42 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



foreleg- at the " knee " (so called), and the hind leg- at the hock- 

 joint, leaving the calcaneuni, or heel-bone, attached to the canon 

 bone, and thus remaining- with the skin. The bones from the 

 two upper joints of the legs are to be cleaned of flesh, tied in a 

 bundle, and sent with the skin unless the collector happens to 

 be travelling^ by pack train in mountainous country, far afield. 

 In such a case we can forgive him for throwing away the large 

 bones of the legs if he will only bring in the skin, skull, and 

 lower leg bones all right. The point is, in mounting a skin we 

 must have leg bones if not the real ones, then they must be 

 counterfeits carved out of wood, to give shape to the legs, par- 

 ticularly at the joints. And he who tries it once will find it is a 

 two or three days' job to carve a large set of leg bones, even 

 with patterns by which to work, to say nothing of having to 

 evolve models from one's inner consciousness. Therefore, I say, 

 save the leg bones. 



Betvare of Blood. By all means keep the hair from getting 

 bloody, but if you cannot possibly keep it clean, keep it as clean 

 as you can. Remember that blood must be washed out on the 

 spot, no matter how scarce water is, nor whether the mercury 

 stand at 110 above zero, or 10 below. If a wound bleeds pro- 

 fusely, throw plenty of dry dirt or sand on the hair that has 

 become bloody, to absorb the blood. The dirt can be knocked 

 out with a stick, and it will take the blood with it. If the white 

 hair of the prong-horn antelope once gets soaked with blood, it 

 is impossible to remove all traces of it. The soft, tubular hairs 

 get filled with blood wherever there is a break, and enough of 

 it will always remain to mark the catastrophe. In the Bad 

 Lands of Montana I once washed three long and bitterly cold 

 hours on a fine antelope skin that had lain twenty -four hours 

 with blood upon it, but had to give up beaten, at last, and throw 

 the skin away. 



Shaping. Since these directions will be used chiefly in pre- 

 paring the skins of deer, antelope, and kindred ruminants, the 

 accompanying illustration (Fig. 8) is given to show how such 

 skins should be made up when they are to be preserved dry, 

 either for study or for mounting. It is best to defer folding 

 up a skin until it is partially dry and has begun to stiffen a 

 little. 



