9 
breakable, and are much less bulky and, therefore, more easily stored. 
Great auks, Labrador ducks, passenger pigeons, Eskimo curlews, sea- 
otters, and other extinct or nearly vanished species are of interest in any 
shape, but most old mounted specimens, if not entirely worthless, are 
usually in such shape and pose that they do not fit into the general scheme 
of museum exhibition cases without being remounted. Mounted specimens 
are difficult to remount and unless virtually irreplaceable are hardly worth 
remounting. 
TOOLS AND SUPPLIES 
Tools. Flat skins of small mammals and even large ones may be 
prepared with a small pocket knife as the only tool. A good hunting 
knife or butcher’s skinning knife is all that is really needed for the rough 
preparation of large mammals. The writer’s preference is for a skinning 
knife not tempered too hard. A hard steel blade is easily broken, easily 
nicked, and difficult to resharpen. A 6- or 7-inch blade is most satis- 
factory, but the writer has found that the ordinary butcher knife of that 
length has too thin and light a blade for general field use, and it is better 
to buy a 9- or 10-inch blade, cut off the end, and file or grind to the desired 
shape. A blade bevelled on one side is easier sharpened with a piece of 
steel than if both sides are ground. If the butt end of the knife handle 
is tapered off to a broad, wedge-shaped end it is very useful in ripping the 
hide loose from the fasciae and flesh during skinning operations. 
Though an ardent and resourceful collector will never be deterred by 
the lack of an assortment of tools, the operations may be performed much 
more quickly, and usually better, if proper equipment is at hand. Not 
many tools are needed, but for small mammals and birds a small pair of 
scissors will be useful, in addition to the knife. A small pair of spring 
forceps or tweezers will be of much use, and almost necessary if finished 
study skins are to be made up. Other implements come in handy for 
special uses and may be added as needed, but for the beginner the follow- 
ing are sufficient: 
1 small scalpel, or surgeon’s dissecting knife. 
1 large scalpel. 
1 pair of small, straight-pointed scissors. 
1 pair of slender forceps or tweezers. 
1 pair of small pliers, with wire-cutter. 
1 pair of dividers, for measuring specimens. 
1 steel tape, 1 or 2 metres long, marked in millimetres and inches (marked to 
tenths if possible). 
Other tools that will be found useful are butcher knives and heavy 
skinning knives for large mammals, a heavy pair of shears, a steel comb 
for dressing fur, a toothbrush for removing dirt and sawdust after drying 
skins, a flat file, a three-cornered file, and a good carborundum or oil- 
stone. A scraper with toothed edge is useful for fleshing and removing 
the fascia or inner skin from mammals, and a soft rubber bulb-syringe or 
a hard rubber piston syringe is useful for removing the brains from small 
skulls. 
An ordinary safety razor blade is used by some collectors for skinning 
and dissecting small specimens. A special handle may be obtained for 
holding certain brands of blades, but the blade may be held in the fingers 
