72 
MANUAL OF TAXIDERMY. 
hand to the work before him let him fully decide 
what he wishes to produce. Let him see it just 
as clearly as he sees the birds sporting in their 
natural element. The true artist does not copy 
what the imagination of others have produced, he 
invents for himself or takes nature as his guide. 
Let us then who aspire to the highest in taxider- 
mal art, take infallible nature as our guide. 
Study carefully every poise of the birds, every 
uplifting of the wing, every turn of the head or 
motion of the eyelids. I have long made a prac- 
tice of keeping birds in confinement in order to 
thoroughly impress on my mind the different 
attitudes which they assume. I have had nearly 
all species of our owls, hawks, and eagles, and 
have kept herons, gulls, terns, pelicans, auks, and 
almost countless numbers of smaller birds, and 
in this way I have become so familiar with them 
that I can tell at a glance whether a bird is 
mounted in an easy attitude. Well, there must be 
no hesitation in mounting birds, or the specimens 
will dry ; and I will merely state in what order I 
arrange the different members, then leave the 
attitudes to my pupils. I first see that the bird 
stands correctly, that the legs are bent so that the 
bird will balance well in the position in which I 
