252 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



To the enterprising- taxidermist a few dollars judiciously 

 expended in such materials as the above are bread cast upon 

 the waters, that will be sure to return to him before many 

 days, buttered on both sides. 



No matter what it costs, have the right kind of brushes, and 

 a good assortment of coloring 1 materials. Do not try to " get 

 along " with whatever you happen to have, if it happens to be 

 not the right thing. Don't try to paint fish scales with a sash 

 tool, or delicate fin-rays with a fitch. Use for such purposes 

 delicate, little sable pencils (fiat), Nos. 1 to 4. Take good care 

 of them after use, wash them out with soap and water, or ben- 

 zine, and keep them in good working order by keeping them 

 clean and soft. Do not let the colors on your palette get in a 

 nasty mess, fit to turn an artist's stomach inside out, but keep 

 your palette clean and in good order. Take from the tubes 

 only as much color as you are likely to use. Keep the centre 

 of your palette free from masses of color, so that you can have 

 that space for mixing. 



Only those who have first been taught the slipshod ways of the 

 slouch, and afterward learned the methods of the artist, can real- 

 ize the advantages in favor of the latter as revealed in results. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. The skins and fleshy parts of all mam- 

 mals and birds become shrunken, mummified and colorless 

 when dry, and if not covered with hair or feathers require to be 

 painted with the colors which have disappeared. As to what 

 the colors should be, th'e taxidermist must learn by observation 

 from living specimens, or those freshly killed, or from good col- 

 ored illustrations. 



SURFACE. Whatever the subject to be painted, the first care 

 is to see that the surface is properly prepared to receive the 

 color. If it be skin, it must be perfectly clean, and free from 

 dirt, dust, or loose scales. If a skin has any sort of powdery 

 deposit upon it, it must be scraped clean with a knife. Holes 

 and seams must be filled up with papier-mache, long enough in 

 advance that it will have time to dry. Papier-mache which is 

 to be painted should always be given two coats of white shel- 

 lac, mixed rather thin, before putting on any paint. If this is 

 not done, the mache will absorb two or three coats of paint, like 

 a sponge, and the surface will dry perfectly dead. 



