104 TAXIDERMY A1STD ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



firms, stretch and flatten the skin upon the beam, and with the 

 draw-shave carefully shave down the entire skin until it is thin 

 enough. 



Be very careful at first, until your hands acquire skill, or you 

 will cut through the skin, which, in the case of an animal like a 

 hair seal means an unsightly, permanent defect. Do not be 

 afraid of paring a skin too thin so long as you stop at the roots 

 of the hair. 



Of course you can not pare down the skin of the head and 

 feet with the draw-shave, and these must be treated with the 

 knife and scraper. The skin of the head of every mammal must 

 be pared down and scraped particularly thin all over, especially 

 the eyelids, lips, and nostrils, so that when these parts are 

 backed up with clay you can model them into exquisitely fine 

 form and expression. If you slight the skin of the head, good- 

 by to all expression ; you will merely be able to " stuff " it, and 

 that is all. If its features look coarse, uncouth, and wooden, it 

 will probably be because the thickness and inelasticity of the 

 skin defies your art. 



Of course the joints of the feet must be got into working 

 order. The leg bones and skull require to be thoroughly 

 scraped and cleaned, and the skin itself worked up as nearly as 

 possible to the condition of a fresh subject. 



CAKVING WOODEN SKULLS AND LEG BONES. It is absolutely 

 essential that every mammal to be mounted should have a skull, 

 and all save the smallest should have leg bones also. If the 

 skull and leg bones that belong in a skin are missing, I inva- 

 riably carve others of the same size out of soft pine to replace 

 the lost members. These bones are imperatively necessary to 

 give shape and length to the various joints and angles of the 

 limbs, to shape the head, to give a foundation for the attachment 

 of wires, and to build upon generally. Very often the skull of 

 an animal is of such value to science that it must be kept out 

 of the skin at all hazards, and exhibited separately. Then it 

 must be duplicated in wood. 



Every mammal taxidermist must learn how to carvs wooden 

 bones, and the quicker he becomes expert at it, the better. 

 Very few tools are required, and these are as follows : A small 

 hatchet, a pair of 8-inch calipers, a pair of 8-inch dividers, 



