METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. yj 



Plate XIX, Fig. 3, and if properly done the wings will always remain 

 in their proper place without the aid of pins or sharpened wires.' Take 

 one of the smoothly sandpapered wires intended for the legs and run 

 it into the ball of the foot and out at the heel, as seen in Plate XIII, 

 Fig. 8. This operation is well illustrated in Plate XIV. Saturate the 

 wire above the heel and below the sole with the arsenical paste or soap ; 

 now draw it up and down half a dozen times in order to allow the poison 

 to penetrate that part of the leg between the sole and heel (the tarsus), 

 for this should be poisoned as well as any portion of the bird. Draw 

 the wire back below the heel and thrust it through to the end of the 

 tibia and wind it with a wrapping of fine tow to replace the muscles 

 of the leg, as seen in Plate XIII, P'igs. 9 and 10, Draw the leg with 

 the artificial muscle back to its place, smoothing the feathers nicely on 

 the skin, and proceed with the other leg in a similar manner. The 

 skin now lies before you (Plate XIII, Fig. 10) ready for the reception 

 of the artificial body. Before proceeding, however, see that the entire 

 skin is thoroughly poisoned with the arsenical paste or soap. IMake 

 some loose little tow-balls (Plate XIII, Fig. II ) a trifle larger than the 

 natural neck on the carcass before you. Insert the balls in the neck- 

 skin. The number depends upon the length of the neck.^ You may 

 now take the artificial body and thrust the sharpened neck-wire 

 through these balls of tow and through the skull, as represented in 

 Plate XIII, Fig. 12. Take hold of the leg with the wire in it and 

 thrust the wire through the artificial body and clinch or anchor it, as 

 is represented in Plate XIII, Fig. 13. Locate the wire about the mid- 



1. Fastening the Wings in Birds. — Many taxidermists fasten the wings of the smaller birds to the artificial 

 body from the outside with sharpened wires or pins. This is proper in eagles, hawks, owls and, in fact, all the 

 larger species, especially when all the wing bones remain intact. To make a substantial and finished job in the 

 smaller species tie the wings to the side of the skin thrnui;li the bare spot as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, Plate 

 XIX, and if you have made the false body with accuracy xhs wings will lie in position without the aid of pointed 

 wires or pins. This mi-tliod has Ix-en practiced for years by Dr. Jasper, and there are none, I am sure, can look 

 upon his mnuntcd birds and skins without observing the supreme accuracy with which the wings fit the body. The 

 secret lies chiefly in this little point. Another method answering the same purpose has been devised by Mr. 

 Thomas M. Earl, and it is illustrated in Plate XVII. Fig. 6. It is to fasten a piece of thread at the upper ends 

 of the double wing-bones and draw them together until they are the same distance apart that the width of the 

 back measures ; tie them fast there. In order to make the strength and firmness doubly sure both of these 

 methods are often employed, as seen in the several figures of Plate XIII. Either of these, however, employed 

 in making skins of the smaller birds are most excellent in holding the wings to their proper place, and will do 

 away with the use of many sharpened wires and pins. 



2. Making Artificial Necks for Birds. — I have just described above my method of making the artificial 

 necks in Ijirds with bulls of tow. Perliaps most taxidermists make a solid neck of natural thickness and length 

 on the neck-wire, in the same manner they do the body before inserting it in the skin ; others simply take a roll 

 of tow of the proper size and insert it in the skidl cavity as seen in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, Plate XIX. The solid 

 neck, however, is far preferable to the loose tow because it makes a firmer job, and. you can form the neck to 

 better proportions. The advantage in the method I use is that you can lengthen or shorten the neck to suit 

 your own taste, on the same principle of running the center wire through the nose in small quadrupeds. If the 

 balls of tow are made reasonably solid the same strength can be had as in the solid neck. 



This is applied to the short-necked birds and not to herons, cranes, etc., where we use the actual bones 

 of the cervical vertebrae over which to form the neck. 



