60 



TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



until lie sees for himself, in some of his finest ducks and brants, 

 just how it is done. If a skin is worth saving- at all, it is worth 

 preserving 1 properly. Grease left on a skin " burns " it. 



In making 1 up a skin having- a long-, slender neck like that of 

 swan, goose, heron, or crane, it is an excellent plan (when pos- 

 sible) to take a stout wire, as long 1 as the en- 

 tire neck and body, wrap a little tow or cot- 

 ton rags around it to partly form a false neck, 

 and insert it in the skin. This will often save 

 a neck from being completely broken in two. 

 Fill the body of the skin with excelsior, tow, 

 cotton, or crumpled paper, which, in distant 

 jungles, far from civilization, is an excellent 

 thing. In case of need, you may fill with dry 

 leaves, dead grass, in fact almost anything ex- 

 cept wool, hair, or other animal products. Do 

 not fill the body out to more than two-thirds 

 its natural size, unless you have abundant 

 storage room, and transportation facilities. If 

 filled out full size, large bird skins fill up 

 boxes and drawers wonderfully fast, and gen- 

 erally it is best to flatten such skins a little. 



Large bird skins should always be sewn up. 

 The head must be properly filled out, and if 

 cut open at the back, that also should have a 

 few stitches, but not too many, for obvious 

 reasons. In laying out a large skin, if the 

 neck be long, bend it around to one side as 

 the specimen lies before you on its back, and 

 lay it on the side of the body along the edge 

 of the wing. If the legs are long, they, too, must be bent up so 

 that the feet lie upon the body. The accompanying figure, 

 from a specimen prepared by Mr. William Palmer, shows just 

 how a great blue heron should be done. The wings must be 

 carefully placed, the plumage dressed and nicely adjusted, and 

 the finished skin pinned up in a wide strip of thin cotton-cloth, 

 or anything else you please, to keep it in perfect shape until it 

 dries. 



Of course, a large skin requires plenty of air while it is dry- 



c , 



FIG. 18. How to Shape 

 a neron Skin. 



