108 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



instruct in tliese niceties of detail; close observation — note a 

 canary or any song bird at rest — added to experience, will alone 

 teach, the amateur tliese points. To excel in mounting animals* 

 the arts of drawing and modelling from living examples must 

 be cultivated ; the amateur taxidermist thus gains the requisite 

 knowledge to help him in his art. 



Having shaped the neck to your own satisfaction, proceed 

 thence to form the body, by continuously wrapping the tow 

 round and round the wire, keeping the shape, however, somewhat 

 flat on the sides, full on the breast and back, and narrowest at 

 the lower extremity of the body, where it comes in between the 

 legs to the tail. About an inch of the wire should now be left 

 unbound, which turn up on the back of the false body to prevent 

 the tow slipping off ; next take some cotton, which wind all over 

 the false body to keep the tow in its place, adding, as you go on, 

 small pieces of tow, and binding them on where depressions or 

 faults appear. This being finished secunduin artem, insert the 

 pointed end of the wire or false neck up the neck of the specimen, 

 pushing the point of the wire right through the skull until it 

 comes out at the crown of the head. Now gradually, by per- 

 suasive means, pull the skin over the false body ; and lift the 

 starling up and observe what faults are apparent — possibly a 

 little difficulty exists at the shoulders, if so, press them in with 

 the thumbs, and then note if there are any apparently hollow 

 places ; if so, fill them out with a little more tow. See that the 

 back is nicely sloped, that the breast is full enough, and especially 

 if it ba even and narrow between the legs. Having observed all 

 these points with great exactness, proceed to nicely sew up the 

 skin with the stitch previously mentioned. 



Then select two other pieces of wire of the right size, and 

 point them each at one end. (Note. — The wires are generally 

 a size or so stronger for the legs than for the body.) Taking 

 a wire in the right hand, open the claws of the bird with the 

 other, so as to expose the sole of the foot, into which push, 

 the point of the wire, forcing it up the leg on its under side 

 between the skin and the bone — be careful how you pass under 

 the so-called " knee " joint. Pulling the leg now downward 



' It may, perhaps, be necessary to -warn the non-scientiftc that TVlienever I speak of 

 animals I include tishes, rdptiles, and birds with the mammals. 



