PRESERVATION OF HORNS 



UNLESS a stag has a very good head, it is preferable to keep 

 merely the top of the skull and horns (" le massacre" as the 

 French call it) than to have the whole head mounted. 



If the head is mounted it should only be done by one of 

 the very best taxidermists, as otherwise it not only looks very 

 ugly, but will soon decay and get moth in it, when it will 

 shed the hair over everything. A head constantly dusted over 

 with insect-killing powder is not a pleasant or wholesome 

 object in a room, especially a living-room. Stuffed heads 

 should be attended to each spring, and oftener if necessary. 



Unless, therefore, a head is a very exceptional one and mounted 

 by a first-class taxidermist (a sculptor, in fact, as are all the best 

 stuffers, first models the head in clay, and then in plaster or papier- 

 mache", finally working the skin over the " manikin " so as to 

 show all the modelling), it is much better, as already mentioned, 

 merely to mount the forehead, with the horns attached to it, on a 

 shield. In every case particulars relating to the trophy should 

 either be painted on the shield itself, or else on a tablet attached 

 to the shield ; labels, unless very well fixed, are, however, apt to 

 get detached, as, for instance, by the housemaid jerking them off 

 when dusting, and then throwing them away and not saying 



anything about it for fear of getting scolded. 



70 



