THE WAY TO MOUNT MAMMALS. 
51 
feet, head, and tail, sharpen them on one end as directed 
in mounting birds; now roll up grass until it is not quite 
as large round as the body, and about one third as long. 
Fill the fore part of the skin with bran or cut hemp as far 
back as the shoulders, and place the ball of grass against 
this filling, inside the skin. Now force the wires through 
the soles of the feet and top of the head into this ball ; 
clinch them firmly. After filling the skin of the tail with 
bran, force the wire through the grass ball to the very end ; 
then clinch the opposite end in the ball by cutting ofi* the 
part that protrudes and turning it in. 
Fill the remaining parts of the skin with bran to the 
natural size, and sew up the orifice carefully; place the 
animal in the proper position by passing the protruding 
wires of the feet through holes in a board, clinching them 
firmly on the under side. The skin may now be moulded 
into shape with the hands, the hair carefully smoothed, 
the eyes set in the head with putty, the protruding wires 
cut off, and the specimen set away to dry. There are 
but few rules to be followed in placing animals in posi- 
tion, because they are almost infinite in variety. The most 
imperative rule applies to the positions of the legs, which 
are almost always the same ; and it should be studied with 
particular care, as a slight deviation from it will impair 
the lifelike attitude of the specimen. The rule is : Never 
place the bones of the first joint (Plate IX. No. 1) and 
those of the second joint (2) of the hind legs in a straight 
line, but always at an angle, more or less ; while the two 
bones of the forelegs (3, 4) should almost always be placed 
in a straight line, — always when the animal is standing 
upon them. 
In imitating that peculiarly graceful attitude assumed 
by the squirrels while sitting upon their hind legs feeding, ’ 
after imitating the curve of the back, — which not one in 
a hundred can do naturally, — place the joints of the hind 
