238 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



kinds — distemper and oil ; tliat is to say, supposing paper, 

 calico or sheeting is used for tlie back of the cases or mounts. 

 Colour tlie paper or other material — if you wish to show 

 a toned sky — with whiting in which a little glue-water or 

 paste is dissolved, or with common flake-white and size (note 

 that there must be a good body of white to give a luminous 

 appearance), tinting at the same time with blue, shading off into 

 pink, &c. The colours most useful are ultramarine, vermilion, 

 and chrome yellow in powder. This colouring will not do if 

 putty is used to put the glass in with, as the oil flies over the 

 tinted sky. For oil painting place a thin calico or canvas on the 

 backs, and colour with the tints you desire, mixed in oil and 

 turps. Putty can be used in any part with this colouring. One 

 coat of colour is sufficient, as if another is added an unpleasant 

 glaze is the result. 



Shields. — Heads of mammals, &c., when set up and finished, 

 should be mounted on "shields" of fancy wood; oak or mahogany 

 being the best, unless ebonized and gilded pine is preferred. 

 The shapes are usually a modification of the conventional 

 " heart," such as will be found in a pack of cards. This being 

 purely a matter of individual taste, the taxidermist may easily 

 make as many patterns as he chooses by doubling a piece of 

 brown or stiff paper and cutting his shapes out therefrom. One 

 of these paper patterns may be traced around upon a piece of 

 planed wood of the suitable size, and cut out by a "bow "-saw, 

 the edges trimmed and bevelled, and the surface finally polished. 

 A key-hole (protected by metal screwed across in the instances 

 of large or weighty heads), is bored or cut, by which to hang it 

 up, and the neck-block of the specimen is screwed thereto by 

 three screws of sufficient length placed in the form of a 

 triangle. Horns alone are attached to shields by screws run- 

 ning through the frontal bone, or, if without this, are attached 

 to a model of the frontal bone in wood, by nuts and screws. 



Cabinets for Eggs and Skins. — ^I have lately seen many 

 cabinets for eggs, skins, &c., constructed on a capital system, 

 the invention, I believe, of Mr. Salvin, the eminent ornitho- 

 logist. The drawers are made of varying depths, from lin. to 

 6in., and the bottoms are fitted with tongues overlapping each 



