414 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



from using corrosive sublimate with the greatest carelessness ; 

 and another, a well-known north country birdstuffer, had to give 

 up his work for a long time owing to arsenical poisoning. Never 

 shall I forget one day when, on calling to see him in his workshop, 

 I found him in a cloud of powdered arsenic, dusting it on by 

 the handful. Needless to say with me it was a case of "Erupit, 

 evasit, as Tully would phrase it." I bolted as fast as I could. My 

 remonstrances were of no use until he found his health failing, 

 and then he took to equally good but less suicidal preparations. 



There are several excellent works on the art nowadays, both 

 English and American. When I began as a boy to skin and 

 mount specimens there were very few, and they generally con- 

 tained a great deal that was new and a great deal that was true ; 

 but, as some philosopher has observed, unfortunately that which 

 was true was not new, and that which was new was not true. To 

 my thinking, the best of the lot was Captain Browne's 'Manual 

 of Taxidermy.' As I write I have not my books by me for 

 reference, but, if I remember rightly, he inculcated very truly at 

 the head of his list of preservatives, — 



M Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis, 

 Against the deadly moth can I from herbs no remedy supply." 



Of course, no matter how well a bird is done, it is impossible to 

 make it exactly true to nature. Take a Knot, for instance, as 

 one sees it puffed out in a round ball, standing on the mud- 

 flats. Perfection is not to be attained in this vale of tears, but 

 still we can approach closely to it, and there is a very great 

 satisfaction in preserving and mounting one's own specimens, when 

 a very great deal more can be learned about them than could 

 otherwise be done, for one is led almost unconsciously to study 

 their various natural attitudes, &c, and the various little details 

 that go so much to enhance the value and beauty of a specimen. 

 There is nothing done without hard work, but in this, as in every- 

 thing else, if a man means to succeed, he will. There is nothing 

 like beginning early, for a boy does not take it so much to heart 

 as one of maturer years, when, after having spent hours over 

 elaborating a specimen, bird or animal, and having completed 

 it to his entire satisfaction, a kind friend on being shown it 

 remorselessly picks it to pieces from head to tail, metaphorically 



