COMMON FA^ULTS IN THE MOUNTING OF QUADRUPEDS. 67 
of taxidermy. In a few years we shall be better prepared to 
predict wbat standard decorative taxidermy will occupy ; but that 
it will occupy an important position, and will exert a great in- 
fluence in a progressive direction, is very certain. 
And I would urge every aspiring and zealous student to push 
on iti new channels, and endeavor to reach that degree of perfec- 
tion that points onward to successive achievements, and which 
will surely establish a style of art that will win the support and 
admiration of the lovers of the beautiful. 
COMMON FAULTS IN THE MOUNTING OF 
QUADRUPEDS. 
BY WM. T. HOENADAT. 
The task of the taxidermist, if properly appi'eciated, is a grave 
and serious one. It is not to depict the mere outline of an ani- 
mal on paper or canvas and represent its covering of hair, feath- 
ers, or scales ; nor is it to build up a figure in yielding clay and 
cast it in plaster. It is to impart to a shapeless skin the exact 
size, the form, the attitude, the look of life. It is to recreate 
the animal, or at least so much of it as appeals to the eye, to give 
it all that nature gave it, except the vital spark. It should be 
an exact copy, as if it were a cast of the animal as fashioned by 
nature’s cunning hand. It must stand the crucial test of being 
viewed from all points — from the side, the front, from behind, 
above and below. 
More than all this, the animal must be prepared to stand the 
test of time. It must not swerve from its poise; it must not 
shrink nor change its form ; it must retain its smoothness, and 
resist the ravages of destroying insects. 
To many people taxidermy “ looks easy,” so they say. Per- 
haps there are professional taxidermists also who find their tasks 
easy. If there are any such I pity them with all my heart. 
They do not appreciate the demands of their calling. There is 
tlie same difference between the form of my first deer and the 
