neatly and lay the specimen in a hollowed bed made of a piece of wire netting bent to size. See that wings cover back neatly. Lay head of short necked bird out straight, neck somewhat shorter than natural, and of long necked specimen along right side, looped to body with cord sewn through neck and side. Cross the feet and tie with a tag bearing complete data as to locality, date, sex, etc., with collector's name. To determine sex of a bird specimen, open the abdomen under thigh. Testes of male will be found under fore end of pelvis and are white, in young bird, very small.

Now when the period of drying is past, return to the mounted bird for finishing touches. With scissors cut the thread feather wrappings. Pull out pins in back and breast and cut off wing pinning-wires flush under the plumage. If the specimen was primarily mounted on a rough temporary perch, remove to the finished permanent stand and color legs and fleshy, exposed parts of face skin to natural hues with tube oil colors and a soft brush. Thin the color for this purpose with a little turpentine and a very little touch of varnish.

In all work in taxidermy, practice develops deftness and a personal system of handling the details that cannot be brought about except by sympathetic attention to the art. The work is not difficult when the details are addressed with quiet thought and very little main strength.

SKINNING, PREPARING, AND MOUNTING A SMALL MAMMAL

CHAPTER III

SKINNING, PREPARING, AND MOUNTING A SMALL MAMMAL

We will choose a gray squirrel as our subject in this chapter, as this little rodent has a tough skin that is easily manipulated. A cottontail rabbit might be more easy to procure, but is not so satisfactory for the purpose of initiative steps in this work, as his skin is extremely delicate and requires especially careful handling in preparation and mounting.

Now, in beginning work upon the small mammal specimen, make outline studies of it in same way the bird specimen was handled, i. e., both before and after skinning. When the preliminary surface sketches are completed, replace the wrapping paper used for the purpose, with newspaper, cornmeal at hand, and proceed with the skinning.

Have scalpel or skinning-knife well sharpened. Lay head of specimen toward right. Part fur over center of breast bone, insert point of knife just under skin, forcing backward, and with as near one clean stroke as possible open the skin neatly along center of abdomen. Do not cut the abdominal wall. Carry belly incision to close to the vent. In male specimen run the incision to one side of the testes.

Next insert point of knife in fore center of pad or feet and paws and with a gentle push carry these incisions upon back of wrists and inside of ankles to where swell of large muscles is felt. In mammals the size of woodchuck or raccoon, split toes on under side.

If a mammal skin is to be kept for some time, dried or in brine, split the tail full length along under side. If tail skin slips easily and the specimen is to be mounted at once, pull the tail out, splitting only the very tip to allow arsenic solution to be run through. In many species the tail must be split and peeled out with a knife because of tough binding. (For general diagram of incisions, see Fig. 12.)