MAMMAL SKINS FOR STUDY AND MOUNTING. 



6G7 



dry and hard. Apply arsenical soap to everything, or its absence will 

 be bitterly regretted when too late. 



Do not u peg out" a skin, nor dry it in the sun under any circumstances, 

 nor hang it up by the nose. Hang it over a pole or a rope, in a shady 

 place where the wind will strike it. If it is necessary to travel some 

 distance with a skin before it can be dried and shaped, salt it thor- 

 oughly to keep it from spoiling. 



Shaping. — Since these directions will be used chiefly in preparing the 

 skins of deer, antelope, and kindred ruminants, the accompanying illus- 

 tration is given to show how such skins should be made up when they 



Fig. 8. — A well-made dry deer skin. 



are to be preserved dry, either for study or for mounting. It is best to 

 defer folding up a skin until it is partially dry and has begun to stiffen 

 a little. 



Fill the head and neck with some kind of loose material, and as the 

 skin lies spread out with the hair side down, put some of the same 

 material in a thin layer on the body. Fold over the edges neatly, 

 placing the legs lengthwise on the top, and arrange the legs so that 

 they will dry straight and flat instead of twisted like a cork-screw. A 

 skin which is allowed to dry in such shape as that represented in Fig. 

 9 is of no use whatever, either for study or mounting. The skin of 

 which this illustration is an exact representation was prepared thus in 

 the held by a professional taxidermist. It may be taken as a good 

 example of how not to do it. 



Handling and p aching. — It is unfortunate that it should be necessary 

 to fold and dry large skins with the hair-side out, for the pelage is thus 

 in constant danger of damage: but for skins that are to be examined 



