110 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



murder, will out. In a bird, it expresses itself in a look of 

 roughness, and a general falling away from grace at all points. 



To secure perfect stability and permanence in a mounted 

 specimen, observe conscientiously the following principles in 

 its construction : 



1. Pare every skin down thin, so that its shrinking power will 

 be reduced to a minimum. This will prevent its seams from 

 opening. 



2. Poison with the utmost thoroughness, so that even though 

 the specimen should chance to stand unprotected for years 

 where insect pests are thickest, they can find nothing to feed 

 upon in its hair or feathers. 



3. Use heavy supporting irons or wires, as heavy as tin; 

 specimen will accommodate without sacrificing the form and 

 position of legs and feet. The fault of using the lightest pos- 

 sible supports is entirely too common, and is so thoroughly 

 reprehensible in a taxidermist that it becomes a vice. 



4. Make the mechanical structure of every specimen (e.g., tin- 

 fastening together of the body, limbs, head, neck, and tail), so 

 firm that the rigidity of all is complete. It is then, and only 

 then, in your power to place any member of the body in a de- 

 sirable attitude and have it remain fixed. 



5. Every portion of the skin should rest upon a firm, smootli 

 surface of clay, excelsior, straw, or tow, according to circum- 

 stances. If there are lumps under the skin, they will appear 

 soon after it is dry, and destroy its smoothness. If there arc 

 hollows, the result will be the same. 



6. The larger the specimen the thicker is the skin, and con- 

 sequently tho harder and more unyielding should be the mate- 

 rial it rests upon. Do not make a manikin with hoop iron and 

 burlap, and a little loose filling between that and the skin, for 

 specimens so mounted nearly always come to grief. If you 

 stuff a skin with straw, excelsior, or tow, pack the filling in 

 a solid mass, for with the lapse of time all such materials are 

 bound to shrink, no matter how hard you make them at first. 

 The shrinkage of straw is often remarkable and highly disas- 

 trous. 



ATTITUDE. On this subject no fixed rules can be offered. To 

 one fact, however, which should always be borne in mind by tho 



