CHAPTER XII. 



Colouring Bills and Feet of Birds^ Bare Skin of 

 Mammals, Fishes^ etc. — Restoring Shrunken Parts 

 BY A Wax Process — Drying and Colouring Ferns, 

 Grasses, Seaweeds, etc. — ''Piece Moulds/^ and 

 Modelling Fruit in Plaster — Preserving Spiders 

 — Making Skeletons of Animals, Skeleton Leaves, 

 ETC. — Polishing Horns, Shells, etc. — Egg Collect- 

 ing AND Preserving — Additional Formulae, etc. 



Colouring Bills and Feet of Birds. — Birds whicli, when 

 alive, liave either legs, bills, or faces of various bright colours, 

 lose these tints when dead, and after lapse of time, the colouring 

 matter in some cases totally disappears, and nothing can 

 restore the loss of pigment but artificial treatment of the faded 

 parts. To do this satisfactorily is not one of the easiest matters 

 in the world, inasmuch as two things are to be strictly guarded 

 against. One — thick painting, which hides all the characteristics 

 of the scutellse, or plates of the legs and toes, or fills up the 

 minute papillae of the face ; the other — imparting a too shining 

 or varnished appearance to the parts coloured. So little colour 

 is required for this purpose that I have found the oil-colour 

 tubes used by artists to be the handiest and cheapest. The 

 colour, when squeezed out, is to be thinned with turpentine 

 only, until it readily flows off the brush on to the beak or legs 

 of the specimen; if properly done it is very transparent, and 

 of just sufficient quality to give the necessary brightness without 

 undesirable shininess. 



