HOW TO SELECT AND STUDY FRESH SPECIMENS. 21 



the value of the information thus obtained is sure to be equal 

 to ten times its cost. 



Hecord the measurements on the label bearing* the name of 

 the object, and by all means adopt for each class of objects a 

 certain system of measurements, which should always be fol- 

 lowed. Under their respective headings, in the following- chap- 

 ters on collecting, I will give directions for measuring small 

 mammals, large mammals, and birds, according to the system I 

 think most useful. 



CASTS. The great value of casts as working models and 

 records cannot be overestimated nor ignored without loss of 

 accuracy. They are especially valuable in preserving- records 

 of the forms of mammals ; and the methods of making them 

 all very simple and easy will be found fully described and 

 illustrated in the chapters devoted to " Making Casts " (Part 

 III). 



PHOTOGRAPHS. To the taxidermist and collector, photographs 

 of dead animals are of very little value unless it be a large 

 picture of the head of a large specimen, such as a moose. 

 Photographs of live animals taken "broadside on," as the 

 sailors say, are extremely valuable aids in mounting ; but these 

 you get only in the zoological gardens. I never took a 

 camera into the field with me, and have always been glad of it, 

 for it would not have repaid the trouble it would have involved. 

 Xo man who has his hands full of shooting, preserving, and 

 packing specimens can afford to waste time on a camera with 

 which to take dead animals, because it is apt to fail to em- 

 phasize the very points you most wish to have recorded. I 

 have had enough dead animals photographed to feel sure on 

 this point. 



On the other hand, the taxidermist who permits himself to be 

 wholly unable to make simple sketches, with a fair degree of 

 accuracy, from animals in the flesh, is seriously handicapped. 

 It is only the heaven-born genius as yet unborn, I believe who 

 can study animals and remember everything he sees. Written 

 descriptions help out a great deal, especially when particular 

 emphasis is called for, and in the absence of sketches, photo- 

 graphs are the next best thing. It is an excellent thing to be able 

 to photograph animals, both living and dead ; but the trouble is, 



