PREFACE 
This first edition of this book was prepared in 1932 to fill a long con- 
tinued demand from different classes of persons in various parts of Canada 
for information as to how to skin or preserve mammals, birds, fishes, and 
other animals. It is hoped the book will stimulate an interest in the National 
Museum prospective collectors. For the benefit of trappers, travellers in 
new regions, and others, information regarding the finding and catching 
of specimens is also given. Anybody who desires to collect specimens of 
animals of any kind is advised to read the whole of the introductory 
chapter before attempting w'ork. There are many methods, but experience 
has shown that some do not give permanent results and, therefore, the 
author has given only those methods that have been found practicable in 
his experience, and in the revision has cited several later developments 
and improvements. 
The manner of making up small mammal skins, and to some extent 
bird skins, was demonstrated in the laboratories of the National Museum 
of Canada by Mr. Charles H. Young, collector-preparator specialist, and all 
drawings w 7 ere made by Mr. Claude E. Johnson, artist of the Division of 
Biology. Mr. Clyde L. Patch, chief taxidermist and herpetologist of the 
National Museum, made a number of helpful suggestions in the preparation 
of the second edition. 
Major Allan Brooks, D.S.O., of Okanagan Landing, and Mr. Hamilton 
M. Laing, of Comox, British Columbia, are to be thanked for reading 
and criticizing parts of the manuscript, and for helpful suggestions. Thanks 
are also due to Messrs. H. E. Anthony and James P. Chapin of the 
American Museum of Natural History, New York; Mr. Herbert Lang, of 
Pretoria, South Africa; Dr. Glover M. Allen, of the Museum of Compara- 
tive Zoology, Harvard University; Mr. Wharton Huber, of the Academy 
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; Mr. Colin C. Sanborn of the Field 
Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Professor E. Raymond Hall, 
formerly of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, 
and later Director of Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas; 
Professor Homer R. Dill, Director of Museum of Natural History, Univer- 
sity of Iowa; Mr. L. L. Snyder, Assistant Director of Royal Ontario 
Museum of Zoology, and Dr. C. H. D. Clarke, Fish and Wildlife Division, 
Dept. Lands and Forests, Ontario, Toronto; and Messrs. E. R. Kalmbach 
and Charles H. M. Barrett of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 
Washington, D.C., and particularly to Carl Akeley, “Father of modern 
taxidermy,” for personal advice and communications not published; and to 
Dr. G. S. Whitby, formerly Director of Division of Chemistry, National 
Research Council, Ottawa (1937), for information on neutralizing formalin 
for preserving animal specimens. 
The author is also under recent obligations to Mr. C. R. Twinn, Ento- 
mologist, in charge of Household and Medical Entomology, Division of 
Entomology, Science Service, Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, and to 
Mr. C. H. Bayley, Textile Research Laboratory, Division of Chemistry, 
National Research Council, Ottawa, for personal communications and 
recent publications regarding the use of “DDT” as an insecticide and 
repellent in various fields. Dr. Harrison F. Lewis, chief of Dominion Wild- 
life Service, Department of Mines and Resources, Ottawa, has supplied 
the latest information on collection permits for scientific purposes in Canada. 
