200 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



must be kept up without intermission until the plaster is all out. 

 If any plaster remains in the feathers, you may count with cer- 

 tainty that it will always be sifting- out upon the pedestal, and, 

 what is even worse, if the plumage is black, or dark-colored, it 

 will impart to it a gray and dusty appearance. 



Caution. Remember that if you leave the first application of 

 plaster, or even the second, too long 1 in the feathers it will " set " 

 or harden there, and make you wish you were dead before you 

 get it out. 



DKY SKINS. The hardest subjects to deal with are old, dry 

 skins. While fresh, fat is merely so much clean oil smeared on the 

 feathers. An old, dry duck, goose, swan, penguin, auk, or alba- 

 tross skin is liable to have the feathers of the breast and abdo- 

 men all caked together in a solid mass of rancid, yellow grease, 

 to which time has added a quantity of museum dirt. In mount- 

 ing one of the charming- specimens of this too numerous class, 

 it is not always safe to clean the feathers before inserting- the 

 body. There is dang-er that the skin will go to pieces. For 

 this, and other reasons, the skin should be scraped clean inside, 

 poisoned, furnished with a body, and sewn up before you at- 

 tempt to clean the feathers. 



When feathers are badly caked with old, dry grease, it is an 

 excellent plan to apply a jet of steam to the afflicted region, 

 which quickly warms and moistens the grease, and allows the 

 turpentine to cut it in less than half the time it would otherwise 

 require. There is nothing that starts dry grease as quickly as 

 a little well-directed steam ; but steam is a powerful shrinking- 

 agency, and it must be used with judgment. 



Usually an old skin is so dirty that it requires to be " plas- 

 tered " all over. If you have no steam, attack the greasy por- 

 tions first with warm water (but no soap), to warm up the grease 

 and soften it. Time and patience are both necessary. Next, 

 wipe off the water, and with a wad of cotton cloth, tow, or cot- 

 ton batting, dip from your dish of turpentine, and apply it as a 

 wash upon the feathers, always rubbing with the grain, of 

 course. When, after repeated applications, you see that the 

 turpentine has dissolved the grease to quite an extent, go rap- 

 idly over the remainder of the bird, then lay it down upon a 

 sheet of heavy paper, upon its back, and cover it completely with 



