246 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



which was done on the surface of the cut bank, and in the bed 

 of the stream, was done as soon as the soft material was put on. 

 The surface of the pool was represented by a sheet of plate 

 glass, a quarter of an inch thick. The entire groundwork of 

 the case was covered with genuine prairie sod, each piece 

 about one inch thick and a foot square, cut on the buffalo range 

 in Montana, and shipped in barrels to Washington. 



When this sod became perfectly dry, it lost all color and had 

 the appearance of cured hay. In order to give it the right 

 tone, it was necessary to spray it with a thin mixture of green 

 paint in turpentine, to impart to it a pale green tint. As 

 soon as the papier-mache was dry, the sod w r as cut neatly, 

 matched carefully, and laid upon it the joints being skilfully 

 closed. A number of clumps of sage brush and bunches of 

 broom sedge, grubbed up in Montana and carefully dried, were 

 set here and there through the group. A bed of cactus was 

 also introduced in the foreground. The sage brush required 

 no preparation except to pack it carefully, and dry it after it 

 reached Washington, with the branches in position. The 

 leaves were of the right color when dry, and remained attached 

 to the stems. Montana dirt was used in the bottom of the buf- 

 falo trail, and on the side of the cut bank. A few buffalo bones 

 were stuck in the side of the bank to represent fossil bones as 

 the} 7 are often seen protruding from the faces of cut banks in 

 Montana. While the papier-mache around the edge of the 

 pool was yet soft, tracks were made in it with genuine buffalo 

 hoofs of various sizes, and many more tracks were made in the 

 dust in the bottom of the buffalo trail. Of all the accessories 

 in the buffalo case, everything in sight came from the Montana 

 buffalo range, except the sheet of glass forming the surface of 

 the pool. 



The last six months of my connection with the National Mu- 

 seum witnessed the completion of the great group of moose, 

 which we began in 1889. In size and general make-up it is a 

 companion piece to the group of buffaloes, and is a memorial 

 worthy of the colossal species it represents. The setting rep- 

 resents a section of the moose woods of Upper Canada, in which 

 the larger animals are browsing on the tender twigs of the 

 white birch. The animals have come together at the edge of a 



