jjQ METHODS IN THE ART OF TAXIDERMY. 



collection, etc. In many adult birds the sex can be determined by the 

 color of the plumage. In most cases the body should be examined to 

 make sure of the sex of the specimen. The testes of the male and the 

 ovaries of the female lie in the same position in the small of the back, 

 close to the kidneys, and may easily be reached by cutting through 

 the wall of the abdomen on one side and pushing the intestines out of 

 the way. The testes of the male are a pair of yellowish bodies lying 

 close together (Plate XXVIII, Fig. 2). The ovary is a mass of small 

 spheres (Plate XXVIII, Fig. 1). In the breeding season both these 

 organs are subject to such enlargement that they become very con- 

 spicuous, and differ so much in appearance that they cannot be 

 mistaken. At other seasons of the year they can only be recognized 

 upon close examination. The male is denoted by the sign of Mars ( $ ), 

 the female by the sign of Venus ( 9 ), or the right leg is crossed over the 

 left to indicate the male, and the left over the right to denote the 

 female. 



The best method in the world for laying skins away in the cab- 

 inet is to wrap them in sheet cotton batting, allowing the label to be 

 seen when placed in the cabinet drawer (see Figs. 1 and 2, Plate 

 XXVI). When collecting in the field in remote regions you may fill 

 the body of the skin with leaves, dry grass or paper, when tow or 

 cotton cannot be obtained, but never with wool or hair. 



It is essential for the preservation of skins to use nothing for the 

 filling that can be attacked by insects. 



Some years ago I very nearly ruined my reputation as a taxider- 

 mist by attempting to mount five hundred bird skins, from the Ploly 

 Land, which were filled with old woolen clothing of the Arabs and 

 the hair of quadrupeds. Upon these the moths had feasted and 

 become fat and robust. The skins and feathers had next received 

 their attention. The havoc they wrought is indescribable. 



One evening after a desperate struggle with the hundredth speci- 

 men of these bunches of hides and feathers I was indulging in reveries 

 of stern realities — how patience will sometimes pause — how ingenuity 

 will stagger when invention fails — how time as well as love's labor is 

 sometimes lost. 



I sat in my study till the last slanting sunbeams were gilding the 

 walls — till the objects before me became indistinct in the twilight, and 

 in fancy saw Job in one corner of my workshop smiling at my impa- 

 tience, and heard Shakespeare by his side whispering, "What fools 

 these mortals be !" 



