THE OOLOQIST 



always look much better than the 

 fluffy breast feathers can ever be 

 made to appear. The neck of a heron 

 should always have a stout wire in- 

 side to reinforce it anyway, and if 

 properly made up it is not likely to 

 get broken. 



No matter which way you decide to 

 display a heron skin there is one sim- 

 ple thing which is very helpful and al- 

 so easy to accomplish. A heron or bit- 

 tern has a peculiar growth on the skin 

 of the breast usually called the pow- 

 der-down tract and this frequently 

 shows altogether to prominently as it 

 is an unsightly spot at best. By tak- 

 ing a few stitches across it, on the out- 

 side of the skin, you can draw the 

 edges from each side close enough to- 

 gether so the breast feathers will eas- 

 ily lap over the place and a much nicer 

 finish can be given to that part of the 

 skin with very little trouble. 



While on the subject of herons a 

 few remarks on the smaller species of 

 this family may not be out of place. 



Once, many years ago, I had quite a 

 number of freshly killed Little Green 

 Herons which I desired to make up as 

 dry skins for I already had all the 

 mounted birds of that species which I 

 needed. It happened that just as I 

 was starting to skin them, and old 

 friend of mine, a taxidermist of real 

 merit, came along and asked me to go 

 out collecting with him. A bright 

 idea came into my head, that I might 

 be able to learn something if I was 

 shrewd, for my friend was very skill- 

 ful and quick at the business. Point- 

 ing to the pile of little herons, I de- 

 clared that I would be delighted to go 

 out with the gun, but I did not wish to 

 leave my birds to spoil as the weather 

 was quite hot. However, if he would 

 help me to prepare their skins, I 

 would go with him as soon as they 

 were finished. He good naturedly said 

 it was a bargain, — and I did learn 



something which I am never liable to 

 forget. My friend was in a hurry to 

 get the job done, as was of course en- 

 tirely natural under the circum- 

 stances, and the speed with which 

 those herons turned into bird skins 

 astonished me. 



After skinning and poisoning a bird, 

 he put cotton batting in the cavities of 

 the skull and turned the skin right 

 side out. Then he picked up a sheet 

 of paper and instantly made a very 

 long and slender cone of it by dexter- 

 ously one edge over his finger. The 

 pointed end of the cone was pushed up 

 inside the heron's skin until it en- 

 tered the skull. Then the other end 

 of the cone was cut off with the scis- 

 sors so that it would just drop inside 

 the skin near the stump of the tail. A 

 wad of cotton was jammed into this 

 end of the cone to keep it from collap- 

 sing and two or three stitches were 

 taken to bring the feathers of the ab- 

 domen together, and the interior ar- 

 rangements of the skin were ended. 



After a few trifling touches to adjust 

 the eyelids and tie the mandibles to- 

 gether, and a little pressure to flatten 

 the paper cone inside the neck, 

 another and larger paper cone was 

 made, the bird was slid into this one, 

 head first, and the specimen was 

 finished, ready to dry. In a very short 

 time all my little herons were drying 

 on the table and I followed my oblig- 

 ing friend on his afternoon ramble. 



I have since made up other small 

 skins in this manner, and, while I do 

 not recommend it when you have 

 plenty of time and materials, to work 

 with, I must admit that when pressed 

 for time or when in camp where other 

 materials cannot be obtained, an ex- 

 pert can prepare a very smooth look- 

 ing skin in this way, especially on 

 birds whose shape is naturally rather 

 long and slender. 



This little scheme has saved many 



