180 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



beak with hot wax, or else by much soaking the horny sheaths 

 will flake off. Wrap the feet and leg's with wet cloths, as de- 

 scribed above, and let the skin lie without any other wrapping 

 for one day. By the end of that time the joints can be bent 

 somewhat, and they should be manipulated until they bend 

 easily. When they will do this, put wet cloths around the joints 

 of the wings, under the wings, inside of the body and the neck, 

 and wrap the whole skin in a wet cloth of the proper size. 

 By the end of the second day the entire skin will be soft and 

 pliable, and smelling like an African shanty damp and musty. 



Of course the larger the skin the longer it will take to com- 

 pletely relax. Sometimes the wings of very large birds require 

 soaking half as long as the legs, but care must be exercised not 

 to soak any feathered parts too long, or the feathers are liable 

 to fall out and cause trouble. By this process skins may be 

 softened and made ready to mount, according to their size, as 

 follows : Wren to robin, in twelve to fourteen hours ; ruffed 

 grouse, two days ; great blue heron, three days ; bald eagle, four 

 days ; condor, five days ; ostrich, six to seven days. Skins 

 which are less than one year old soften in about half the time 

 they would require if five years old, and if properly made in 

 the first place, will make as handsome mounted specimens as 

 would fresh skins. 



WET SAND. Some taxidermists soften dry bird skins by bury- 

 ing them in wet sand after the legs and wings have been relaxed 

 in the way already described. I have tried it occasionally with 

 small skins, and found that the results were quite satisfactory. 



A GOOD " SwEAT-Box." Professor L. L. Dyche, of the Uni- 

 versity of Kansas, described to me a sweat-box which he has 

 used, and which is certainly a good one for the creation of a 

 damp atmosphere for the softening of skins, and also to keep 

 half-finished birds in over night, to prevent them from drying 

 up. What a deal of trouble the bird taxidermists of my ac- 

 quaintance might have saved themselves during the last ten 

 years had they known of, or devised, this simple but perfect con- 

 trivance. It is made by selecting a wooden box, of the right 

 size to suit, providing a hinged cover, and coating the entire 

 inside with plaster Paris an inch or so in thickness. To make 

 use of it, it is filled with water and allowed to stand until the 



