REVIEW. PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 223 



" beasts" for "animals" in the title, as he is hable to be told that he is not 

 a behever in the animaHsm of birds ; also, it would be better to alter the 

 title to " decoying and trapping," as it is essential that the animal should 

 be enticed to the trap, or decoyed into it before it may be trapped. The 

 opening observations in this chapter do, indeed, constitute a golden rule, and 

 ought to beengravedou every i-ifie and fowhng piece in use. Then, perhaps, 

 the hideous scenes at Hurlingham, and other pigeon-murdering places, 

 .would cease, and sports having a healthier moral tone take theu- place. Mr. 

 Browne has rendered good ser\dce in this chapter ; it is a pleasure to read 

 the details of making and setting each form of snare or trap, for the 

 descriptions are lucid, easily grasped, and well illustrated, points which 

 place this chapter above the average of such technical works ; indeed, the 

 value of such descriptions as those of traps, &c., and the methods 

 employed in skinning and stuffing, are such as must be heartily 

 appreciated by any industrious amateur or even professional taxidermist. 



The question of the number of tools employed must rest, of course, 

 with the amateur himself, and may depend upon the means at his 

 command, but although so few are here recommended, the reader must 

 remember that the educated fingers of an inteUigent taxidermist, who 

 knows well the habits and hving appearances of the creatures he works 

 upon when dead, supply the place of a boxful uf bird-stuffing implements, 

 however beautiful or costly. 



The most important part of the book Ues in the chapter on 

 preservative media, which contains some very useful formulas, com- 

 prising all the more important soaps, pastes, powders, solutions, 

 and washes. Some of these are formulae an-anged and tested by 

 the experience of the author, and which have enabled him to get up a 

 large amount of first-class work, some of which those who saw the fine 

 collection of preserved specimens at the recent Conversazione of the 

 Midland Naturahsts' Union in the Town Hall, Birmingham, will remem- 

 ber and appreciate. In this chapter, Mr. Browne starts an argument 

 which he terms " Conamon Sense versus Arsenic," which, let us hope, will 

 prove of real value to the members of his craft, by breaking down the 

 old, foohsh, and dangerous practice of using arsenic in any form. There 

 cannot be a doubt in the mind of any experienced person that the 

 destroyers of animal skins, more especially Tinea, cannot face the power- 

 ful influence of hght, and that a well-made cabinet, with plenty of hght 

 in its interior, will preseiwe properly cured and well-mounted specimens 

 for a very long time, and this with or without arsenic. We call Mr. 

 Browne's attention to the use of the word " meat" on page 57 and other 

 parts of the book, and suggest that it is not so proper or useful as " flesh." 



We quite concur in the idea that if a bird's head is to regain its proper 

 appearances after being skinned so far as the ej^es or root of the beak, the 

 calvarium, or upper part of the skull, at least, should be retained 

 undamaged. With regard to modelling the faces of animals, we 

 should like to know whether the author has ever tried to fill up the 

 hollows caused by the removal of the muscular and cellular tissues, with 

 ordinary or even pipe clay, which is capable of such very nice finger and 

 thumb manipulation after the skull has been replaced, as we find on 



