Home Taxidermy for Pleasure and Profit Part 7

Work this loop back through the body pulling back through the leg and clinch the points over into the body again. If the body was firmly made as it should be, this fixes the legs permanently to it, yet they may be bent readily at the joints to suit various att.i.tudes.

Adjust the skin now and fill out at shoulders, thighs, and base of tail with some chopped tow. The breast also may need some filling. Sew up the skin beginning at the breast and finishing at the base of tail, lacing it together with the ball cover st.i.tch.

The pose of the finished specimen you have probably decided on before now so it only remains to put it in the desired att.i.tude. This sounds easy, like sculpture, "just knock off what stone you don't need and there is the statue," but it may try your soul at length to obtain the desired effect. Good pictures are a great help here, as of course a living duplicate would be if you had it.

Before setting it on its feet, coax the wings into place as you hold the bird in your hand and pin them to the body through the elbow and outer joint of the wing, using several pins 2 to 4 in. long or pieces of sharpened wire the same size. This will hold the wings out of the way and they may be changed and fitted perfectly later.

Mounted birds are usually put on temporary stands of rough boards or limbs and when fully dried out transferred to a permanent mount which can be prepared in the meantime of the exact size and variety wished for. On these temporary stands the leg wires are only twisted together so they can be easily removed. Place the feet in natural positions of standing, walking or running and arrange the toes correctly. They had best have some pins driven in beside the toes to secure them till dry, as badly shaped feet will spoil the effect of an otherwise fine piece of work, indicating a careless workman.

If on a bough or stump the feet should grasp it as if the bird really means to stay on it. Two or three wires like those used on the wings hold the tail in place by being driven through the base of it into the body for half their length.

Fix the head looking down rather than up and to one side rather than straight ahead. If you have the proper gla.s.s eyes at hand they can be set now, if not, later will do but the lids are relaxed just now to receive them. Fill the back of the sockets with tow or cotton and with a little spoon-shaped modeling tool give this and the inner surface of the lids a good coating of soft clay. The eyes, cut from the wire stem on which most of them come, are pressed into this and the skin worked into place with the point of a big needle or a small awl.

Now give the plumage a general going over, re-pin the wings if necessary, and wind down any obstreperous feathers with thread. A number of pins or wires thrust in the middle of back and breast will help this operation.

Starting at the head wind back to the tail, lacing the thread from pin to pin, not binding tightly with any one thread but producing a smooth surface by holding it down at a multiplicity of points. There are a number of so-called systems for winding birds but the same taxidermist seldom winds two alike as the needs of the case are sure to differ. To spread the tails of small birds, spread the feathers as desired and pin them between two strips of light cardboard. When dry they will retain their position. If all arranged properly set the bird away to dry; two weeks will be sufficient for this.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BIRD WOUND WITH THREAD.]

Any colors on bill or feet and legs should be renewed with oil colors as they fade almost entirely; if of a dark or neutral color originally, a coating of transparent varnish will do. There is a variety of beetle which delights in dining on such hard parts of mounted birds if not protected by paint or varnish.

Place the bird on its final mount and fasten the leg wires in grooves cut in the under side of same so they are flush with surface. The ends may be turned over and driven in again or held fast by small staples. If on the under side of a limb or branch a pinch of moss or lichen glued on will cover this fastening.

Cut away the binding threads and with cutting pliers cut off all projecting pins and wires, leaving what part of them is covered by the feathers. Brush any clay from the eyes and if the lids have shrunken away from them as they do usually, coat a bit of black thread with glue and with a setting needle place between the lids and gla.s.s eyes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE POSE OR POSITION OF CERTAIN BIRDS]

If the eyes were not on hand when first mounted the lids should have been relaxed and the eyes set as soon as procured.

Small birds may be mounted in fluttering att.i.tudes by pinning the wings with a bunch of cotton beneath them, but if an att.i.tude with wings fully spread is called for they must be treated in a manner similar to the legs, inserting the wire under the skin near the tip of the wing and running it along the under side of the wing bones to the body through which it is thrust and clinched as the leg wires were.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FLUTTERING POSITION OF SMALL BIRDS.]

Birds mounted with spread wings cannot be so readily wound to smooth the plumage and require to be braced with strips of stiff paper and sometimes extra wires, which are removed when dry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NATURAL STANDING POSITION OF SMALL BIRD ON LIMB.]

CHAPTER X.

MOUNTING LARGE BIRDS.

The same principles employed in the manipulation of smaller species apply to this cla.s.s with but a few variations. On account of their size and weight the artificial bodies need to be especially firm in order to afford a secure anchorage for the wing and leg wires. Also these supports should be fastened to the bones in several places with stout cord or small wire, as wrapping with the tow and thread used on small birds is hardly sufficient.

What I would cla.s.s as being large birds are the larger hawks, owls, herons, eagles, geese, etc. The several varieties of the ostrich are known as colossal birds and are skinned and preserved much as the large quadrupeds by mounting the prepared skin on a manikin, built in the pose of the finished specimen and supported by heavy iron rods.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BIRD OF PREY--LIMB POSITION.]

In mounting eagles or similar birds with wings spread, which seems to be a popular att.i.tude, use the largest wires possible as anything less than that will, on account of their size and wide extent, tend to a drooping, back-boneless appearance entirely out of keeping.

It goes without saying that large birds do not require the delicate handling of small ones, but by way of compensation considerable force is needed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SPREADING TAIL OF LARGE BIRDS.

Run a small sharp wire through the quills on under side of tail to spread it.]

The combs and wattles of domestic and wild fowls cannot by any common process be prevented from shriveling and discoloring while drying, but when dry they may be restored by careful modeling in colored wax. This is applied warm with a brush and given its final finish with hot metal modeling tools. For museum work and other high grade work such heads are cast entire in wax in such a way that all feathers and hair are attached in their precise places.

Large water fowl are often mounted as flying, and suspended by a very fine wire. A sharpened wire with a ring turned in one end, thrust into the middle of the back and clinched in the body, forms a secure point of suspension.

As it is not usually practicable to case many specimens of large birds, give them an extra thorough poisoning and when entirely finished spray with either corrosive sublimate or a.r.s.enical solution.

In making bodies for large birds it is well to use excelsior for the main bulk of the body, merely covering the outside with a thin layer of tow. This is not only more economical but makes a lighter specimen than one filled with tow entirely. Excelsior or wood wool is to be had in varying degrees of fineness of upholstery dealers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SPREAD EAGLE. WINGS BRACED UP TO DRY.]

In the case of a bird which has been wired and sewn up seeming to require further filling out, it can be accomplished in most cases by making an incision under each wing and introducing some flakes of tow with a wire stuffing tool. If the bird is mounted with closed wings this slit need not even be sewed up as the folded wing covers it completely.

CHAPTER XI.

TANNING, CLEANING AND POISONING SKINS.

I have used the following method for some years successfully on skins up to and including the deer in size. Most larger skins need thinning with a special tool, though an experienced hand can manage to thin a heavy hide with a common draw knife.

An empty lard tub, a half barrel or a large earthenware jar to hold the tan liquor, a fleshing knife and a fleshing beam are necessary to begin with at least. Any smith can make a knife of an old, large file or rasp by working both sides to a blunt edge and drawing the upper end out in a tang for another handle. A piece of old scythe blade with cloth wrapped around the ends will do, or a dull draw knife, either. One blade filed into fine teeth will be useful in removing the inner or muscular skin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FLESHING KNIFE. (Made from old rasp)]

A slab or plank 6 or 7 feet long, with one end tapered and half rounded, on 2 or 4 legs of such length as to bring the end against the workman's chest, makes a beam.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BENCH BEAM.]

A short piece of plank rounded off and bolted to the top of the table or work bench will do for small skins.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ADJUSTABLE BEAM.]

Make up the quant.i.ty of tanning liquor you wish by the following formula, also given in Chapter III:

Water 1 gallon Salt 1 quart

Bring to the boiling point to readily dissolve the salt, and add