>i4 TAXIDERMY AND MODELUNG 



formed upon it, one for the fore limbs and the other for the 

 hind, the distance between them being determined by the 

 measurements previously taken. The natural body should now 

 be in front of the operator, and the length of the neck-wire 

 from the anterior loop must be measured by this, and sufficient 

 wire left, after the neck is made, to come through the skull, 

 the end of the wire being pointed for that purpose. The 

 other end of the body-wire being thrust up the tail, the ends 

 of the leg-wires are pushed up inside the skin of the legs, 

 through the two loops of the body-wire now within the skin, 

 wound round the main body-wire, and firmly secured. 



The body is, with this style of wiring, literally made by 

 " stuffing," loose tow or wadding being packed in to form the 

 shape, and resulting usually in a bag as unlike the animal as 

 it is possible to conceive ; and, as the removal of the limb- 

 bones and a soft filling of the head usually accompany this soft- 

 body system, unlimited scope is given for the development of 

 flights of fancy, which are not compatible with accuracy of 

 form. Another and better system is to make up the neck and 

 body roughly on a straight body-wire, insert it into the skin, 

 thrust the leg-wires through the tow (which should be firmly 

 wrapped), and clench them as in the bird's body (see p. i88). 



A still better system, which combines the two, is to make 

 two loops upon the body-wire as before described, and, point- 

 ing one end, make up upon it the neck with tow to size, and 

 on the remainder of the wire bind tow also to form a rough 

 body, leaving, however, the loop's free. The body must not be 

 made at first of quite the full size, but merely roughly shaped. 

 Insert this into the skin, and push the point of the wire up 

 the skull and through the centre to the outside, keeping the 

 loops uppermost. Through the first or forward loop push the 

 two wires of the fore limbs, and, with the pliers, bend them 

 around, one below and the other above the loop, and make 



