Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting Part 36

Salt 125 "

Saltpetre 60 "

Potash 300 "

a.r.s.enic trioxide (white a.r.s.enic) 100 "

Dissolve in one quart of boiling water. Cool and filter, and for every quart of solution add four quarts of glycerine and one quart of alcohol.

Immerse the objects to be preserved in this solution, and keep them in it.

It is but little else than our old familiar friend, the salt-and-alum bath, with enough glycerine added to prevent the excess of alum from unduly hardening and shriveling the specimens.

_Composition for Use in Modeling Tongues, Mouths, and in General Fancy-Work._--"Procure 3 pounds white glue, 1 pint raw linseed oil, and 1 pound of resin. Heat the oil and resin, then add hot glue and stir thoroughly. Thicken with Paris white until the mixture has the proper consistency to mould when warm. This composition soon dries, becomes very hard, and can be colored or gilded. Fancy decorations of any design can readily be made from moulds of plaster or wood, and be glued on to shields and cases, thereby saving the expense of carving. The above is my own composition, which I have successfully employed for many years."--(_J.H.

Batty._)

_Composition for Snow Scenes._--"Crush burnt alum with a roller, and remove small lumps. Add frosting, which has been pulverized in a mortar to the proper degree of fineness."--(_Batty._)

_Varnish Cutter_ (to remove old varnish from antlers, teeth, wood, or from the surface of an old oil-painting).--Take a sufficient quant.i.ty of eighty or ninety per cent alcohol, and slowly pour into it clear spirits of turpentine until the mixture becomes of a milky color. Then cork the bottle and shake the mixture thoroughly, and it is ready for use. Apply it with a small sponge, rub the surface vigorously for a moment only, then dip a rag in boiled linseed-oil and apply it to the cleaned surface. The varnish cutter acts almost instantly, and if left on too long the surface of a painting might be injured.

_To Prevent Mould in Boxes of Specimens._--Take some carbolic acid crystals (forty cents per pound), melt them in the sun, and with the resulting liquid acid paint the entire inside of each box, and, if possible, pack contents with naphthaline crystals. This is efficacious in boxes of small skins of birds and mammals, of insects and the like, even in hot climates, but of course does not apply to boxes of large specimens which contain a great amount of moisture.

_To Polish Hard Wood._--1st. Rub the surface thoroughly with raw linseed-oil, turpentine, and powdered pumice-stone. 2d. Give the surface a smooth coat of sh.e.l.lac. 3d. When dry, take fine sand-paper and go over it rather lightly. 4th. Give the surface a good coat of hard oil finish (a white varnish), and let it harden. 5th. When quite dry rub down with raw oil, turpentine, and pumice-stone, to soften the gloss of the varnish, and give a polish instead. For rubbing, use a piece of hair-cloth, or clean burlaps.

_Cement for Gumming Labels to Minerals and Sh.e.l.ls._--"Pulverized gum Arabic, 4 ounces; pulverized white sugar, 2 ounces; starch, 4 drachms.

Dissolve all separately in as little water as convenient. Dissolve starch in cold water, then stir it into sugar water, and then that mixture into the gum water. Boil with great care, as burning will spoil the whole. It is well to use a tin vessel raised from the bottom of another vessel containing water. After the starch ceases to make the mixture look milky it is cooked, but at least an hour's time will be required. Keep in large mouthed, tightly corked bottles, or when done pour into a tray covered with strong paper, spreading it evenly over the paper, and allow it to dry. When dry enough, moisten back of paper and remove it from the gum, dry again thoroughly, break into fragments and preserve for use in wide-mouth stoppered jar."--(_Southwick & Jenck's "Random Notes."_)

_a.r.s.enic Water_ (for poisoning mammal skins, etc.).--Water, 4 quarts; a.r.s.enic, 4 ounces. Mix, stir and boil until the a.r.s.enic is all taken up.

THE TREATMENT OF FURS AND PELTRIES.--Inasmuch as the readers of this book may sometime desire to preserve a few mammal skins as furs, or to be made up as rugs, I will quote entire, _verbatim et literatim_, a circular of instructions lately issued by one of the largest fur houses in this country, Messrs. William Macnaughtan's Sons, of New York City. Observe particularly, however, that skins prepared thus are _utterly worthless to the taxidermist and the scientific museum_. They are good _for furs only_:

"_Directions for Fur Collectors and Trappers, to Insure High Prices, Ready Sales, and Save from Losses through Ignorance._--'_Cased:_' Ermine, fisher, fox, lynx, martin, mink, opossum, otter, skunk, must be 'cased,' that is, not cut open. In skinning, cut at the rump, and turn the skin inside out (like a glove) over the body of the animal, leaving the pelt side out. Then after sc.r.a.ping, cleaning, and drying, turn the skin back again while it is soft and easily managed, leaving the fur side out. Then put a thin board inside the skin, cut the natural shape of it, stretching the skin to its fullest extent, but not so much as to make the fur thin. Too much stretching spreads the fur over a large surface, and makes it thin and lacking in richness. A liberal supply of good boards should be kept on hand. Never use bent sticks, bows, or anything irregular in shape or that yields. When the above are 'opened' they have a Southern appearance that lessens the value greatly.

"'_Open:_' badger, bear, beaver, cats, racc.o.o.n, wolves, wolverine, must be 'open;' that is, cut open, up the belly from rump to head. After sc.r.a.ping, cleaning, and drying, stretch a uniformly oblong shape, to the fullest extent of the skin, but not so much as to make the fur thin. When thoroughly dry, trim off legs, shanks, flippers, and any little pieces that spoil the appearance of skin.

"_Exceptions:_ Skunk, long stripe, such as come from the Territories and sections of California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, cut open and stretch oblong, as explained. Skunk, with the white stripe (or any portion) shaved out, blackened, or tampered with, must be collected at half price.

Opossum from Indian Territory, cut open, and stretch oblong as explained.

Chop off the tails where the fur ends, as they make opossum look poorly and lessen their value. Beaver are sometimes stretched almost round, but appear very much better stretched oblong. Value by the skin, never by the pound.

They rapidly lose heavily in weight. They bring most sold by the skin.

Muskrats must be 'cased,' but with fur side in. Chop off the tails as explained. Skin at the nose and make rumps square. Round tails have less value and do not sell well. Muskrats must not be injured by shooting or spearing. Trap them.

"Skins that have dried without proper care can be treated same as fresh, green skins. Otherwise they have no value. Dissolve a handful of common salt in a pail of fresh water, and apply frequently with brush or rag (to pelt side only, as it spoils appearance to wet the fur) until the pelt becomes perfectly soft. Then handle as explained. The same with 'open'

skins.

"_Cautions:_ Do not cure with alum or salt. It injures them for dressing and spoils their sale. Do not dry skins at a fire, or in the sun, or in smoke. It often 'burns' them; when they then spoil, and ruin on being dressed. Dry in the open air where shady. Meaty skins often 'burn.' The meat and fat on them heats and 'burns' them, and they then go to pieces and rot on being dressed. Too much warmth curls and spoils the top fur or hair.

Never stuff furs of any kind; dry and stretch as explained. Do not stretch out the noses and make them pointed. It gives a Southern appearance and lessens value. Do not cut off heads, ears, or noses, or mutilate in any way. It lessens value and injures sales. Remove as much of bone from tail as possible, otherwise the tail rots.

"_Trapping:_ Fur-bearing animals must not be killed till they have at least a fair growth of fur. Stop trapping as soon in early spring as the fur begins to shed or becomes thin, or a little faded. These too early or too late caught furs are a disgrace to fur trappers and collectors, and a wasteful, worthless slaughter."

CHAPTER XLVI.

THE BEST BOOKS OF REFERENCE FOR THE TAXIDERMIST AND COLLECTOR.

It is manifestly impossible even to name under this head a tenth part of the excellent books which might well be given place. It is also inexpedient to include in a list, that must of necessity be brief, the names of special works relating to the fauna of other countries than North America.

Having been from first to last a diligent user of books in the course of my work, and ever on the alert for something new in printed word or picture that would be of practical use, I will give here the t.i.tles of the books that have proven of the greatest practical value to me. I must also in this connection strongly urge the young taxidermist and collector to supply himself with as many of these standard works as he can possibly procure. If diligently studied they are bound to save him from many an error, and richly repay their cost.

GENERAL ZOOLOGY AND CLa.s.sIFICATION.

"Steele's Popular Zoology." By Professor J.W.P. Jenks. American Book Company, New York. $1.00.

A model manual; of great value to the student because of its clearness, conciseness, and wealth of information. Copiously and elegantly ill.u.s.trated.

"Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London;" also "Transactions."

Contains a great number of fine animal plates of much value to professional taxidermists. The series is extensive and very costly, and is therefore usually inaccessible except when it can be reached in some scientific library.

ON MAMMALS.

"Ill.u.s.trated Natural History: Mammals." Rev. J.G. Wood. Routledge, London, 1861. Price about $4.00. Get the original edition if possible.

This book has been of more help to me than any other I have ever found.

"Quadrupeds of North America." Audubon and Bachman.

Out of print and difficult to obtain, but very valuable.

"The Mammalia, in Word and Picture." By Carl Vogt and F. Specht. Translated from the German by Geo. G. Chisholm. D. Appleton & Co., 1-5 Bond Street, New York, 1890. Super royal 4to. $12.00.

This great work contains the finest ill.u.s.trations of mammals, both singly and in groups, ever published in any country. The groups represented are wonderfully fine and life-like, and must be seen to be appreciated. No mammal taxidermist can afford to be without this work.

ON BIRDS.

"The American Ornithologist's Union Code of Nomenclature, and Check-List of North American Birds." L.S. Foster, 35 Pine Street, New York City. $3.00.

Indispensable to the American collector, because it is the highest authority on the cla.s.sification and nomenclature of North American birds.

Thanks to this work, it is no longer necessary to take a daily paper in order to keep posted on the latest changes in bird nomenclature. The names adopted by Baird (1858), Coues (1873), Ridgway (1880), and Coues (1882) are all given. No ill.u.s.trations.

"Key to North American Birds." By Dr. Elliott Coues. Estes & Lauriat, Boston. $7.50.

This great work--indispensable to every ornithologist--consists of a masterly treatise on systematic ornithology and the anatomy of birds, a key by which even the tyro can learn to a.n.a.lyze any American bird and identify it, and also a valuable treatise on "Field Ornithology," or bird-collecting.

"Nomenclature of North American Birds." Robert Ridgway. Sold by F.B.