BACKWOODS TAXIDERMY. 655 



wind the bird tightly with fine thread, thus holding the plumage in position until 

 dry. The plumage may be made to lie smoother by touching the rough places 

 with a feather wet in turpentine. When collecting, one should note the color of 

 the eyes, legs, cere, guUar sack, etc., of birds when first killed, as it may be natu- 

 rally reproduced by paint when the birds are mounted and dry. 



To Preserve Birds Temporarily. — Birds can be preserved for a few days dur- 

 ing hot weather as follows : If a large bird is killed, first swab out the blood from 

 the throat if necessary, and distribute powdered alum and saltpetre (one part salt- 

 petre, six parts alum) the entire length of the throat, and push some of it into the 

 crop with a stick ; rub a little of the preservative into and around the eyes exter- 

 nally ; draw the entrails from the specimen through a small hole, made longitudi- 

 nally into the vent, and prime the inside of the bird with the powder ; put a small 

 piece of cotton down the throat, and cram the nostrils full of the same material, to 

 prevent the saliva and blood from coming out on to the plumage. Carbolic acid is 

 also a good disinfectant and preservative. Take a small bottle of water and put 

 a teaspoonful of acid into it, and apply the mixture to the most perishable parts of 

 a specimen in the same manner as directed to use the saltpetre and alum. Pieces 

 of cotton or tow, wet with the acid and water, should be placed in the vent and 

 throat of the bird. Should one wish to keep any hard feathered birds, such as 

 loons, grebes, auks, guillemots, gulls, ducks, etc., they should be drawn and 

 thrown into a pickle of saltpetre and alum, and any good taxidermist can mount 

 and clean them when desired. 



To Prepare a Buck's Head. — To preserve a buck's head, make a cut across the 

 head from the middle of one horn across the skull to the middle of the other antler ; 

 then make a cut from the middle of the incision made down the back of the neck 

 to the shoulders ; cut the skin around and a little below the neck until it is free 

 from the fore shoulders, and continue to skin the neck up to the base of the antlers ; 

 cut the skin carefully away from around the horns, and skin down over the muz- 

 zle ; skin the ears part way down, trim away the flesh from the skin, and rub the 

 whole fleshy side of it with the powdered alum and saltpetre, and if no other pre- 

 servative is at hand use salt. Turn the fleshy side of the pelt to the open air, and 

 dry as soon as possible. The skin will shrivel up to the dimensions of an old 

 boot leg, which it resembles in shape, but nevertheless it will be in good condi- 

 tion. Chop away the part of the skull to which the horns are attached, enlarge 

 the hole in the occipital bone, remove the brains, dust what remains of the skull 

 with any preservative, and hang the horns in a convenient crotch of a tree until 

 the camp is deserted. 



Never cut a deer skin down the front of the neck, unless you want an ugly 

 looking seam to mar the beauty of a head. Should a deer be wounded or killed, 

 it is not necessary to cut his head nearly off to bleed him, and if a deer is shot 

 through the lungs or near the heart, it does not need bleeding, as the blood will 

 settle in the thorax and can easily be turned out when the animal is dressed. 

 What looks worse than a deer with his head nearly cut off, and its coat covered 

 with blood, which will become half putrid in a few days in mild weather, unless it 

 is washed off from the hair when fresh ? Never wash out a deer after dressing it 

 unless you are desirous of spoiling your venison When saving saddles, let them 

 cool and stiffen before folding the skin over them. So do not mangle your game 

 and spoil your skins and meat by slashing animals to pieces with a huge butcher 

 knife. 



Skinning Small Quadrupeds.— B^gm by making a longitudinal incision be- 



