﻿FIELD AND FOREST. 1 75 



flesh ; in a word, it must look the very counterpart of the animal it is 

 intended to represent. 



What the artist terms a trick of the brush, in hastily producing fine 

 effects, the skeleton maker may with equal propriety term a trick of 

 the fingers. But it is not a trick; like the touch of the artist, it is a 

 gift, perfected by study and practice. 



A skeleton is certainly an object of beauty to adorn a private cab- 

 inet, or the case of a public museum; it shows the animal standing, 

 couching, or coiled, according to its peculiarity of attitude in life, but 

 to gain this, a certain degree of strength must be had through the 

 agency of wire, or glue (for small animals the latter is the best,) and 

 thus many of the joints are covered. There is a great difference in 

 the manner in which the clavicle of some birds, unites with the corocoid 

 bone, and again where it unites with the sternum. An expert skele- 

 ton maker is particular about this, endeavoring to keep uncovered as 

 far as possible the point where the bones unite. There is also a sesa- 

 moid bone, which lies between the metacarpus, and the ulna, which is 

 very difficult to make fast (especially in small birds, ) without the risk 

 of being covered with glue. There is again another sesamoid bone, 

 which is found in the joint which unites the fibula with the femur; 

 it is bound to them by strong ligaments, and they in a manner rest 

 and turn upon it. This bone is difficult to manage so as to be clearly 

 seen, occupying as it does a position of great strength in the leg of a 

 bird, living of skeletonized, and in the most finished work it is rarely 

 seen. 



• As we have before said, skeletons are works of art, and they are 

 equally objects of beauty. But do they meet the entire wants of the 

 student in osteology? We think not, because many of the bones and 

 joints are concealed. In the head of the fish for instance, there are 

 bones entirely obscured by the overlapping of others, and without 

 some knowledge of the anatomy, one would little suspect that such 

 bones were there. Skeletons are necessary helps to the student in 

 giving a correct idea of the structure, the general outline and attitude 

 of the animal; but there is a further and very important want which 

 the mounted skeleton cannot supply (if it is a model of form,) sepa- 

 rate bones for examination ; we will hazard the opinion that only 

 one half the object is attained when there is no corresponding set of 

 bones for examination. In our out door walks through the open fields 



