126 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



nicely in the paws, and there let it remain. If necessary, we 

 will tie the toes in position around the nut until they are dry. 

 It is a common fault with beginners in taxidermy to slight 

 the toes of their specimens, both birds and mammals, and, as a 

 result, all such specimens have a slovenly, tramp-like appear- 

 ance. 



Nature alone can tell you how to pose the tail to represent 

 the state of the animal's feeling's. Try to look at your work 

 with the eye of an artist, analyze it, and catalogue its faults, so 

 that you will be sure to avoid them in the next specimen. 



If the hair needs no more washing 1 , comb it out carefully at 

 the last moment, and set your specimen on a shelf to dry, out 

 of the dust if possible, and out of the sunshine, and watch it 

 while it is drying to see that the head and feet dry in good 

 shape. At the end of two weeks, or perhaps three, the little 

 mammal will be dry and hard, and ready for the last touches. 

 Pull out all the pins which have been holding the toes, ears, 

 lips, or eye corners in place, and if they leave any holes, fill 

 them up with putty. I have not told you how to stuff a head 

 with the mouth open, and model the soft parts in papier-mache 

 and wax, because you will hardly want to try anything so diffi- 

 cult at present, and it involves processes which cannot be de- 

 scribed within the limits of this chapter. 



When your mammal is quite dry, dress the fur with a fine 

 comb and brush, and beat it with a small piece of whalebone 

 or a little switch, to make it stand out from the skin, full and 

 fluffy, as in life. This end must be accomplished, no matter 

 how long it takes. 



Procure some tube colors, oil and turpentine, equal parts, 

 and a small sable brush, with which to tint the eyelids and the 

 end of the nose their natural color. Put a little varnish and 

 turpentine, equal parts of each, on the toe-nails, and, in short, 

 do everything you can that will give the specimen the look of a 

 living animal. If it looks stuffed, put it in the darkest corner of 

 your cabinet, and try another. The glass eyes must be cleaned 

 with great care, and polished with a soft cotton rag until they 

 glisten. 



At the last moment change the rough board pedestal for a 

 permanent one, either of black walnut, polished, or ash, planed 



