240 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



other rocks may be represented by it, as also trunks of trees. 

 "Well glued and sanded, it takes colour readily, or it may be 

 gone over with a mixture of whiting and plaster of Paris 

 with glue-water, and finally coloured; or dry plaster may be 

 mixed with thick oil paint as a " priming " medium. 



" Virgin " cork is the latest rockwork model. Its shape 

 being irregular, it is well suited to imitate craggy rocks, added 

 to which it takes thich colour or whiting well, glued or 

 unglued. 



Nothing, however, beats a mixture of all methods — paper, 

 peat, and cork, their lines broken up or blended with wadding. 

 The whole of this, well glued, sanded, and properly coloured, 

 will defy the most critical unprofessional judgment to declare 

 it anything but what it seems — hard rock. 



I am speaking, of course, of small cases ; large work 

 requires consideration. Peat will not do for anything but the 

 illustration of small subjects. It is too heavy, and does not 

 readily adapt itself to imitate large masses of overhanging 

 rock ; added to which, its expense in large quantities is very 

 great. It is also dirty to work with, and is often a harbour 

 for larvae of various moths — inimical to the taxidermist. I so 

 recognised all these facts in the treatment of the rockwork 

 in the Leicester Museum, that I determined to use paper only, 

 treating it by an old method, artistically elaborated. 



This method was, after making a rough drawing and cal- 

 culation as to the positions the specimens would occupy in 

 the case, to nail strips of "quartering" across the backs of 

 the cases, to which again were nailed strips of fin. wood, 

 crossing in all directions, but especially where the drawings indi- 

 cated a mass of rock. On these, and to these, small shelves of 

 wood were nailed in the positions to be subsequently occupied by 

 the specimens. To these shelves cardboard was tacked, and bent 

 upward and downward to the pointed or square shapes assumed 

 by the rocks modelled from.* Where the edges were too sharp 

 they were beaten in by a mallet, or altered by glueing on 

 wadding. The mass of rock being joined here and there to 



* It is quite necessary in artistic modelling not only to have coloured drawings of the 

 rocks you are imitating, but to have an actual piece by you as a little guide to form and 

 colour. 



