mount at a future time, follow regular method
of thorough skinning and cleaning. Apply dry
arsenic powder to inner surfaces. Wrap skull,
wing, and leg bones lightly with cotton or tow.
Turn skin right side out and push a neck and
light body filling of fiber that will allow ventilation,
into place. Arrange the plumage and
hang the skin up by a thread or cord sewn
through neck at base of skull.
To make a cabinet skin for study purposes,
roll a neat body and neck of material to suit
size of bird, place it inside the skin, stitch incision
together, plug eye sockets with cotton,
tie the elbows together on the body with a loop
sewn through the back, tie bill shut, adjust
feathers neatly and lay the specimen in a hollowed
bed made of a piece of wire netting bent
to size. See that wings cover back neatly. Lay
head of short necked bird out straight, neck
somewhat shorter than natural, and of long
necked specimen along right side, looped to
body with cord sewn through neck and side.
Cross the feet and tie with a tag bearing complete
data as to locality, date, sex, etc., with
collector’s name. To determine sex of a bird
specimen, open the abdomen under thigh.
Testes of male will be found under fore end of
pelvis and are white, in young bird, very small.{41}
Now when the period of drying is past, return
to the mounted bird for finishing touches.
With scissors cut the thread feather wrappings.
Pull out pins in back and breast and cut off
wing pinning-wires flush under the plumage.
If the specimen was primarily mounted on a
rough temporary perch, remove to the finished
permanent stand and color legs and fleshy, exposed
parts of face skin to natural hues with
tube oil colors and a soft brush. Thin the
color for this purpose with a little turpentine
and a very little touch of varnish.
In all work in taxidermy, practice develops
deftness and a personal system of handling the
details that cannot be brought about except by
sympathetic attention to the art. The work is
not difficult when the details are addressed with
quiet thought and very little main strength.
SKINNING, PREPARING, AND MOUNTING A SMALL MAMMAL
CHAPTER III
SKINNING, PREPARING, AND MOUNTING A SMALL MAMMAL
We will choose a gray squirrel as our
subject in this chapter, as this little
rodent has a tough skin that is easily
manipulated. A cottontail rabbit might be
more easy to procure, but is not so satisfactory
for the purpose of initiative steps in this work,
as his skin is extremely delicate and requires
especially careful handling in preparation and
mounting.
Now, in beginning work upon the small
mammal specimen, make outline studies of it
in same way the bird specimen was handled,
i. e., both before and after skinning. When
the preliminary surface sketches are completed,
replace the wrapping paper used for the purpose,
with newspaper, cornmeal at hand, and
proceed with the skinning.
Have scalpel or skinning-knife well sharpened.
Lay head of specimen toward right.
Part fur over center of breast bone, insert
point of knife just under skin, forcing backward,{46}
and with as near one clean stroke as possible
open the skin neatly along center of abdomen.
Do not cut the abdominal wall. Carry
belly incision to close to the vent. In male
specimen run the incision to one side of the
testes.
Next insert point of knife in fore center of
pad or feet and paws and with a gentle push
carry these incisions upon back of wrists and
inside of ankles to where swell of large muscles
is felt. In mammals the size of woodchuck
or raccoon, split toes on under side.
If a mammal skin is to be kept for some time,
dried or in brine, split the tail full length along
under side. If tail skin slips easily and the
specimen is to be mounted at once, pull the tail
out, splitting only the very tip to allow arsenic
solution to be run through. In many species
the tail must be split and peeled out with a
knife because of tough binding. (For general
diagram of incisions, see Fig. 12.)
The next step in handily skinning a mammal
is to peel out the feet through their incisions,
severing toes at base and leaving them complete
in the skin. Peel the leg skins back over
ankles and wrists (see Fig. 13).
If tail was split, peel it down next, beginning
at tip. Now return to the abdominal incision
and neatly peel the skin from the body,
in many instances using only the thumb nail for
loosening it.
When the thighs are encountered, bend hind
legs back and sever hip joints from pelvis (see
Fig. 13), cutting carefully through the large
muscles so that the skin on opposite side of
them may not be punctured.{48}
When the hind legs are cut free, peel around
back of pelvis, loosening skin to base of tail.
Set the specimen upon its head end and, with
thumb and finger nails of left hand, grasp skin
about the base of tail while with right hand
strip tail out with force.
Next peel the body down to shoulders. Hang
large specimen up by cord tied about loins, the
more handily to finish the skinning.
Sever the forelegs at shoulder joint (see
Fig. 14), using care not to cut through skin.
Peel skin down over neck to ears. Cut ears
free from head, working with knife close to
skull. Peel to eyes. In cutting the eyelids
free, work close to eyeballs so that lids are not
injured. Peel to mouth and cut close to jaw
bones in severing lips and nose from skull
(see Fig. 15).
With the skin removed from the body, next
peel out the legs.{49}
Split inside of lips free with sharp knife,
very carefully, so as not to break edge of them.
With scissors shear out all mouth and nose
meat, being careful not to cut off the whisker
pockets, which are usually very prominent when
the side nose muscles are partly sheared off.
Skin out the backs of the ears clear to edges
by pressing a finger tip inside the ear and peeling
over this with finger nail or other dull instrument.
With scissors shear off meat of butt
of ear and whatever meat and fat adheres to
rest of skin.
In sketches of skinned body mark points of
shoulder joint and hip joint and note width of
pelvis at hip joints.
Remove the skull from the carcass and clean
it by cutting and scraping away all meat, pulling
out the eyeballs, and scooping out the brain.{50}
For the purpose of mounting, the base of the
skull may be cut off to facilitate cleaning, but
for study (cabinet) skins the skull must be
kept intact and always accompany by number
the skin it was removed from.
Trim all meat from the leg bones and poison
these and the skull when finishing preparation
of the skin.
Add a few drops of carbolic acid, well stirred
in to the arsenic water used upon skins of small
mammals for mounting. This aids in preventing
decay and slipping of the epidermis.
Apply the poison solution thoroughly with a
brush, to all inner surfaces of the skin and to
the toes. If tail was split only at the tip, run
a few drops of arsenic water through it.
Turn the poisoned skin right side out, lay it
flat, side pressed to side, roll up, place in paper,
and cover with a damp cloth. Lay in this way
over one night, giving the arsenic solution a
chance to penetrate through to roots of hair before
mounting. If a specimen is bloody or
mussed the blood may be cleaned off before
skinning by wetting the spots with alcohol and
rubbing the blood and juices out with cornmeal.
The first step in mounting is properly to
wire the skull and leg bones. (For details of
this see Fig. 16.){51}
For the body-wire select a size larger than
for the legs, cutting it twice as long as head,
neck, and body. For legs choose a size wire
that will firmly support the specimen in position
without wobbling. If the mammal is to
sit erect, the hind leg-wires must be considerably
larger than otherwise and foreleg-wires
may be much lighter. (Making the pelvis loop
may be easily followed in diagram in Fig. 17.)
The first body-wire loop is bent to set into
the brain cavity. Then the foreleg loop is
made some little distance back of actual shoulder
point (in fox-squirrel about an inch and a
half or two inches). Get distance from skull
to hip joint from body sketch and follow this
sketch for dimensions in bending wire pelvis
into shape. The tail loop is last to be made.
As Fig. 16 shows, the leg-wires are wrapped
tightly upon the back of the bones with thread
or light cord, leaving shorter end of wire passing
from sole of foot. At shoulder joint turn
wire back sharply and at hip ball turn wire in
at right angles. In palms and soles of feet
turn wire down at right angles.
When the bone wiring is completed take up
again the body sketches. Bring out a quantity
of fine excelsior for replacing the leg muscles
and skull meat and for filling the body after
assembling the wired parts within the skin.
In wrapping on the artificial leg muscles begin
at the feet. Follow the outline sketches
and with thread and small cord wrap small,
properly proportioned masses, squeezed firm in
the hand or finger tips, upon the bones, copying
Nature’s outline and form accurately.
Wrap the foreleg to the shoulders. Complete
the hind leg to the knee and above this{53}
point wrap on only the muscles on top of the
thigh bone, leaving back of thigh to be filled
with loose material when the skin is adjusted.
The tail may be made of cotton, wrapped
tightly and smoothly upon the wire, wisp by
wisp. Begin at tip and work down, spinning
the wire with right hand to produce uniformity
of shape. If mammal is larger than a squirrel
the tail may be made of tow, pulled smooth,
laid lengthwise of the wire, and wrapped
smoothly down with thread. For size, length,
and shape of tail, refer to the sketches.
The head muscles may be replaced in much
the same manner as leg muscles. (See Fig. 18
for wrapping complete.) The specimen is now
ready to assemble.
To accomplish this in systematic order, insert
the head into place and next the forelegs.{54}
Consult sketch and bend a right angle in foreleg-wire
back of shoulder at such a point that
shoulder will set in proper relation to head.
One at a time, using the pliers, twist these foreleg-wire
ends, after setting them through
shoulder loop, tightly back along the body-wire.
Next insert the hind legs into the skin. Slip
their wires through hip loops, carry them forward,
and tightly twist them around body-wire
as in forelegs.
If the tail skin was unopened except at tip
the wrapped tail should be put in when the
head is placed in the skin. If tail skin was
opened full length, the artificial tail may be
placed after all the legs are adjusted. Run
tail-wire base forward through its pelvis-wire
loop and twist it around body-wire. (For general
assembling of specimen see Fig. 19.)
Before filling the body, sew up the tail, using
short stitches and a round needle, if it is possible
to push it through skin easily. Begin sewing
at tip and work toward body. Finish all
sewing with a simple knot drawn tight under
tip of finger.
Next, with a stuffing rod of appropriate size,
place the neck filling, stuffing against palm of
left hand hollowed outside the skin at point of
filling so that the forming may be felt accurately.
Then comes the filling for shoulder blades
over forelegs and with it the chest filling. In
handling the excelsior, pull out wisps of it from
the mass and rub them between the palms so
that the fiber is broken up and softened. Fine
excelsior (“wood wool”) is the material par
excellence for stuffing the bodies of small mammals
from size of small chipmunks up. Mice
require a softer material, and short chopped,
fine tow answers requirements in them. The
leg bones of mice may be wrapped with long
fiber cotton batting or fine tow.
When the shoulders and chest have been
filled firm full, but not to the point of looking
stuffed, turn to the hind legs and pelvis. Fill in
the back thigh muscles neatly; then cover top
of wire pelvis, pushing material well down to{56}
base of tail. Fill rump sufficiently to overcome
a pinched or too high set look. The position
must be considered in properly filling the back,
sides, and abdomen. If a bunched up position
is to be worked out, bend the wire back bone
into semipose and place the legs in approximately
their final position. After this, fill the
body to suit the position, always forming with
the stuffing rod working against the left hand.
See that all filling is firm but not packed in
to the point of distorting the skin. Consult
sketches and aim to preserve the little animal’s
natural form. (For general filling details see
Fig. 20)
When the filling is all placed, sew the abdominal
incision neatly up, beginning at rear
end always and going forward. Wax the thread.{57}
In a hunched together position, middling long
stitches may be used. In a straighter pose
shorter stitches should be used.
Now, when the body is sewn up cover the
specimen with paper and a damp cloth to prevent
drying while a small batch of compo. No.
II is prepared for finishing feet and head. Returning
to the specimen with this, slightly
moisten the wrapping on the bones of the feet
and apply a bit of the compo. at front and in
the sole of each foot. This cements the toes
to the foot and fills the pads.
After this is done sew each foot up neatly,
beginning at toes and working toward body.
If toes were large and required splitting and removing
of toe cords, replace the cords with bits
of small rope or soft twine and sew toes up
neatly with short stitches. It is best to use a
round needle and black thread, well waxed for
this work.
The specimen is now ready to place upon its
base, perch, or stand. With the approximate
position shaped, mark the perch for wire holes
by holding specimen over it and indicating
places where wires come, by scratch or pencil
mark. When holes are drilled and the specimen
wired into place, take a strong fur needle
set into a handle and by working and compressing{58}
with the fingers and jab-lifting with the
needle, finish shaping and positioning.
Hold in hollow of flanks by sewing through
here with long needle and strong cord, heavily
knotted for the first hold. Finish this sewing
with a knot drawn down into the fur under the
thumb. Arrange the fur over all stitches by
picking it free with tweezers.
With the body finished, take up filling and
finishing the head with the compo. First work
compo. into the ears and pinch them out thin
and into their natural shape, then cover the entire
face under the skin with compo. Fill eye
sockets and set eyes as second step. Lastly fill
the nose and lips and model them firmly upon
the jaws. In all mammals cover the teeth well
with the lips. Even in a muskrat the teeth do
not ordinarily show at all. Also avoid getting
the lips, nose, and whisker base too full. Set
the tail into easy normal position, pin toes to
grasp the perch or set well upon the ground
and inspect the body to see that no hollow or
bumps remain in the filling where there should
be perfect smoothness. Remove such of these
as persist with the handle-held fur needle and
then set the specimen in a well ventilated place
to dry.
The principal point in preparing thin or{59}
stretchy small mammal skins for mounting is
to leave the membrane of skin-muscles on the
body skin. This holds a flabby skin in shape
and lends strength to a frail one. In spite of
this the legs of most wild rabbits must be
handled very gingerly, as they have no lining
membrane like the body. For finishing mouth,
nose, and eyelids of mounted mammals, melt
a little refined beeswax in a metal vessel. While
the wax is hot (don’t allow it to smoke), stir
in a little tube oil color (black or brown for
most mammals; color to nature for birds with
highly tinted eyelids). Mix the wax and color
thoroughly with a flat bristle brush. Afterward
the brush may be easily cleaned of the
wax by breaking it up with alcohol, when it has
cooled.
Next draw some wisps of fine, long-fiber cotton
through the melted wax and lay them
quickly flat upon oiled paper to cool. For lips
of mammals cut narrow strips of the wax.
Heat an upholstering spindle and with it repeatedly
heated, melt the wax and cotton into
crease of closed lips. Melt thin, flat pieces of
the wax into depth of nostrils and very narrow
strips in eyelids.
When all the wax is placed, model it into
shape with a smooth, wedge-ended bit of pine{60}
wood. To clean out wax that ran into the hair
by melting, apply alcohol with a bit of cloth,
scratch the waxy hair loose with finger nail and
rub the crumbled wax out with the bit of alcohol
dampened cloth. This leaves lips, eyelids,
and nostrils neatly finished. Apply thin
varnish to nose, edge of eyelids, and bare parts
of lips that show. For mounting a mammal
with open mouth, follow same note given in
making a whole head for rug.
To make a small mammal cabinet skin, remove
the skin as for mounting except that legs
are severed at elbow and knee and soles of feet
are split only to allow of poisoning.
Poison with dry arsenic. Wire tail same as
in mounting. Wrap leg bones with cotton,
tow, or excelsior according to size of specimen.
Turn the skin back over a core of one of these
materials, wrapped upon a splinter or stick, to
size of natural body, but somewhat flatter.
Sew up abdominal incision neatly. Catch the
lips together with two or three stitches. Lay
specimen, belly down, upon a soft-wood board.
Pin fore paws alongside of the face and hind
feet alongside of tail.
When this is done press specimen until it is
slightly flattened and set aside to dry. With
each specimen preserve the perfect skull when{61}
possible, date on which taken, locality, any note
of interest observed at the time (and add collector’s
name).
In using dry arsenic, apply with a small
brush, using no grease on the hands.{63}
PREPARING AND MOUNTING GAME FISHES AND SMALL REPTILES
CHAPTER IV
PREPARING AND MOUNTING GAME FISHES AND SMALL REPTILES
For the purpose of mounting, fishes and
reptiles must be fresh, and the fresher
the better. In beginning this chapter
it may be well to state a simple way to keep fish
for a short period before skinning and mounting,
as sportsmen afield will not always be able
immediately to prepare specimens taken.
First, while the fish is perfectly fresh, remove
the viscera. If the fish is to be mounted
upon a panel for wall decoration, make the incision
along middle of poorest looking side, full
length from gill to tail fin.
If the specimen is to stand upon a pedestal
of polished wood, with supporting rods from
the belly, make the incision along center of
belly full length. To prevent decay, stir three
or four drops of forty per cent solution of formalin
into a quart of water.
Squeeze a cloth from this, leaving it pretty
moist, and wrap the fish in it, giving the wet{66}
cloth close contact with the skin. Do not apply
formalin inside any skin to be used for
mounting. Never eat the flesh of a fish thus
kept.
Before skinning the fish, make careful outlines
over him, both side and top views. When
skin is removed make outlines of skinned carcass.
Handle a fish very carefully when skinning
and cleaning, moving the specimen about or
bending as little as possible during the entire
operation. Lay the head to your left. Open
the skin with scissors and make one long clean
cut.
Lift edges of the skin and peel from flesh
with a sharp knife or scalpel. Cut off base
of fins, when encountered, with scissors or bone
snips. Trim out most of skull with knife and
bone snips, removing eyes from inside. Be
sure to scrape all flesh from cheek inside of
gill cover.
Remove flesh and fat from inside of skin
with scraper, working from tail toward head.
Scrape out with point of small knife blade the
flesh that runs out thin over tail-fin bones.
This completes the skinning operation. The
cleaned skin may be poisoned to advantage with
either dry or solution arsenic, brushed in well.{67}
If the specimen is opened on the side for
panel mounting and we wish to follow a very
simple method in mounting, one that is quite
as practical as it is simple, we must take a different
step than outline sketches before skinning.
This is to make a complete body and
head cast of the best side in plaster of paris.
This does not include the fins. To make the
cast neatly, lay the fish, best side up, in a slight
hollow in a box of clean, damp sand. Pack the
sand up under the fish body smoothly so that
more than half of him rises in cameo style from
the smooth surface.
Make up enough plaster to do the cast at
once. To mix plaster properly, sprinkle it into
the dish of water until a little will begin to
stand out dry above the surface. Then with
a spoon sunk deep in it, gently stir to evenness.
It is then ready to pour. Before doing this,
jar the pan upon the table a time or two to
cause any possible bubbles to rise.
Pour evenly over the fish, or better still, dip
it on with the spoon. The plaster should be
thick enough to barely flow for making a
proper cast.
The pectoral fins are simply laid flat to the
side in making the cast.
Allow the cast to set hard before lifting it{68}
and removing the fish. Trim off the overlapping
edge so that no undercut remains.
The cleaned and poisoned skin should lay
in damp cloth over one night and is then laid in
accurate place back in the cast. Pour it nearly
full of medium thick plaster of paris, carefully
mixed free of bubbles.
Settle a board, cut to approximate body outline
but much smaller, into the unset plaster and
press the flap edges of the skin back together
over the board, molding edge of back and belly
to round back away from trimmed edge of
mold. This must be all done with accuracy before
the plaster sets, but you will find it gives
enough time. Do not work in a strung-up,
nervous way.
When the plaster is set hard, remove fish
from mold, hold it upon palm of left hand and
tack edges of skin to back-board. (For general
details of this method see Fig. 21).
Screw the specimen to a piece of board and
adjust fins, carding them over little blocks and
holding the cards with sharp toilet pins until
drying is completed.
See that the jaws set right. They should
have gone into the mold in proper relation to
each other. Dig out the plaster in eye socket
on show side and set eye in a little fresh plaster.
A simple method of making a modelled mannikin
for fish follows:
Have the freshly skinned body or sketches
of same at hand. Cut a soft-wood board core,
making it some smaller than outline of carcass.
Anchor into this two rigid supporting wires
or rods as shown in Fig. 22. Upon this board{70}
core wrap strongly and smoothly with thread
or small cord a quantity of manila fiber to same
shape of body but one-half to three-quarters
inch smaller than the body. Over this apply
plaster of paris and manila fiber (dipping the
fiber and laying it on) to approximate size of
natural body. When this is set hard, pare it
smoothly into outlines of natural shape and
gouge out slight grooves for fin bases to set
into. (See Fig. 23.).
Mannikins of this type should be dried out
as quickly as possible and shellaced before
applying the skin. Apply the fish skin with a
paste of compo. No. I. Card the fins as in
Fig. 24.
Fill the face through mouth and eyes with{71}
plaster of paris with a little chopped manila
fiber worked into it. Use a slight amount of
glue in the water to prevent rapid setting of
the plaster. Hold face in place until set, with
light wrapping of soft cord, using care that it
does not crease soft parts.
Special fish eyes may be procured at any
dealers in taxidermists’ supplies. As the last
detail of mounting, set the eyes. In all kinds
of specimens use a size of eyes that pass
through the lids easily without the need of
stretching to admit them. A panel-fish needs
but one eye as a rule.
When the specimen is dry apply a coat of{72}
thin shellac as a filler to the surface to paint
upon. This filler should be very thin and leave
only a suggestion of gloss.
Use oil colors and apply as little pigment as
may be used for the effect. Kerosene oil is an
ideal thinning medium for tube oil colors.
Have very little paint upon the brush when
applying the tints to a fish or reptile skin.
A suggestion of natural hues and markings
will be found more satisfactory than painting
them on heavily. In a day or two when the
paint is dry apply a very thin coat of alcohol-cut
picture varnish. Turps-cut varnish is liable to
loosen the paint, thus necessitating entire re-finishing.
Fasten a panel fish to the setting
that is to frame him, with two screws at least,
countersinking their heads in the panel back.
The fish piece may be hung as a picture,
with screw eyes and cord or it may be hung
with one or two sheet metal slots countersunk
into the panel back. This will allow the piece
to be applied flat to any wall that will hold
screws.
Large fishes mounted with rods for pedestal
setting should have rods threaded at both ends
for nuts. Upper ends that support core board
should be bent as shown in Fig. 25. This figure{73}
also shows complete method of setting both
rod and wire supports in body core and permanent
stand.
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A SMALL HARD
SHELLED TURTLE
For the purpose of skinning a hard shelled
turtle (soft shelled species are best unattempted)
the belly plate is sawed open as shown
in Fig. 26. A piece of hacksaw blade may
be shaped and set into a firm handle with cross
pegs of metal, for this purpose, or the small
saw found in a hollow handle tool kit may
serve. Four corner holes must be bored by{74}
which to start the sawing, which, for ease in
accomplishing, may be thus done upon straight
lines.
Through the sawed opening remove the viscera.
With scissors and bone snips, free the
legs at their joints with the back shell, cut the
neck and tail vertebrae free and pull all these
members inside out through the opened shell.
Skin the head to well down behind the eye
sockets, uncovering most of the jaw muscles
and stopping where the skin and skull are
joined directly on the crown.
Cut the neck off. Clean out jaw meat,
tongue, and brain. Turn head right side out
and with a stiff wire hook pull out the eyeballs.{75}
Skin legs clear to toes and remove flesh
cleanly from bones.
Skin tail out carefully. In many species this
has to be split on under side to remove bone.
Dry the shell out with a bit of rag.
Poison well with arsenic water and let stand
over one night, covered with a damp cloth.
A simple method of mounting turtles, that
will be found satisfactory for decorative work,
is clearly shown in Figs. 27 and 28.
A light tow neck is wrapped upon the neck-wire,
which is cut about twice the length of the
head and neck-skin, and has a small loop bent
into it near its outer end, to set into the brain
cavity and a loop by front and one by back end{76}
of belly opening to hold leg-wires. The front
end is run out through the nose. Legs are
wired as in a mammal with wires bound firmly
to bones with thread or cord. Bones are then
covered with a light wrapping of tow, placed
lightly and smoothly. This serves only as a
core to the filling. Tail is wrapped upon wire
to natural size.
Legs are now pushed back into place, wires
of them and tail are passed through loops in
body-wire and twisted around it once or twice,
and then leg-wires are led to drilled holes in
edge of shell and clinched in them as shown in
Fig. 27.{77}
Now tie or pin the mouth shut. Legs and
head and neck are next filled with sawdust,
tamped in with a blunt piece of rod or wire or
piece of wood shaped for the purpose. Fill
in the front legs and head first and stuff some
tow behind them to hold the sawdust in place
when the specimen is reversed to fill hind legs.
After these are filled, stuff the shell full of tow.
Position the turtle and wire upon a piece
of board for a temporary base.
Finish shaping with a whittled modeling tool.
Stuff the skin in front of hind legs into proper
concavity with wads of tow or cotton and leave
these until the specimen is dried.
Stuff the eye sockets with chopped tow.
Wipe inside the eyelids a little liquid glue and
carefully set the eyes, using care to preserve
natural fullness of the ball under lids.
In drying, the tip of the nose will shrink
away. When the specimen is dry and the nose-wire
is cut off, a wax tip may be modeled on,
nostrils being punched into it with a bit of
wire.
To set the wax nose, with a sharp knife trim
away the shrunken tip, place a bit of wax upon
the socket, and melt it into firm contact with
a heated wire. Shape the artificial nose with a
small wooden modeling tool. Replace faded{78}
colors of turtles with thin tints of tube colors.
An ideal method of mounting turtles is to
finish head, neck, legs, and tail in compo. No.
II.
Use the leg bones and wrap them thinly with
tow. Wrap a small, hard, tow neck upon the
wire and a thin tow core upon the tail-wire.
Cover these cores, to natural size of muscles,
with papier mache.
Cover the skull where meat was scraped
from jaws. Push the neck, tail and legs into
place and wire to shell as in Fig. 27. Stuff
shell with tow to hold papier mache filling of
limbs in place until dry.
Turtles mounted in this way should be positioned
upon a board, modeled with a tool into
anatomical lines of neck, legs, etc., and allowed
to remain wired upon the board until the
compo. begins to harden.
When this is well under way, take the turtle
from the board and finish drying, wrong side
up in a well ventilated place. Remove the tow
from inside the shell to allow of quicker evaporation.
Turtles mounted with sawdust dry
very quickly and usually very slowly when finished
in papier mache.
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A SMALL LIZARD
(Apply the wrapped body principle, given herewith, to
mounting small snakes, using a wire through center.)
A horned toad is a good example for us to
work out in this department. Skin the specimen
as you would a small mammal, except that
body incision runs from jaw to tip of tail and
skull is left attached to face-skin. Keep the
skinned carcass in alcohol for reference in making
the hard wrapped excelsior body. Mount
as you would a bird specimen, except that all
leg-wires are set solid same as the two legs of
the bird are.
The lizard’s leg bones are wired exactly as
in a bird and are wrapped with tow or cotton
to replace muscles. Wire neck and tail and
put the specimen together as shown in Fig. 29.
Position the specimen and wire upon a temporary
base. Set eyes same as in turtles.
When dry finish in same manner as a turtle.
In large lizards a light covering of compo.
No. II may be employed over a hard wrapped{80}
core, but is not so satisfactory as dry mounting
as the skins of lizards are water-proof and
consequently do not allow of moisture evaporating.
With care in application the first mentioned
method may be employed upon nearly
all lizard specimens with most satisfactory results.
Alligators may be mounted with wrapped
legs and tail and stuffed body, like the small
mammal method with the exception of the head.
Be sure to remove all the jaw meat, tongue,
and eye socket fat from the skulls of lizard
specimens. Replace tongue and other tissues
with colored wax and cotton when mouth is
opened.
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A SMALL CRUSTACEAN
A crawfish or “land crab” will serve as a
typical medium for describing the method of
preparing specimens of this nature.
When possible, take notes of the living
colors.
Crustaceans may be killed most handily with
chloroform. Place the specimen in a large
mouthed bottle or other vessel that may be
closed tightly. Pour a little chloroform upon{81}
a wad of cotton and drop it into the vessel with
the specimen and close up tightly.
When beginning work, lay the specimen
upon its back and with a sharp scalpel loosen
the large thorax plate around its edge and remove
it carefully with head and antennae left
attached intact.
Separate tail entire from body meat. Split
it along fleshy under side and remove muscles
from it with the scalpel.
The legs will come apart and must be kept
in natural order. If the claws are large and
meaty, cut a round hole in under side of thick
part and scrape meat out. Apply arsenic-water
to all inner surfaces.
Cut wires of suitable size for all the legs.
Have them enough longer than the legs so
that a sharpened end will protrude to run
through and clinch in the body core. Push
wires in full length of legs. (Fig. 30. shows
the details of making the body core of fine
excelsior.) Make the core of a size to fit a
little loosely into shell of body and tail.
Set legs upon core as shown in Fig. 31.
When the legs are properly anchored, cover
the core with enough of compo. No. I. so it will
fit snugly into thorax and tail shells. Place
these upon the core now and press them accurately
into position.
Whatever compo. squeezes out may be removed
with a bit of damp cloth or sponge.
Position legs and tail approximately and
wire upon the base. Set the legs in their permanent
position, spread or close the tail fan
as desired, arrange the antennae, and set the
specimen in a well ventilated spot to dry. Tint
with oil colors, thinned with kerosene as they
are used, laying the tints on with soft brushes.
Sanded or graveled board bases may be{83}
made for birds, turtles, etc., by applying a coat
of heavy shellac to top and sides of pieces, cut
to required sizes and shapes, and before the
shellac has a chance to dry, throwing sand or
fine gravel on forcibly or laying the boards in
the sand and piling sand over the moist tops,
letting them lay a few moments before removing
and shaking off the loose sand. Allow
such bases to dry thoroughly before using.{85}
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A VIRGINIA DEER HEAD
CHAPTER V
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A VIRGINIA DEER HEAD
Well mounted trophies of the chase
are a source of delight to the fortunate
sportsman who possesses them.
Antlered game heads that are mounted true
to life in form and expression may go far to
beautify many dining rooms, dens, and hallways,
enhancing the artistic tone of the rooms
in which they are well placed.
As in all taxidermy work, outline sketches
direct from the fresh specimen, top and side
views, both before and after skinning, are of
great value in mounting deer heads.
As in other specimens, deer scalps for mounting
should be as fresh as possible. If a scalp
is to be kept for some little time before mounting
it should be well salted.
Roll the scalp up and lay over night to
drain. Next day scrape off the first salt and
rub in another thorough salting. Keep the
skin rolled up to prevent drying hard until
mounting or sent to the tanner.{88}
An ideal deer scalp includes the neck skin
entire to swell of shoulders and brisket. The
incisions to be made for removing a deer scalp
are shown in Fig. 32. A good sharp knife will
be required for peeling the skin from the neck.
Cut very carefully up under rim of horn
bases when removing skin from around them,
using care not to haggle edge of skin. Use
same care in skinning out the face, splitting lips
and eyelids and skinning out the ears as in
small mammal specimen. Remove the ear cartilages
entire, after skinning their backs, beginning
at the thick top edge and proceeding
very carefully, looking out not to tear open the
edges.
Scalps may be mounted raw or tanned. The
ideal way is to use a tanned, thin pared scalp,
mounting it with papier mache upon a modeled
mannikin. The raw skin method is perhaps{89}
easiest of application, but in all ways is not as
satisfactory as the tanned skin method.
For mounting a deer scalp raw, if salted,
soak out the salt by squeezing through two or
three baths of cold, weak carbolic water. Dry
the scalp thoroughly in fine sawdust, rubbing
it into the hair and repeatedly shaking until
all moisture is removed.
With a small, hardwood paring “beam,”
shown in Fig. 33, clamped to edge of table,
and a sharp paring knife, remove all flesh from
inner surface of skin and peel out nose cartilage.
Leave nearly an inch of nostril lining
around the openings.
Pare all flesh from lips, leaving a half or
three-quarters inch of the lining all around
them. Split white eyelid lining free to edge
and leave a quarter inch of it all around the{90}
openings. When skinning out the ears keep
the cartilages for models.
Poison all inner surfaces of the cleaned skin
with arsenic water brushed in well. Fold face,
wrong side out, back upon neck. Fold neck
skin flesh to flesh over face, roll the scalp up,
hair side out, and lay aside in cool place over
one night before mounting. The mannikin
should be prepared in time so that the skin will
not have to lay wet for more than a day before
mounting.
It is well to prepare mannikin before skin is
poisoned so that skin may be used for fitting
unless accurate outline studies are at hand.
With these the fitting is not necessary.
For raw-mounting the head, clean skull by
boiling in a deep pail until meat comes off
easily. A little washing soda in the water will
help clean the bone. With a saw, cut through
under side of brain cavity, lengthwise on each
side of axis bone. Cut the loosened piece out
with a chisel and remove brain.
Set the skull upon neck-board of suitable
length (refer to studies) mounted with screws
upon a cut out neck base-board of inch thick
wood, as shown in Fig. 34. Fasten skull to
top of neck board with nails driven through
holes drilled through the bone. If turned{91}
head is desired, make opening in under side of
brain cavity wider and nail skull at any desired
angle upon top of neck board. Screw
upon back of neck base-board a one by three
inch piece with free end dropping a few inches
below bottom of base-board so that head may
be handily set in a vise. This will allow you to
get all around it and the vise will hold it at
any angle, making sewing, etc., easier.
Upon skull, for jaw muscles, and upon neck
board wrap excelsior, packing it hard as you
go along, to required natural size. A raw
skin will settle better in drying if neck is
slightly smaller than natural size.
To aid in wrapping close and firm to edge
of neck base-board, drive a row of small, broad{92}
headed nails half into the edge, two or three
inches apart all around and loop the winding-cord
over these as the wrapping proceeds.
Drive these nails down when wrapping is completed.
(See Fig. 35 for finished wrapped excelsior
head, ready for the skin.)
Drop the dry ear cartilages into warm water.
In this they will quickly regain their natural
shape. Using them as models make a pair of
duplicates of them of thin sheet lead which may
be procured from a plumber or hardware
dealer. Split into the base of the cartilage
so it may be spread as nearly flat as possible
and lay on the lead, drawing around its outline
with a nail point. Cut out the lead ears with
a pair of metal-shears. Hammer into natural
concave shape with a bit of heavy wood
rounded into a ball at one end for the purpose.
(For details of ear making see Fig. 36).{93}
With the skin and mannikin in readiness make
up a batch of plaster of paris in thin glue
water, only enough glue stirred in so that it
can barely be felt when the fingers are rubbed
together in the water. This should retard the
plaster setting for from four to six hours and
give ample time for finishing the deer’s face.
This compo. will set immediately if used in a
skin that has been treated with formaldehyde,
sulphuric acid, or alum, as the glue becomes
tanned and impotent by them.
Make this compo. thick and stiff and mix
into it some chopped manila fiber. For finishing
one deer face and ear-butts about a quart
and a half of the compo. should be made. This
should cover the face thinly, fill the ear-butts,
set the eyes, and fill nose and mouth details out.
In beginning the setting of the scalp into{94}
place, cover the lead ears thinly with the
compo. and slip them into the ear skins. The
lead will have to be partly folded together
to accomplish this and spread again when inside.
If edges of ears have been torn open
in skinning, sew them up neatly from the outside,
using a small round needle and small
thread before the lead is placed.
With the cartilages set, fill the ear butts with
compo., squeezing it out upon the lead a little
way that it may brace the ears when set finally.
Set the mannikin in the vise for convenience.
Cover skull with a thin layer of compo. where
bone is exposed and slip the face skin into
place. Hold the scalp up now by tying a heavy
cord under the jaw and behind the horns.
Draw the neck skin into place and tie it up
with a piece of cord about the neck near base.
Now, for better convenience in sewing, remove
the head from the vise, set front of neck base
on the floor and lean the antlers against a chair
seat, back of neck up. Draw corners of antler
cuts together back of the horns.
Begin at one horn and sew to joint of the
Y cut. Sew from the other horn and then continue
down the neck to the base, using medium
stitches and drawing tight. This method of{95}
sewing a game head is the only exception, in
taxidermy, to sewing toward the head. For a
raw scalp use a sail needle and waxed ends.
For a tanned scalp, a large fur needle and
strong linen.
With the sewing completed, turn to nailing
the scalp to the back-board. Turn the free
edge of skin down over back of board and nail
firmly with short broad headed nails so that
when the surplus is trimmed off a turned over
edge of skin two or three inches wide will remain,
held snugly by nails set two inches apart.
Count upon finishing a raw head all up at one
go when using the plaster compo. This is the
only compo. which can be recommended to hold
raw, haired skins down, as the material must
set before the skin begins to dry and pull.
Before turning to finishing the face, unscrew
the holding piece from back of neck-board and
nail up the part of skin’s edge that it covered.
Replace the piece and set head in vise facing
you. Pinch and mold the ear skin tightly upon
the compo. covered lead and model the ear-butts
into shape firmly against the head.
Run a strong-threaded fur needle, with large
knot at end of thread, through middle of upper
edge of each lead ear. Draw ears up to
desired position and wrap thread around a{96}
convenient part of antlers to hold until compo.
sets. Next loop a cord under each ear at
base of cartilage and tie over antlers to hold
lower end of cartilage from sagging until set.
When ears are finished, press face skin into
compo. upon skull and massage it down to
hold firmly.
Fill eyelids thinly inside flap of lining, place
a little compo. in hollow of sockets, and set
eyes.
Deer are usually quite fleshy just over the
eyes. Place this filling before eyes are set.
Also press a little compo. into the hollows of
the suborbital glands and with the fingers work
these fleshy eye details out roughly and finish
with a modeling tool, pressing the slits of suborbital
glands in deeply with a thick-edged instrument.
See that the face skin is worked{97}
down firmly and smoothly clear to the nose.
Fill nose and upper lip and model them into
natural shape. Lastly, fill chin and lower lip.
Tuck lower lip up well under upper and model
lips and chin into proper relation to each other.
If any compo. has gotten into the hair wipe
it out with a damp sponge. Leave head in the
vise until compo. is set and then hang in a
well ventilated place to dry. Do not hang
near stove or radiator.
When thoroughly dried out, brush dust out
of hair and finish the eyelids, nostrils, etc.,
with wax and cotton, burned in, same as given
for finishing a small mammal.
If placing the head upon a shield, use at
least four strong screws of a length to go nearly
through the two boards.
For mounting a deer scalp tanned, the preparation
is very different. Scalps may be had
tanned at a number of reputable fur houses
throughout the country at a small cost. To
get best results, send scalps and rug-skins in
to the tanner with ears skinned out and eyelids
and lips split and nose cartilage pared out.
Tanned scalps, if kept from moths, may be
preserved unmounted for a long time.
When required for mounting, a tanned scalp
need only be relaxed with water brushed or{98}
sponged into the flesh side and, when soft, poisoned
with arsenic-water and folded together,
flesh to flesh, over one night.
The process of mounting a tanned scalp differs
from the raw in that it is set up on a wire
and plaster shell, more carefully shaped than
the excelsior form. The entire scalp is stuck
down to the shell with compo. No. I rubbed
well into the skin and upon the shell. The face
and ears are set and finished with compo. No.
II, which, as before stated, is No. I thickened
to the consistency of modeling clay with plaster
of paris. This method gives much finer and
more permanent results.
For details of plaster and wire mannikin, see
Fig. 37. This type of shell is made as follows:
Set the cleaned skull upon neck-board and back-board
same as for wrapping excelsior neck.
Half-inch mesh chicken wire will do, if no
free mesh wire can be procured, for building
the frame. The wire neck is best placed in
halves. The shaping will require considerable
cutting and neat manipulation with pincers and
hammer and tying with bits of wire. Use
staple tacks to fasten wire to edge of back-board.
The wire shell should be smaller than
natural neck to allow for coat of plaster and
fiber. For this make up not more than half{99}
a wash basin at a time, mixing the plaster with
plain water in the ordinary way. Make the
batches middling thick, enough so that it will
not drizzle from the wire.
Pick a quantity of fiber into small handfuls.
To apply, dip a film of the manila fiber into
the plaster, drag it out over edge of dish to
remove surplus plaster, and apply to wire shell.
Work fast enough to keep ahead of plaster
setting. Wipe each application out smooth as
you go. Apply a thin coat, very smooth, all
over the skull and model on the jaw muscles
with the plaster and fiber.
When plaster is set, surface the shell and
remove all inequalities by paring with an ordinary
small butcher-knife. Allow to thoroughly
dry and apply a good coat of medium thin
shellac. Have this type of mannikin completed,
dried, and shellaced before moistening and
preparing the tanned skin.
To prepare mammal skins in the field, for
transportation and keeping, remove skins carefully,
same as for immediate mounting. Salt
thoroughly, rubbing in well, and roll up to
drain over night. Next day shake out the first
salt, which will be found saturated with juices,
rub fresh salt in all over, and roll up over
another night. In this condition small skins{100}
may be sealed in glass jars or friction top tins
and kept damp thus for some time.
To make a preserving “pickle” for keeping
skins wet, boil salt in water until heaviest brine
possible to make is produced. Add a tablespoonful
of carbolic acid to the gallon while
hot. Stir well. Let the solution cool thoroughly
before submerging skins in it.
Skins should always be put through the
double dry salting before going into “pickle.”
Keep in covered earthen jars.
For making up into rugs, send animal skins
to a good tanner, first skinning out the ears and
paring out lips and nose.
To make an open-mouthed rug head, use the
natural skull when possible. Set the jaws open
solidly with plaster of paris and at the same
time lay a plaster core between lower jaw for
the artificial tongue. Set the skull upon a cut-out
base-board as shown in Fig. 38.
Drive nails half in all around back and side
edges of this base-board and wrap on filling of
excelsior for jaws and flare of neck. Drive the
nails down tight after wrapping is completed.
Mount the head before stretching the skin.
Relax the head with water and poison same as
deer scalp.
Use plaster and glue-water compo. as in raw
deer scalp. If a snarling expression is desired,
model the wrinkles on the muzzle with an
edged wooden tool. Tuck the lip lining well
under the filling, so they will hold in place when
the plaster is set. Finish details of face same
as in other mounting.
Finish the tongue and gums by melting colored
wax and cotton upon core and bone with
hot iron, modeling and carving to shape when
cool. After the head is mounted and set,
stretch the skin. Moisten the flesh side to
soften it up well.
Nail down the rear end upon floor to its
widest spread, with hind legs pointing back on
a slight slant. Draw the skin forward and
spread forelegs and front end to widest extent
and nail down in accurate line with hind part.
Now work from side to side, nailing skin out
to its widest extent and in symmetrical lines.
Always stretch a rug-skin hair side down. A{102}
slight wash of arsenic-water may be applied
after the skin is stretched and while yet moist,
care being used not to mess the hair with the
solution.
When dry, the skin is ready to line. Lay
the felt lining upon the floor and the skin upon
it and cut around the skin, allowing three or
four inches for pinked edge.
With a pinking iron cut scalloped edge and
enough of a narrow strip to gather fully all
around just inside the outer edge. Lay skin
on lining and mark its edge with tailor’s chalk.
Sew the gathered edge just inside this chalk
mark so that the stitch will be covered by the
skin.
Quilt skin upon the lining with a good layer
of cotton wadding between. Be sure and not{103}
draw down a bunch of hair under each loop.
Tie the knots neatly on under side.
Fig. 39 shows incisions to make in removing
a pelt for a symmetrical rug. Rug skins are
best dried with no preservative whatever. In
drying skins, stretch them symmetrically and
dry in the shade.
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A COYOTE
CHAPTER VI
PREPARING AND MOUNTING A COYOTE
This method may be applied to specimens
from the size of a red fox or a bobcat
up to a timber wolf. Remove the skin
and prepare it in same way as that of a small
mammal for mounting. When the carcass is
bared in skinning, measure the girth of the neck
at middle and at base; of the chest just behind
the forelegs; the abdomen at its middle; the
upper-arm at middle; the forearm just below
elbow; the thigh at middle; the shank just
below swell of thigh muscles back of knee, and
the tail near its base. (See Fig. 40 for measurements.)
Lay the carcass upon a large piece of wrapping
paper and take an outline of it complete,
both before and after skinning.
Use same incisions and remove skin identically
as in small specimen. Upon the outline
sketch of peeled complete carcass set down the
girth measurements in their proper places as
taken with the tape. As in smaller specimens,{108}
these outline sketches will be found of great
value as an aid to preserving natural lines in
mounting.
Wire the leg bones same as in a small mammal,
using soft iron rod of sufficient size to
support the specimen firmly. In our coyote a
quarter-inch rod will be required. In a bobcat
a three-sixteenths-inch rod will be large enough
to support sturdily.
Bend the leg rods to fit the joints in position
desired. Cut the rods of a length so that six
or eight inches will protrude from the feet and
eight or ten inches will remain free above to
anchor to the body core. Bind the rods to the{109}
leg-bones with strong, light cord, doing the
firmest wrapping near the joints.
Working over the body outline, cut a one-inch-thick
board core that will set well within
the outline. (See Fig. 41.)
Cut a neck-rod of same size as for legs, having
it twice as long as neck and head. Near
one end of the neck-rod bend a jog to hold
well when set with plaster of paris and chopped
fiber into the brain cavity of the cleaned skull.
Wrap the leg muscles upon the bones same
as in a small specimen, except pull the excelsior
rather smooth for the purpose instead of rolling
it in the palms. Make the Achilles tendon
in same way and leave back of thigh off to be
stuffed.
When the plaster to hold neck-rod in head{110}
is set, anchor the skull by the rod to the core-board
in proper relation to the body. To do
this, run the rod through a hole drilled through
the board, clinch rod down forward and back
with a hammer on anvil or vise, and fasten
with staples, or drill a small hole through core-board
each side of rod and tie the rod down
with a strong loop of wire twisted down with
the pliers.
Wrap the skull muscles on with excelsior
rolled in palms of hands. Wrap a tail of
pulled excelsior laid straight along a wire much
smaller than is used in legs.
Drill the center-board for legs and tail as
shown in Fig. 42, which shows general assembling{111}
details. When the legs, head, and tail
are finished, push the head and body-core into
place in the skin, shove in the legs and tail,
and wire the legs and tail fast in the center-board
same as head was fastened.
The remainder of the mounting is accomplished
in exactly the same way as the filling
and finishing of a small mammal specimen,
i. e., by stuffing the neck, body, and back of
thighs and finishing the face and feet with a
batch of papier-mache compo. No. 2. If the
mouth is to be open, follow directions given
for finishing an entire rug-head.
To hold in the hollow of the flanks, cut
several short, strong pieces of wire, sharpen{112}
them to cutting points, push them through the
skin along line of hollow in front of hip, drive
them firmly into the core-board, and then, with
cutting pliers clinch their ends down to hold
the skin in and cut off surplus wire, picking the
fur out well to cover them. (See Fig. 43.)
To support the compo.-filled ears until set
and dry, drive a sharpened wire into the head,
through hollow of ear. Point the wire in direction
ear is to lay or stand and between ear and
wire lay a loose, flat wad of cotton or tow.
With a furrier’s needle and thread take a narrow
loop through center of ear near tip and tie{113}
lightly around wire to hold until dry. When
dry remove the thread with scissors and the
wires by a slight twist with pliers.
Mammals of the sizes named may be
mounted so skillfully by this method that they
cannot be told from mannikin specimens.
Specimens of this size need not be entirely
mounted at one sitting. Prepare the skin, wire
and wrap the legs and head, and make the
center-board in one day, assemble the specimen
and place the body filling the next day, and
make the feet, mount the specimen, and finish
the head the third day.
A little carbolic acid in the arsenic-water will
help keep the skin from slipping the hair. Also
keep unfinished parts wrapped in damp cloths
wrung from carbolic acid water.
THE END
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to the man who wants to catch pickerel, pike, muskellunge,
lake-trout, bass and other freshwater game
fishes. The approved method of selecting and testing
the various rods, lines, leaders, etc., is described.
8. THE FINE ART OF FISHING, by
Samuel G. Camp. Combine the pleasure of catching
fish with the gratification of following the sport in the
most approved manner. The suggestions offered are
helpful to beginner and expert anglers. The range of
fish and fishing conditions covered is wide and includes
such subjects as “Casting Fine and Far Off,” “Strip-Casting
for Bass,” “Fishing for Mountain Trout” and
“Autumn Fishing for Lake Trout.” The book is pervaded
with a spirit of love for the streamside and the
out-doors generally which the genuine angler will appreciate.
A companion book to “Fishing Kits and
Equipment.”
9. THE HORSE—Its Breeding, Care and
Use, by David Buffum. Mr. Buffum takes up the
common, every-day problems of the ordinary horse-users,
such as feeding, shoeing, simple home remedies,
breaking and the cure for various equine vices. An
important chapter is that tracing the influx of Arabian
blood into the English and American horses and its
value and limitations. A distinctly sensible book for the
sensible man who wishes to know how he can improve
his horses and his horsemanship at the same time.
10. THE MOTOR BOAT—Its Selection,
Care and Use, by H. W. Slauson. The intending
purchaser is advised as to the type of motor boat best
suited to his particular needs and how to keep it in running
condition after purchased.
11. OUTDOOR SIGNALLING, by Elbert
Wells. Mr. Wells has perfected a method of signalling
by means of wigwag, light, smoke, or whistle which
is as simple as it is effective. The fundamental principle
can be learned in ten minutes and its application
is far easier than that of any other code now in use.
12. TRACKS AND TRACKING, by Josef
Brunner. After twenty years of patient study and
practical experience, Mr. Brunner can, from his intimate
knowledge, speak with authority on this subject.
“Tracks and Tracking” shows how to follow intelligently
even the most intricate animal or bird tracks;
how to interpret tracks of wild game and decipher the
many tell-tale signs of the chase that would otherwise
pass unnoticed; to tell from the footprints the name,
sex, speed, direction, whether and how wounded, and
many other things about wild animals and birds.
13. WING AND TRAP-SHOOTING, by
Charles Askins. Contains a full discussion of the various
methods, such as snap-shooting, swing and half-swing,
discusses the flight of birds with reference to
the gunner’s problem of lead and range and makes
special application of the various points to the different
birds commonly shot in this country. A chapter is included
on trap shooting and the book closes with a
forceful and common-sense presentation of the etiquette
of the field.
14. PROFITABLE BREEDS OF POULTRY,
by Arthur S. Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler discusses
from personal experience the best-known general
purpose breeds. Advice is given from the standpoint of
the man who desires results in eggs and stock rather
than in specimens for exhibition. In addition to a careful
analysis of stock—good and bad—and some conclusions
regarding housing and management, the author
writes in detail regarding Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes,
Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, etc.
15. RIFLES AND RIFLE SHOOTING,
by Charles Askins. A practical manual describing
various makes and mechanisms, in addition to discussing
in detail the range and limitations in the use of
the rifle. Treats on the every style and make of rifle
as well as their use. Every type of rifle is discussed so
that the book is complete in every detail.
16. SPORTING FIREARMS, by Horace
Kephart. This book is the result of painstaking tests
and experiments. Practically nothing is taken for
granted. Part I deals with the rifle, and Part II with
the shotgun. The man seeking guidance in the selection
and use of small firearms, as well as the advanced
student of the subject, will receive an unusual amount
of assistance from this work.
17. THE YACHTSMAN’S HANDBOOK,
by Herbert L. Stone. The author and compiler of
this work is the editor of “Yachting.” He treats in
simple language of the many problems confronting the
amateur sailor and motor boatman. Handling ground
tackle, handling lines, taking soundings, the use of the
lead line, care and use of sails, yachting etiquette, are
all given careful attention. Some light is thrown upon
the operation of the gasoline motor, and suggestions
are made for the avoidance of engine troubles.
18. SCOTTISH AND IRISH TERRIERS,
by Williams Haynes. This is a companion book to
“The Airedale,” and deals with the history and development
of both breeds. For the owner of the dog, valuable
information is given as to the use of the terriers,
their treatment in health, their treatment when sick, the
principles of dog breeding, and dog shows and rules.
19. NAVIGATION FOR THE AMATEUR,
by Capt. E. T. Morton. A short treatise
on the simpler methods of finding position at sea by
the observation of the sun’s altitude and the use of the
sextant and chronometer. It is arranged especially for
yachtsmen and amateurs who wish to know the simpler
formulæ for the necessary navigation involved in taking
a boat anywhere off shore. Illustrated.
20. OUTDOOR PHOTOGRAPHY, by
Julian A. Dimock. A solution of all the problems in
camera work out-of-doors. The various subjects dealt
with are: The Camera—Lens and Plates—Light and
Exposure—Development—Prints and Printing, etc.
21. PACKING AND PORTAGING, by
Dillon Wallace. Mr. Wallace has brought together
in one volume all the valuable information on the different
ways of making and carrying the different kinds
of packs. The ground covered ranges from man-packing
to horse-packing, from the use of the tump
line to throwing the diamond hitch.
22. THE BULL TERRIER, by Williams
Haynes. This is a companion book to “The Airedale”
and “Scottish and Irish Terriers” by the same author.
Its greatest usefulness is as a guide to the dog owner
who wishes to be his own kennel manager. A full account
of the development of the breed is given with a
description of best types and standards. Recommendations
for the care of the dog in health or sickness are
included.
23. THE FOX TERRIER, by Williams
Haynes. As in his other books on the terrier, Mr.
Haynes takes up the origin and history of the breed, its
types and standards, and the more exclusive representatives
down to the present time. Training the Fox Terrier—His
Care and Kenneling in Sickness and Health—and
the Various Uses to Which He Can Be Put—are
among the phases handled.
24. SUBURBAN GARDENS, by Grace
Tabor. Illustrated with diagrams. The author regards
the house and grounds as a complete unit and
shows how the best results may be obtained by carrying
the reader in detail through the various phases of designing
the garden, with the levels and contours necessary,
laying out the walks and paths, planning and placing
the arbors, summer houses, seats, etc., and selecting
and placing trees, shrubs, vines and flowers. Ideal plans
for plots of various sizes are appended, as well as suggestions
for correcting mistakes that have been made
through “starting wrong.”
25. FISHING WITH FLOATING FLIES,
by Samuel G. Camp. This is an art that is comparatively
new in this country although English anglers
have used the dry fly for generations. Mr. Camp has
given the matter special study and is one of the few
American anglers who really understands the matter
from the selection of the outfit to the landing of the
fish.
26. THE GASOLINE MOTOR, by Harold
Whiting Slauson. Deals with the practical problems
of motor operation. The standpoint is that of the man
who wishes to know how and why gasoline generates
power and something about the various types. Describes
in detail the different parts of motors and the
faults to which they are liable. Also gives full directions
as to repair and upkeep.
27. ICE BOATING, by H. L. Stone. Illustrated
with diagrams. Here have been brought together
all the available information on the organization
and history of ice-boating, the building of the various
types of ice yachts, from the small 15 footer to the
600-foot racer, together with detailed plans and specifications.
Full information is also given to meet the
needs of those who wish to be able to build and sail
their own boats but are handicapped by the lack of
proper knowledge as to just the points described in
this volume.
28. MODERN GOLF, by Harold H. Hilton.
Mr. Hilton is the only man who has ever held
the amateur championship of Great Britain and the
United States in the same year. This book gives the
reader sound advice, not so much on the mere swinging
of the clubs as in the actual playing of the game,
with all the factors that enter into it. He discusses
the use of wooden clubs, the choice of clubs, the art
of approaching, and kindred subjects.
29. INTENSIVE FARMING, by L. C.
Corbett. A discussion of the meaning, method and
value of intensive methods in agriculture. This book is
designed for the convenience of practical farmers who
find themselves under the necessity of making a living
out of high-priced land.
30. PRACTICAL DOG BREEDING, by
Williams Haynes. This is a companion volume to
PRACTICAL DOG KEEPING, described below. It
goes at length into the fundamental questions of breeding,
such as selection of types on both sides, the perpetuation
of desirable, and the elimination of undesirable
qualities, the value of prepotency in building up a
desired breed, etc.
31. PRACTICAL DOG KEEPING, by
Williams Haynes. Mr. Haynes is well known to the
readers of the OUTING HANDBOOKS as the author
of books on the terriers. His new book is somewhat
more ambitious in that it carries him into the general
field of selection of breeds, the buying and selling of
dogs, the care of dogs in kennels, handling in bench
shows and field trials, and at considerable length into
such subjects as food and feeding, exercise and grooming,
disease, etc.
32. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN, by R.
L. Watts. This book is designed for the small grower
with a limited plot of ground. The reader is told what
types of vegetables to select, the manner of planting and
cultivation, and the returns that may be expected.
33. AMATEUR RODMAKING, by Perry
D. Frazer. Illustrated. A practical manual for all
those who want to make their own rod and fittings. It
contains a review of fishing rod history, a discussion
of materials, a list of the tools needed, description of
the method to be followed in making all kinds of rods,
including fly-casting, bait-fishing, salmon, etc., with
full instructions for winding, varnishing, etc.
34. PISTOL AND REVOLVER SHOOTING,
by A. L. A. Himmelwright. A new and revised
edition of a work that has already achieved prominence
as an accepted authority on the use of the hand
gun. Full instructions are given in the use of both
revolver and target pistol, including shooting position,
grip, position of arm, etc. The book is thoroughly illustrated
with diagrams and photographs and includes
the rules of the United States Revolver Association and
a list of the records made both here and abroad.
35. PIGEON RAISING, by Alice MacLeod.
This is a book for both fancier and market
breeder. Full descriptions are given of the construction
of houses, the care of the birds, preparation for
market, and shipment, of the various breeds with their
markings and characteristics.
36. FISHING TACKLE, by Perry D.
Frazer. Illustrated. It tells all the fisherman needs
to know about making and overhauling his tackle during
the closed season and gives full instructions for
tournament casting and fly-casting.
37. AUTOMOBILE OPERATION, by A.
L. Brennan, Jr. Illustrated. Tells the plain truth
about the little things that every motorist wants to
know about his own car. Do you want to cure ignition
troubles? Overhaul and adjust your carbureter? Keep
your transmission in order? Get the maximum wear
out of your tires? Do any other of the hundred and
one things that are necessary for the greatest use and
enjoyment of your car? Then you will find this book
useful.
38. THE FOX HOUND, by Roger D. Williams.
Author of “Horse and Hound.” Illustrated.
The author is the foremost authority on fox hunting
and foxhounds in America. For years he has kept
the foxhound studbook, and is the final source of information
on all disputed points relating to this breed.
His book discusses types, methods of training, kenneling,
diseases and all the other practical points relating
to the use and care of the hound, etc.
39. SALT WATER GAME FISHING, by
Charles F. Holder. Mr. Holder covers the whole
field of his subject devoting a chapter each to such fish
as the tuna, the tarpon, amberjack, the sail fish, the yellow-tail,
the king fish, the barracuda, the sea bass and
the small game fishes of Florida, Porto Rico, the Pacific
Coast, Hawaii, and the Philippines. The habits
and habitats of the fish are described, together with the
methods and tackle for taking them. Illustrated.
40. WINTER CAMPING, by Warwick S.
Carpenter. A book that meets the increasing interest
in outdoor life in the cold weather. Mr. Carpenter discusses
such subjects as shelter equipment, clothing,
food, snowshoeing, skiing, and winter hunting, wild life
in winter woods, care of frost bite, etc. Illustrated.
41. *WOODCRAFT FOR WOMEN, by
Mrs. Kathrene Gedney Pinkerton. The author has
spent several years in the Canadian woods and is thoroughly
familiar with the subject from both the masculine
and feminine point of view. She gives sound tips
on clothing, camping outfit, food supplies, and methods,
by which the woman may adjust herself to the outdoor
environment.
42. *SMALL BOAT BUILDING, by H.
W. Patterson. Illustrated with diagrams and plans.
A working manual for the man who wants to be his
own designer and builder. Detail descriptions and
drawings are given showing the various stages in the
building, and chapters are included on proper materials
and details.
43. READING THE WEATHER, by T.
Morris Longstreth. The author gives in detail the
various recognized signs for different kinds of weather
based primarily on the material worked out by the Government
Weather Bureau, gives rules by which the character
and duration of storms may be estimated, and
gives instructions for sensible use of the barometer.
He also gives useful information as to various weather
averages for different parts of the country, at different
times of the year, and furnishes sound advice for the
camper, sportsman, and others who wish to know what
they may expect in the weather line.
44. BOXING, by D. C. Hutchison. Practical
instruction for men who wish to learn the first steps
in the manly art. Mr. Hutchison writes from long personal
experience as an amateur boxer and as a trainer
of other amateurs. His instructions are accompanied
with full diagrams showing the approved blows and
guards. He also gives full directions for training for
condition without danger of going stale from overtraining.
It is essentially a book for the amateur.
45. TENNIS TACTICS, by Raymond D.
Little. Out of his store of experience as a successful
tennis player, Mr. Little has written this practical guide
for those who wish to know how real tennis is played.
He tells the reader when and how to take the net, discusses
the relative merits of the back-court and volleying
game and how their proper balance may be achieved;
analyzes and appraises the twist service, shows the
fundamental necessities of successful doubles play.
46. HOW TO PLAY TENNIS, by James
Burns. This book gives simple, direct instruction from
the professional standpoint on the fundamentals of the
game. It tells the reader how to hold his racket, how
to swing it for the various strokes, how to stand and
how to cover the court. These points are illustrated
with photographs and diagrams. The author also illustrates
the course of the ball in the progress of play and
points out the positions of greatest safety and greatest
danger.
47. TAXIDERMY, by Leon L. Pray. Illustrated
with diagrams. Being a practical taxidermist,
the author at once goes into the question of selection
of tools and materials for the various stages of skinning,
stuffing and mounting. The subjects whose handling
is described are, for the most part, the every-day
ones, such as ordinary birds, small mammals, etc., although
adequate instructions are included for mounting
big game specimens, as well as the preliminary care of
skins in hot climates. Full diagrams accompany the
text.
48. THE CANOE—ITS SELECTION,
CARE AND USE, by Robert E. Pinkerton. Illustrated
with photographs. With proper use the canoe
is one of the safest crafts that floats. Mr. Pinkerton
tells how that state of safety may be obtained. He gives
full instructions for the selection of the right canoe for
each particular purpose or set of conditions. Then he
tells how it should be used in order to secure the maximum
of safety, comfort and usefulness. His own lesson
was learned among the Indians of Canada, where paddling
is a high art, and the use of the canoe almost as
much a matter of course as the wearing of moccasins.
49. HORSE PACKING, by Charles J.
Post. Illustrated with diagrams. This is a complete
description of the hitches, knots, and apparatus used in
making and carrying loads of various kinds on horseback.
Its basis is the methods followed in the West
and in the American Army. The diagrams are full and
detailed, giving the various hitches and knots at each
of the important stages so that even the novice can
follow and use them. It is the only book ever published
on this subject of which this could be said. Full
description is given of the ideal pack animal, as well as
a catalogue of the diseases and injuries to which such
animals are subject.
50. *LEARNING TO SWIM, by L. de B.
Handley. Illustrated. Constructed especially for the
beginner who has no knowledge of the first steps. Explains
the formation of the strokes, how to acquire confidence
in the water and gives full details as to the various
methods, including those used by experts and racing
swimmers.
51. *SMALL BOAT NAVIGATION, by
Lieut. Com. F. W. Sterling, U. S. N. Retired.
Illustrated with diagrams. A complete description of
the instruments and methods necessary in navigating
small boats in pilot waters, on soundings, and off shore.
Describes the taking of sights for position, the running
of courses, taking soundings, using the chart, plotting
compass courses, etc. Several chapters are given over
to the seamanship side of navigation, explaining the
handling of small boats under various conditions.
52. *TOURING AFOOT, by Dr. C. P.
Fordyce. Illustrated. This book is designed to
meet the growing interest in walking trips and covers
the whole field of outfit and method for trips of varying
length. Various standard camping devices are described
and outfits are prescribed for all conditions.
It is based on the assumption that the reader will want
to carry on his own back everything that he requires
for the trip.
53. THE MARINE MOTOR, by Lieut.
Com. F. W. Sterling, U. S. N. (Ret.). Illustrated
with diagrams. This book is the product of a wide experience
on the engineering staff of the United States
Navy. It gives careful descriptions of the various
parts of the marine motor, their relation to the whole
and their method of operation; it also describes the
commoner troubles and suggests remedies. The principal
types of engines are described in detail with diagrams.
The object is primarily to give the novice a
good working knowledge of his engine, its operation
and care.
54. *THE BEGINNER’S BEE BOOK, by
Frank C. Pellett. Illustrated. This book is designed
primarily for the small scale bee farmer. It discusses
the different varieties of bees and their adaptability to
different conditions, the construction of hives, care and
feeding at various times of the year, handling of bees,
and the types of locations and feed most suitable for
bee culture.
55. *THE POINTER, by Williams Haynes.
Contains chapters on the history and development of
the breed, selection of dog, breeding, kenneling, and
training. Also contains information on common sense
remedies for ordinary diseases.
56. *THE SETTER, by Williams Haynes.
The author takes up the origin and history of the breed,
its development, breeding, kenneling, and training. He
also discusses the various diseases to which they are
subject and treatment therefor.
57. *PRACTICAL BAIT CASTING, by
Larry St. John. Illustrated. This book deals with
tackle and methods used in catching black bass. It is
based upon a wide and varied experience in the middle
West, where more bass fishing is done than in any
other part of the country.
ALL OUTDOORS. A monthly magazine of
the outdoors that is made for outdoor men and women.
Short, meaty, to-the-point articles tell the “how” of living
and playing in the open—whether hunting, fishing,
canoeing, camping, ice boating, skiing, swimming,
shooting at the traps, or any other outdoor sport. The
adventure stories and fiction are the kind that anyone
with red blood likes to read. In addition to the great
number of articles and stories in ALL OUTDOORS is
a feature that alone makes the magazine worth its
price—pictures. The best of outdoor pictures are used
to illustrate it. And each picture has a long caption
of concise information. ALL OUTDOORS is a magazine
that not only radiates the spirit of the woods and
fields, streams and rivers, but it tells you how to enjoy
all these to the fullest. 15 cents a copy. $1.00 a year.
YACHTING. An illustrated monthly magazine
devoted to the interest of the man who loves the water—sailing
and motor boating. It is written and edited
by practical men who have done the things about which
they write, if it be a cruise to Labrador, sailing an
ocean race or telling how to put a gasoline engine together.
Under and through all other features of
YACHTING is the call of the water—the bracing, irresistible
appeal that has drawn men off shore since
the first cockle-shell was set afloat. Once you have
heard and answered it you will know why a sailor
once is a sailor always—and you will know also why
YACHTING should interest you. The most beautiful
yachtsman’s magazine. 15 cents a copy. $1.75 a year.
OUTING. For more than thirty years the OUTING
magazine has been the great outdoor publication
of America. Its contributors are national experts in
their respective fields. Its articles are recognized as
the last word on the subject they treat. Its range is
comprehensive, covering the entire outdoor realm from
gardening to aviation. In every subject that it touches,
whether it be fishing, hunting, golfing, college sports,
the country home, sailing, automobiling, dogs or horses,
its aim is accuracy plus interest. Every number combines
the solid value of sober fact with the alluring
thrill of mystery and adventure that still beckons us to
the out-of-doors. $3.00 a year, 25c. a copy.