Chapter XI Relaxing and Cleaning Skins — “Making-Up” From Pieces
RELAXING SKINS. — In many instances, especially when collecting abroad, it may be found incompatible with the time and storage space at the disposal of the collector to set up birds and animals in their natural positions. To obviate these difficulties we make a skin as previously described, and by this means pack many in the space which would otherwise be occupied by one. The time comes, however, when we wish to “set up” the skins procured by ourselves, or by others, and for this purpose we “relax” them.
“Relaxing” is performed in various ways, but probably the oldest plan is that of simply unstuffing the skin, laying it down on a board, wrapping the feet and legs round with wet cloths or tow, and applying the same to the insides of the butts of the wings, allowing the skin to remain from one to four or five days in this position, according to its size; then, when the legs, feet, and wings are sufficiently damped, warm water is poured into the orifices of the skin, and suffered to run out at the eyes and beak. It is then ready for stuffing in the ordinary way.
Another “rough and ready” method is simply pouring hot water through the bird’s skin; this relaxes just sufficiently to bend the head, which many workmen of slovenly habits consider quite sufficient!
The next most ancient method is relaxing by the plaster box, which is a rough box, with a lid made to fit over all tightly, and having the whole of its inside lined with a coating of plaster of Paris mixed with water, and laid on two or three inches thick. ‘When a bird is to be “relaxed,” the inside of the box is saturated with water, which the plaster readily absorbs up to a certain point. Then the surplus water is poured off, the skin or skins are placed within the box, the lid is fastened down, and the whole placed in the cellar for so long a time as is required to thoroughly soften the included skins.
This plan, though fairly efficient for the smaller skins, must give place to that which I have ever adopted, and which is almost as effective for a large as for a small skin. It is this: Procure a box of suitable size, which, for greater efficiency, may be lined with zinc. Into this put several quarts of clean silver sand well damped with water, but not up to the point of actual wetness. Wrap each skin separately in a clean rag or in a piece of unprinted paper (“cap paper” will do for the smaller birds), pull back the sand to one end of the box, leaving a thin layer, however, all over the remaining part of the bottom, on which place the skins, covering them up as you go on with the sand from the other end. When covered with the proper depth of sand, lay a damp cloth over the top, and put the box away in the cellar or in the shade.
In from three days to a week, according to the size of the skins, they will be found more thoroughly relaxed by this than by any other method, and will be kept — by their covering paper or linen rag — from having their feathers soiled or disturbed by the sand.
In the first edition, I decried the practice of plunging birds’ skins into water in the manner pursued by Waterton and his followers, but I had not at that time found anyone to please me in the subsequent manipulation of skins after being taken out of water. I have now, however, changed my views on the subject, and will proceed to describe a plan, which, though entailing some little trouble, is yet so simple, and so complete in its effects, as almost to supersede the previous methods, when the operator has attained any degree of proficiency in this.
The skin to be operated upon is, if small, simply placed in a pan or bucket partly filled with water, and weighted own in such a manner that it shall always be beneath the surface. If the taxidermist is in a fair way of business, he will find a wooden tank, about 36 in. by 24 in. by 12 in. deep (inside measurement), sufficiently large for his needs. This tank should be “tongued” and dressed with red lead, or lined with zinc, to render it waterproof. Of course, the professional will not find it large enough for anything but medium-sized skins; for the larger ones, and for mammals, he will require other and larger tanks. A petroleum cask (procurable from any oilman for a few shillings), cut unequally in two parts, will be found of service when one large skin only is soaked at a time.
When the skin is in the water, a board may be placed upon it, weighted so as not to flatten against the bottom of the vessel, or it may be kept in position under the water by pressing thin slips of wood over from side to side. The skin being well saturated — which, according to the size of the bird, will take place in from twelve to twenty-four hours — must have the stuffing removed from it, and then be allowed to soak for so long a time as experience will dictate. 1 As a rule, however, when the wings and tail will spread out with gentle handling, the bird is fit to mount.
Sometimes the legs, if thick, and even the wings and tail, if large, will require a longer time to soak than is conducive to the well-being of the remainder of the skin; in this case, nothing remains but to skilfully pull off the wings, legs, and tail, and let them soak a few hours longer. 2
Supposing, however, that the skin is properly relaxed without recourse to this, it must then be hung up by a wire secured through the nostrils, in order to drain the water out of it. After hanging a few hours (or many, if large) it is, when all the water has drained away from it, but while yet damp, carefully wiped down in every part with benzoline, applied liberally, but from head to tail, the way of the feathers; this is important. The skin may now be placed in a long shallow box, called the dry plaster box, and all the feathers well covered above and below with common dry plaster of Paris, and the skin allowed to be buried in it for three or four hours, then the damp caked plaster may be shaken off and fresh dry plaster added, allowing it to remain for several more hours.
This should be repeated until the feathers are fairly dry — which, if the bird be large, will take from twelve to twenty-four hours. The feathers of the skin must now be beaten with a bundle of stiff feathers, or the wing of a goose, or other large bird, until nearly dry, then dry plaster added from time to time, and the skin twirled about in the open air if possible. Very soon the feathers will cease to remain clogged with plaster, and will come out ready for mounting, nicely dried, fresh, and so beautifully clean as to surprise any person ignorant of the process.
Carefully managed, this is one of the most valuable aids to artistic taxidermy, as by its means birds’ skins are rendered as limp and supple, and much tougher, than if just removed from the body. In proof of my assertion, I may mention that I have caused skins from ten to fifteen years old, and ranging in size from a cassowary to a humming bird, to be prepared by this method, all of which subsequently mounted up in a first-rate manner. 3
The points to observe are — first, perfect relaxing; secondly, wiping down thoroughly with benzoline; thirdly, drying the feathers of the skin well, by dusting in plaster and beating and agitating them in a current of air. Should the skin be greasy, covered with fat, or imperfectly freed of flesh (as many of the foreign birds’ skins are), it will be necessary to scrape and trim when the specimen comes out of the plaster, before it is finally cleaned. In any case, it is always advisable to turn the skin of the head inside out, stretch the face, scrape the neck, and stuff the head in the ordinary manner before returning the skin.
The great advantage in the water process is, that a “Past master” in the method can mount a skin in as artistic and natural a manner as if done from the flesh. Usually, specimens done from the “skin” are at once recognisable by their uneasy and “wooden” appearance, but I defy anyone to pick out the skins in the Leicester Museum — unless by their neater appearance — from those anciently mounted from the flesh.
Skins of mammals, if cured by the formula (No. 9) given in Chapter IV., need only to be plunged in water for a night or so to relax them, wrung out, thinned down where required, and mounted straight away; a wet skin being an advantage when modelling mammals, wet cloths even being necessary to cover over certain parts, should the mounting occupy more than a day or so. This, if the skin is properly cured, does not injure the fur or any part in the slightest degree, while, at the same time, it thoroughly relaxes.
As newly relaxed skins (especially those of birds) dry rapidly it will be advisable to have everything ready, and shape them up as quickly as possible.
The colours of the bills and feet of most birds recover their pristine hues whilst being relaxed — a matter of great importance as assisting the naturalist to the subsequent natural rendering of those parts.
CLEANING BIRDS’ SKINS, etc.. — Formerly, it appears, the orthodox method of cleaning birds’ skins was by the application of water and plaster of Paris. When it was wished to remove blood, or other stains, from a white or a light-coloured bird, this was effected by means of a soft piece of wadding saturated with warm water, and then rapidly and lightly applied to the stained part, followed by plaster of Paris dusted on the way of the “grain,” and allowed to remain on the specimen until perfectly dry, when it easily came off in cake-like pieces, leaving the feathers thoroughly cleansed of all impurities. If the wadding became overcharged with blood, it was, of course, changed from time to time before the plaster was thrown on.
Though this method does very well for blood stains of a recent date, it will not remove grease or the stains from old skins. This was always a weak point with the taxidermists of yore, who used, with very meagre results, turpentine and plaster of Paris to clean their skins. This went on for many years, and, though an unsatisfactory state of things, had to be endured, as nothing better was known.
Some few years ago “benzine collas” was introduced, and the taxidermists were not long in finding out its valuable properties for feather cleaning. “Benzoline” (Benzol, or Benzine C6H6), then came into more general use, and was, of course, found to have all the properties of the so-called “benzine collas.” This discovery, we may say, completely revolutionised the art of feather cleaning. It served equally as well as the other preparation, and its superior cheapness placed it within the reach of everybody. The cleansing property of benzoline is still somewhat a secret out of the profession, and is really worth, as a matter of business, all the money which is sometimes asked for divulging it to an amateur.
When, therefore, you have a bird which is greased, or stained with greasy dirt, etc.., wipe it down the way of the feathers with a piece of wool saturated with common (or French) benzoline, using from time to time fresh wool as the other becomes soiled. When the feathers are well damped, cover the newly-cleaned part with dry plaster of Paris, allowing the bird to remain from one to two or three hours, at the expiration of which time take it out, dusting the waste plaster off with a soft bundle of feathers, Do not be alarmed if the bird looks somewhat miserable at the outset, but be sure that, if the plaster is dusted on the way of the feathers, all will come out right.
Blood, whether fresh or old, is best removed by warm water as just described, and the feathers then carefully wiped down with benzoline, before putting, on the plaster; this obviates the roughness often observable in water-cleaned birds. 4 Sometimes, in very old skins, successive applications of water, turpentine, benzoline, and plaster, carefully managed, will work wonders.
I have mentioned the fact that birds may be plunged into turpentine to rid them of insects. After this process they do not readily dry in, proper form, remaining greasy and streaked with, dirt — in fact, in a generally deplorable condition (as I know to my cost, teste, the Leicester Museum collection, ignorantly treated in this manner before my advent). Birds treated with turpentine must be well washed down afterwards with benzoline and then dried in plaster of Paris, as before described. In cleansing old specimens, do not forget to dust them, or to beat them thoroughly with feathers, before applying the benzoline, etc..
In a fresh specimen it would be a person’s own fault if he should fail to clean a bird, even were it dipped in blood and grease. Patience and several cleanings are all that are necessary.
Dark plumaged birds — which may have light or white parts — will require care in cleaning, in order that their darker feathers may not be dulled by contact with the white plaster. Should this happen, however, in spite of all pains, it will be found that beating with feathers, and a light touching over with wadding, on which a very little benzoline has been poured, will brighten them up wonderfully. Ostrich and other feathers may be effectually cleaned by any of the foregoing methods, and, by management, re-curled with a blunt knife and the fingers.
“MAKING UP” From Pieces. — I have before mentioned that birds are sometimes made up feather by feather, and also when pulled to pieces for “relaxing.” The first is simply pretty pastime, which any person possessed of patience, some little ability, and a stock of feathers, paste, and paper, may indulge in as a recreation.
The latter, however, is a different matter, and is practised in cases where a bird’s skin is accidentally torn in several parts, or drops to pieces when “relaxed” through imperfect curing, or by old age. When this happens, the amateur need not feel as if the world would be the next thing to tumble to pieces, but simply get to work thus: Make a body of tow, with neck attached, as described; next, pull the legs off (if they have not previously fallen off), wire them, and attach them firmly to the body by clenching their free ends; bend these legs into the position you wish the specimen ultimately to assume and attach the wires at the feet to a block or perch. A T, formed of two pieces of wood, the bottom end attached to a block, is, perhaps, the best support, as you can get all round to adjust everything, even to the tail.
Your progress up to this point is simply a headless neck attached to a tow body, supported by natural legs fixed to a perch. I assume that your fragments are sufficiently relaxed, and the feathers cleaned and nearly dried. All the fat must, of course, have been scraped off the inside of each piece of skin. Arrange these pieces in the order they should come upon the model, to get the “fit,” as a dressmaker would arrange the patterns of a dress upon a lady. Notice where your model is too small or misshapen, and bind on pieces of tow; or paste and bind on wadding, excepting near the wings, where wires would fail to pierce wool or wadding.
When properly-shaped, give the whole of the model a good dressing with flour paste (see No. 31), into which a little carbolic acid has been stirred. Paste the inside of each piece of skin with this, and commence to finally rearrange them. As a rule, the under and breast pieces are fixed first, then the wings are wired* and firmly clenched on the body; adjust the wings into proper position, bringing the breast feathers over at the shoulders; next, put on the wing coverts, the back, the tail (firmly wired), and the upper and under tail coverts; lastly, the head and neck pieces, shaping the made neck into position, etc.., as you proceed. 5
Sometimes it is necessary to slip a piece of wadding underneath to swell out a certain set of feathers; in this case, lift up the surrounding parts with a crooked awl or with the feather-pliers, and carefully insert the wadding in such a manner that the paste shall not clog the other feathers in juxtaposition.
When finished to your satisfaction, lightly sponge off any excess of paste with warm water; wipe down with benzoline, and dust plaster thickly over all the specimen; this assists the drying and cleans it. In an hour or so dust off the plaster with a bunch of feathers, and bind the skin with “wrapping cotton” in the usual manner. Set it in a warm place, or in a current of air, for a week or so, to dry, and, lastly, put in the eyes and finish off. The foregoing, though apparently a Caesarian operation, is not difficult to a practised hand. I may, perhaps, here mention, in order to encourage my readers, that I myself once successfully mounted a large snowy owl from thirteen pieces of skin, and that had there been twenty-three it would have come out just as well.
In “relaxing” it is often better, especially in such specimens as Birds of Paradise, to pull off the legs and wings; by this means the skin is more easily stretched, and always, in the hands of a master, makes up more satisfactorily than by any other means.
CHAPTER XII
Colouring Bills And Feet Of Birds, Bare Skin Of Mammals, Fishes, Etc. — Restoring Shrunken Parts By A Wax Process — Drying And Colouring Ferns Grasses, Seaweeds, Etc. — “Piece Moulds,” And Modelling Fruit In Plaster — Preserving Spiders — Making Skeletons Of Animals, Skeleton Leaves Etc. — Polishing Horns, Shells, Etc. — Egg Collecting And Preserving — Additional Formulae, Etc.
COLOURING BILLS AND FEET OF BIRDS. — Birds which, when alive, have either legs, bills, or faces of various bright colours, lose these tints when dead, and after lapse of time, the colouring matter in some cases totally disappears, and nothing can restore the loss of pigment but artificial treatment of the faded parts. To do this satisfactorily is not one of the easiest matters in the world, inasmuch as two things are to be strictly guarded against. One — thick painting, which hides all the characteristics of the scutellae, or plates of the legs and toes, or fills up the minute papillae of the face; the other — imparting a too shining or varnished appearance to the parts coloured. So little colour is required for this purpose that I have found the oil-colour tubes used by artists to be the handiest and cheapest. The colour, when squeezed out, is to be thinned with turpentine only, until it readily flows off the brush on to the beak or legs of the specimen; if properly done it is very transparent, and of just sufficient quality to give the necessary brightness without undesirable shininess.
The colours that are most useful are chrome yellow, yellow ochre, Prussian blue, permanent blue, light red, burnt umber, flake white, and vermilion. With these every shade of grey, blue, green, red, or pink can be obtained; they are all cheap, but if a quantity of vermilion is desired, it is cheapest bought as a powder at the oilman’s, and mixed as required. When colour tubes are not procurable, the same colours are to be obtained at the oilman’s in powder, or ready mixed, which latter must be thinned with one part transparent paper varnish to two parts turpentine (turps), the varnish being added or decreased as dry or mixed colours are used.
“Brunswick black,” a cheap and durable brown, if laid on thinly, i.e., thinned with turps, is sometimes used for colouring the noses of mammals. It must be recollected, however, that greys predominate in some noses over browns, and that the surface is seldom of one tint, hence “Brunswick black” is seldom used by artists, who prefer to make tints from some of the colours mentioned.
Faces of parrots must be whitened with dry “flake white” applied with a piece of cotton wool.
The bills of toucans, and similar birds, require some nice colouring to blend the various tints one within the other. If the reader requires a more scientific method of doing this, I must refer him to “Waterton’s Wanderings in South America,” in which work he will find an account of the manner in which that eccentric naturalist cut out the insides of his toucans’ bills, paring them down to the outer layer, through which the subsequent artificially-introduced colour was revealed.
It would, no doubt, be possible to introduce colour into combs and wattles, and also into the bills of some species of birds by subcutaneous injections of various dyes when the specimen was fresh, but as all taxidermists are not skilled anatomists, and have not too much time to spare in doing what is — at best — but an unsatisfactory and unpractical method, I may relieve their anxiety by saying at once that the difficulty attendant on shrinkage of the integument may be avoided by using wax, with which to thinly paint the large bills of some birds, and the legs of all, restoring also the fleshy appearance of wattles, etc..
Let us take one or two representative birds — first, an eagle, to work upon, Premising that your bird is finished and dry, and that you have previously accurately copied into your note-book the colours of the soft parts, you will begin by brushing over the parts to be coloured with a very little turpentine. Next, heat in a pipkin, or “patty-pan,” some beeswax, into which a little common resin has been powdered, just sufficient to harden the wax under the point of brittleness; apply this with camel-hair brushes of different sizes to the eyelids (the eye being in and fixed), the superciliary ridge, the cere, the gape, and all over the bill, and legs, and feet, regulating the thickness of the wax thus — very thin over the bill and eyelids, a little thicker upon the cere, ridge, and gape, and quite thick upon the legs and feet; so much so, indeed, in places on the latter, as to necessitate carving up with tools to reproduce the underlying shrunken scutes, etc.. This, of course, is a delicate operation, involving practice and artistic perception of form.
Remove all superfluous wax by paring with curved awls of various sizes, and rubbing down with rag wetted in turpentine. Some parts of the legs may be treated with hot irons (large wires, old awls, knives, etc..). When the wax is sufficiently cold, which it will be in a quarter of an hour after finishing, commence colouring, by using the colours direct from the tubes, with as little admixture of “turps” as possible. 6 Note the different tints — quite three shades of yellow upon the cere, four or five upon the bill itself, and perhaps half-a-dozen upon the legs and feet, and carefully put them on. Properly finished, your eagle will — if correctly shaped — be quite life-like; all the soft parts now look full and fleshy, having lost that hard appearance inseparable from direct painting on the shrivelled integument without the intervention of wax.
The wattles and combs of gallinaceous birds, after being washed with preservative (Formula No. 15), or, when practicable, skinned out and filled, together with analogous processes on the vultures, and also the pouches of pelicans, etc.., may be treated in like manner, the wax being thinly or thickly painted as required.
The inside of the mouths of mammals, their tongues, eyelids, and noses, should be treated in a similar manner.
The skin of fishes also, which, when dry, shrinks away above the eye and around the mouth and lips, should have these parts replaced by wax before colouring, in the manner practised on the new specimens in the Leicester Museum. So little, however, is the want of this understood, that, of the thousands of stuffed fishes exhibited in the Fisheries Exhibition, I looked in vain for one with unshrivelled lips or orbital ridges. For the credit of artistic taxidermy, let us hope I overlooked some, finished as they should be.
The fins of fishes may be repaired with thin tissue paper, or, if finless by accident — “ware cat!” — may be replaced by wax. White wax may be coloured in some instances before using. Paraffin wax does in some situations, but is not a very tractable medium. Dry colours may sometimes be rubbed into the wax with advantage. The colouring of a fish’s skin, which, when set up and dried, is colourless, as noted, is a nice operation involving some artistic ability; the same remarks apply as those upon the colouring of the bills and feet of birds (see ante), but with this difference, that although the colour should be thinly applied as directed, yet in this instance the appearance of wetness has to be represented. In ordinary taxidermic work this is managed by adding clear “paper” varnish, or “Roberson’s medium,” to the colours, thinned by turpentine, floating the tints on the skin of the specimen, and nicely blending them, in order to obviate unnatural streaks or bands of colour.
Speaking of the duck-billed platypus, the Rev. J. G. Wood, in “Homes without Hands,” has some pertinent remarks upon the manner in which nearly all taxidermists allow the cuticle to dry and shrivel, to the ultimate distortion of the surrounding parts:
“The wonderful duck-like mandibles into which the head is prolonged are sadly misrepresented in the stuffed specimens which we generally see, and are black, flat, stiff, and shrivelled, as if cut from shoe leather. The dark colour is unavoidable, at all events in the present state of taxidermy. Bare skin invariably becomes blackish-brown by lapse of time, no matter what the previous colour may have been, so that the delicate tints of an English maiden’s cheek and the sable hue of the blackest negro would in a few years assume the same dingy colour, and become quite undistinguishable from each other.
But there is no excuse now-a-days for allowing the bare skin to become shrivelled. The colours we cannot preserve, the form we can and ought to reproduce. No one would conceive, after inspecting a dried specimen, how round, full, and pouting were once those black and wrinkled mandibles, and how delicately they had been coloured while the animal retained life. Their natural hue is rather curious, the outer surface of the upper mandible being very dark grey, spotted profusely with black, and its lower surface pale flesh-colour. In the lower mandible the inner surface is flesh-coloured, and the outer surface pinky white, sometimes nearly pure white.”
All this could easily be avoided by the taxidermist first skinning the beak and lips to their farthest extent, and then filling them with clay or composition, and afterwards waxing and colouring the parts in question.
Small birds having black feet or bills, which permanently retain their colour, need only to have them slightly brushed with oil, before casing up, to give them proper freshness.
HOLLOW EYES. — I have for a great number of years discarded the conventional glass eyes — glass buttons I have heard them irreverently termed! — for all fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals, excepting the smallest, using, in their stead, hollow half-globes rather more oval than round; these are hand-painted on the inside with either water or oil-colours, and when dry are varnished, filled in with wadding and putty, or modelling-wax, not clay, and fixed in the orbits with wax, see ante. These, properly coloured, and, in the instance of fishes, gilded inside, are wonderful representations of the natural eye, and when properly inserted, the cornea in mammals reproduced by wax, and the eyelids properly managed, give a most life-like and natural appearance to any specimen. 7
“PIECE MOULDS” AND MODELLING TONGUES, MUSCLES, etc.., IN COMPOSITION. — As I stated at the end of Chapter VII., “composition” has for its base one of three things — clay, plaster, or wax. The uses of the first I have fully explained — glue-water and plaster will stiffen or toughen it. There is also “terra-cotta” clay, which, if moulded into shape, can be “fired,” and is lighter, and retains its shape without cracking. Its service to the taxidermist is limited to the reproduction of certain bones and some few natural objects, such as fungi, etc..
Plaster casts of almost anything may be made by “piece-casting,” which is casting arranged to take moulds from anything “undercut” or complicated; such, let us say, as a lion’s head with open jaws, or the human face, surrounded by a wreath of leaves and flowers, as in the antique sculptures. Assuming you had such a model as this to cast from, you would commence by oiling or soaping the whole in the ordinary manner. The plaster being prepared, is poured on the neck or chin, being prevented from spreading to other parts by clay placed across as a barrier. The first section, being cast, is trimmed, and its edges cut diagonally toward the chin, in such a manner that the next piece ultimately unlocks from it, without being wedged by undercasting.
So you may proceed, trimming each piece, cutting its edges to prevent locking, and casting bit by bit until you reach the hair and forehead, with wreath. Here the pieces will be numerous, and your ingenuity will be exercised to keep out of trouble from getting some piece or another to lock the others. The face will often mould into three or four pieces; but it is on the forehead, chin, and throat — and, if a lion’s head, in the open mouth — where the multiplicity of parts may perplex.
These small pieces are, when taken from off the model, very difficult to put together again without a core; hence, when the mould is complete, each little piece must have a shallow hole cut on its top, be replaced on the model, and a “jacket-mould” cut into two or more pieces by string (as described at chapter VII) made over the whole. This jacket keeps all together for the ultimate casting by the pegs in its surface made by the holes of the pieces underneath.
The ultimate cast is made by plaster being poured into a hole left at one end of the mould for that purpose. Should this ultimate casting be wanted hollow, it will be necessary to shake the plaster, when poured in, around the mould in the manner described for making wax fruit.
Small undercut articles may be cast from, by making a mould of best glue — “gelatine glue” — which readily stretches enough to “clear” undercuts and come off the model. To get a model from this glue mould, cover the original model you wish to cast from with as thick a covering of clay as you wish your gelatine mould to be when run; upon this pour plaster to form a “jacket,” letting its top and bottom rest on the top and bottom of the original model. When the clay is removed, and the “jacket” fitted on again, it will, of course, only touch at top and bottom, leaving an interspace all over the remainder of the model. A hole being now cut in the “jacket,” the glue 8 is poured in over the original oiled model, and fills up the interspace left by the removal of the clay. When cold, it, of course, forms a mould into which plaster can be run, in the usual manner, to form the ultimate model.
Piece-casting of large subjects, where the various parts are cast and then fitted together afterwards, is best understood by learning a little from some Italian modeller, or looking over the seams (representing the “piece-casting” joints) in some one or other of Brucciani’s reproductions, which may be seen in almost any art gallery or museum.
One great advantage of this system is, that by its means large models, if built up in ordinary field clay, or by any other means, may be cast from in plaster or in metal by the intervention of piece moulds, failing which it would be impossible to do so. The resultant model, if in plaster, is not cast solid, but is hollowed out in the casting — to prevent weight — by “cores” being inserted in the moulds. “Casting sand” is, however, necessary when casting in metal, together with all sorts of technical appliances and knowledge beyond the scope of the taxidermist, and although I have found it necessary to cast in metal for some purposes, it is so seldom needed that I do not purpose describing what any friendly brass founder will tell the amateur in a few minutes. The casting by amateurs at an ordinary fire is limited to three metals — lead, tin, and zinc — or a mixture of two.
How large models in clay, etc.., can be made is described by Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, F.G.S., etc.., in his paper on the reproductions he made of the extinct animals exhibited at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham:
“By careful study of their works I qualified myself to make preliminary drawings, with careful measurements of the fossil bones in our Museum of the College of Surgeons, British Museum and Geological Society. Thus prepared, I made my sketch-models to scale, either a sixth or twelfth of the natural size, designing such attitudes as my long acquaintance with the recent and living forms of the animal kingdom enabled me to adapt to the extinct species I was endeavouring to restore.
“I caused the clay model to be built of the natural size by measurements from the sketch model, and when it approximated to the form, I, with my own hand in all instances, secured the anatomical details and the characteristics of its nature.
“Some of these models contained thirty tons of clay, which had to be supported on four legs, as their natural history characteristics would not allow of my having recourse to any of the expedients for support allowed to sculptors in an ordinary case. I could have no trees, nor rocks, nor foliage to support these great bodies, which, to be natural, must be built fairly on their four legs. In the instance of the iguanodon, it is not less than building a house upon four columns, as the quantities of material of which the standing iguanodon is composed, consist of 4 iron columns, 9 ft. long by 7 in. diameter, 600 bricks, 650 5 in. half-round drain-tiles, 900 plain tiles, 38 casks of cement, 90 casks of broken stone; making a total of 640 bushels of artificial stone. These, with 100 ft. of iron hooping and 20 ft. of cube inch bar constitute the bones, sinews, and muscles of this large model, the largest of which there is any record of a casting being made.”
Other uses of plaster are also described in Chapters VI. and VII. One of the uses of plaster in modelling is, however, to reproduce flesh, etc.. For this purpose mix plaster of Paris (best S.F.) with boiled oil until it forms a smooth, thick putty, which, though at first capable of much finger-and-thumb manipulation, dries as hard as stone, and is fairly light and impervious to damp. Plaster will also make a putty if mixed with glue-water.
The composition used by the picture-frame makers is also a first-rate medium, being susceptible to the softening influences of hot water when newly made, but ultimately dries as hard as the preceding. It is made variously, but perhaps the best is made thus:
Cement for Modelling.
Three parts best glue.
One part linseed oil.
One part powdered resin.
Whiting.
Tallow candle.
Melt the glue with water until it is moderately thin. Boil up the resin and oil together (be careful of fire). Mix up this with the glue by thorough stirring and boiling together, turn it all out into a bucket (unless you are boiling it in one), and add half a tallow candle. Stir in enough powdered whiting to make a thick putty. Pour some out on a plate, and let it get cold; you will then be able to determine whether the mixture requires more or less glue, whiting or oil. It should dry tough, but not too brittle, and should, when cut into strips and warmed by hot water or steam, be tough and yet pliable. Properly made, this cement is invaluable to the taxidermist, as it works well by the hand or by tools, drying slowly until it sets. It can be worked over real or modelled bones to show sinews or muscles as previously mentioned. The tongues of mammals or fishes may be cast either in plaster, glue, or wax, and subsequently modelled in this cement, plaster, or wax, as required.
Wax is the last, and, as I have before pointed out, is, whether used melted or softened by warm water, of the highest service to the artist. Beeswax, when melted, will mix well with either plaster or whiting, or with both, and will make a useful modelling composition, its brittleness being determined by its containing more or less plaster. Wax will also mix with red ochre, and makes a modelling composition. Modelling wax is sold, however, ready prepared, and is useful to pack under the skin for delicate muscles or “flabby” folds of skin.
Paraffin wax melted, and modelled when half cold, is also sometimes of service; it has, however, so little affinity for “sticking” as to come away from almost anything smooth, on the slightest provocation.
White lead stiffened with whiting is sometimes useful in taking the place of putty, and is a trifle more durable.
Perhaps, at the end of this section, it may not be amiss to point out to the modeller that it is of the highest importance that all his tools should be freed from dirt and plaster at the conclusion of his day’s work; scarcely anything rusts and spoils tools more quickly than damp plaster left on them.
TO IMITATE BLOOD. — Frequently blood is required to be shown, as in instances where some animal may be represented tearing its prey. Usually this is done by thickly painting on vermilion and red lead mixed with varnish, or brushing on red lead mixed with thick glue, as a base on which to subsequently lay the vermilion. I may point out, however, that blood differs in tint, and that the appearance of torn flesh, fresh blood, and coagulated blood is best got by painting the parts with wax, and tinting, with a little vermilion, some madder brown, or madder lake (a rather expensive colour), and light red, arranged and blended one with the other as in nature.
Should you be setting up a large group, such as a tiger tearing open a deer, or a vulture at a sheep, you may represent the liver and other organs in modelling clay or plaster, dried, waxed, and coloured, or by coloured wax alone if the part to be modelled is not large.
SNOW, FROST, AND ICE. — The appearances of snow and frost are imitated in a variety of ways. Pounded white sugar; alum powdered, or put on boiling, and suffered to crystallize; borax, two parts, alum, four parts, burnt in a shovel over the fire; and various other crystalline preparations. Nothing, however, is half so good as using best S.F. plaster of Paris mixed with powdered “glass frosting” — bought from the glass-blower’s or artificial eyemaker’s — to imitate snow, the powdered glass frosting being thrown upon the foliage and rocks — the latter being gummed or varnished with paper varnish — to imitate ice. Blocks of ice require special treatment with glass and thin paper strained over a framework and varnished to get a good and natural effect. Icicles are best modelled in glass.
WATER AND WAVES. — Water is best represented by “hammered glass” coloured, and streaked and varnished, to the tint required. Birds may be represented swimming by being cut in halves, their upper and under surfaces fixed to the corresponding sides of the glass, or the glass may be cut to receive the body,* which is the most satisfactory, although the most difficult to manage without smashing the glass. 9 Holes may be drilled in the glass to allow water plants to come through, or to allow long-legged birds, such as herons, to stand mid-leg in water.
Waves are moderately well imitated by thin paper creased, varnished and coloured, on which white wool “foam” is arranged.
MODELLING FRUIT, etc.., IN PLASTER. — You may, perhaps, wish to model an apple, peach, or plum, to place in the hands of some mounted object, such as a monkey. To do this, you take a natural fruit, which oil, and push it half way (on its longest axis) into a bed of damped and hard-pressed sand banked up all round. At some little distance from the edges of the fruit stick two or three small pegs of wood (points downwards) about half-an-inch long, leaving a quarter-of-an-inch out of the sand. Over all this pour some plaster of Paris mixed with water to the thickness of a paste; when set, lift it up carefully — the plaster now appears with the fruit half set in it, and the two or three little pegs of wood sticking up, their other half firmly fixed in the plaster — oil their points, the face of the plaster, and also the fruit, and laying the half-cast fruit uppermost, pour over it some more plaster.
When set, trim the edges, the complete mould will then part in halves, and the fruit will shake out. Oil the mould inside, and when dry procure some wax — beeswax from the oilman’s will do for this purpose — and after heating it carefully, for fear of fire, pour it while hot into the mould through a hole cut for that purpose. When about a quarter full, put your thumb or finger over the hole, and rotate the mould rapidly. Allow it to cool, and on opening the mould the artificial fruit will drop out, and may then be coloured by powder or varnish colours to the tints required.
My friend, Wright Wilson, F.L.S., etc.., surgeon to the Birmingham Ear and Throat Hospital, has very kindly written me a short description of the plan he adopts, which, it will be seen, is a complete reversal of the foregoing:
“With regard to plaster casts of fruit, etc.., a much neater and readier method of making the mould is to mix a sufficient quantity of beeswax with resin in a pipkin over a slow fire. It must be used whilst just lukewarm by either dipping the fruit — say, an apple — until sufficient adheres to form a good strong coating. When cold (dipping in cold water will readily make it so), the whole can be cut through with a sharp knife, the halves of the fruit come out easily, and a perfect mould in two halves is thus obtained. Fasten the halves of the mould together with string, and smear a little of the warm material over the joint to hold it together, and cast your model (into this, through a small hole made for the purpose) in the usual way with plaster of Paris made rather thin with water. When set, place in a little warm water, when the mould easily strips off, leaving a model of the most perfect kind and at a small expense, for the mould can be melted up and used over and over again.”
Glue may sometimes be substituted for the wax.
The advantage of being able to fall back on this system is obvious, especially if the modelled fruit is to be placed in a position exposed to considerable heat. Of course, the plaster model must be coloured to nature, and, as I have before pointed out, this is not one of the easiest things to do. I would suggest dipping the model (when dry) in melted wax to give a surface for colouring, or modelling it in paper.
PRESERVING SPIDERS, etc.. — Spiders, which from their rarity or the beauty of their markings it may be desirable to preserve, require the contents of the abdomen to be pressed out, or their bodies to be cut underneath. A first-rate article on preserving these crustaceans appeared in Science Gossip for January, 1868, in which the author points out what is just as well to bear in mind, which is “that the colouring matter or pigment is placed between the outer or abdominal covering and the pulpy contents within, upon a very delicate membrane, which adheres very loosely to both, but more firmly to the contents within; so that when the viscera or contents are rudely removed, and without much tearing, the whole mass will be found more or less coloured, while the outer skin will be left entirely transparent. To preserve, therefore, the beauty of spiders, this must be untouched.”
He further says: “Make an incision along the ventral aspect of the abdomen, nearly its whole length, or as long as will enable the pulpy contents to be easily removed; then pinch up the pulpy mass with a small forceps, carefully avoiding any dragging; then, with sharp-pointed scissors, cut away the contents bit by bit until the whole is nearly removed, or until you can see the brilliant colour shining through what remains in the cavity — better leave a little too much than be too nice in clearing all away; then, with a blowpipe, distend the empty abdomen; it will very soon become firm, and retain its original form, but until it is so the blowing must be frequently repeated.”
A correspondent to Science Gossip, page 21, 1868, says: “I found the best way to preserve spiders was to suspend them by a loop round their waist in a solution of glycerine 2/3, water 1/3. The solution may want changing once or twice at first, after that it will keep unchanged for years.”
images/Image172.gifFig. 36 — Blow-pipe for inflating larvae
PRESERVING CATERPILLARS. — The larvae of moths and butterflies may be preserved by pressing out the contents of their bodies, and by working from the head to the tail in a gentle manner, and assisting the removal of the mass by a careful dragging with a crochet needle. When empty, a little corrosive sublimate solution may be injected with a metal or glass blow-pipe, and the empty skin then distended by blowing into it through a very fine blowpipe, made by drawing out in a clear flame a small glass tube until it is attenuated to a fine point. This being inserted in the orifice at the last segment of the caterpillar, is kept in place by being tied round with a piece of darning cotton, or, better still, by a contrivance shown in Fig. 36 (the invention of Mr. Auld, in Science Gossip for 1872). A A are pieces of watch spring tied on the thick part of the blowpipe, and holding the caterpillar by pressure on the last segments when the point B is inserted.
Mr. Auld, I see by his article, used a spirit lamp under a glass jar to form a drying chamber while blowing; but I have myself found a “box iron” a most convenient arrangement. The inner iron, being heated in the fire, is placed in the chamber or “box,” which it thoroughly heats; then removed, and the larvae introduced and blown out in the hot air, but not so full as to unnaturally distend the segments.
A certain loss of colour inevitably takes place in preserved larvae, which in the larger ones may be restored by colouring inside them with powder colours mixed in turps. Coloured wax is sometimes injected, and makes the skin very firm, but it is a delicate operation, requiring great skill in application. When finished, they may be “mounted” on green silk-covered wire, or, more naturally, on nicely modelled leaves of their various food-plants, by gum attached to their claspers.
It is often necessary to plunge the more delicate larvae into a weak solution of carbolic acid, or alum and water, to harden them before preservation.
SKELETONS OF ANIMALS. — Many people being under the impression that it is only necessary to remove the flesh of any mammal or bird in order to get a perfect skeleton, it may be as well to point out that as the flesh rots, so do the ligaments which hold the bones, and consequently the skeleton falls to pieces. When, therefore, you have made your skeleton by the means recommended by various authors, such as exposing it in an ant-hill, a wasp’s nest, or to the attacks of the “blow-flies” or “mealworm” (the larvae of a beetle), to “tadpoles,” or — as is the usual way with the bone preservers — by maceration in water for a lengthened period (after removal of a great deal of the flesh, the skin, and entrails), you will, after the careful removal of the flesh still remaining, and subsequent drying of the bones in the sun and air, find that nearly every bone will have to be attached to its fellow by fine brass wire, and in the case of the bones of large animals, each bone will have to be neatly drilled and coupled with brass wire of greater strength.
Skeleton-making by maceration in cold water is, perhaps, one of the most sickening operations. I have been somewhat successful by trimming off all the flesh possible, wiring some parts together, tying others in cloths and boiling them gently for several hours in water changed from time to time, afterwards taking them out and picking off, with fingers and blunt tools, all the flesh remaining — whilst hot — then drilling and wiring all together with galvanised or copper fastenings in a proper manner, boiling again in plenty of water, and then allowing the bones to remain in cold water — constantly changed — for a week or so; finally laying out in the sun and air to bleach.
By this system I have lately “skeletonized” part of a horse, and the bones are free from grease and fairly white. Experience, however, in this as in everything else, will tell you what to do and how to piece one system into another to best advantage. Washing the bones with Hudson’s “dry” soap, or soda and water, will often remove a great deal of the grease. Chloride of lime and water will assist the bleaching, but must be managed cautiously, or in careless hands it is likely to do more harm than good. The making of good and nicely bleached osteological preparations really depends on carefulness and neatness, supplemented by water, air, and sun; by the three latter aids, I have repeatedly improved in a wonderful manner “old bones” which were greasy and discoloured.
Should the sea be close at hand, the skeleton, shut in a box with holes, may be sunk, and exposed to the attacks of various “small deer,” especially “bees” (Aega tridens), which swarm in some shallow waters to such an extent as to clear the flesh from a large animal in a few hours.
SKELETON LEAVES. — Very beautiful objects may be made by placing the leaves of trees and shrubs, or such as are of a strong or woody texture, in a pan, pouring boiling soft or rain water over them, then exposing them to the atmosphere for a time varying from one to three or four months. They are then gently lifted out and held on a board, or on a plate, under running water, and the pulpy part, or epidermis, removed by gentle brushing with a camel-hair pencil or fine needle, to split the skin away from the mid-rib.
When nothing but the ligneous skeleton or woody fibre remains, it may be placed in a weak solution of chloride of lime, and exposed to the sun under glass to dry and bleach. To prevent them sticking to the paper on which you may wish to dry them, use either blotting-paper or oiled paper, after well washing the leaves. If skeletonizing in summer time, trust to sun alone, as chloride of lime has a tendency to make the leaves go brittle. The seed vessels of various plants, such as the poppies, thorn apples (Daturae), and campions, as also the leaves of laurel, holly, ivy, lime, sycamore, poplar, and a host of others, may be treated in this manner. When finished, they may be mounted on wires whipped with white silk, and placed on black velvet under a shade.
Some writers have advised the boiling of the leaves in a solution of caustic soda, or steeping them in a strong mixture of chloride of lime and water, but I have hitherto considered these plans not so practical as the foregoing, though, perhaps, quicker; as, however, I find two writers, in Science Gossip for 1867, very positive on the subject, I will give the following extracts:
“A solution of caustic soda is made by dissolving 3 oz. of washing soda in two pints of boiling water, and adding 1.5 oz. of quicklime, previously slacked; boil for ten minutes, decant the clear solution, and bring it to the boil. During ebullition add the leaves; boil briskly for some time — say, an hour — occasionally adding hot water to supply the place of that lost by evaporation. Take out a leaf and put into a vessel of water, rub it between the fingers under the water. If the epidermis and parenchyma separate easily, the rest of the leaves may be removed from the solution, and treated in the same way; but if not, then the boiling must be continued for some time longer.
To bleach the skeletons, mix about a drachm of chloride of lime with a pint of water, adding sufficient acetic acid to liberate the chlorine. Steep the leaves in this till they are whitened (about ten minutes), taking care not to let them stay in too long, otherwise they are apt to become brittle. Put them into clean water, and float them out on pieces of paper. Lastly, remove them from the paper before they are quite dry, and place them in a book or botanical press.” — Dr. G. Dickson, Science Gossip, January, 1867.
“I once saw another way of managing skeleton leaves that interested me greatly. The leaves were boiled for two minutes, and then transferred to a strong solution of permanganate of potash and gently heated. In an hour or two the laxer tissues were easily removed by means of a brush. Sulphurous acid was used for bleaching them, and this liquid was also employed with much facility for the removing of the stains on the fingers caused by the permanganate of potash.” — George Newlyn, Science Gossip, November, 1867.
The last-named gentleman appears to bleach his leaves by fastening them across a hat-box by means of strings, inserting a pan or tin cup containing sulphur, setting it on fire, and shutting down the lid (of course, out of doors). The whole article is very interesting, but too long for insertion here.
CRUSTACEANS. — Lobsters, crawfish, and crabs must have the cephalo-thorax (the upper part) disjointed from the body or “tail” part, the limbs taken off at their attachment to the body, and the whole of the flesh removed by means of the “undercutting tool” (see Fig. 29), and crooked wires; afterwards wash the inside with carbolic wash (No. 15), and fill the limbs and body with dry plaster and wadding, neatly fixing on the legs where disjointed, and putting the remainder of the body together with any of the cements mentioned in Chapter IV.
POLISHING HORNS. — As a commencement it will be requisite to remove all the rough shell-like layers of horn which stand up as knots and gnarls, and mar the symmetry of the horns. In some horns, old ones especially, you will find their inner sides covered with several thicknesses of this waste or dead stuff. Do not be afraid, but boldly pare this down level with the surrounding horn, for which purpose nothing is so good as a spokeshave. Blood stains usually lie in the soft upper layers; shave these down carefully until they end, which will be underneath where the horn becomes white and of a more ivory-like texture. When nearing this it will be as well to give up the use of the spokeshave, and use some instrument in a scraping manner; the side of a chisel (not the cutting edge) or a knife is best for this purpose. The handle being held in the right hand and the point in the left, scrape the horn until you get to the white part, which will be somewhat harder than the remainder.
In colourless horns you must get down to this white part, or your polish will not be high; besides this, blood stains will show up, and the surface will look of a soapy, greasy nature, instead of the ivory-like texture it should assume. Be careful when working to the largest part, or base of the horn, not to run your tool through, as it is much thinner there than at the tips.
Whilst thinning rough places in certain horns you will find a half round and flat fine rasp of great assistance. When you have obtained a nice even surface all over, use glass paper of different degrees of fineness, and pumice-stone. Collect the dust which falls off, with a rag dipped in linseed oil and well rub the horn with this. Next get some “putty powder” (oxide of tin), which rub violently on all parts of the horn with a rag and linseed oil, finally finishing off with brown paper, a soft rag, and the palm of the hand, using plenty of “elbow grease.”
Remember, horn polishing is all hard work, unless managed by “bobbing” on a lathe, so let no one attempt it who is not prepared to work very hard, as plenty of quick and violent friction is indispensable in the latter stages to give the high polish requisite. Horn may be softened, and ultimately dissolved in caustic soda.
POLISHING TORTOISE-SHELL, etc.. — To polish tortoise-shell (which is in many cases turtle-shell) it is necessary to scrape the shell very carefully with a broad knife, taking care not to cut through to the under shell or “bone.” When properly smoothed rub it over with pumice-stone and water, then with bath-brick and water, finally polishing off, when you have a nice fine surface, with putty-powder and oil, or rotten-stone and oil, with plenty of hard work and hand-polishing towards the last. A little tallow rubbed in with the hand, as the very last finishing touch, will be found of benefit. A paste made of sal volatile and rouge has been recommended to be applied to the shell after scraping, then suffered to remain until dry, and finally polished off.
Bad places in the shell, where it has peeled or been broken off, should be made up with coloured shellac, or hardened wax, put in with a warmed knife after polishing, and finished off separately. Tortoise-shell may be welded by heat.
Sea shells may be polished by being plunged for a little time in dilute nitric acid, then rubbed down with sand paper or fine emery and oil, finished with “Water-Ayr” or “Snake-stone,” and finally polished with putty-powder and oil. A mussel-shell treated in this manner makes a most beautiful object, coming out purple, with streaks of lighter blue and pearl.
Stones, such as agates, which are found on the sea beach, or any stone which is required to be polished, is to be first ground down to a rough surface, then polished by successive rubbings of first, second, and third grit-stones of different degrees of fineness, lastly “Water-Ayr” or “Snake-stone,” and finished with “putty powder” applied with oil. All of the stones or grits mentioned are to be procured at the marble mason’s at a low rate. Serpentine treated in this manner makes a very beautiful object.
EGGS, COLLECTING AND PRESERVING. — Eggs of various birds may be sought for in their seasons in the localities best suited to the several species. But so much depends upon special training or aptitude in the collecting of birds’ eggs, that a detailed description of localities where to seek and how to find, eggs, is hardly necessary, in the pages of this work, further than to remark that a pair of “climbing irons” are requisite for those individuals who do not possess the agility of a cat or of a schoolboy.
Climbing Irons (see Fig. 37), to fit the foot and leg, are best made of wrought iron with a welding of finely-tempered steel from C to DE, to form the claw used when climbing. To affix them to the leg, the foot is placed as in a stirrup from C to B, the claw ED pointing inward. A strap should now be passed through a slot or square hole punched in the metal between C and D (not shown in the figure), and laced under and across the foot to and through the loop shown between B and A at a, thus keeping the foot itself tightly fixed. Another strap passes through the loop at the top where marked A, and is strapped round the calf of the leg, keeping all below the knee rigid and secure. When climbing, the hands clasp the tree in the usual manner, and the side of the foot is struck smartly against the trunk, to cause the claw to penetrate. The climber now rests on this, and strikes the claw of the other iron in, on the other side, higher up, and so on alternately.
images/Image173.gifFig. 37 — Climbing iron
Eggs, when procured, must have their contents removed. To do this they must first be drilled with little steel instruments called egg-drills, which are made of various degrees of fineness according to the size of the egg to be operated upon. Drills are to be procured from the various dealers, but can be made from steel wire softened in the fire and filed to a sharp three-cornered point—afterwards tempered to hardness — for the smaller eggs, or filed up for the larger eggs to the pattern of a “countersink” used for wood; indeed, the smallest-sized “countersink” made — to be procured at any ironmonger’s — will do very well for eggs the size of a hen’s. Capital egg-drills are to be made from “pinion wire” used by watchmakers. Simply file to a point, and “relieve” with a small “three-square” file the channels of the wire, giving them a cutting edge up to their point. With such a drill as this — cost, about 2d. — I have blown, without any breakage, eggs varying in size, from swallows’ to hens’. A drill costing 2s. 6d., which was the price I paid for my first — purchased from a surgical-instrument maker in London, since deceased — could not do the work better.
To use these drills, rotate the point by “twiddling” the drill between the finger and thumb, making only one hole, and that in the centre of the egg. When a nicely-rounded hole is cut, the egg must be emptied by means of an “egg-blower,” or blowpipe; the point being introduced into the hole, the contents are blown out or sucked up into the bulb, which, when full, is emptied out at the other end. It sometimes happens that the egg is “hard set.” The embryo must, in that case, be cut out with small curved scissors specially made. If hard set, putrid, or stale, an egg often bursts when touched. To obviate this, drill and blow it under water.
Young birds can often be extracted, with a little care, uninjured from their egg-shells, and yet — as happened to me lately in the instance of a hawk — the shell may make a presentable museum object, after such extraction.
In all cases eggs should be thoroughly rinsed out with a solution of six grains of corrosive sublimate to an ounce of rectified spirits of wine. This may be sucked up into the bulb of the “egg-blower,” and thence ejected into the egg, which is to be rotated, and what solution is left may then be sucked back and thrown away, or returned to the bottle. Great care must be taken, however, that the mixture shall not pass the bulb and be drawn up into the mouth, as it is, of course, a deadly poison; the egg, being placed (hole downwards) on blotting paper, is to be left until dry.
Those who object to poison may rinse their eggs out with water to which has been added a few drops of strong essence of cloves. This is agreeable to use, and appears to cleanse away all impurities.
A little label may finally be gummed over the orifice, and the specimen is then ready for the cabinet; or, as labels will in time fall off, however well they may have been previously gummed, it is better to write a distinguishing number, and as much of the history of its collection as is possible on the egg itself, the full history, of course, being posted up in the note book. Labels may, however, be used with great advantage on the divisions of the cabinet drawer which separate one species of egg from the other.
Loose labels are not to be used on any account, as they often get reversed and create confusion, and a collection thus treated is brought into grave discredit. Eggs, when being sent any distance, should be separately wrapped in cotton wool, and packed in a strong box, any interstices being lightly filled with wool also. Sawdust or bran should never be used as a packing medium, as the eggs shake together and break each other in travelling.
For those who require coloured figures of eggs I must refer them to Hewitson’s “Eggs of British Birds,” or Atkinson’s “British Birds’ Eggs and Nests,” a much cheaper, but very good little work; also to a new work by Mr. H. Seebohm (the celebrated traveller in Siberia, etc..), entitled, “A History of British Birds,” with coloured illustrations of their eggs.
PREPARATION OF MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. — The same remark applies to this as to aquaria (see Chapter XIII.). The treatment is so varied, the objects so numerous, that books upon books have been written on it. Every naturalist and curator, however, has to work sometimes with the microscope; but taking into consideration the vastness of the subject, I must refer them to text-books, such as Beale’s “How to Work with the Microscope;” Lankester’s “Half-hours with the Microscope;” Hon. Mrs. Ward’s “The Microscope;” Davies’ “On the Preparation and Mounting of Microscopic Objects;” G. E. Davis’ “Practical Microscopy;” Gosse’s “Half-hours with the Microscope;” Wood’s “Common Objects of the Microscope;” any of Quekett’s works, and to late numbers of the Monthly Microscopical Journal, Nature, Science Gossip (the latter teeming with practical hints on all matters connected with natural history), and hosts of other works.
This chapter, dealing as it does with details and hints upon many subjects, may fittingly be closed with scraps forgotten in the body of this work, but which now occur to me as being useful knowledge.
STARCH AS PASTE: (see chapter IV). — Procure some common starch (that which is white looking is perhaps the best), mix it up with a little cold water, just sufficient to dissolve it, stirring it thoroughly to prevent lumps. Pour upon this sufficient boiling water to make it into a stiff paste. This will be found most useful for clean paper or photographic work, as it enables paper to be pasted on cardboard, etc.., without creasing. The paper should be first wetted on the face side, the back pasted with the starch-paste, fixed on the cardboard, and the whole dried off by blotting paper. For common taxidermic work, paste containing resin (sold at leather merchants’) is strong and cheap.
BEST GLUE, made in the ordinary manner, but rather thicker than usual, then poured into a bottle containing enough methylated spirit to thin it, is recommended as being a strong medium to stick paper on wood or cardboard, with the advantage claimed for it that it does not cause the thin wood or cardboard to “cast” or “buckle.”
MARINE GLUE dissolved in diluted acetic acid makes a strong cement for certain things, such as mending shells. This, as also the preparation of Formula No. 33, should be kept in bottles, or small stoppered jars, and melted for use by surrounding with hot water.
LEATHER is (so says a bookbinder) to be pasted, after it is damped on the outside. Cloth is to be glued. This is useful to know if making up cloth-covered boxes with leather backs, to imitate books (see Chapter XV., on Entomology).
ANTI-INSECT NOSTRUMS (see chapter IV). — Russian tallow in saucers, oil of birch, flowers of sulphur, hellebore, pepper, tobacco, are said to be “bogies,” the last especially, to the Dermestes beetles and their cousin, Anthrenus museorum. Try them, but don’t rely too much upon them, is my advice; nor, indeed, upon anything — not excepting even corrosive sublimate. Trust only to exposure to light and constant supervision, zinc or wire drying cases, and to “casing up” as soon as possible.
If sending specimens long distances, it is well to pepper the shot parts, enclosing also in the parcel some pieces of charcoal wrapped in paper. Of course, if the specimens are not for the table, dilute glacial carbolic acid, poured on the wounds and down the throat, is the best thing to do, but it should always be noted in an accompanying letter, for fear of accidents. Smearing the hands and face with paraffin is said to keep forest flies and midges from biting.
PRESERVATION OF ANIMAL TISSUE (see chapter IV).
Chloride of zinc, 1 part.
Water, 20 parts.
This formula appears to be one of the non-alcoholic preservatives most suited for fishes in preparation jars. I have so lately tried it that I cannot at present state if it is the very best.
PICRIC ACID, formed by a certain chemical fusion of carbolic acid with nitric acid, is recommended (when diluted) for the preservation of soft-bodied animals, such as zoophytes, etc..
BICHROMATE OF POTASH (see chapter IV), though so useful for pickling fishes, mollusca, worms, and even “jelly fish” and sea-anemones, is, I have found, liable to be attacked by mildew; to prevent this add a few drops of phenic (carbolic acid). 10 This salt is also used in microscopy to assist in fixing glass covers on glass slides. The cement in question appears so admirably adapted to many purposes, that I think it worth quoting (see Science Gossip, 1879, p. 136):
Cox’s gelatine, 2 oz.
Acetic acid, fluid, 1 drachm.
Gum ammoniac, 10 grains.
“Dissolve in a water bath, and filter through cotton while warm. This cement remains fluid when cold, and dries quickly. After the ring has become set, or stiff, the whole slide is immersed for a minute or so in a 10-grain solution of bichromate of potash, and is then allowed to dry, exposed to the light, which makes the bichromated gelatine perfectly insoluble, even in boiling water, and thoroughly prevents the escape of any glycerine.”
PERMANGANATE OF POTASH (see chapter IV) is recommended at p. 49, Science Gossip, 1879, by a French scientist, for “preserving delicate organisms.” “It is especially good in histological researches, as it acts like osmic acid, burning up the protoplasm, bringing out the minutiae, and showing the nuclei, outlines of cells, etc.. It is used as a saturated solution in distilled or very pure spring water; sea-water also dissolves it. The concentrated solution, of a lovely violet colour, kills small organisms at once, and then burns them. They are left in it from thirty minutes to an hour, then withdrawn, and placed in alcohol, after which they can be made transparent with essence of terebinth and mounted in Canada balsam. Beautiful results are thus obtained with echinoderms, zoophytes, worms and marine arthropoda. For delicate researches, especially in the ciliated infusoria, it is better than osmic acid, without its great cost, and is everywhere easily obtained.” — G. du Plessis.
GLYCERINE (see Chapter IV). — Glycerine will be found useful for rubbing on the eyes or noses of animals to keep them moist and prevent their drying up when modelling, as well as for many other purposes, which will readily occur to the practical worker.
CORALS, etc.., may be cleaned by first soaking in warm water, to remove surface dust, etc.., then allowing the tap to run on them for some hours, and afterwards soaking them in a weak solution of chloride of lime for a short time, until fairly bleached.
BIRDS may be roughly preserved from immediate decay by pouring down their throats, or into their bodies by an incision under the wing, crude creosote or carbolic acid. I remember once having a collection of birds from India prepared in this way, which after a lapse of years were successfully skinned and made up — “as well as could be expected.”
Sometimes I have been written to by correspondents to say that they had cured some mammals’ skins by Formula No. 9, and that there was an efflorescence about the mouth, or that mildew had appeared. My answer has ever been:
Firstly, that possibly the specimen had been cased up too soon. At least two months should elapse after stuffing before mammals should be mounted in a case.
Secondly, that common alum had been used instead of burnt alum.
Thirdly, that an undue proportion of saltpetre had been mixed with the alum.
Should mildew make its appearance, it would point to improper mounting — i.e., not trimming off enough flesh or fat, or to the specimen being mounted in a case before it was sufficiently dry. If it be mildew, the specimen must come out of the case and be properly dried. If it be merely crystallisation of impure alum, the crystals must be washed off with warm water from time to time as they form, until no more appear. It must be remembered, however, that a damp house, or juxtaposition to a wet wall, will ruin the most carefully mounted specimens.
Correspondents may be quite sure that neither the method nor the formula are to blame in the matter. The great point is to wipe off the mildew or crystals as fast as they appear until no more form, which will determine when the specimen is thoroughly dry.
How to solder, either by the blowpipe or by the “bit,” is now and then useful knowledge. Any mechanic will impart this for a consideration.
CHAPTER XIII.
CASES, MOUNTS, SHIELDS, EGG CABINETS, ROCKWORK, FERNS, GRASSES, SEA-WEEDS, ETC., FOR “FITTING UP.”
CASES can be made in all styles. The oldest is the “box,” which needs no description. Next in age is the “canted-corner case,” a most odious abomination beloved of the amateur; the shape of the ground plan being as Fig. 38. A to A the front, B to B the back, C C C is glass, the points A A are wooden or metal uprights, pinning together top and bottom; B B B B is wood; hence it follows that all the space outside the dotted lines is useless, or if used at all, the uprights (A A) cross perhaps the most important part of the work, so that this shaped case resolves itself into the following difficulty: either the case is too large for the object, or two lines cross it.
images/Image198.gifFig. 38 — Plan of “canted-corner” case.
The usual glass-ended square case is easily made by any amateur joiner in this wise: Take two pieces of wood for top and bottom to size required, plane and square them up together to ensure their being exactly alike; then, with a “plough” plane, set to 0.375 in., “plough out” all around the front and sides of each to half its thickness. Take the back and nail it to the top and bottom with brads; having done which, next take two pieces of wood for the uprights of sufficient thickness to suit the case — too great thickness being guarded against.
images/Image175.gifFig. 39 — Section of “uprights” or pillars of square case.
Let us, however, assume that each of these pieces is 0.75 in. square, the height immaterial, “plough” these out on two sides, the “plough” still set at 0.375 in. for depth. For the front, “plough” out 0.375 in. from the edge, and 0.375 in. deep, this still leaves 0.375 in. out of the 0.75 in. untouched; turn the upright now on its side and repeat the “ploughing,” allowing for just missing the point of intersection. Fig. 39 shows a section; the dark part is the wood left, the dotted squares show where the wood has been removed; the corner A, outside the dotted line, is afterwards rounded off. Each upright is “ploughed” alike; they are then glued and nailed to the top and bottom by brads running through; the rounded edges falling outside.
The case is now finished, as will be seen, for the reception of glass at its front and sides. First, however, it will have to be blacked or ebonised. Mix, therefore, some “lamp” or “drop” black in powder with thin glue-water, boil, and lay the mixture on with a stiff brush over the case whilst warm. When quite dry, rub it down with fine sand paper.
The subjects being mounted in the case, paper the glass in with brown paper and strong paste, and then go over the previously blackened case with a very thin coat of Brunswick black. When this is dry put a slip of 0.5 in. or 0.75 in. gilt moulding (procured at the picture frame maker’s) all around the front of the case on top of the prepared glass, and just within the edges of the wood “ploughed” out to receive it, nicely mitring the comers with a mitre and shooting block.
The foundation of this latter is a sound 1 in. board, 2 ft. 6 in. long by 18 in. wide, or of any other convenient dimensions. Upon this is screwed another piece an inch or more thick (Fig. 40), so as to make a step (C C). Both pieces must be dry, so as not to be liable to warp; upon the higher part are screwed two strips of hard wood (B B) about 1.5 in. or 2 in. wide, forming a right angle where they meet. The whole must be very accurately made, and although deal will answer the purpose, hard wood of some kind will be more satisfactory. Beech or oak will do very well.
images/Image199.gifFig. 40 — Mitre block.
Suppose a piece of moulding to require mitring; it has only to be laid as shown against the guide bar (B), and sawn off on the line (CC), or laid on the other side against the second guide bar, and similarly cut off. It will be necessary to use both sides in this way, because, although the piece cut off has also an angle of 45 deg., it would need to be turned over and applied to the other, which could not be done without reversing the moulding. In a plain unmoulded strip this, of course, would not signify.
Gilt moulding may be put at each end or not, according to the fancy and pocket of the workman. The case is now finished, and shows the front and two sides of glass framed in by gilt, outside of which is the narrow black line of the wood. If it be desired to get up the wood of the case in a superior manner, it must first be blacked with the glue and lamp-black, sand-papered down, blacked and sand-papered again, and finally French polished.
The most substantial and effective case is the “stop-chamfered” one, made either in deal ebonized, or fancy woods polished. In this the glass is put in from the back with putty, or papered in, and finally held in place by “beads” of wood, the top is lined with linen and coloured in oil, and after the work is put in (from the back) the back-board (previously lined and coloured) is screwed up, and thus you have a case perfectly impervious to dust or to the changes of the atmosphere. Unless the amateur is a good workman, it will be better for him to get such a case turned out by a professional joiner, to ensure clean-cut work.
These are very handsome and neat cases, especially if the back be “ploughed” out deeply to receive a canvas on a stretcher, on which a characteristic scene is painted. In this event the included work must be good, and the fitting-up as plain as possible.
Cases for fishes are best glazed by “sprung” or semi-convex glass for the fronts, which often does away with the necessity for glass ends, and gives also a more artistic and finished appearance.
Glass shades, especially those of an oval shape, suit many birds well, but for large work are more expensive than cases. Stands in black or gilt are usually supplied with them; but those in mahogany, oak, and other fancy woods must be ordered, unless the amateur possesses a lathe, and the requisite knowledge to use it. In fitting up these with rockwork, etc.., it is best to arrange the work on a “false bottom,” or at least to cover up with paper the polished stand, lest it be spoiled.
MOUNTS. — “Mounts,” which are simply tops of round or oval shades fitted into corresponding stands or frames of wood, or are open cylinders of glass with a flat piece cemented on one end, were, I believe, first invented by Mr. George Ashmead, of Bishopsgate-street, London. They are very effective, and also occupy but little space, as they hang up on the wall in positions where shades or cases will not go.
The method of making up a “mount” is as follows: Procure from a glass merchant the top of a shade, let us say 12 in. in diameter by 7 in. high. To this have a stand or rim turned out of thoroughly dry wood of sufficient size to overlap the shade 1 in. all round — 14 in. in diameter, therefore, for a 12 in. shade. A groove should be turned in them stand of sufficient width to allow the glass to play freely.
The groove, however, should be so arranged that the excess in width should fall outside the glass. The centre of the stand inside the groove being tinted for a sky, as desired, the objects, whether small birds or butterflies, are introduced in the usual manner, and the glass is then cemented, in the groove, over them.
Waste cylinders of glass may be economised for making mounts. It will then, however, be necessary to have a circular plate for the top cut by a glazier’s turn-table. These are really better for showing up anything than the round-topped mounts, as they cast no reflection; but the top plates are harder to put on and to keep on when finished. Strongly pasted black tape will do to fix the very small ones, but for larger the tops should be cemented with thick white-lead, left to dry, and then further cemented with narrow tape smeared with white-lead, or any of the cements given in chapter IV. If it be desired to give a rounded edge to this taping, plaster or whiting mixed with glue and lamp-black may be laid on thickly, rubbed down with fine sand-paper, and polished, or if the black is left out, the cement may be gilded, after the manner of picture frames.
The stand itself may be “dished” out in the centre, in concave form, and thus more room allowed for the enclosed specimens; but in this case the stand must be of some thickness.
At one time the glasses were put in the stands with glue and cork, or glue and paper, until it was found, in nine cases out of ten, that glue, under atmospheric changes, sooner or later broke the glass, or else entirely released it. Putty was then used, but that failed to hold with the tenacity required, as there was a constant tendency of the shade to fall out by its natural weight when hanging up. I have accordingly mixed white-lead with putty with better results, in the proportion of two parts putty; one ditto white-lead (thick, such as gasfitters use); one-eighth ditto gold size — or I have used red-lead, mixed with common putty and boiled oil; and, again, simply plaster of Paris mixed with water. These last two are the best holdfasts of glass within my experience.
Supposing the stand to be ebonized, or of mahogany or any other fancy wood, the putty or plaster can be coloured to any required tint, or if the stand is gilt the cement can be gilded over. Failing to make a very neat job, it will be necessary to wind a piece of chenille around the shade in order to hide the junction.
As it is very difficult to prevent a small percentage of the cement from working inside, and thus spoiling the neatness of the sky effect, I have devised the following plan, which I do not think is generally known: Instead of using a solid stand with groove for the back of the mount, I turn a rim of wood to form a ring, in such a manner that it shall just pass over the shade without allowing the latter to fall through at its bottom edge. Underneath this rim, or ring, I turn it out to within a quarter of an inch of its edge to receive the back, turned out of a piece of thinner wood.
The rim of wood is best turned by being nearly cut through on its upper or pattern side, the wood then reversed on the lathe, turned out to receive the back, then altered again, and the rim cut entirely through. To fix this, the rim is fitted on over the glass, and kept in place with cement. The work is made up on the back, which is then screwed, or pasted, or glued, in the hollow turned out at the back of the rim. By this method there is no cement showing inside on the sky-line of the work when finished, nor can the glass possibly tumble out, being, of course, held by the rim, which is of necessity smaller than the bottom of the glass. Such rims may, of course, be ebonized, of fancy woods, or gilded, according to the taste of the workman. A small screw-plate with ring should be attached to hang it up by.
A modification of the “mount” is made by securing five pieces of glass together in the usual manner, by tape pasted on each edge to make a square glass cover, making up the work on a piece of board of the required size, rebated or grooved all around, or by nailing on strips of wood to receive the glass cover, which is then pasted or cemented to the edges of the board, and finally finished off by dropping over all picture-frame moulding, cut and joined to size, to which the back is screwed. This style does either for fishes or dead game to stand upon a hall table, or easily becomes a “mount” by the simple process of screwing on “plate-rings,” and hanging it up on a wall.
The colouring of the backs of cases and mounts is of two kinds — distemper and oil; that is to say, supposing paper, calico or sheeting is used for the back of the cases or mounts. Colour the paper or other material — if you wish to show a toned sky — with whiting in which a little glue-water or paste is dissolved, or with common flake-white and size (note that there must be a good body of white to give a luminous appearance), tinting at the same time with blue, shading off into pink, etc.. The colours most useful are ultramarine, vermilion, and chrome yellow in powder. This colouring will not do if putty is used to put the glass in with, as the oil flies over the tinted sky. For oil painting place a thin calico or canvas on the backs, and colour with the tints you desire, mixed in oil and turps. Putty can be used in any part with this colouring. One coat of colour is sufficient, as if another is added an unpleasant glaze is the result.
SHIELDS. — Heads of mammals, etc.., when set up and finished, should be mounted on “shields” of fancy wood; oak or mahogany being the best, unless ebonized and gilded pine is preferred. The shapes are usually a modification of the conventional “heart,” such as will be found in a pack of cards. This being purely a matter of individual taste, the taxidermist may easily make as many patterns as he chooses by doubling a piece of brown or stiff paper and cutting his shapes out therefrom. One of these paper patterns may be traced around upon a piece of planed wood of the suitable size, and cut out by a “bow “-saw, the edges trimmed and bevelled, and the surface finally polished. A key-hole (protected by metal screwed across in the instances of large or weighty heads), is bored or cut, by which to hang it up, and the neck-block of the specimen is screwed thereto by three screws of sufficient length placed in the form of a triangle. Horns alone are attached to shields by screws running through the frontal bone, or, if without this, are attached - to a model of the frontal bone in wood, by nuts and screws.
CABINETS FOR EGGS AND SKINS. — I have lately seen many cabinets for eggs, skins, etc.., constructed on a capital system, the invention, I believe, of Mr. Salvin, the eminent ornithologist. The drawers are made of varying depths, from 1 in. to 6 in., and the bottoms are fitted with tongues overlapping each side, which fit into grooves cut in the carcase of the cabinet, and so arranged by a little calculation that a shallow drawer can immediately be inserted in the place previously occupied by a deep one, or vice versa — i.e., a deep 6 in. drawer, which may be No. 30, at the bottom, can be pushed upwards at any intermediate point between that and No. 1.
The modus operandi is as follows: Whatever the depth decided on of the drawers, the carcase is grooved all the way down to half the depth of the shallowest drawer, if in even inches, or to a multiple of each drawer if otherwise. Example: Take a foot rule and mark off 10 in on a piece of paper, dividing it into alternate half inches making, of course, twenty half inches; this represents the carcase. Then take some strips of paper or cardboard, which cut to 1 in., 1.5 in., 2 in., 2.5 in. and 3 in. respectively, total 10 in. These represent the drawers; putting them in their order, they will, of course, fit in the 10 in. Now change them about, top to bottom, or bottom in the middle, or in any way that you like, and you will find that they will always fall in a groove, leaving room for the others, when pushed down, without any open space between.
The same method is adopted in the cabinets under the invertebrate show cases in the Liverpool Museum, which I recently visited under the able guidance of the clever and genial curator, Mr. Moore, so well known, together with his family, in connection with many unique and beautiful osteological preparations.
CASING UP WITH ROCKWORK, ETC. — Brown paper was formerly the pièce de rèsistance of those who aspired to imitate rocks on which to place or to surround their animals. It was used by being first soaked in water and drawn over pieces of wood, boxes, or large cinders even, to give shape. It was then glued, and small stones and sand thrown on. Usually uncoloured, it revealed itself in its naked ugliness, and looked what it was — paper. Later, it was more artistically arranged, and when divested of folds by the application of more paper, plenty of glue, and well coloured, it certainly looked decent. Then came peat, a glorious innovation for quick, if not artistic, work. This dried earth, dug from bogs, admits of being carved and shaped to almost any form. Sandstone and some other rocks may be represented by it, as also trunks of trees. Well glued and sanded, it takes colour readily, or it may be gone over with a mixture of whiting and plaster of Paris with glue-water, and finally coloured; or dry plaster may be mixed with thick oil paint as a “priming” medium.
“Virgin” cork is the latest rockwork model. Its shape being irregular, it is well suited to imitate craggy rocks, added to which it takes thick colour or whiting well, glued or unglued.
Nothing, however, beats a mixture of all methods — paper, peat, and cork, their lines broken up or blended with wadding. The whole of this, well glued, sanded, and properly coloured, will defy the most critical unprofessional judgment to declare it anything but what it seems — hard rock.
I am speaking, of course, of small cases; large work requires consideration. Peat will not do for anything but the illustration of small subjects. It is too heavy, and does not readily adapt itself to imitate large masses of overhanging rock; added to which, its expense in large quantities is very great. It is also dirty to work with, and is often a harbour for larvae of various moths — inimical to the taxidermist. I so recognised all these facts in the treatment of the rockwork in the Leicester Museum, that I determined to use paper only, treating it by an old method, artistically elaborated.
This method was, after making a rough drawing and calculation as to the positions the specimens would occupy in the case, to nail strips of “quartering” across the backs of the cases, to which again were nailed strips of 0.75 in. wood, crossing in all directions, but especially where the drawings indicated a mass of rock. On these, and to these, small shelves of wood were nailed in the positions to be subsequently occupied by the specimens. To these shelves cardboard was tacked, and bent upward and downward to the pointed or square shapes assumed by the rocks modelled from. 11 Where the edges were too sharp they were beaten in by a mallet, or altered by glueing on wadding.
The mass of rock being joined here and there to break up the appearance of shelves, and to give a certain homogeneity, was then treated by having brown paper well glued on both sides, stuck all over the edges, joins, or accidental fissures; this, suffered to dry, was then well painted with a mixture of whiting and glue-water, again allowed to dry, and again painted. When this last was dry it was gone over with a thin wash of glue-water, and sharp “silver” sand thrown on; when dry, coloured by staining it with various oil colours (not tube), and some few powder colours — blue-black, yellow ochre, Vandyke brown, celestial blue (cheap), burnt sienna, etc.., thinned with turps, afterwards touched up, when dry, with touches of tube colours, smartly and cleanly put on. This would be the treatment and colouring for greyish-brown or yellowish-grey smooth, dry-looking rocks, sandstones, etc..; and by a little alteration of tint and treatment in places, would imitate the various slates.
For chalk and limestone, mix plaster and sand with the whiting and lay it on thickly, not throwing on sand, as a final operation. Colours, of course, are different here, more bright and light green predominating; but the colouring of the rockwork, etc.., to imitate the various kinds of rocks required, is only to be learned by experience; in point of fact, to colour rocks in an effective manner is really the work of an artist, for it is requisite to know the properties of colours, and to “scumble” and “stipple” or “glaze” one colour over another to get “depth.” A few hints may, however, help out the tyro.
For rough sea rocks, after sanding and glueing, go over the rockwork with a mixture of chrome yellow and Prussian blue, mixed with oil and turps, the blue predominating; touch up the points with white, and allow it to dry. The next day deepen the shadows with Brunswick black, “stippling” lightly the remainder of the rock with the same. Arrange sea-shells and sea-weed, here and there, where the mounted subject allows of this treatment. This is a shining dark bluish-green and brown rock, suitable for sea-gulls, divers, etc..
For rough grey land rock, paint over all with lamp-black in powder, mixed with plaster of Paris, and touch up the points with oil white. When the work is quite dry, go over all with a glaze of Prussian blue mixed with Brunswick black. Fit up with ferns, grass, and golden lichens on the points, or in the hollows. This makes a greyish rock with no gloss, and is suitable for owls and similar birds.
For rough sandstone rock, paint over with chrome yellow and a very little blue mixed with oil white, the latter predominating; dust over on the points with red sand, touch up the hollows with Brunswick black, suffer to dry, and then go over all with a very little rose pink or vermilion, worked up in turps with a little varnish. Fit up with ferns, grasses, and mosses. This is a reddish-yellow rock, suitable for anything not having red or yellow fur or feathers.
The predominating colour may be mixed with the whiting, etc.., to paint over the artificial rock; but there is a certain loss of brilliancy in the colours which follow, unless a white ground has been previously laid on.
For certain objects a great advantage is obtained by making up the rockwork on a false bottom and slipping it, ready finished, into the case.
There are hundreds of other varieties, but they must be worked out by each person according to his proclivities. It might as well be expected that a picture could be painted from printed directions as to imagine that one person could make a rockwork precisely similar to another without seeing it done, or without working it out by his own experience.
Trees for large groups may be carved out of successive layers of peat, or modelled up with brown paper and virgin cork; better still by arranging brown paper over rods or a wire framework, covered previously by tow, and afterwards coloured to nature. The leaves of some trees dry and colour up well, and can be introduced on the natural or artificial twigs.
TWIGS. — Artificial twigs can be made by twisting tow round wire, glueing, and throwing on sawdust, peat-dust, etc.., and afterwards colouring. The most natural way, however, is to rub up the gold and grey lichens, and throw them on the glued tow, filling up afterwards with larger pieces to break the lines. Natural and artificial twigs mix well together; the latter, from their flexibility, allowing of any treatment.
FERNS, GRASSES, ETC., FOR “FITTING up.” — Time was when our ancestors were content to stick their preserved specimens in boxes with nothing to break the blank of white paper which backed them up. Nowadays we have arrived at such a pitch of decorative art in taxidermy, as in all things, that this stiffness of outline does not suffice; accordingly, we break our background by flowing lines of beauty, produced by the graceful aids of dried ferns and grasses, twigs of trees, etc..
Many ferns are not suitable for decoration; for instance, the male fern (Filix-mas) is of too tender a texture to stand upright when weighted with colour. The very best fern is the common brake (Pteris aquilina), as also the common polypody (Polypodium vulgare). The fronds of the brake should be gathered in August or September, when they are fully matured and hard, and also when the weather, is hot and dry. If gathered in continuous wet weather, hardly any amount of drying will prevent the fronds from ultimately becoming mouldy, when no amount of after-drying prevents them going brittle and dropping to pieces. Ferns which have lost their green colouring matter, and are going red and yellow, dry well, and retain their colours nicely if quickly dried.
Foreign ferns, such as the various adiantums, the “gold” and “silver” ferns, and many others, dry well, and retain their colour if care be used; nothing suits foreign birds better as a background than the ferns and grasses of the various countries they inhabit.
Paper used in the drying of botanical specimens is sold, but being too expensive for this particular purpose, a supply of large sheets of common grey paper used by ironmongers or grocers, or even brown paper, will suffice — the ferns should, directly they are gathered, be laid out straight on a board, or on a floor, and covered with paper, then more ferns, again a layer of paper, and so on — a board weighted with bricks should be placed over all, and suffered to remain for a few days; the ferns are then to be turned, the paper dried, and the process repeated.
When thoroughly dry, the ferns may be coloured with oil paint thinned with turps and varnish, sufficient to give lustre without shininess. Here and there break the green colour with white, red, blue, and yellow, in a manner which will occur to anyone having artistic ability. Ferns treated in this manner soon dry, and retain their colour for an indefinite period, the only thing to be said against them being their rather unnatural flatness — due to pressure; this, however, may be counteracted by a little judgment during the drying, one plan being the regulation of pressure at certain points, aided also by clean dry sand.
Several hard-leaved plants (mostly foreign) found in our conservatories are also excellent driers, many taking colour readily.
Many grasses (not the flowers, but the leaves or blades) dry well. Amongst the best of these is the “wiregrass,” found in woods, growing especially over runnels in those localities. The flower also of this plant is most eligible as a decorative agent. The wood melick is another elegant and suitable plant.
The sedges (Carex) dry and colour well, as also several of the water-rushes, reeds, and flags. The “toad-rush” (Juncus bufonius), and its allies, found in damp places, by roads, by canals, and in pasture or corn-fields, dry and colour excellently.
Sphagnum, or bog moss, especially when having pink tips, is a most beautiful object; the only thing to be said against it is the difficulty of getting it free from water, and the length of time it takes afterwards to dry.
Mosses of various sorts growing in woods on trees — lichens, gold and grey, mosses or lichen-covered twigs, sprigs of heather, furze, sea-lavender — all dry well, and come in usefully.
Many persons like their moss and grasses dyed: this is perhaps allowable in some cases for common work; but if a bird or a mammal is nicely mounted, the plainer the fitting, and nearer nature, the better. To those, however, who desire to dye their grasses, I recommend Judson’s powder dyes as the readiest medium, the directions for manipulating which are given with them. Any rough grass in flower does for dyeing, and a visit to the fields just before haymaking will supply the amateur with all he wants for this.
Teazles, thistles, and the umbels (seed-heads) of various plants, chiefly compositae, will be found of service; but everything must be thoroughly dried before being coloured, or before being introduced into shades or cases. Nothing must be coloured with water colours or gums, as some writers contend, or mould will inevitably follow. A few drops of creosote, or the black carbolic acid of commerce, poured into the case or shade just before closing up, is a very good thing to prevent mildew, though if everything is thoroughly dried, and only oil colours are used, no danger from this cause need be apprehended.
SEA-WEEDS, SHELLS, ETC. — Sea-weeds, which are constantly used in fitting up cases of sea birds, need no description as to their collection, further than to say that all sea-weeds, whether sea-weeds proper, corallines, and zoophytes, must be well washed in spring water, many times changed, to thoroughly remove the salt, and must be well dried before being introduced into cases or shades. Those who require full descriptions of British sea-weeds, their collection and preservation, I must refer to “British Marine Algae,” by W. H. Grattan, published at the office of The Bazaar, 170, Strand, London.
Few sea-weeds proper are applicable to the purpose of the taxidermist, though some of the oar-weeds can be used, and many of the red sea-weeds (Rhodosperms) can be floated out in water and carelessly arranged on paper, if wanted for fitting-up purposes, or more carefully arranged if for a collection. After washing, these small plants adhere by their natural mucilage to the paper on which they may be floated out.
Of all the sea-weeds proper the Carrageen mosses (Chondrus crispus and mamillosus) are the most eligible, and if dried and arranged in cases are very elegant. The common coralline (Corallina officinalis) — a sea-weed which so rapidly attracts carbonate of lime as to be almost of a stony or coral-like texture — is another invaluable plant for fitting up. When wet it is usually purple or pink, but on exposure to the sun becomes white.
Amongst the zoophytes which, though looking like the sea-weeds, are not of vegetable origin, there are many which are most useful, not to say indispensable to the taxidermist. Leaving out the foreign corals, sea-fans, sponges, etc.., we shall certainly find the most useful English species to be first: the broad leaved horn-wrack (Flustra foliacia), that mass of thin hand-like leaves, of the colour of brown paper, which is cast up on some shores, often in great quantities. Other useful sorts are those like little trees, such as the common sea fir (Sertularia, abietina and operculata); these last are found especially attached to stones, shells and sea-weeds. The lobster’s horn coralline (Antennularia antennina) and the various sponges are also most useful things, the branched sponge (Halichondria oculata) and others being amongst the best for use. Several of the bladder-wracks or “sea-grapes” will dry nicely, as also will the egg cases of the whelk and the “sea purses” and “skate barrows,” really the egg bags of the dogfish and skate.
The starfish, or “five fingers,” will, after washing, dry well, or can be plunged in any one of the hardening solutions mentioned in Chapter IV. The various sea urchins (Echinii), if emptied of their contents, make pretty objects, either with or without their spines. The beautiful sea anemones are, however, impossible to preserve as dried objects, but must be modelled in glass or wax, as imitations. Various shells come in handily also; amongst those may be mentioned the common razor shells (Solen ensis and siliqua), several of the Venus shells, the common limpets, the chitons, several of the trochi, and last, but not least, the shells of the speckled scallop (Pecten varius).
Many freshwater, as also land shells, come in for decorating cases of littoral birds. Amongst those of the first we may instance Limnoea stagnalis, palustris, peregra, etc.., Dreissena polymorpha, Planorbis corneus, etc..; the various Unios, anodons, and many others.
Amongst the land shells very many of the Helices, such as the gaily-coloured nemoralis, or its variety hortensis, caperata, arbustorum, cantiana, etc.., as well as many other specimens.
The preservation of most freshwater and land shells is exceedingly easy, the greater number of specimens requiring only to be plunged into boiling water, and the contents removed — an easy operation in the case of the bivalves, and the contents of univalves or snail-like shells being also easily wormed out with a pin or crooked awl. 12
For works on shells see “Manual of the Mollusca,” by Dr. S. P. Woodward, J. Gywn-Jeffreys’ “British Conchology,” Lovell Reeve’s “British Land and Freshwater Mollusks,” and several clever articles in Science Gossip and the Conchological Journal, by Mr. G. Sherriff Tye and others.
Glue is sufficient to fix all these objects in their places on rockwork, in cases; resins, such as mastic or shellac, or any of the cements mentioned in Chapter IV., are, however, the best mediums to fix such objects upon tablets for scientific purposes. For fixing shells on labelled cards, Mr. Woodward recommends gum arabic, with one-sixth of its bulk of pure glycerine added to it, which makes a semi-elastic cement, with the advantage also of allowing the shells to be taken from their tablets, at any time, by the intervention of hot water.
DRYING AND STORAGE OF SPECIMENS. — It is always a vexed question how to keep newly-mounted specimens free from moths, and flies, and dust, whilst drying. The difficulty is, that you cannot put them away at once in boxes, cases, or shades, for if you do they do not dry at all, but “sweat” and slowly rot, or else become mildewed. If you expose them fully without any covering, they are soon covered with dust, and liable at any moment to — first, the attacks of meat flies, and next of moths and beetles.
Good insect powder is, as I have before pointed out, a deterrent; still, to make assurance doubly sure, I would always, in the case of valuable specimens, enclose them in square cages, made one side of glass, and the three other sides and top of fine meshed muslin, wirework, or perforated zinc, the latter sufficiently fine not to allow small moths and flies to creep in. These can be made of various sizes, can be varied by having a top and back of wood, can have the front to open like a meat safe with shelves, or be simply cases to lift over the specimens like shades; in any case, however, the front glass allows you to see how all is going on, and the wire sides permit a free current of air to pass through to dry the specimens.
In this manner I have been enabled to laugh at the little wretches of insects buzzing around, and flattening their noses against the zinc, in vain endeavours to interview some charming specimens of young birds, whose “fluffy” plumage they delight in. Like the cats, they are “so fond of noticing those dear little birds!”
Skins not in constant use for reference should, when dried, be wrapped in soft paper amidst insect powder, and put away in closely fitting drawers. “Paper fasteners” are very useful to clip the ends of the paper — folded over — which encloses them.
AQUARIA. — This being a subject a little outside my province, I do not purpose dwelling on it, further than to say that all information will be found in “The Aquarium, its History, Structure, and Management,” by Dr. J. E. Taylor, F.L.S., etc..; Gosse’s “Handbook of the Marine Aquarium,” and many others. Two recipes, culled from the Scientific American, 1879, may be of service, however: “Cheap tanks can be made of wood and glass, the frame and bottom being of wood, and sides of glass. In order to make the joints watertight, care must be taken to get a proper aquarium putty or cement. The following is a good recipe: Put an egg-cupful of oil and 4 oz. tar to 1 lb. resin, melt over a gentle fire, test it to see if it has the proper consistency when cooled; if it has not, heat longer, or add more resin or tar. Pour the cement into the angles in a heated state, but not boiling hot, as it would crack the glass. The cement will be firm in a few minutes. Then tip the aquarium in a different position, and treat a second angle likewise, and so on. The cement does not poison the water.”
“To mend the broken glass of an aquarium, fasten a strip of glass over the crack, inside the aquarium, using for a cement white shellac dissolved in one-eighth its weight of Venice turpentine.”
CHAPTER XIV.
GENERAL REMARKS ON ARTISTIC “MOUNTING,” MODELLED FOLIAGE, SCREENS, LAMPS, NATURAL HISTORY JEWELLERY, ETC.
ARTISTIC MOUNTING. — GENERAL REMARKS. — By the time the student has slowly worked his way to this chapter, he will no doubt — should he be apt, and have an artistic mind — have achieved things beyond the mere drudgery of the profession. I take it that, being interested in his work, he will not have rested content with mounting — even in a perfect manner — his animals at rest, but will have “had a shy” at animals in action, or engaged in some characteristic occupation. The days of birds on “hat-pegs,” stiff-legged, long-necked and staring, round-eyed, at nothing — of mammals, whose length and stiffness are their greatest merit — has passed away for ever; and only in dreary museums, far behind the age, where funereal silence obtains, and where the dust of mummied animals arises to awe and half poison the adventurous explorer, are these “specimens” to be found.
Public museums are, unfortunately, in nine cases out of ten, not good schools for delineating the natural attitudes or characteristics of animals. This arises partly from the fact that all, save the more modern ones, retain their original specimens mounted in the old style. The newer work of the museums of London, Paris, Madrid, etc.., is, however generally of quite a different stamp. 13
This struck me most forcibly with regard to that of Madrid, which I visited some years ago. The vertebrate specimens were old and wretchedly mounted, the lepidoptera nowhere; but the recently acquired animals were splendidly rendered. The youthful and painstaking amateur will, no doubt, however, do as I did when a boy — viz., pitch upon some professional taxidermist, to whose window he will repair at all available opportunities to learn his style, now and then venturing on some small purchase (usually a pair of eyes), to gain admittance to the glories within, and have speech with the great man himself. Exploring in this manner, I have had occasion to thank many of the leading London taxidermists for little “tips” ungrudgingly given.
A few hints may suffice to help the reader. The most important canon is: Do not mix your orders of birds; that is to say, abstain from surrounding a hawk tearing its prey, with various birds in all attitudes, placidly ignoring the existence of their enemy. A scene of this kind irresistibly reminds me of the stage “aside,” when the villain of the piece audibly proclaims vengeance against the unconscious hero but two yards away on his right or left.
Birds not of the same kind, and from different parts of the world, are often cased together, but this is open to criticism, unless you avowedly wish to illustrate the whole order for purposes of reference, as in the instance of, say, the Columbae (pigeons). Pairs of birds are the most effective, if the idea of the surroundings is nicely carried out.
I have seen one or two very funny effects in the “Black Country.” In one example, a scarlet ibis, mounted in a case on a broken piece of highly gorgeous china gaselier; in another, two puppies facing each other on velvet, a piece of rock salt in the middle, on which stood a lapwing, surrounded by foreign birds in all attitudes. Need I warn the reader against such flights of fancy and works of art?
It is, I would remark, quite impossible to give directions as to attitudes, but on one point I might advise, in order to save the many inquiries addressed to me, from time to time, upon the subject of the straightness or otherwise of gulls’ legs. The fact is — gulls, when standing, tuck the tibia quite close to the abdomen, apparently under the wing, and reveal only a very little portion of the tibio-tarsal joint, keeping the metatarse perfectly straight, or, as someone wrote to me once, “like two arrows or sticks.” (For explanation of these parts named, see Plate II., (N, q, P.))
Although most works on taxidermy profess to give descriptions of the attitudes of animals, I cannot do so for the simple reason that I consider the acquirement a speciality and purely a matter of experience. Nature must be closely studied; failing this, reference must be made to illustrated works on natural history. All of Gould’s works are grand guides to attitudes of specimens and accessories, as also that beautiful work of my friend H. E. Dresser, F.L.S., etc.., on the “Birds of Europe;” but as the price of these magnificent works places them beyond the reach of any but rich people, the amateur may fall back on Morris’s “British Birds” and Bree’s “Birds of Europe” for coloured plates, and Routledge’s “Wood’s Natural History” for uncoloured plates of many mammals, birds, and fishes; those signed by Coleman being especially artistic and natural. Add to these Cassell’s new “Natural History,” edited by Dr. Duncan, F.R.S. — really the best book on popular natural history we have.
Other works, perhaps not so easily accessible, are the “Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” and the “Ibis,” for coloured illustrations of animals — often in characteristic attitudes, and which, with the above-named works, fitly replace the more ancient “pictures” of animals, arranged on the “fore and aft” system, and from which instead of nature, our taxidermists took their original ideas; indeed, the English school, with true British insularity, would, I presume, have continued the mounting of animals by this “fore and aft” method,* had not the Germans and French broken rudely in on our slumbering taxidermists at the Great Exhibition of 1851. 14
I propose now to give a few hints on groups, etc.., not describing their management, but merely giving a list of subjects. First, let me say that in order of merit, in all arts connected with the preservation of natural history objects, I must, after many years study, give the palm to the Germans, not only in all matters connected with artistic taxidermy, but in their elegant and truthful setting of beetles, their sensible setting of lepidoptera, and their really beautiful method of making skins of birds etc..
Next come the French, then the English, and lastly, the Americans. The Americans are the worst simply because they adopt the crudest English methods of taxidermy, with other bad habits of ours. I may say that I never saw an artistic piece of work, nor a well made skin, coming from America, unless done by a German or a Frenchman. I believe, however, the European element is working wonders amongst them, and reading Mr. Batty’s book (if he be a true American), I was very favourably impressed with the signs of progress contained therein, and I should not at all wonder if soon our American friends “go ahead” and quickly leave us behind.
Professor Henry a. Ward, of Rochester, New York, U.S.A., in a well-written article in one of his “Bulletins” sent to me, has, since I wrote the above, confessed the great superiority of European over American taxidermists, but says that within the last few (very few) years, their native taxidermists have greatly improved, owing to the importation of clever foreign artists, who are gradually educating the American workmen.
Just before this there was an entertaining article in the “Century” magazine, and illustrations were given showing the best work of the American taxidermic artists. I must say, however, that, unless the draughtsman failed to copy what an educated eye looks for, none of this work struck me as being of a high order — one or two “pieces,” indeed, being decidedly capable of improvement. Possibly this improvement has taken place by now; anyway, I heartily wish Brother Jonathan good luck in his taxidermic studies.
At present, however, I say to all rising taxidermists, follow the lead of the Germans — they are true artists; and with the Italian modelling and French neatness of workmanship to fall back on, success is certain.
Looking back to ’51, let us see what one of these foreigners (mentioned in chapter I) could teach us. Among over fifty groups of animals shown in the Great Exhibition were —
A stag caught by five hounds (price 180 pounds).
A wild boar set on by three hounds.
A couple of old and young foxes in front of their “earth” (60 pounds).
Trophy of 25 heads of animals of the chase.
Nest of a horned owl. Two old birds and five young defending themselves against two polecats (30 pounds).
Goshawk attacking an eagle owl.
These were followed by comic groups, six of which illustrated Goethe’s fable of “Reinecke the Fox,” and were skilfully managed as well as amusing. Some others were—
A duel between two dormice, with moles as gravediggers.
“A Declaration of Love.” Two weasels.
“A Nursery Maid.” One old and four young weasels.
“Shaving a Luxury.” One frog shaving another.
Apropos of the above, frogs lend themselves better to comic scenes than almost any other animal, from their ridiculous likeness, when erect on their hind legs, to mighty man. Hence advantage is often taken of this; and amongst mirth-provoking caricatures I have seen “A Steeplechase,” frogs mounted on puppies as horses, some tumbling at the water-jump, others riding to win, some unhorsed, scrambling after their steeds, and so on; “The Battle of the Nile,” frogs on rafts of leaves of water plants, attacking one another with small bulrushes; duel scenes; “Courtship” and “Matrimony”; “Fortiter in Re,” a young frog soundly smacked (in the most approved fashion) by the irate paternal frog; the companion picture, “Suaviter in Modo,” a young frog soothed by maternal affection.
Monkeys are the next best for comic scenes, but are more awkward to handle, and not half so funny, unless very carefully modelled to caricature the manners and customs of the human subject. Pourtrayed as shoemakers, acrobats, as “You dirty boy!” or, as in the Fisheries Exhibition of 1883, as “The Enthusiast” (a gouty monkey fishing in a tub placed in his sick chamber), they are, perhaps, the most successful. The addition of miniature furniture to assist the delusion is permissible; but, after all, these caricatures are not artistic taxidermy, and they are only allowable now and then as a relaxation.
Perhaps that which most exercises the skill and judgment of the taxidermic artist is reproducing large groups of some of Landseer’s pictures, such as, “The Combat” (two stags fighting); the “Stag at Bay,” and others in connection with hunting. Lion and tiger fighting over prey; two tigers fighting for possession of a deer; head and paws of lion or tiger peeping over a rock; tiger crouching for a spring on some feeding animal; lion and zebra; panther or jaguar crouching on an overhanging tree-trunk; leopard killed by a gemsbok antelope; polar bear killing seal on ice; lynx creeping over snow upon grouse; wolf leaping with fore-legs in air on receiving his death-shot; fox in “full cry;” fox just missing a pheasant or duck by only securing the tail feathers; two foxes fighting; fox and playing cubs; fox and trapped rabbit (after Ansdell); “Heads and Tails,” fox coming over bank as rabbit disappears; dogs and puppies; cats and kittens (see Landseer’s, Ansdell’s, Couldery’s, and Frank Paton’s pictures for treatment of these); otters and young; otters with fish (see Landseer’s and Rolfe’s pictures for these); otters diving after fish, both seen in mid-water, are some of the studies which have been, or can be, executed.
Among birds, eagles and falcons at rest or in action are the most capable of artistic treatment, such as “The Eagle’s Throne” (after Wolf); laemmergeyer carrying off lamb; hawks fighting over a small bird, allowing the latter to escape; peregrine falcon striking a bittern; eagle and wild cat; sea-eagle and gulls; osprey and fish. In connection with the last, one of the very best things I ever saw done with these specimens was in the Fisheries Exhibition, 1883, a piece of work — a study it might be called — executed by a German residing in London. It represented an osprey tugging a fish from some sea rocks.
Both fish and bird were excellently rendered; the latter, with wings expanded, had gripped the fish with both feet, and had raised it in the air some distance off the rocks; the fish was, however, entangled by a line and hook it had swallowed; and the action of the fish-hawk in attempting to tear the fish away was wonderfully fine, the feathers were raised about the head, the eye was fierce, and the sidelong waft of the wings was most natural. The study was all the more interesting from the fact that both bird and fish were poised in air without any visible means of support, the case enclosing them being of glass all around. How it was managed was easy for the professional eye to discover, but I do not think I should be doing justice to the inventor to describe the method.
Amongst the water birds, which are the next best, perhaps, for artistic treatment, come the swans, in the attitude of swimming (see Chapter XII.), ducks swimming, diving, and flying. “The Widowed Duck” — after the celebrated picture — was one of the things very nicely rendered in the “Fisheries Exhibition;” the painting of an artistic scene at the back of this case helped the effect wonderfully, as it usually does in good work. “Hooded Crows Tracking a Widgeon,” and “Wounded Tern,” fallen by its eggs, were two other clever groups — said to be “copyright,” though how on earth such things can be copyright I do not know, especially as not one of the things exhibited could be called original; indeed, everything I saw at the “Fisheries,” with the exception of the osprey mentioned above, had been done over and over again by German, French, and English artists.
The work of these “copyright” groups — excepting the foliage, which was rather “stiff” — was, however, very clean and nice, and favourably compared with work by other taxidermists, many of whose “pieces” — as the Americans say — should have been refused on the score of pretentious incompetence.
There was one detestable exhibit, all the more grievous as being professional. No wonder that people, seeing this sort of thing, should laugh at fish and bird “stuffing.” As I looked and wondered, I felt that a first-class assortment of injurious epithets applied to such “work” would have relieved my perturbed spirit.
This digression puts me in mind of another, and that is to warn the amateur not to “know too much,” and think he has nothing to learn directly he can set up a bird or mammal, or anything else, in a fairly respectable manner. The people who know everything, and imagine they cannot be taught, are just the people who know very little and who will never learn more. “Duffers” they are, and “duffers” they will be, to the end of their days. Every sensible man, even should he rival Methusaleh — which heaven forfend! — must be learning Art (even should he teach) all his life.
Make haste to learn, therefore, from anyone who can give you a hint, and don’t set yourself up (or down) in some obscure country town and fancy you are great. Come out into the world, measure yourself against the best, criticise your own work as if it were a stranger’s. Be honest, and say, “That man’s work knocks mine into a cocked hat,” and then go home miserable, but determined to beat that man’s work or perish in the attempt. Never sneak! If you see first-class work by anyone, go boldly and say, “Sir, I am an amateur,” or, “I am a young professional,” as the case may be. “Your work interests and delights me. May I look around?” Doubtless, the person addressed will be flattered by your appreciation, and, unless narrow-minded, will exchange views with you to your benefit.
Let us return to our theme. Amongst the water birds, then, we may instance herons with young as making a nice group, moorhens leading out their young on water under a mossy bank and so on; and this brings us to the question of mounting pairs of birds, with their nests and eggs, or nests and young.
GROUPS OF BIRDS AND YOUNG, WITH MODELLED FOLIAGE — Nothing in taxidermy requires more correct mounting and taste, and nothing is more charming, if properly done, than illustrating the life-history of, say, a pair of birds with their nest and young. Take any birds you like — sparrows or robins — and, if you know anything, you may “invest with artistic merit” even such common specimens as these. There is a certain fascination in young things which, I suppose, calls up all the kindly feelings of our nature, and so it is that young birds tended by their parents are groups which appeal the most to the finer senses, besides being really educative if worked out properly.
I remember, quite twenty years ago, when a boy, seeing a collection of nearly all the “British” birds, their nests and eggs, for sale, so that the idea is not a new one, nor is that of surrounding such groups, with proper accessories and modelled leaves and flowers, as will shortly be exhibited to the public in the new “British” Natural History Room at South Kensington, and as is now exhibited in the Leicester Museum. I remember getting foliage done for me many years ago for such groups, and I believe Mr. Shaw, of Shrewsbury, did it long before I copied his lead. Who was the original inventor of this system I know not, but I shrewdly suspect we have to thank French artists for this. Let it be thoroughly understood that I do not intend to disparage the beautiful work done for South Kensington by the various gentlemen and artists interested, but I merely point the adage, “Nothing new under the sun.”
Of course, when I say “modelled foliage” I do not allude to stamped leaves in various materials, sold at so much (or so little) a gross, and used to “decorate” “boxes of birds” in the “Black Country” quite fifty or sixty years ago, but that which has arisen on its ashes in response to the cry for “more art,” and because of the impossibility of getting any other natural flowers than “everlasting,” or any other leaves than those of grasses and ferns (mentioned in the last chapter), to dry for decorative, or, as we say, “fitting up” purposes.
To describe the processes involved in copying leaves and flowers of any plant from nature, so that all will appear perfectly life-like and yet be durable, and stand exposure to moderate heat and cold, would take up too much space, added to which, my personal knowledge of all is required in this is of such recent acquirement, that, although I have fairly succeeded in teaching myself modelling of this kind, and have executed a few groups, yet I would like a little more time to elapse ere I pose as a teacher; but, no doubt, when the time comes, someone — perhaps the publisher of “Practical Taxidermy” — may be induced to give the results of my labours to the class most interested.
I may instance some groups: Robin’s nest, in bank covered with ivy, and primroses in flower, the old female bird feeding the young, the male searching for more food, or singing on branch near nest; long-tailed titmice, in furze-bush (South Kensington); chiff-chaff, in long grass, surrounded by willow-herb; chaffinches in blossoming hawthorn; white-throat’s nest, with young, surrounded by leaves and flowers of the bramble (Leicester Museum); blue-tits, in apple-tree with modelled foliage and flowers; moorhens swimming, with young just leaving nest, surrounded with water-lilies, flowering rush, and other plants; grouse and young; swallows, in section of cow-house, with plants, etc.., growing on roof (Leicester Museum); grebes and nest, amid marsh plants and marsh marigold in flower, etc.. (South Kensington).
To give a tenth of the phases of the studies which can be worked out would fill pages of this book; suffice it to say that nature, being the guide in this, must be rigidly adhered to. There is, of course, no need to copy any accidental awkwardness; but don’t invent too much, as the greatest charm of all is taking Nature as your guide. At the back of these groups may be placed the eggs, and birds of the same species in change of plumage or winter dress, thus making the life history complete. For museums, and similar educational institutions, the food and the skeleton should be exhibited, with explanatory label attached.
Reptiles and fishes are most unsatisfactory things to treat artistically. When set up and dried they shrivel, and are seldom modelled nicely. (To counteract such shrivelling, see Chapter XII.) I have almost made up my mind that, taking into consideration the stiffness of outline usually present in mounting by the ordinary methods, all fish should be cast in plaster or paper, although even then stiffness may be present unless the fish is posed properly. Fish lying in a mass on a bank, or in a dish, as were some at the “Fisheries,” look the most natural and easy.
One plan, new to me, however, was adopted in such subjects as large pike, etc.., which were cast, coloured, and placed in a long basket upon straw, the whole covered with glass. This method is especially nice for the hall table as a souvenir of piscatorial success. I was rather disappointed in the colouring of these casts. Many of the artists had entirely missed the subtle colours of the pike, trout, and other fish — one salmon only, and one dishful of grayling, magnificently managed, excepted. 15
Perhaps, the best treatment of fish, when modelled in plaster, was exhibited in the Indian section; here the tints of the fish were beautifully managed, the skins appeared wet, but not varnished, and all the colours were nicely blended in. As for the stuffed fish, their name was legion, and they were there in all degrees of merit. One thing, however, struck me with painful surprise; among the thousands of freshwater fish I saw mounted by taxidermy, not one was without those ridiculous little spears (cut from large rushes, or from paper) growing from the bottom of the case, each one, or each bunch of them, erect as possible, and almost always arranged at equal distances apart, with maddening precision.
Some of the sea-fish admitted of more elastic treatment, and I saw one very good exhibit of these. The artist had, however, rather detracted from their undeniably good treatment by modelling small stones. These were so natural as to require a label explaining this; but I would remind all workers in taxidermy that there is no useful end gained by modelling small stones; a great amount of labour is wasted, and the intention of modelling — which is to replace the great weight of large stones by extraordinary lightness — is completely overlooked.
“SCREENS.” — The ordinary screen intended for use is made of two sheets of thick plate-glass, between which are pressed ferns, butterflies, etc.., the whole set in an oak or other wood frame, with castors.
Those intended for ornament are more lightly made. Thus: A square frame, about 30 in. by 24 in. by 4.5 in. deep, is made in thin fancy wood, or in pine veneered; no front nor back is fitted, merely a groove ploughed all around, with “beads,” to receive and to retain the glass, on each face. This frame is then fixed by screws, with buttons fitting over the screw holes, between two turned and carved uprights (like small bedstead posts), supported by carved feet on castors; a handle of carved wood is fixed on top of the box, which completes the joiner’s work. The inside of the frame is papered and coloured; the birds — usually brightly-coloured foreign birds, or humming birds and butterflies — are inserted, properly mounted on light twigs, etc.., and the glass beaded in, to complete all.
One very nice “screen” was exhibited at the “Fisheries,” almost a reproduction of the woodcut illustrating the outside of Science Gossip, with the addition of a hawk striking the kingfisher. There were also two large and capital trophies, called “The Rod”. and “The Gun,” remarkably cheap, mounted as screens in framed bamboo. The first represented a string of large fresh-water fish depending from a branch of a tree, a creel, a rod, a landing-net, and other angling gear. “The Gun” showed a fine bittern and heron, and, I think, some other birds, also depending from a branch, with a gun and some old-fashioned tools (powder-flask, etc..) included.
“Screens” filled with corals and sponges (Euplectellae, etc..) would be very handsome and useful. I am not sure whether I have seen any managed in this manner.
Very handsome “screens” for the mantelpiece may be made up from owls, hawks, seagulls, and a variety of other birds. The birds being skinned out through an opening in the back, the wings and tail are cut off and spread out on a board, with fine needle points driven through their webs until the pair of wings — the butts or shoulders placed inward — assume the shape of a long oval; the tail is fully spread by the same means, and wings and tail are “wrapped” with cotton and left to dry. The head and breast are stuffed independently of these and sewn up.
When all is ready, a handle of about 8 in. to 10 in. long by 0.5 in. square must be turned out of ivory, ebony, or any wood desired. One end of this should be turned the full thickness of the wood for about 1.25 in. from the top, then drilled with two holes through its diameter, and a slot cut of 0.25 in. in width longitudinally for the full length of the 1.25 in. to receive a thin piece of oval shaped deal about 4 in. long by 2.5 in. broad by 0.25 in. thick, which should have a silken loop attached, and a piece of blue or other coloured silk stretched over it, and the edges of the silk tucked under the wood and attached by paste; this latter is then fixed to the handle by rivets running through the two holes previously drilled.
The wings and tail are now glued and pinned to the uncovered part of the thin wood, the shoulders of the wing inward, the tail radiating from the bottom. On top of these comes the body (also wired and glued) fitting in the small space left between the wings. The silk during the fixing of the wings, tail, and head, should be protected by paper pasted over all, and which can be removed when the screen is finished.
Screens are also made of single large birds, such as the peacock, or swan and heron; these are stuffed in the same manner as above, but instead of being attached to handles should be fixed on a shield of some fancy wood, the back of which must be polished, and made to slide up and down on an upright standard, springing from carved legs.
Still more handsome screens are those intended to flank the fireplace. These are, however, ovals of glass, set in carved or gilded frames, which are made to slide up or down on a standard or upright, supported by a carved tripod. Humming birds or insects are included between the glasses of the carved oval. These screens are made of all sizes, the standard of some standing 5 ft. to 6 ft. high, the ovals being often 3 ft. by 2 ft.; but smaller ones are constantly made.
JEWELLERY. — Following the example of the ladies who indirectly send expeditions to “frosty Caucasus or glowing Ind” to take tithe of animals for the sake of their skins, of birds for their plumes, and of insects for their silk, to be used in adornment, society demands that objects of natural history should not be all relegated to the forgotten shelves of dusty museums, but live as “things of beauty and joys forever.” Hence the new alliance between the goldsmith and the taxidermist, resulting in a thousand ingenious combinations of nature and art — a list of a few of which may not be unacceptable as hints.
For earrings, two leopard’s claws are mounted as miniature Robin Hood bugles, the mouth and bell of each being of gold, attached to which is a chain depending by its centre from the ear-wire. Two tiger’s claws placed base to base, their hooks pointing inwards, are strung and clasped with gold, thus forming the lyre of the Tragic Muse, as a brooch or ornament for the breast. Beetles, usually of the genus chrysochroa, also, are set as earrings. Humming birds’ heads, their throats surrounded with a fillet of gold, form also handsome brooches. The feet of the various species of grouse and owls are capped with silver or gold (in which is set a cairngorm), the toes tipped, or the tarsus banded with silver or gold, to form clasps or brooches.
Pins for the sterner sex are mounted up from the teeth of foxes or dogs, or more curiously of their noses even. Hares’ ears are also mounted for both sexes, especially for the Scotch markets. To turn from the adornment of the person to that of the house, we find horses’ hoofs mounted in silver or electro for snuff boxes, inkstands, paper weights, etc..; rams’ or buffaloes’ horns as Scotch “mulls” or as flower stands. Sometimes the whole head of a ram or buffalo is mounted, the horns polished, sawn in two, hinged and mounted in silver, and set with Scotch stones. Deers’ heads are mounted as gas chandeliers; foxes’ heads as gas brackets or as supports for Duplex lamps; monkeys, bears, ibises, owls, eagles, etc.., as “dumb-waiters” or lamp bearers.
These are a few of the uses to which mammals and birds can be put.
Emu’s eggs form also handsome goblets when sawn through and mounted in silver, or when mounted as vases for the chimney-piece, or formed into an inkstand group.
Foxes’ pads mount up as whip handles, bell pulls, and paper knives, as also do the feet of the various deer. The only satisfactory way, however, to prepare these is to slit them carefully up the back, and pull the skin away from the bone all around, leaving the skin attached to the lowest point you can skin to. Clean out all the flesh and sinews, and dress the skin with the No. 9, and the bone with No. 15, preservatives. Stuff with a little chopped tow where needed, and sew up neatly, sewing also the skin at top over the end of the bone; if done neatly, the stitches will never show. Use waxed hemp, and pull each stitch tight.
Game birds stuffed as “dead game” and hung in oval medallions form suitable ornaments for the billiard-room or hall if treated in an aesthetic manner. Not, however, in the manner I lately saw perpetrated by a leading London taxidermist—a game bird hanging in a prominent position, as if dead, from a nail, enclosed in an elaborate mount, the bird so beautifully sleek and smooth that, although it was hanging head downwards, not a feather was out of place! All was plastered down, and gravity and nature were utterly set at defiance. A little consideration, and a visit to the nearest poulterer’s shop, would have prevented such a palpable error.
Kittens or puppies of a few days old, if nicely marked, can be stuffed and mounted on a piece of marble for paper weights, or on red cloth for penwipers.
The shells of small tortoises make tobacco pouches if lined with silk, as do also the skins of the feet of albatrosses (the long bones of the wings of these birds make pipe-stems) or squirrels mounted as a whole.
The shells of large tortoises make fancy baskets if the lower shell or plastron is sawn away, with the exception of the centre piece, which is left to form a handle. The shell may be lined with metal or with any other material or fabric desired.
Lobster claws make up as Punchinellos, or as old men and women, or — as exhibited at the Fisheries — handles of fish-knives and forks, tops of inkstands, paper weights, etc.. The uses of ivory, either in the rough, or sawn and polished, are too manifold to notice here.
FEATHER FLOWERS. — I have seen some splendid specimens of flowers (made from waste feathers of birds) brought from China, the Island of Ascension, and Brazil, but can give no directions for making them, further than to say that I should suppose anyone skilled in the making of such artificial flowers as are sold by the best milliners, or makers of wax flowers, would have but little difficulty in making up these beautiful objects.
This is, of course, but a précis of the various uses to which objects of natural history can be applied as means of ornament; and, indeed, so many branches are represented by this department of art that it would require a book double the size of the present, and written by experts of the various professions and trades concerned, to give a full history of the practical working of what is known as “Ornamental Taxidermy.”
Notes
1 This should not be attempted before the skin is properly soaked, otherwise the cotton wool, or whatever it maybe stuffed with, will “stick” and frequently pull the head, etc.. off with it.
2 This would seem to an amateur very rough treatment, but often it is the only method to pursue especially if the skin be “tender,” although in them latter case vinegar is recommended to be added to the water in which it is steeped.
3 A humming bird, after relaxing by water, is, when drained sufficiently, best treated by plunging in benzoline and then carefully dried in plaster. A night in water, and half-an-hour’s treatment with benzoline and plaster, is sufficient for these small creatures.
4 The American publication, “Science,” points out that the addition of salt to the water cleanses blood from feathers, by preventing the solution of the blood-globules, and diffusion to the colouring matter, or red haemoglobin. I have found this “wrinkle” of great benefit in cleansing white-plumaged birds.
5 Note that even in close-winged birds, which a pieced specimen such as this one described must be of necessity, it is always advisable to wire the wings as for flight, running them on these wires close to the body, and giving them by this means the necessary curvature; entirely different, and much more natural, than if simply bolted on by straight wires running through the shoulders into the body.
6 Winsor and Newton, Rowney, or Roberson, are some of the best makers of these.
7 Glass eyes have of late been much improved in shape and colour by the Germans, and also by some English eyemakers, who have had the sense to listen to the suggestions of artistic taxidermists. I have by me now a really beautiful pair of glass lynx eyes, veined and streaked, and “cornered” in porcelain, in almost as perfect a manner as could be managed by hand-painting.
8 Made by steeping for a night, and allowing it to absorb all the water it will, throwing away the surplus, and boiling the remainder in the usual manner in a glue-kettle. Pour on when hot, not boiling.
9 There is a black-necked swan (Cygnus nigricollis), from Chili, treated in this manner, in the Leicester Museum.
10 Phenol, Phenic Acid, Phenic Alcohol, Hydrate of Phenyl (C6H5HO)=Carbolic add.
11 It is quite necessary in artistic modelling not only to have coloured drawings of the rocks you are imitating, but to have an actual piece by you as a little guide to form and colour.
12 Mr. R. B. Woodward, F.G.S., etc.. in one of the very best and most practical of those wonderful little penny “Handbooks” for young collectors, advises a large spoonful of salt being added to the boiling water, for two reasons, one, because it puts them out of pain at once, and also makes their subsequent extraction more easy. “It is a good plan (says he) to soak the smaller shells in cold water (without salt), before killing them, as they swell out with the water, and do not when dead retreat so far into their shells.”
13 Since this was written, the new South Kensington Natural History Museum has been built and I lately had the pleasure of a private view - through the courtesy of Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe F.L.S. - of the new style of mounting of the future, i.e. pairs of birds their nests and young, surrounded with carefully-modelled foliage and accessories. I there saw a bunch of “willow-herb” magnificently modelled. I was pleased, however, from an artist’s point of view, to discover that we in Leicester could give them a “Roland for an Oliver” in our white-throats, together with their nest and young, surrounded by a modelled bramble-bush in blossom; and with our swallows in section of a cow-house — neither of which groups have yet been attempted for the national collection. I am trembling with apprehension, however, that ere long Mr. Sharpe and his “merry men” - one of them, a German, the cleverest bird-mounter I ever saw — will leave us in the lurch. Nevertheless, healthy emulation of the best features of our national collection will do us no harm.
14 Is it not singular that even now anything stiff, inartistic, “solidly” (i.e. clumsily) made, or behind the age, is cherished with the utmost veneration, as being a proof of the solidity of our “Old English Methods” (and skulls)!
15 One of the very best books I know to help teach the colouring of fish is “British Freshwater Fishes,” by the Rev. W. Houghton, M.A. Two vols., quarto, each fish beautifully drawn and coloured.