200 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



plaster of Paris mixed witli water, and laid on two or three 

 inches thick. "When a bird is to be " relaxed," the inside of the 

 box is saturated with water, which the plaster readily absorbs 

 up to a certain point. Then the surplus water is poured off, 

 the skin or skins are placed within the box, the lid is fas- 

 tened down, and the whole placed in the cellar for so long a 

 time as is required to thoroughly soften the included skins. 

 This plan, though fairly efficient for the smaller skins, must 

 give place to that which I have ever adopted, and which is 

 almost as effective for a large as for a small skin. It is this : 

 Procure a box of suitable size, which, for greater efficiency, 

 may be lined with zinc. Into this put several quarts of clean 

 silver sand well damped with water, but not up to the point of 

 actual wetness. Wrap each skin separately in a clean rag or in 

 a piece of unprinted paper (" cap paper " will do for the smaller 

 birds), pull back the sand to one end of the box, leaving a thin 

 layer, however, all over the remaining part of the bottom, on 

 which place the skins, covering them up as you go on with the 

 sand from the other end. When covered with the proper depth 

 of sand, lay a damp cloth over the top, and put the box away 

 in the cellar or in the shade. In from three days to a week, 

 according to the size of the skins, they will be found more 

 thoroughly relaxed by this than by any other method, and will 

 be kept — by their covering paper or linen rag — from having 

 their feathers soiled or disturbed by the sand. 



In the first edition, I decried the practice of plunging birds* 

 skins into water in the manner pursued by Waterton and his 

 followers, but I had not at that time found anyone to please 

 me in the subsequent manipulation of skins after being taken 

 out of water. I have now, however, changed my views on the 

 subject, and will proceed to describe a plan, which, though 

 entailing some little trouble, is yet so simple, and so complete 

 in its effects, as almost to supersede the previous methods, when 

 the operator has attained any degree of proficiency in this. 



The skin to be operated upon is, if small, simply placed in a 

 pan or bucket partly filled with water, and weighted down in 

 such a manner that it shall always be beneath the surface. 

 If the taxidermist is in a fair way of business, he will find a 

 wooden tank, about 36in. by 24in. by 12in. deep (inside measure- 



