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قراءة كتاب Taxidermy

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Taxidermy

Taxidermy

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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TAXIDERMY

TAXIDERMY

BY
LEON L. PRAY

Illustrated

OUTING HANDBOOKS

Number 47

NEW YORK
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY
MCMXVI


Copyright, 1913, by
OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY

All rights reserved


CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. Tools and Materials 9
II. Preparing and Mounting a Bird 19
III. Skinning, Preparing, and Mounting a Small Mammal 45
IV. Preparing and Mounting Game Fishes and Small Reptiles 65
V. Preparing and Mounting a Virginia Deer Head 87
VI. Preparing and Mounting a Coyote 107


TOOLS AND MATERIALS


TAXIDERMY


CHAPTER I

TOOLS AND MATERIALS

The art of taxidermy, with its many methods of application, has furnished subject-matter for numerous books, most of these treating the subject in exhaustive style, being written primarily for students who desire to take up the work as a profession. It is the present author's purpose to set forth herein a series of practical methods suited to the needs of the sportsman-amateur who desires personally to preserve trophies and specimens taken on days spent afield with gun or rod.

The lover of field and gun may spend many fascinating hours at his bench, preparing, setting up, and finishing specimens of his own taking. Besides, the pursuit of this art will afford an amount of remuneration to the amateur who takes it up in a commercial way, doing work for others who have neither the time nor inclination for preparing their own specimens.

The chief requisites for the beginner in taxidermy are joy in working out detail and a moderate amount of patience.

As suitable tools are the primary consideration in contemplating any work in taxidermy, a simple list follows. In this list no heavier work than the mounting of a Virginia deer head is dealt with. This outfit will be found practical for general light use:

A pocket-knife, one or two small scalpels, a kitchen paring-knife, an oil stone and can of oil, a hand drill, a fine fur-comb, one bone scraper, one small skin-scraper, one pair tinners' shears, one pair five and one-half inch diagonal wire cutters, one pair (same length) Bernard combination wire cutter and pliers, one pair small scissors, two or three assorted flat files, one hollow handle tool holder with tools and little saw, one good hand-saw, one hack-saw, one upholsterer's regulator, one pair fine tweezers (such as jewelers use), one claw hammer, an assortment of round and furriers' needles, one or two darning needles, a sack needle, and an assortment of artists' small bristle and sable brushes (both round and flat).

Make your own stuffing rods, out of any size iron wire, by hammering flat one end of a suitable length, filing teeth into the flat face thus made, and then bending a loop handle on the other end. This type of rod is easily curved or straightened to suit every need.

Those not wishing to buy at once the complete outfit named above will find that they can do good small work to start on with the aid of a pocket-knife, a pair of scissors, a pair of Bernard combination wire cutter and pliers, needles and thread, cord, a pair of tweezers, a hammer and saw, and small drill set.

Suitable materials follow the tools in order.

Arsenic is needed for the preservation of all specimens against moths. This is most effective when used in solution, which is made as follows: First dampen the arsenic powder with alcohol to saturate it quickly, when water is added. Place the arsenic in a large metal pail and to one-half pound of the powder add two gallons of water. Boil hard and steady over a good fire until the arsenic is completely dissolved. Place the solution thus made in an earthenware jar with closed cover, plainly marked "Poison," and keep out of reach of children. Allow solution to cool before applying to skins. Do not use the pail that the solution was made in for anything else.

When using arsenic-water grease your hands with a little tallow, rubbing well under and around finger-nails and wiping the hands partially dry so that none of the grease will soil fur or feathers. This precaution will keep the arsenic from entering your skin.

Wash the hands with soap powder and a nail brush after work.

Apply arsenic-water with a brush, or a cotton-and-wire swab, to all inner surfaces of specimen skins.

Carbolic acid (best to procure U. S. P. pure crystals if possible) is needed for use in dilute form for relaxing dried skins. This prevents decay and does not injure the specimen skin. A few drops of the dissolved crystal to a quart of water is sufficient. Keep carefully labeled and in a safe place.

Following is a list of the materials needed for general light work:

A quantity of fine excelsior, fine tow and cotton batting, a quantity of various sizes of galvanized soft steel wire, an assortment of colored, enameled artificial eyes (procure a taxidermist's

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