MOUNTING SMALL MAMMALS. 125 



around the mouth is not unnaturally drawn back, the lips will 

 stay in place, and dry there without any fastening. If the skin 

 is drawn too far back, the lips must be pinned in place until 

 they dry. The advantage in using- clay for filling out the head 

 is that it enables you to press the skin down upon it and mould 

 all the parts into their natural- shape and size, without giving 

 to the head that unnatural, puffed out, stuffed appearance, 

 which is almost unavoidable when tow only is used. 



Introduce clay at the eye opening until the addition of the 

 glass eye inside will make the organ sufficiently prominent. 

 Insert the glass eye edgewise through the opening, turn it in 

 position and embed it in the clay. With a large needle, or your 

 awl, adjust the eyelids upon the glass, and if the eye is not 

 right, work it into its proper position. Adjust both eyes alike, 

 and, above all, see to it that they both look at the same point, 

 be that point real or imaginary. 



The same amount of iris must show in each eye, and the po- 

 sition of the pupils must correspond exactly. Do not make 

 them unusually staring, as though about to burst from their 

 sockets. It is the eye more than any other one feature that 

 gives any animal, living or stuffed, its expression, and this is 

 due entirely to the arrangement of the lid and brow. The eye- 

 ball has, in itself, no more power of varied expression than a 

 glass marble ; therefore the facial expression of a mounted ani- 

 mal is wholly under the control of the taxidermist, provided he 

 takes the trouble to procure good glass eyes of the right size 

 and quality. 



Unless the ears of your specimen are very small and insig- 

 nificant, it will be necessary to cut two pieces of thin card-board 

 the shape of each ear, but larger, and after getting the ear in 

 position, pin it between them, so that it will be held in a natu- 

 ral position and good shape until it dries. Do not thrust the 

 pins through the ear, but through the card-board around the- 

 edge. The last thing is to arrange the toes and feet naturally, 

 and pin each toe in place until it dries. Since our squirrel is to 

 be holding a nut, we will cut off the foreleg wires, all but half 

 an inch, and bring the paws close together at the proper eleva- 

 tion. We must now drill two small holes in opposite sidrs 

 of a hickory nut, force the wires into them until the nut rests 



