Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting Part 19

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XII. WORKSHOP OF A BIRD TAXIDERMIST.]

CHAPTER XXII.

MOUNTING SMALL BIRDS.

We will suppose that the skin of a small bird--a robin, blackbird, or thrush--now lies on the table before us all ready for mounting. Perhaps it is a dry skin which has been thoroughly relaxed, sc.r.a.ped, and worked into pliant shape; but, for the sake of the beginner, we will a.s.sume that it is a fresh skin which has just been taken off, poisoned, and turned right side out again, in accordance with the directions for skinning small birds which have been given in Chapter VI. The body of the bird lies before you, and instead of making up the subject as a dry skin, we will mount it.

In mounting small birds the following tools are absolutely necessary to the production of good results: A pair of flat-nosed pliers six inches long, for bending and clinching wires, price sixty cents; a pair of six-inch cutting pliers, for cutting wire, eighty-five cents; a pair of bird-stuffer's forceps, four to six inch, price twenty to seventy-five cents; a nine-inch flat file, twenty-two cents. Make for yourself a stuffing-rod, by taking a piece of _stiff_ bra.s.s or iron wire, a little larger and longer than a knitting-needle, hammering one end flat, with a slight upward curve, and inserting the other in an awl-handle.

Of materials you will need some excelsior; some clean, fine tow; a little putty or potter's clay; a spool of cotton thread, No. 40, and some suitable gla.s.s eyes. With our tools and materials ready at hand, and the skin of our bird lying before us right side out, we are ready to begin a new operation,--mounting.

For a bird the size of a robin or cat-bird, cut two pieces of No. 18 soft or "annealed" iron wire (hard wire heated red hot and allowed to cool slowly), each three times the length of the bird's legs, from foot to end of long leg-bone, or tarsus. File one end of each wire to a slender and very sharp point, and rub a little oil or grease on each so that it will easily slip when inside the leg.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 48.--Wiring a Bird's Leg.]

Now take one of the bird's legs between the thumb and finger of the left hand, holding it at the foot with the back part uppermost, and with the other hand enter the point of one of the sharpened wires at the centre of foot, push the wire up the _back_ of the leg and over the heel until the point reaches to where the leg has been skinned. Be sure that you do not run the wire up the _side_ of the leg, either at foot or knee, for if you do it will show badly when the bird is dry. Also be careful not to run the sharpened wire out through the skin just above the heel. To avoid this, grasp the leg at the heel between the thumb and middle finger of left hand, and by strong upward pressure of the first finger under the end of the leg-bone, and of the fourth finger under the foot, both joints of the leg can be held exactly in line until the wire pa.s.ses the heel safely and enters the open skin above (Fig. 48). Then we turn back the skin of the leg till we see the point of the wire, after which we push the wire on up until the point pa.s.ses the end of the leg bone. We now cut off the thick upper end of this bone, (the tibia), and wrap a little fine tow smoothly around the bone and the wire, to replace the flesh cut away. The other leg must, of course, be similarly treated. We are now ready to make the body.

We have kept the body of our specimen for reference, and now we measure the length of both body and neck, cut another wire not quite twice their length and file it sharp at both ends. This will be the neck-wire. Now take a handful of excelsior (tow or oak.u.m will also serve), compress it into an egg-shaped ball--smaller and more pointed at one end than the other, and wrap a very little fine tow loosely around it, to make it smooth on the outside when finished. Now wind stout linen thread around it, shaping it all the time by pressing it between your left thumb and forefinger, until at last you have a firm body, smoothly wound, of the same general shape and size as the natural one. When the body is half made you may run the neck-wire through it lengthwise, letting it come out above the centre of the larger end, because the neck is but a continuation of the backbone, which lies at the top of the body. When the wire is inserted, the upper side of the body--the back--must be pinched together and made more narrow than the breast, which is round and full. Be sure that the body is not too large. Better have it too small and too short than too large or long, for the former can be remedied later on by filling out. When the body is finished, bend up the end of the neck wire for an inch and a half at the lower end of the body, enter the point in the lower part of the body and force it down and backward until the end is firmly clinched and will forever remain so, no matter what is done with the other end. Make the neck by wrapping fine, soft tow _smoothly and evenly_ around the neck wire from the body upward for the proper distance. Make the false neck a trifle larger than the real one, but no longer. The body is now ready for insertion.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 49.--Cross Section of Body.]

The next step is to take a thread and tie the elbows together, fastening to each humerus just above the elbow-joint. Now take the false body in the right hand, open the skin, introduce the sharp end of the neck-wire into the neck skin, force the wire through the top of the skull in the centre, and push it through until the neck and body come nicely into place. Now see whether the body is of the right size. It should not be so large as to fill the skin precisely, for if so it is too large.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 50.--The Finished Body and Neck, with Legs in Position.]

We must now fasten the legs to the body, and will take the left one first.

The leg is still perfectly straight. Hold the lower part firmly between the thumb and finger, grasp the leg-wire, push it on through the leg and enter the sharp point at about the centre of the left side of the false body, and slanting a little forward. (See Fig. 51.) Now push the wire through the body until it projects more than twice the thickness of the body on the right side. Bend the end of the wire until it forms a hook, with the point just touching the body. Now pull the wire back until the point is again forced through and out on the left side for half an inch, which is then bent down and forced firmly into the excelsior, and securely clinched. Wire both legs in this way, and the bird will be so firmly put together it would be almost impossible to pull it asunder.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 51.--How the Leg Wires are Inserted and Clinched in the False Body.]

The legs move freely up and down the leg-wires. Push them up toward the body until the heels are in precisely the same places they were before you skinned the bird--almost hidden in the feathers at a point about opposite the middle of the bird's wing. Now bend the legs forward at a proper angle (see a living bird or a _good_ picture) and push some finely cut tow down on each side of the body to fill out the place of the thighs. Insert a little more cut tow, evenly distributed, in the breast, where the crop would properly be, and some more at the base of the tail.

Be sure there are no lumps or wrongly placed ma.s.ses of chopped tow anywhere in the skin, for if there are any you can not expect to get a smooth and well-shaped bird.

Now take a needle and thread, begin at the upper end of the opening in the bird--on the breast,--and with careful fingers sew the skin together without tearing it or catching the feathers fast. Fill in a little tow, if necessary, as you proceed, but not enough to fill the skin hard and full, and when you reach the lower end of the cut draw the skin of the tail sharply forward for half an inch to take up what it has lengthened by stretching, and sew it fast by several long cross-st.i.tches. At the last moment fill in a little more tow at the base of the tail, sew up the opening, and cut off the thread. The most difficult part of the whole operation is now before us. It now remains to put the specimen on a perch, pin the wings fast to the body, adjust the feathers and wind them down, stuff the head, pin the tail, and put in the eyes.

With a piece of pine board four inches square, and two round pine sticks, each about three inches long, make a rough T perch, similar to the one standing vacant on the table in Plate XII. The cross-piece should not be too large for the bird's feet to grasp comfortably. With a small gimlet, or awl, bore two holes in the cross-bar, on a slant, about an inch apart, run the leg-wires through them, perch the bird naturally, and twist the wires together once underneath, to hold it firmly. Study a living bird or a good picture, and give your specimen a correct and natural att.i.tude.

Cut a piece of wire five inches long, sharpen one end, bend it into a T shape, as in Fig. 50, and run the sharp end through the base of the tail underneath, and on up into the body. The tail feathers are to rest on and be evenly supported by the cross part at the lower end, which may be either straight or curved, as occasion requires.

With the small forceps, plume and dress the feathers all over the bird, catching them near the root, a bunch at a time, and pulling them into place where necessary. Work them against the grain by lifting them up and letting them fall back into place. It will be a great help if you can at this stage procure a dead bird of the same kind to examine, and see precisely how the feathers lie. One such specimen will aid you more than pages of description.

It often happens that the back, breast, or side of the bird is not quite full enough at some point, or, in other words, is too hollow. Now is the time to remedy such defects. Lift the wing and cut a slit lengthwise in the skin of the body underneath it, and through this opening insert fine clipped tow wherever needed. The forceps is the best instrument to use in doing this. The opening under the wing is _of great importance_, for it gives you command of one entire side of the bird's body. You can by means of this hole fill out the back, breast, or shoulders, if not full enough, and make other important changes in the bird's form. There is no need to sew up the opening when you have finished, for when the wing is pinned in place it will be entirely hidden.

The wings must be fastened to the body before the feathers can be fully adjusted. Cut six small wires, each two inches long, and sharpen at one end. Let us wire the left wing first. Hold it between the left thumb and forefinger, and with the right hand push the point of one of the small wires through the angle of the wing, commonly called the shoulder. When the point is well through, hold the wing in place against the body, adjust it with great care, and when you see that the feathers of the shoulder fall properly over the angle of the wing, push the wire through into the excelsior body until it holds firmly. Push another wire through at the base of the large quills (primaries), and another through the upper part of the wing, just below where it leaves the body. These wires are well shown in Fig. 52. The wing now fits closely against the body, and the feathers fall over it smoothly, so as to completely cover the upper part of it.

Wire the other wing in the same way, taking great care that one is not placed farther ahead than the other, nor farther up or down on the body.

The tips of the wings should touch each other exactly at the point. Look at your bird from all sides before finally securing the second wing.

With the wings firmly wired and the feathers nicely adjusted, we next proceed to stuff the head. With the scissors cut up some fine tow or cotton, and by inserting it through the mouth with the forceps, a pinch at a time, fill out around the back and sides of the head, the upper part of the neck and the throat. Do not fill the skin too full, and take care that both sides of the head are precisely the same shape and size. Take plenty of time and do your work nicely.

When the head has been properly filled out, fill in each eye-socket with a little soft clay or putty, insert the gla.s.s eyes, and embed them in it.

Study the eyes of your dead bird, and imitate their appearance and position with those of your mounted specimen. It is a good plan to put a drop of mucilage around the inside of each eyelid and thus gum it down upon the gla.s.s eye. Be sure that the eyes are exactly opposite one another, and that one is not higher nor farther back than the other.

Fasten the mandibles together by thrusting a pin up through the lower mandible into the skull, or else by pa.s.sing a pin through the upper mandible at the nostrils and tying around the bill behind it with a thread.

It now remains to wind down the feathers with thread to give the bird the exact outline we desire, and to make the feathers lie smoothly. Attend to this with the closest attention and care, for on the success of this process depends the smoothness of your specimen when finished.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 52.--The Winding of the Bird.]

The best method of winding ever known is that developed and practised by Mr. F.S. Webster, whose wonderful skill in the treatment of birds is already widely known. His birds are marvels of smoothness and symmetry, and I take great pleasure in describing his method of winding as the best known. First make six hook-wires by filing six pieces of wire, each two inches long, to a sharp point at one end, and bending the other with the pliers in the form of a double hook. (See Fig. 52.) Insert three of these in a line along the middle of the back, and two along the middle of the breast, as seen in the cut. The wing-wires are not to be cut off, but left sticking out for half an inch. The bird is now divided into equal halves, and there are three wing-wires on each side, so that it will not be very difficult to wind both sides alike.

Now take a spool of white thread, No. 40, fasten the end to the hook-wire on the top of the back; take the base of the pedestal in the left hand and proceed to wind down the feathers. By means of the hook-wires you can wind from point to point at will, so as to bind down the feathers where they lie too high, and skip them entirely where they lie low enough. Get the general outline of the bird first, and apply the thread with a light and skilful touch, so that it will not make creases in the bird. A little practice will enable one to wind a bird with gratifying success.

The next thing is to spread the feathers of the tail evenly, and pin them between two strips of thin card-board placed crosswise to hold the feathers in position until they dry.

Lastly, adjust the toes so that they grasp the perch properly, and set the specimen away to dry where it will not be touched. In about two or three weeks, when it is thoroughly dry, cut the threads off with a pair of scissors, pull out the hook-wires, cut off the projecting ends of the wing-wires close down to the wing, and cut off the wire at the top of the head close down into the feathers.

Mix a little varnish and turpentine together in equal parts, and with a paint-brush paint the feet and bill in case they happen to require it.

Clean the eyes and rub them until they s.h.i.+ne. You can perch the specimen now permanently on the artificial twig, turned T perch, or natural twig, or whatever else you have had in mind. In doing this, clinch the leg-wires together underneath the perch, and cut off the ends so that no portion of the wire will show. Be _neat in everything_, and study to make the bird look alive.

Do not be discouraged if your first bird is a dead failure, nor even if your first dozen birds are fit only for immediate destruction. If you get discouraged because your first attempt at anything is not a complete success, you are not fit to succeed. Better never begin than stop short of success. If you have a love for taxidermy, and the patience and perseverance to back it up, you are bound to succeed.

CHAPTER XXIII.

MOUNTING LARGE BIRDS.

After all that has been said in regard to mounting small birds, and relaxing and cleaning dry bird skins, there remains but little to add on the subject of bird-mounting, and that little relates to large birds. For all birds, up to the emu and ostrich, the principles remain about the same as those ill.u.s.trated in the mounting of a robin. Moreover, the mounting of birds is now so generally understood it is unnecessary to dwell at great length on this subject.

Professor L.L. Dyche has called my attention to the great desirability of taking a series of measurements of every large bird before it is skinned, and another series of the skinned body, as a check on possible errors in making the false body and in mounting. The idea is a good one, and the following are the measurements that should be taken:

BEFORE SKINNING.--Total length; distance from angle of wing at the carpal joint to the eye; distance from the end of the closed wing to the tip of the tail; distance from the base of the middle toe to the carpal joint of the wing.

MEASUREMENTS OF THE SKINNED CARCa.s.s.--Length of the body; length of the neck; circ.u.mference of the body around the breast; circ.u.mference around the abdomen.

The notes should also state whether the body and the neck are respectively round or flat.

THE FALSE BODY.--In starting out to make a body for a large bird, particularly one with a long neck, take a piece of wood about the size of a large ear of corn, and much the same shape, through one end of which pa.s.s one end of the neck-wire and firmly staple it down. The purpose of this is to give the firmest attachment possible for the neck. The false body is then made by firmly winding successive layers or bunches of excelsior or straw upon this wooden core, and binding each successive layer down with fine twine from start to finish, so that the finished body shall be firm enough. If the false body is not made hard enough, the leg-wires can not be firmly fastened, and the bird will "wabble."

If you have the fleshy body before you, or even the measurements of it, it will be easy enough to reproduce its form and size. It is desirable to copy the form of the natural body as closely as possible, which in many cases necessitates the use of a long needle to sew through and through it, in reproducing certain hollows and corresponding elevations. Professor Dyche lays great stress upon this point, and always makes the false body of a bird with such care and attention to every detail of form that when the skin is put over it it fits perfectly, the feathers fall into position and lie properly, no extra filling being necessary anywhere save at the tail; and, what is more, he considers that it is unnecessary to wind down the plumage with thread. The most life-like snowy owl I have ever seen is one which Professor Dyche mounted for me as a practical demonstration of his method, the virtue of which was thus handsomely proven. The skin was the same as a fresh one, having been made less than a year, and the excelsior body was made to fit it without the aid of measurements. As the result of repeated ocular demonstration, I am convinced that Professor Dyche's method of making every body with extreme care, as to form and details, is well worthy of universal adoption.