APPENDIX. 
PRICES FOR TAXIDERMIC WORK. 
FKOM ward’s natural SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
The taxidennists of this coiiiitiy are, almost witliout a single 
excejjtioii, very poorly j^aid for their work, and unless a vigorous 
stand is made they will always remain so. The prices now paid 
by tlie patrons of tlie art are, generally speaking, far below the 
value of really artistic work, consequently the average of work 
done is far below what it should be, and both artist and customer 
have reached the sticking point. The latter says, “Until I get 
better work I will not pay higher prices,” and the former retorts, 
in self-defense, “Until I am better paid for my work I cannot 
afford to spend any more time on it than I do now.” 
Both are right, but at the same time both are wrong, and the 
taxidermist is the sufferer. The first principle of a business is 
that a man must live. To do this, he must make a profit on his 
work, and sometimes it seems necessarv to do this even under the 
certainty of turning out poor work. Take, for example, the 
mounting of a deer head on a shield. Most taxidermists of my 
acquaintance charge $8 for the work and furnish the shield. 
,The shield costs, let ns say, $1..50, and the glass eyes fifty cents, 
which, not counting any further cost of materials, leaves the sum 
of $6 to pay for skinning a head, cleaning and thinning down 
the skin, preserving and mounting it “ in the highest style of the 
art,” and perhaps boxing the head to send away by express. 
Only six dollars! 
