122 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



the shoulders the backbone must be curved, to throw the head 

 and shoulders up, and hold them well erect. Give the head the 

 pose you wish it to have, slightly turned to one side, let us 

 say. 



The next step, a very important one, is filling- the body. If 

 you do not do it intelligently, your squirrel will need to find a 

 grave in the ash barrel. The mechanical part of this filling 

 process is exceedingly simple, and everything, or nearly every- 

 thing, depends upon how much you know of the anatomy of 

 the animal before you. This is a private matter between your- 

 self and nature. Your hand will nearly always be able to keep 

 up with your eye if you give it a fair chance. 



With your long forceps, v/hich work like a dextrous thuml) 

 and finger eight inches long, pick up the chopped tow, and 

 little by little insert it in the skin where it is needed. First fill 

 out above the backbone until you get the desired outline, in 

 profile, of the back and shoulders from tail to head. Then fill 

 out the shoulders and form them properly. Fill in the neck, 

 first around the base of the skull, and sew up the neck skin, 

 from the end of the cut downward for about two inches, and 

 without cutting off your thread insert more chopped tow in the 

 neck and shoulders, packing it firmly, if you have the propor- 

 tions right. Do not allow the tow to roll up into wads and 

 make the skin full of hills and hollows on the outside. Tho 

 pressure of the tow 011 all points of the skin should be the 

 same, and the filling must be packed firmly and evenly, so that 

 the finished animal will keep its shape tenaciously in the strug- 

 gle for existence, and not collapse at a firm touch. 



One secret of success in filling the body lies in gradually and 

 equally filling out the entire body to fair proportions before fin- 

 ishing any one part. Give the animal its exact attitude, thou 

 proceed. If there is an apparent lack of skin at any particular 

 point, attack that first, and fill it out. You will soon find how 

 easy it is to draw skin from one part of the body to another by 

 judicious filling. 



Having finished the neck and shoulders, leave that part 

 and go to the haunches. Fill around the base of the tail, 

 the hips, the upper part of the thighs, and the abdomen. 

 Be careful to make both sides alike. Commence at the root of 



