ee a a A A 

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS. 
is raised, the wing on that side slightly elevated, the head turned 
in the same direction, and the foot advanced, the tail drooping, 
but raised slightly towards the point of alarm. Perhaps, how- 
ever, the tyro will obtain a better lesson on this subject than we 
can give by studying the attitudes given to birds in the sketches 
of Mr. Harrison Weir, some of whose drawings illustrate the 
series of books to which this belongs. 'The Landseers, Ansdell, 
Wolff, and several artists of well-known repute as painters of 
animals, may also be studied with advantage. 
But his task is not yet finished; however carefully the skin- 
ning may have been performed, there will be a difficulty with 
some of the feathers. In order to keep them in their place, and 
get them to be smooth, it is sometimes necessary to dress them 
m a modeller’s iron, heated, taking care that the iron is not 
hot enough to scorch the feathers. Having 
got them into a proper state, the French 
curators bind long bands of soft paper 
round them to keep them in that position, 
~ fixing the paper by means of pins, as in 
the engraving. My own practice, and, I 
believe, that of most English 
naturalists, is to keep the 
feathers in their place and 
position by winding cotton- 
thread round them. By this 
jmeans, having smoothed a 
feather into its proper curve 
at the hollows and twists 
of the neck, for instance, 
by adie a thread round it in two or three places while it is 
damp, I can be certain that it will retain that position when 
dry; the thread wound round the body keeps every feather in 
its place. This, I think, cannot be accomplished by a paper 
band, however skilfully placed. 






STUFFING AND MOUNTING QUADRUPEDS. 
Before commencing operations, it is necessary to have the 
materials which are to form the carcase at hand, as well as the 
wires which are to form the framework, which must be propor- 
tioned to the size of the animal. Cut the wire into five pieces, 
of which four are for the limbs and the fifth for the body. This 
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