4i6 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



calico upon it, and follow with paper. The calico also pre- 

 vents the back from splitting and carrying the paper with it, 

 but a frame like those used for oil canvases, on which calico 

 or sheeting is stretched and coloured in distemper, inserted in a 

 rebate at the back of the case, and finally covered with a thin 

 backboard, is the best for large cases. 



Shields for the backing of horned or other heads are, when 

 not diamond-shaped, usually either oval or, more frequently, 

 cut to a pattern which is some modification of the conventional 

 heart. It is so extremely easy to double a piece of stiff paper 

 and cut a pattern to suit individual tastes, that there is no 

 necessity for giving figures of such shapes. Of what wood 

 they should be made is also a matter of individual taste, but 

 oak appears to suit most things, and is to be relied upon for 

 strength and durability. The edges are better bevelled, and 

 the wood oiled or slightly polished ; the edges, however, and 

 the border around the head, are sometimes carved or otherwise 

 enriched. 



A slot, longer than broad, should be chiselled out of the 

 substance of the wood at the back, but need not, except in 

 instances of very weighty heads or horns, penetrate the entire 

 thickness. The upper half of the slot should be protected by 

 a plate of metal screwed across, and the width of this, and of 

 the uncovered half, and the depth also of the latter, must be 

 determined by the thickness and length of the angle of the 

 hook to be driven into the wall to hold it. Hooks for weighty 

 heads should be of considerable length and thickness, and made 

 of wrought iron, and sometimes the slot should be cut right 

 through to the front to get more hold. 



When the slot has been cut and the iron or brass plate 

 arranged, the head is fixed to the shield by countersunk screws 

 passing through it into the oval neck-board previously described, 

 but when, as is sometimes the case, horns only are to be affixed 



