168 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



gether in minute wrinkles in order to make an undue fulness 

 disappear. 



12. Before sewing up the skin along 1 the back of the neck, 

 (which must be done with very strong limn " gilling thread," 

 well waxed to keep it from rotting) put enough clay at the base 

 of each ear and on the back of the skull to properly form those 

 parts. Observe that in a live deer the base of the ear is quite 

 close up to the burr of the antler, and it also has a peculiar shape, 

 which should be studied and faithfully reproduced, but can 

 hardly be described. 



13. If the manikin is of the right size and shape, you are now 

 ready to sew up the skin ; nail it fast with small brads around 

 the lower edge of the neck-board, and trim the surplus oft* 

 neatly and evenly. Screw the head upon a rough shield or 

 piece of board, so that it will stand alone on your table while 

 you are working at the face. 



14. Unless you have carefully studied a deer's head in the 

 flesh, or have a cast to work by, you can not reasonably expect 

 to be able to make the head precisely as it should be. Fifteen 

 minutes of close and studious examination and note-taking of a 

 head in the flesh will do for you what my poor pen could not 

 hope to accomplish with ten pages of written matter. 



15. There yet remains that part of the work which requires 

 the most artistic treatment. In finishing the face, the first thing 

 is to shape the cheeks, which is quickly done provided they are 

 filled with precisely the proper quantity of clay. By trial you 

 will find whether more clay must be put in, or some taken out. 

 After the cheeks, form the eyebrow, fill the orbit with clay, and 

 with a small wire nail fasten the skin down in that deep pit 

 which is found in front of the anterior corner of the eye. Press 

 the skin down upon the muzzle, fill in the lips with clay, and 

 fold them as they were before skinning. Before bringing the 

 lips together, fill out the nose, the chin, and corners of the 

 mouth but not, too full, however. That done satisfactorily, 

 bring the lips together ao they were in life. No wiring or sew- 

 ing is necessary, nor even pinning. It is to be supposed that 

 you have kept the skin of the lower jaw pulled well forward into 

 place, and if so, the lips will go together easily and stay there 

 for all time to come. In modeling the end of the nose and the 



