CHAPTER XIV. 



ORNAMENTAL TAXIDERMY. 



Taxidermy furnishes some of the most beautiful and artistic arti- 

 cles of decoration that can be devised. The variety of the designs is 

 numerous, and the ideas which may be worked into useful or orna- 

 mental pieces all depend upon the skill and taste of the artist. 



Some of the most handsome and skillfully wrought pieces of this 

 class ever made were those exhibited at the third annual exhibition of 

 the Society of American Taxidermists. There were designs in the 

 shape of bird medallions, gilded crescents with owls, fire screens, 

 grotesque groups of frogs, table pieces of various kinds and rugs with 

 mounted heads. A few of these I shall take occasion to mention : 

 Mr. Thomas W. Fraine exhibited one of the handsomest styles of 

 screens ever designed, in the shape of a 



Peacock Fire-screen. — With the tail feathers, head, neck, breast, 

 and feathers of the back, a gorgeous screen can be made with this bird 

 of royal colors. In our frontispiece a figure of one of these screens 

 may be seen which I prepared on the same plan. Out of thin pine 

 boards, less than a quarter of an inch in thickness, cut three circles 

 twenty-eight inches in diameter. Fasten them together with glue and 

 screws. In laying the circles together the grain of the wood should 

 cross in order to keep the circle from warping, which it is sure to do if 

 it is made of a single piece. A better way by which these circles may 

 be made and whereby their weight may be lessened considerably is by 

 making a felly and screwing the thin circular boards to it. Now 

 fasten a tripod stand to the edge and gild it; cover the side on which 

 the feathers are to be arranged with green muslin or satin. The back 

 of the circle should be covered with some rich color of satin or silk, 

 plaited from the outer edge to the center, where it is held with a draw- 

 string. The tail feathers are arranged in circles and held in position 

 with double-pointed tacks. For the one represented in our frontis- 

 piece I had a pattern made for the legs of the stand which were cast 

 in brass and then gold-plated. They are fastened by m.eans of bolts, 

 screwed into the ornamental upright. In the center of the back where 

 the plaited satin is drawn together there is a gold-plated knob which 



serves the purpose of lifting the screen. 



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