44 MANUAL OF TAXIDERMY. 



straight at other times. In young specimens it 

 appears as a small white line. 



The denuded breast and abdomen seen in birds 

 during the breeding season, cannot always be de- 

 pended upon as a mark of sex, as this occasionally 

 occurs in males as well as in females. 



Section IV. : Preserving Skins. — Taxidermists 

 for many years have made use of arsenic in some 

 form as a preservative ; and in the first edition of my 

 "Naturalists' Guide," I recommended the use of it 

 dry, stating that I did not think it injurious if not 

 actually eaten. I have, however, since had abun- 

 dant cause to change my opinion in this respect, and 

 now pronounce it a dangerous poison. Not one 

 person in fifty can handle the requisite quantity of 

 arsenic necessary to preserve specimens, for any 

 length of time, without feeling the effects of it. 

 For a long time I was poisoned by it, but attributed 

 it to the noxious gases arising from birds that had 

 been kept too long. It is possible that the poison 

 from arsenic with which my system was filled might 

 have been affected by these gases, causing it to 

 develop itself, but I do not think that the gas itself 

 is especially injurious, as I have never been poisoned 

 since I discontinued the use of arsenic. 



When I became convinced that arsenic was 



