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ESO DIRECTIONS FOR

-” Bird-Stuffing.

With Thirteen Engravings and Designs, and
A Coloured Iilustration of the Eggs of British Pet Birds.

PRICE ONE SHILLING. igi

. LONDON: -
| §. 0. BEETON, 248, STRAND, W.C.

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BIRDS’

NESTS AND EGGS.

TAXIDERMY.

LONDON :
PRINTED BY COX AND WYMAN, GREAT QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN’S-INN FIELDS.

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WITH DIRECTIONS FOR

PREPARING, STUFFING, AND

| BIRDS’ NESTS & EGGS.

MOUNTING

BIRDS AND ANIMALS.

WITH THIRTEEN ENGRAVINGS AND DIAGRAMS,

AND
A COLOURED ILLUSTRATION OF THE EGGS

BIRDS,

LONDON:
S. 0. BEETON, 248 STRAND, W.C.

OF BRITISH PET

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CONTENTS.

NESTS AND EGGS.

General description of. Colour of eggs—causes of colouring.
Forms and sizes ofeggs. Architecture of nests. Nests of tropical
birds. How to collect and preserve eggs. List of birds’ eggs.
Bird-nesting in fields and commons. Nests of the linnet, yellow-
hammer, greenfinch, redpole, lark, woodlark, titlark, nightingale.
Nests in woods and hedgerows,—water-ouzel, jay, missel-thrush,
thrush, blackbird, fieldfare, redwing, blackcap, tomtit, bottle-tit,
robin-redbreast, goldfinch, kitty wren, chaffinch, hawfinch, bull-
finch, siskin.

ROCK AND WALL-BUILDING BIRDS.

Magpie, jackdaw, ger-falcon, merlin, kestrel, sparrow-hawk,
owl, raven, starling, redstart, ring-ouzel, butcher-bird.

PREPARING AND STUFFING BIRDS AND ANIMALS.

Art of Taxidermy. Hints to travellers on the preservation of
skins, &c. Procuring subjects. Precautions to be taken.
Methods of capturing reptiles, ophidians. Preserving batrachians,
fish, crustacea, mollusks, insects. Skinning and preparing birds.
Skinning and preparing quadrupeds. Preserving reptiles. Pre-
serving and skinning fishes. Preserving crustacea. Stuffing
and mounting birds. Stuffing and mounting quadrupeds. Stuffing
and mounting fish. Preparing skeleton leaves.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

BirD IN CAGE.

DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATIVE OF

BIRD-STUFFING.

DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATIVE OF |

QUADRUPED-STUFFING.

THE JAY.

NEsSt OF WEAVER-BIED.

SKELETON OF OSTRICH.

SKELETON OF REINDEER.

SWAN AND CYGNETS.

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Tue eggs of birds, ike most of the pro-

ductions of nature, are wonderfully perfect

in the symmetry of their form, as well as beautifully rich and
harmonious in their colourmg. In form, they range in every
curve of the line of beauty, from the round and almost
spherical egg of many owls to the acutely pointed oval of
the blackbird and most of the small birds. On this diversity
of form in the eggs some authorities, thmking they had dis-
covered the order of nature, have attempted to form a system of

classification ; but a very brief examination dissolves this dream,
289
U

a

NESTS AND EGGS.

for, in the single family of the owls, about whose genera
no doubts can exist, we find the widest diversity of form;
the egg of the eagle-owl being nearly round, that of the
long-eared owl an obtuse oval, while that of the short-eared
owl presents a perfectly ovate shape. The rich and beautiful
colouring of many of the eggs has also much engaged the
attention of some inquirers, as we shall see.

With returning spring all nature revives; the birds which
remain with us all the winter seem restored to life by the first
fine day; those which departed on their journey to a warmer
climate in the autumn return from their migration; and once
more the woods and fields re-echo with their song. The rook
and the crow give the first intimation that the pairing
season is at hand. Their cawing is incessant, as is also the
industry with which twigs and branches are conveyed to their
intended dwelling-place in the tree-tops.

A little later, and the smaller birds make the grove sound
musical, as their several songs of love are poured forth. From
this time the male becomes the slave of the female. He sings
to charm her; he labours incessantly to aid her; he gathers
materials for the nest; he assists her in building, and super-
intends the workmanship; and marvellous it is to see them,
without other instruments than beak and claws, build and
weave or sew the nest, according to their peculiar habits.
Observe the materials which they employ with so much effect,
and with a discernment which indicates something approaching
to intelligence. Look how skilfully one weaves the catkins of the
willow, the poplar, and thistle down, surrounding it by stronger
fibres, and the address with which it is suspended at the extremity
of some slender pendulous branch, beyond the reach of anything
that only runs or creeps. Another, having made its calcula-
tions, fixes its nest so near to the surface of the water, that as
the wind sweeps through the four reeds to which it is so firmly
and yet so delicately attached, its bottom just touches the
water without being immersed, even in the most violent storm.

The eges of birds vary again according to the species; not
only in respect to their colour, but in their form also. They
are white, blue, grey, green, red, or ash-coloured; and, besides
the general predominant colour, they are covered with spots,
dashes, or streaks of darker shades, which are regularly or
irregularly grouped, sometimes towards one end, sometimes the
other. Dr. Carus attempts to explain this diversity of colour:
he considers it to be the result of a process of decomposition of

290

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NESTS AND EGGS.

the blood in the ovary, mixing with the calcareous salts of
which the shell is composed. “ Jt results not only from an
excretion of the calcareous salt,” he says, speaking of the
shell ; “ for the blood of the oviduct, being in a sort of inflamma-
tory state, mixes itself with these salts, forming certain pro-
ducts, to which may be attributed the divers colours of the eggs
of birds. All these varied tints are the result of the decomposi-
tion of the blood.” It is possible that the colour of eggs may
be due to some such cause, but the subject is open to doubt;
for if the source of the colour and spots is in the blood mixing in
the uterine vessels with the salts of the shell, it is difficult to
conceive why all eggs are not spotted, and why those that are
spotted vary in tint. Besides, the colour, whatever it may be,
is only external, forming a thin coating only; whereas, if it
had been produced by a mixture of decomposed blood and the
component parts of the shell, the whole shell would partake of
the prevailing colour. In the meanwhile, the question is still
one of doubt; a doubt, perhaps, which chemical analysis would
easily solve were the question one of any moment.

It has been observed that eggs laid im cavities or dark
places, where light is altogether absent, are generally white
and free from spots; such are those of the several species of
owls, the kingfisher, the wood-pigeon, which builds its nest
in the depths of some deeply-shaded wood, and some others
which might be named. Those, on the contrary, which are
laid exposed to the light, are generally more or less richly
coloured. Might we not conclude from these facts that light
has a marked action upon the colouring of the eggs, as it has
on other productions of nature? The flower which blooms in
shade and obscurity, is it not pale and shrivelled, like everything
denied the vivifying rays of the sun? The birds themselves
being a proof of this simple fact; for those of the most
brilliant and varied plumage are the inhabitants of imter-
tropical countries.

Now, as eggs are generally spotted, and as the notion pre-
vails that the stains increase not in size but in intensity, in
proportion as the embryo developes itself, some ornithologists
have thought they could trace a resemblance between the spots
of the eggs, the nest of the birds, and their plumage. All
application, however, of a rule, which would deduce the
colour of a bird from the colour of the eggs, appears to be
unsupported by any number of facts; on the contrary, all the
facts are opposed to it. Thus, the golden Pa a bird so

u 2

—_————

NESTS AND EGGS.

richly marked, produces a pale-coloured egg. The colour of
eggs has, therefore, no connection with the plumage of the bird.

Whatever may be the explanation, it is obvious enough,
of course, that the pigment is animal matter; but it would
appear, from the investigations of M. Geoffroy de Saint-Hilaire
and other scientific men, that the egg, immediately before it is
deposited, is white. The colour may also be scraped off par-
tially immediately after it is laid; and when “ blown” for
preservation, that is, when deprived of its albuminous con-
tents, the colour fades when exposed to the sun, as any
one may satisfy himself by glancing at the collection of
birds’ eggs in the British Museum, where the efforts ot
the obliging curator have altogether failed in devising means
for preserving their markings; so that the rich ruddy blotches
of the peregrine and other falcons’ eggs, which are the most
striking in their markings, as may be seen on our plate, are
there reduced to a sober grey. ‘The vividness of the colours
also appears to depend on the bird being in a healthy state.
Many variations are found in the colour of eggs of the same
species, and the eggs of birds disturbed in the act of laying
are always deficient in their markings; the animal economy
seems to be disturbed by the alarm, and imperfect colouring
is the result.

As to the form and size of eggs, nothing is more variable;
from that which the ostrich deposits in the sands of the
desert to that of the wren, or the still more minute humming-
bird, what a difference in size, and, above all, what variety in
form! Some experiments, undertaken by M. Geoffroy de Saint-
Hilaire im Egypt, and by M. Florent-Prevost in France,
enable them, as they assert, to declare, on seeing an egg, the
sex of the bird which it contains. After numberless obser-
vations, they conclude that the globular eggs, that is to say,
those whose extremities are nearly round, are females, and that
males come from those more pointed. It appears also, that if
the void which appears on looking at an egg across a luminous
body occupies one of the ends, the sex is male; but if situated
on either of the sides, it is a female.

The great variety in their markings has given rise to another
notion, that the colour of eggs accords with the locality as well
as the materials of which the nest is composed, and that it is
intended as a provision for their concealment from those
animals which prey upon them. This is not supported,
however, by observed facts; nothing can be more in con-

NESTS AND EGGS.

trast with the brown clay and withered grass and moss of
which the nest of the blackbird is composed than the light
blue colour and brown spots of its eggs. Again, the brilliant
white and delicate pink spots of the wren’s or bottle-tit’s egg
would at once attract attention were the nests of each less care-
fully concealed. The idea is, besides, at variance with the
more rational doctrine, that the birds themselves are, like
all other creatures, gifted with an instinctive power of selection,
which is employed in securing the safety of their offspring. This
faculty it is which leads them to build their nests in obscure
and sometimes inaccessible places, and to cover them with
materials calculated to conceal their stronghold from the pry-
ing eye of curiosity. Ifthe doctrine receives any support from
the facts of natural history, these facts are found connected
with those birds whose nest-building scarcely deserves the name.
Those familiar with the haunts of the golden plover will have no
difficulty in discovering the slight hollow which it has scraped
in the wild moorland, but the colour of its four pear-shaped
and grey-spotted eggs, the narrow ends of which all meet in
the centre, will certainly not assist their search. Nevertheless,
as a generally observed fact, the ege presents a decided con-
trast to the surrounding colours of the nest.

If anything were wanting, indeed, to enhance the pleasure of
ege-hunting, it would be found in the wonderful skill which
many of these little creatures exhibit in the construction of their
nests, in the choice of situation, and in the choice of the
materials employed. We recognize a provident instinct, which
almost amounts to the higher intelligence usually termed
reason, in the care with which they guard themselves and
their young from the assaults of their enemies and from the
weather. It exhibits the hand of the Creator giving its first
direction to the art, which results in providing for the perpe-
tuation of their species. It marks the all-pervading fiat
which has declared that not a sparrow falls to the ground but
with His permission.

Among our home birds remarkable for the architecture of
their nests, we may mention the magpie. As we have already
seen, this bird’s nest is quite an aerial fortress. Built on some
tall tree, whose large and branchless stem renders it inaccessible to
the most daring of school-boys, the magpie’s nest is a conspicu-
ous spheroidal mass, composed first of a layer of twigs, curiously
interwoven and crossed, on which is spread a quantity of mud;

then is formed a dome of twigs of the sloe or hawthorn, loosely
293

NESTS AND EGGS.

but securely interlaced, while the bottom of the interior is
lined with soft fibrous roots, an aperture being left in the side
of the nest, which is barely sufficient to admit the bird. Why
this bird should find it necessary to render its nest so defen-
sible, has been a mystery to the naturalist; but it is probably
explained by the fate of an unhappy colony of magpies, whose
story is recorded in the Magazine of Natural History. The

| birds in question had built their nests on a lofty grove of '
| trees, in the neighbourhood of which a pair of tawny owls had
also established themselves. ‘To feed their young, the parent
owls had made several desperate assaults on several of the

| magpies’ nests, which had been gallantly defended ; the assailing

| owls had been repeatedly repelled; but at last the remains of

| young magpies were observed under the favourite perch of the

| young owls, an indication not to be mistaken that the strong-
|

hold had been successfully stormed. One morning appeared
there the head and feathers of an old magpie, which must
have been dragged from the nest while roosting.

After this, a sort of truce would seem to have been con-
cluded, and for a whole year the owls remained quiet; but in
1845 the same pertinacious attack upon the nest of a pair of
magpies, built on the very highest branch of a sycamore, near
to their eyrie, commenced. One day Mr. Carr, who records the
event, was roused by a shriek of agony like that of a hare
caught in a snare; he rushed to the spot, and arrived just in
time to prevent another murder! One of the owls was in the
act of drawing the old magpie out of her nest by the head.
By striking the trunk of the tree violently, he succeeded in
| separating the combatants for the time. In revenge, before
| the next morning, his only pair of young rooks had disap-
peared from their nests, and a decree of doom went forth,—the
young owls forthwith paid the penalty of their voracious appe-
tites! It is thus not without reason that the magpie fortifies
her nest, and surrounds it with palisades; for, besides the owl,
| It is subject to visits from weasels and other prying quadrupeds.
| The nest of the long-tailed tit (Parus caudatus) is ex-
| tremely beautiful, being of a very regular oval form, six to
| seven inches long and three and a half to four and a half

broad; it is usually composed of moss and wool, crusted

| externally with grey lichens, the whole kept together by

| aieans of the flaxen fibres of plants, some wool, and delicate

| filmy shreds interwoven in a transverse direction. It is usually

attached ood and supported by the twigs of a branch of a tree.
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NESTS AND EGGS.

The small grey lichens with which it is covered all over form
so close an incrustation with the branches of the tree from which
it is suspended as eftectually to conceal the numerous eggs it
contains, for this little creature lays and hatches as many
as sixteen eggs. The aperture is round, and only an inch
and a quarter m diameter, with an inch and a half of dome
above the opening. ‘The outer shell of the nest is an inch and
a half thick; its inner surface is stuck all over with feathers,
being not only lined but nearly filled with similar materials ;
one nest, described in some MS. notes of the lamented Mr. Mac-
cillivray, now before us, containing no less than six hundred
and eighty-nine feathers, three-fourths of them large ones,
being those of the domestic fowl, pheasants, turkeys, rooks,
and other birds.

But the most artistic specimens of nest-building among
British birds are greatly exceeded by some of the tropical
birds. The nest of the tailor-bird of Africa and Asia, sc
called from the skill with which the nest is constructed, is
sewn together by the long fibrous filaments of various plants;
the materials being selected with a wonderful degree of intelli-
gence. In form it is not unlike the bottle-tit’s nest, but infinitely

, more elaborate. Even this edifice is far exceeded by that of
some of the toucans of the Philippme Islands, whose nest,

suspended at the extremity of the most slender and flexible
branches, and beyond the reach of any beast of prey, consists
of a series of chambers, one built above the other, with an
entrance from below; the same nest being used by several
pairs of birds, all of whom have either laboured simulta-
neously at its construction or added to it subsequently.

The pensile grosbeak, another of these gregarious African
birds, makes a basket-nest of straw and reeds, interwoven into
the shape of a bag, with the entrance below, the top being
fastened generally on trees that grow on the borders of
streams, or on those which impend over precipices. On one
side of this hanging edifice is the true nest. ‘The bird does
not build a distinct nest every year, but fastens its new basket
to the lower end of the old one—a very smgular arrangement.
The object in choosing this position over a precipice or stream
for the nest 1s obviously to secure their offsprmg from the
assaults of their numerous enemies, particularly the serpent
race. ‘T'o increase the difficulty of access to these tree-rocked
cradles, the entrance is always from below, and frequently
through a cylindrical passage, of twelve or fifteen inches in

295

a

NESTS AND EGGS.

length, projecting from the spherical nest exactly like the tube
of a chemist’s retort. ‘The whole fabric is most mgeniously
and elegantly woven of several species of very tough grass;
and the wonderful foresight displayed is calculated to excite
the highest admiration. Twenty or more of these beautiful
nests have been observed hanging from a single tree.

Another species, the baya, or bottle-nosed sparrow, is re-
markable for its pendent nest, uncommon sagacity, and bril-
liant plumage—the head and breast being of a bright yellow,
giving it a splendid appearance in the rays of a tropical sun.
They associate in large numbers, and cover extensive clumps of
palmyras, acacias, and date-trees, with their nests. These are
formed by long grass, woven together in the shape of a bottle,
and suspended by one end to the extremity of a flexible
branch, the more effectually to secure the eggs and young from
serpents, monkeys, squirrels, and birds of prey. The nest
contains several apartments, appropriated to different pur-
poses; in one the hen performs the office of meubation ;
another, consisting of a little thatched roof, and covering
a porch without a bottom, is occupied by the male.

The real nest is concealed from exposure by a covering of
hay, to secure itself and young ones from their deadly enemy,
the squirrel, as likewise from injury by the weather, which it
escapes by making the nest like a steeple hive, with winding
passages, and before which hangs a penthouse for the rain to
pass down. It is suspended by so slender a thread that the
squirrel dares not venture on it. Hundreds of these pendulous
nests, it is said, may sometimes be seen on the same tree.

“The industry of these birds,” says Paterson, ‘“ seems
almost equal to that of the bee. Throughout the day they
seem to be busily employed in carrying a small species of
grass, which is the principal material they use for their
ordinary work as well as for addition and repairs. Though
my short stay in the country was not sufficient to satisfy me,
by ocular proof, that they added to their nests as they
annually increased in numbers, still, from the many trees
that I have seen borne down by the weight, and with their
boughs completely covered, it would appear that this is really
the case. One of these deserted nests I had the curiosity to
break down. There are many entrances, each of which forms
a regular street, with nests on each side, about two inches
apart. The grass with which they build is called Bushman’s

grass, and J believe the seed of it to be their principal food,
296

NESTS AND EGGS,

though I found the wings and legs of several insects in the

nests. From every appearance, the nest which I dissected
had been inha-
bited for several
years, and some
parts were much
more complete
than others.”
The weaver-
bird of India

constructs ays

fibres, which it i MN
interlaces in ‘ji!
such a manner 7
as to form a sort
of purse, as re-
presented in the
engraving. It)
is suspended
from the higher
branches’ of
trees overhanging
rivers, and the en-
trance is at the
lower end. The
first year the nest
is a simple purse,
but in the follow-
ing year the bird
attaches to this a
second, and so it
proceeds annually,
with a similar ad-
dition to the curi-
ous fabric.
This marvellous
association of se-
veral pairs labour-
ing together is particularly apparent in the species to which
the French naturalists have given the name of the republican
gros-bec, the approaches to their nest being of the most artful

description, while the nest is, externally, only one mass of
297

ee eet

oh bee 2 Se a a a Set:

NESTS AND EGGS.

vegetable fibre. These are only a few of the facts which
may be adduced to prove that birds are gifted with an
instinctive power of selecting materials and positions calculated
to conceal their eggs and progeny from their enemies. By far
the most numerous class of birds build their nests in trees or
bushes, and a nest, in spite of the arts of the builders, being
a bulky excrescence, is easily discovered by a practised eye,
and, once discovered, concealment of the eggs would be
impossible.

As to the eggs themselves, their well-known external cover-
ing is a light, porous, and brittle shell, of chalky formation,
which is pervious to the admission of oxygen and carbonic acid
from the atmosphere, which are essential to the development of
the vital principle which they contain. Within the shell is a
thin membraneous lining, which covers the whole, terminating
in a small bag at the obtuse end, which receives the air and
communicates with the interior organism of the egg. Within
this lming is the white, or albumen, which, under the
microscope, reveals some very curious physiological forms,
which it would be foreign to our purpose to enter on here.
Within this layer is the yellow matter, known as the yolk or
vitellus of the eee.

An examination of the statistics of eggs leads to the conclu-
sion that the birds useful to man produce them in the greatest
numbers. The domestic fowl and the gallinaceous tribes gene-
rally lay an unlimited number of eggs; those smaller birds
which live on insects, as if for the purpose of keeping down
these enemies to vegetation, lay a large but limited number of
eggs. In falcons and wwls the number varies from two to five,
the largest and fiercest birds having the fewest eges.

But our present object is to collect and prepare eggs and
nests. The pursuit is sometimes objected to on the score of
inhumanity; but it is not impossible to gratify a rational
curiosity and avoid the other alternative. One or two eggs
taken from a nest does not, probably, much affect the mother
bird: taking the whole nest, indeed, in some species, only leads
to their building a second; for it seems pretty well ascertained
that most birds, after a time, will build a second and even a
third time, although at each successive laying the eggs are
said to be smaller and less numerous. We cannot, then, advise
our bird-nesters to take more than one or two eggs from any
one nest, and the only excuse for taking the nest itself is when

a collection is being formed; even then, if possible, let the nest
298

NESTS AND EGGS,

remain till the young fledglings have left it on their own
independent career.

A collector can rarely pick up, with his own hands, any large
proportion of even a small collection. ‘‘ How many, for example,”
asks Mr. Macgillivray, “ have robbed the eagle’s or the osprey’s,
or scaled the magpie’s nest, or laid their grasping hand on the
eggs of the raven (which command half-a-crown apiece among the
London dealers), or even the hooded crow or the chough ? Never-
theless, let him who can, search for himself, otherwise he will miss
much knowledge.” It is told of the Abbé Manesse, who ren-
dered great service to science by his observations on birds and
egos, and their manner of laying, that the whole of his superb
collection was collected by himself; he confided in no one,
and added no egg to his collection which he had not verified with
his own eyes. His practice was to prepare himself for climbing
by putting two spikes on his boots, and encircling the tree as
well as his own body with a strong girth, and with this
apparatus, when he was far on the shady side of forty, did
the good abbé scale the loftiest tree that magpie, or rook, or
wood-pigeon, chose for its castle. One of his rules was, to
admit no nest or egg into his collection until he saw the bird
in or flying out of the nest, thus identifying the species. His
home career was cut short by the French Revolution, but, as an
emigrant, he took every opportunity of enlarging his collection,
which became the most perfect in Europe, and was presented,
with his MSS. and drawings, im 1817, to the French Institute.

The egg collector must pursue his task under many difficul-
ties. In robbing the nest situated on lofty trees he will proba-
bly have to descend with the treasure in his mouth, for the
fewer incumbrances he ascends with the better. On reaching the
ground the eggs should be carefully marked, and placed in one of
the tin boxes he should carry im a bag. In order to preserve
them, drill a hole near each end with a triangular needle, twirling
the needle gently between the finger and thumb; then apply
the mouth to one of the holes, and blow out the contents at the
other, washing it afterwards with a solution of gum and water,
gently injected from a syringe; this gives strength and solidity
to the shell, and preserves the membrane; the holes may after-
wards be filled with wax or covered with thin paper, but no
gumming, varnishing, nor washing outside. When thus pre-
pared, and perfectly dry, the eggs may be fixed upon pieces
of cork, or, better still, in small boxes, just large enough to
contain them, having glass tops, or they may be kept in

299

NESTS AND EGGS.

drawers, having cotton or chopped moss for them to rest
upon; but im whatever mode the collection is arranged, the
eges must be excluded from the light, otherwise the colours
will inevitably fade. ‘he names and description should be
written on the box or a slip of paper, and not on the egg itself.

Where there is a glazed case or case of drawers available,
sufficiently large, and capable of having the light excluded, the ©
most useful arrangement would be to place the eggs in the

proper nest; but this could only apply to the smaller species
of birds’ nests.

The following eggs are represented in the plate, and are
described in the succeeding pages :—

1. Chaffinch. | 12. Greenfinch. 23. Jay.

2. Hawfinch. 13. Goldfinch. 24. Starling.

3. Siskin, 14. Titlark. 25. Redwing.

4, Bulltinch. 15. Wren. 26. Missel Thrush.
5. Red Shrike. 16. Linnet. 27. Water Ouzel.
6. Bottle-tit. 17. Yellowhammer. 28. Blackcap.

7. Blue-tit. 18. Robin. 29. Fieldfare.

8. Cole-tit. 19. Kestrel. 30. Ring Ouzel.
9. Nightingale. 20. Magpie. 31. Song Thrush,
10. Woodlark. 21. Raven. 32. Blackbird.
EH. Skylark. 22, Jackdaw.

BIRD-NESTING IN FIELDS AND COMMONS.

Away from the busy haunts of town-life, every hedgerow,
field, and common, is alive with the song of birds; the familiar
sparrow chirps on the housetops; a thousand songsters pur-
sue their busy avocations in the garden, the orchards, and the
hedgerows; some searching, like robbers as they are, for the
seeds just sown in the ground, but the majority of them
aiding the cottager to subdue the larve of insects, which
would presently, without this help, overwhelm him with their
ravages. It is a bright April morning. All the birds which
breed with us are either building their nests, or, that office
past, they are engaged in laying or sitting on the eggs, which
it is our object to collect. Itis to be feared that this our inten-
tion is not to be defended on any fair principle of mewim and
twum ; on what ground, then, can it be defended? On scientific
grounds surely, for it is one of the records of creation, which it
is the object of science to preserve. In our case, let us call

it the indulgence of a rational curiosity, which may serve the
201

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NESTS AND EGGS.

useful purpose of training some future Cuvier or Linnzus to
enlighten the world; and let us add, we shall endeavour to
attain our object harmlessly —‘“ the act shall please we without
hurting she ”—for we shall deal generously, plunderers though
we be, with the feathered owners of the nest.

The preparations for a bird-nesting expedition are few and
soon made: a game-bag of some kind, with boxes strong enough
to protect the eggs collected from being crushed, lined with
cotton-wool or moss.

Once clear of streets and houses, we can hardly go astray.
Here is the common; flocks of sparrows harbour im the hedges,
keeping up their incessant chatter; a little farther off, linnets
and chaffinches; and the lark is already carolling high in the
air; the hedge-sparrow also shuffles along; slightly raising
and shaking its wings, it hops away very quietly and rapidly,
till it gets among ‘the roots of the brambles, where it feels
secure. There is a nest in that bush, from which the bird has
gone with such a sudden rush; it is a lmnet, as you may see
by her rapid and undulating flight, which she executes in a
curved line by alternate rismgs and fallmgs. You want a
LInNET’s egg; and as there are only four in the nest, they are
fresh. Well, take two of them,—not a very severe case of
robbery, and the alarmed mother evidently dreads greater
ravages. ‘The nest is very neatly constructed of blades and
stalks of grass, mixed with moss and wool, and lined with the
fur of various animals, sometimes mixed with thistle-down, the
breadth being about four inches. The eggs (fig. 16), of which
there are usually five or six, of an oval form, three-quarters
of an inch long, and about half an inch in their thickest part,
are of bluish white, slightly spotted with brownish grey and
red, the spots thickest at the larger end.

It is a gratuitous piece of cruelty to rob the bird of all the
egos, and usually leads to the nest beimg deserted. It is a
still more barbarous practice to shoot these small birds, except
when they are wanted for some useful purpose connected with
science, or at least with the rational intention of making a
collection; and it may be doubted if a jury of birds would
accept even that excuse for murdering one of their number.

The YELLOWHAMMER is widely distributed, and especially
abundant in wooded districts, although it does not usually
select the thicket for nidification; for the nest is usually
placed on the ground, under a bush, or among the roots of the
willow, overhanging a brook, or among its twigs. The nest is

202

BIRD-NESTING IN FIELDS AND COMMONS.

composed,. externally, of coarse grass and twigs, neatly lined
with finer grass-fibres and hair of the horse and cow, well
matted together. The eggs (fig. 17), four or five in number,
are oval in form, of a purplish-white, marked with streaks
and a few irregular dots of black, together with some faint
purplish-grey markings ; their length about ten-twelfths of an
inch by eight-twelfths in diameter.

The GREENFINCH, sometimes called the green linnet, is a timid
bird, but more easily approached than the lmnet. It pairs
and builds its nest in April, choosing the roots of a furze bush,
a close hawthorn hedge, the lower fork of some bushy shrub,
or even the ivy on a tree or wall, for its future habitation. The
nest is formed of hypna or other vegetable fibre, which it
interweaves neatly with fibrous roots and straws mixed with
hair; the external walls are strengthened with slender twigs ;
and the lining is a mixture of hairs and fibrous roots and wool,
felted together; the whole forming a compact, well-constructed
nest.

The eggs (fig. 12), from four to six in number, are oval,
about three-fourths of an inch in length, a little over half an
inch in diameter, of a bluish or purplish white, spotted with
purple and grey and blackish brown, more or less streaked
with black: two broods are sometimes reared in a season.

The Repro, like its congeners, nestles among the brush-
wood of the common, on the margins of streams, in rocky
dells; but the nest is not common. Mr. Selby describes it as
built in a beech or low tree, and formed of moss and the stalks
of dry grass, intermixed with the down of the catkin of the
willow, which also forms the lining, a soft and warm receptacle
for the eggs and young. The birds brood late in the season,
the young ones not being fledged till the end of June. The
eges are four in number, of a pale bluish green, spotted with
orange-brown towards the larger end.

Early as we are, the Lark is before us with his matin carol.
There it is, rising against the wind, and pouring forth its song

SR FB

Se a i Ee ee py

without intermission ; and there it shoots away to the left, ina °

wide curve, round the wind as it were, and whirling to the
right again before it begins its descent into that cornfield, which
it does floating, and with expanded wings. Its note is prolonged
and more steady ;—now it closes its wings, and down it comes
with great rapidity, with the body slightly declining; and now its
wild fantasia ceases, as it drops on the ground, after hovering
a moment in the air. In the long grass near to the Spa where

NESTS AND EGGS.

it has dropped, or very near to it, keen eyes will find its nest;
and there it is. Among the young blades of corn, which is its
favourite nesting-place, the lark scrapes a hollow in the ground ;
in pasture-ground or common, it selects a place among the
long grass, where it builds a nest of stalks and blades of
withered grass, rather loosely put together, lining them with
softer and finer fibres. The eggs (fig. 11) are four or five, broadly
oval in form, and over three-quarters of an inch in length, by
about two-thirds m diameter ; they are greenish grey, irregularly
freckled with a darker shade of brownish green, most densely at
the broader end. The lark usually breeds twice in the season,
—in June and September,—and the female sits so closely on
her eges that she has been taken there.

The Wooprark is smaller than the skylark, while it closely
resembles it in other respects; but it is observed to sing while
perching on trees and bushes, which the skylark never does.
Like the skylark, it may be observed to spring with the dawn
from the field or pasture-ground in which it has reposed during
the night, ascending perpendicularly, while it pours forth its
cheerful song, which is even more melodious than its congener.
‘The nest is generally placed in a cornfield, common, or pasture-
ground, near a wood. It is composed of blades of dried grass,
loosely put together, lined with finer blades, mixed with hair and
wool. The eggs (fig. 10), four or five in number, are smaller than
the skylark’s, and more elongated, being three-quarters of an inch
by four-sixths, of a pale yellowish brown, freckled with umber or
greyish brown, with dusky irregular lines at the larger end.

The TitLarK, or meadow-pipit, as it is more commonly called,
is universally diffused from one extremity of the island to the
other, sometimes perching on bush or tree, more commonly on a
wall or stone, reposing at night on dry grass. The nest usually
oceupies a grassy bank or grassy turf, or is so sunk into the
ground as not to be easily observed. It is a neatly-constructed
nest, formed of Stems and blades of grass, lined with finer
kinds and tender fibrous roots and hair. The eggs (fig. 14),
four to six In number, are of an oval form, three-fourths of an
inch by four-sixths in diameter, varying considerably in colour,
but generally of a light grey or brownish white ground, dotted
and freckled with a purplish grey, especially at the larger end,
where they entirely conceal the lighter ground.

On the verge of the common there is, sometimes, a narrow
belt of young timber-trees, with a thick hedge beneath, en-
closing a large growth of underwood; on the skirts of the

304

BIRD-NESTING IN FIELDS AND COMMONS.

village green we find, occasionally, a venerable clump of trees 3
sometimes a great extent of wall or paling incloses some:richly-
wooded domain, where the trees skirt the highway; or, in
default of better accommodation, there is a tall hawthorn hedge.
On each and ali of these, in many parts of England between
the Trent valley and the south coast, the NicutineGatE may be
heard, night and morning, pouring forth its joyous song from
the lower branches. Beyond these limits, the appearance of the
nightingale, if not denied, is, at least, rare; for, although it
has been frequently heard as far north as York, and, in very mild
summers, even in Mid-Lothian, as a rule these are its limits.

When the nest is sought for, keen eyes must be made use
of, as the bird displays great sagacity in its concealment,
choosing the root of the thickest and most impenetrable hedge
for building and placing it, besides which it is completely
surrounded by a clump of leaves and bushes similar in colour
to those of which it is formed. The foundation of the nest
is usually loose grass, rushes, or dry leaves; the walls of the
nest, which is large, and loosely put together externally, are a
thick matting of leaves of the neighbouring trees, lined with a
thin covering of fine grass, and, in many respects, resembling
the nest of the robm. MHere the nightingale lays its five or
six broadish ovate eggs (fig. 9), three-fourths of an inch in
length and seven-twelfths in diameter. They are generally
of a brown uniform colour, but occasionally slightly mottled
all over with reddish-brown spots.

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BIRD-NESTING IN WOODS AND HEDGEROWS.

Let the reader imagine the verge of a young plantation of
some thirty years’ growth, to which memory calls us back
after more years than we like to think of. In this plantation,
which had been planted by a retired physician, a keen botanist
and a lover of science, the rarest trees known eighty years
back were intermingled with the ash, the elm, the birch, and
a sprinkling of spruce and other pine-trees. A limpid brook,
just large enough to ornament the hanging woods and mingle
its murmurings with the song of birds, traverses the wood in a
meandering course for upwards of a mile, skirted by the once
trim and still pleasant walk, although its gravel is now covered
with weeds, and its shrubbery a tangled thicket; but all the
better for its feathered inhabitants. Crossing the stile and
penetrating the thicket, we are landed in a small triangular

meadow, through which the brook meanders, after tumbling over
306

BIRD-NESTING IN WOODS AND HEDGEROWS,

a rugged cascade, worn in the bed of the river into a deep black
pool, where a handsome trout may always be found. Here, in
the days I speak of, a pair of Water-Ovzets had built their nest
in the crevices of the crumbling rocks which overlooked the
pool. The nest is bulky and arched, composed externally of
various species of moss, firmly matted together with mud, not
unlike the swallow’s nest, with an aperture in front, of oblong
form, three inches and a half wide by one and a half hich.
Within this is contained the nest itself, a hemispherical mass of
soft grass-moss and water-plants, lmed with leaves of trees.
The eggs (fig. 27) are five or six in number, of an oval form,
and rather pointed, about an inch in length and three-quarters
of an inch at their thickest end, and of a cream-coloured white.
When these little birds have attached themselves to a locality,
they are known to return to it for many years in succession,
and the pair in question had built here for several years.

This plantation is so favourably situated in all respects, that
every songster of the grove may be found init. And here, in
this high. copse, we have a Jay’s nest, occupying the lower
branches of a young oak. It is formed of sticks, lined with
fibrous roots, on which it deposits five or six eggs, broadly
oval (fig. 23), of a pale bluish-green or grey colour, obscurely
marked with a darker shade of yellowish brown and pale
purple, but varying much in colour. The jay is an object of
dread to some of the smaller birds; for, although not exactly a
bird of prey, opportunity offering, it does not hesitate to attack
them, and they shun its neighbourhood accordingly. Mr.
Durham Weir, a close observer, whose MS. notes are now
before us, “trapped one in January, 1837, which he placed
with some other birds in his tool-house; but was astonished to
find two of them destroyed in the morning. He soon had
proof against their destroyer. A linnet alighting on a branch
of a tree on which the jay was sitting, he caught it by the
throat with his bill and killed it in a few mmutes. Half an
hour after, the jay seized upon a green linnet in the same
manner, plucked off the feathers, and devoured it bit by bit, all
except the head.”

The MisseL-THRUsH has, however, no fears of this showy
bird, but builds his nest where he lists, in the forked branch of
some low branch of a tree, generally at some inconsiderable
height,—the nest, a bulky mass some six inches and a half
externally, and three inches and a halfinternally. The external
walls are composed of twigs, straws, and grasses, intermixed

x 2 307

NESTS AND EGGS.

with leaves and mosses, and flattened patches of mud, between
three and four inches thick, with a lining of grass and a
few large feathers; the mouth firmly constructed of interwoven
panicles of hair or grass, mingled with twigs, root-fibres, and
wool. In this nest the missel-thrush generally lays three to
five eggs, of an oblong-ovate form, an inch and a quarter long,
by a little over three-quarters thick (fig. 26), of a purplish-white
or flesh colour, marked with blotches of light brown and ob-
scure purplish red.

The song-thrush and blackbird both abound in plantations
of this description ; but neither of them confine themselves to
the woods,—a hedgerow or rough bank with moss, or the roots
of a hedge, even a hole in a wall or the crevices of a rock, being
selected, occasionally, in localities where there are no plantations.
The Turusu’s nest, which is bulky, is composed externally of
various kinds of grasses and long tough roots of various plants,
tufts of poa and stellaria, mosses, and other substances. Within
this is a more elaborate structure of fibrous roots, tufts of
straws, and beech leaves, interwoven with clay, or some other
binding substance, the whole lined or plastered with a thin
compact lining of some substance, supposed to be horse-dung,
on the surface of which is a coating of chips of straw and
slender grasses. The eggs (fig. 31) vary from four to six, of a
broadly ovate shape, and of a bright bluish green, with scat-
tered blackish-brown spots, more thickly placed towards the
larger end, measuring about an inch and a sixth im length by
ten and a half lines thick. ,

The nest of the BLackbirp is scarcely to be distinguished from
that of the thrush, and the locality is nearly the same. The
eges (fig. 32) are also from four to six, of a bluish or grey green,
freckled with pale umber-looking or reddish-brown markings,
denser towards the thick extremity, where the spots some-
times form a sort of ring, shghtly longer than the eggs of the
thrush, but of the same thickness.

The Fietprare is found in these plantations in great num-
bers in the season ; but they do not breed with us. In a paper in
the Magazine of Botany and Zoology, on “ Birds of Norway,”
Mr. Hewitson describes them as breeding by hundreds in a
very limited space, the nest being placed in the forks of spruce
firs, some forty or fifty feet from the ground, the eggs (fig. 29)
much resembling those of the blackbird, and being five and
six in number,

The Rrpwine closely resembles the fieldfare in many of its
308

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BIRD-NESTING IN WOODS AND HEDGEROWS.

habits, and especially in its nest and mode of breeding, the egg
(fig. 25) bemg about the size of the blackbird’s, of a pale
greenish colour, slightly purplish toward the smaller end, with
reddish brown spots at the other extremity.

Let us skirt the plantation, and listen to the strains which
issue from that sycamore; they are loud, clear, and surpass-
ingly melodious ; the notes gush out with rapidity, but always
clear and distinct. It is the Brackcar warbler, and the nest is
not far off,—and there it is, in the fork of that bay-tree. It is
composed of dried stalks of the goose or some other grass,
woven together with tufts of wool and moss, lined with fibrous
roots and long hairs. The eggs (fig. 28) are four or five, of a
broadly ovate form, three-quarters of an inch long by seven-
twelfths thick, of a greyish-white colour, faintly mottled with
purplish grey, with streaks and marks of blackish brown.

A little further on, a clump of wild birch and hazel over-
hanging the brook gives: shelter to a whole colony of the
titmice, wrens, redpoles, siskins, and other songsters, whose
notes, more or less musical, fill,the air with an harmo-
nious hum, as they mingle with the murmurings of the
brook and with the harsh chir-r-r-ik of the ox-tit, the twink-
twink of the chaffinch, and the alarm note of the robin
and the wren. Here, also, is the more familiar blue-tit, or
tomtit, as he is more commonly called, skipping about with
a frisking motion, as he peers into every chink and cranny,
or behind every leaf, now hanging back downwards, now at the
topmost branches, head-feathers erected, and chur-chwir-ing with
his petulant cry.

The TomtitT is the constant denizen of such localities as this;
but im the spring it also makes excursions into the neigh-
bouring gardens, where it is a good friend to the gardener,
devouring the larve of many an insect which would otherwise
destroy his hopes of fruit or flower, although John does not
always know it. At this season Tom is noisy and vociferous.
The nest is built in the chink of a wall, under the thatched
roof, in a hole in the trunk of a tree, or, indeed, in any, even
the most unlikely localities. In the manuscript notes of
Mr. R. D. Duncan, a good ornithologist and close observer,
now before us, is described the nest of a pair which had been
built in the shaft of a pump-well, at the bottom of his garden:
** Although the nest was drenched and partly carried away
every time water was drawn, still they persevered in building
there, endeavouring to fix their nest near to the cm Gladly

3

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NESTS AND EGGS,

would we have suffered them to remain, had they not kept the
water in a continually muddy state by the materials they used.
After their expulsion from the well, which was not very easily
effected, they made choice of a hole in an old wall at the back of
the house. One day, when passing the place,” he says, “ atten-
tion was attracted by a loud hissing, somewhat like that emitted
by a cat, an adder, or a weasel. On looking at the little crevice
in the wall, I soon discovered whence the sound proceeded ; there
sat the agitated Tom, employing this vociferous method of
ridding himself of my presence. The nest was composed first of
a layer of mixed moss, grass, and wool, with a lining of hair
and feathers. The eggs (fig. 7) were very numerous, but f=
did not count them—some authors say as many as twenty,
of a regular oval form, five-eighths of an inch long, and half
an inch thick, white, slightly tinged with red, and marked with
irregular spots of darker red. Whena family made its appear-
ance in this dwelling, the parent birds were so anxious in
supplying the wants of their little ones, that I have frequently
stood so near, as the birds entered and left the nest, that I
might have caught them by stretching out my hand. In the
following year they again attempted to build in the well, re-
newing their efforts for four successive years.”

All the tits are, more or less, birds of a social habit, the ox-
tit bemg the most retiring, as it is the largest; the ox-tit
mixing freely, not only with its own species, but with the blue-
tit and cole-tit. <A cole-tit’s nest sent to Dr. Robertson from
Perthshire is thus described in a note from that gentleman :—
“Tt is rather loosely constructed, and of considerable size,
measuring internally two inches and a quarter, externally four
and a quarter. The outer part is composed of chips of decayed
wood, small larch-twigs, fibres of various plants, and moss, then
a thick layer of finer moss and fibre; the inner layers are more
compact, and formed of fibres intermixed internally with downy
feathers, the fibre being the softer part of the bark of trees,
and of the stems and leaves of herbaceous plants. The eggs
(fig. 8), six or eight in number, four-sixths of an inch long,
and three-sixths thick, white, thickly dotted with light red
spots at the larger end, a few similar spots being scattered
over the other parts. The nest is usually constructed in the
hollow bole of some tree, or in the crevice of an old wall.”

But the most singular of this family is the Borrin-t1t, or
long-tailed muffin, poke-pudding, or mum-tuffin, and long-
tailed mag, to all of which names it hails in different localities.

310

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BIRD-NESTING IN WOODS AND HEDGEROWS.

Except the gold-crested wren, it is the smallest of British
birds; at the same time, its frame is nearly buried in a mass of
soft and bulky feathers, which are left loose and tufty, so that it
seems to be muffled to the chin, the eyes and nostrils being
nearly concealed by the bristly feathers at the base of the bill,
while the tail is full six incheslong. In such spots as we have
described, that is, in plantations and straggling birch and hazel
woods overhanging a brook, the ‘long-tailed tit flits along the
tops of the taller bushes, searching the leaves and twigs, restless
and ever in motion, streaming along in undulating and rapid
flight, in which it has been compared to a flying arrow or dart,
to which its small body and long tail gives it the appearance.
The nest has already been described; the foundation is laid
in the cleft of a tree, after a careful examination of the situ-
ation, and trying the hole they have chosen by flymg in and
out again several times. The foundation is formed of moss;
the walls are built up of small portions of lichens, white and
grey, mixed with fine green moss, feathers, and the softer
leaves of deciduous trees, intermixed and woven with wool and
spider’s webs, giving them consistence by pressing the whole
with their breast, and by turning themselves round repeatedly
in all directions. They are very jealous at first at being
watched, but soon get tame and accustomed to the observer ;
the male bird watching on the branch of a tree, as close to the
nest as possible, while the hen bird is building; when she has
disposed of her contribution to the nest, the other goes in
while she watches: when both have finished, they fly off to-
gether to collect materials. Sometimes the nest is placed in the
fork of a tree, a long pyriform, six inches long, formed exter-
nally of lichens, bound together with blades of grass, downy
filaments, and cotton threads, and lmed with feathers. In this
nest they lay as many as a dozen of the smallest of eggs
(fig. 6) of an oval form, rounded at the smaller end, and
about half an inch long and five-twelfths broad, of a colour
white, marked with numerous faint-red dots at the larger end.
Pursumg our walk, we soon come across the nest of the
Rosry-RepBReEastT ; for, although Robin is a very domesticated
sort of fellow when the snow covers the ground, and even earlier
in the season, when the wild flowers have faded and the trees m
the woods become bare, and the evenings chilly,—with the first
glimpse of spring he disappears from the haunts of men, be-
taking himself to woods and thickets, where, doubtless, his
pert, forward, and pugnacious character does not fail to exhibit
° 3li

NESTS AND EGGS.

itself. Towards the end of April, and even so early as March
| im some well-sheltered places, young birds have been found in
their nests. Robin is by no means particular where he builds
| his house; under a hedge or bush, on a mossy bank, in a
ditch, even on the ground, but not in tree, shrub, or hedge. It
is a bulky nest, rather loosely constructed; in fact, Robin is
not so skilful an architect as poets and naturalists have painted
| him. Its foundations are a layer of moss and decayed leaves
| of trees, with broad blades of grass, mosses of several species
loosely interwoven with a few skeleton leaves; the lining is of
| hair and wool, a quarter of an inch thick, so that it appears
| Robin is partial to a soft bed. The eggs (fig. 18) are five
| or six; they are of a regular oval form, about three-quarters
of an inch long and four-sixths broad, of a delicate reddish
| white or brownish tinge, fading into a brownish white at the
| small end, and faintly freckled with palish red, the brownish
| markings sometimes forming a belt there.
| In our wood the Gotprinc# is an habitual resident, but is by
| no meaas so plentiful as “ in the days when we were young;”
| for improved agriculture, whose aim is to root out weeds and
thistles, from which the smaller birds draw much of their
support, has not tended to their increase. They nestle in
| woods, in orchards, in gardens, and in hedgerows; sometimes
| in the tops of tall timber-trees. The nest is composed of grass
' and moss, with an external covering of lichens elaborately
| interwoven with thread, twigs, and other substances, and lined
| with wool and hair, the down of various plants, and other
| delicate filaments, and will be ready for the reception of the
| young pair by the middle of April, or thereabouts. The eggs
| (fig. 18) are four or five, about three-fourths of an inch long,
| and half an inch thick, of a bluish-white, or rather pale
| bluish-grey colour, sometimes tinged with brown, and marked
with a few spots of greyish purple and brown, and occasion-
| ally having a dark streak or two.
| Having traversed about half of the plantation, we reach a
spot where the little river issues from a sort of defile and
passes outside the wood, under the retaining wall which sup-
ports the pathway. Under the banks of this wall, just on the
| edge of the wood, at the time I write of, Jenny (English) or
| Kitty Wren (as the Scotch say) had built her nest, and in
trees overhanging it a whole colony of wrens made the woods
| re-echo again with their incessant roundelays as they fitted
| from branch to branch, or frisked about among the topmost

312

— ee --— a a re OT

BIRD-NESTING IN WOODS AND HEDGEROWS.

boughs, with their chirping and not over melodious note.
This becomes a sort of prolonged chirr, as you approach
nearer, while the bird hops from one bush to another, jerking
its tail, which it keeps nearly erect, hopping about with great
alacrity, continually uttering its rapid chit, chit, chirr :—

*« Thou fairy bird, how sweet to trace
The rapid flight of thy tiny race ;
For the wild bee scarcely waves its wing
More lightly than thine, thou fairy thing.”

In liveliness and activity, indeed, it rivals all its congeners,
which has originated a pleasant little fable among the inhabitants
of the distant Hebrides :—‘“ The birds are all assembled, and the
eagle is boasting of his strength. He can mount higher in the
air than any other of earth’s mhabitants, but is flatly contra-
dicted by the wren, which challenges him, and a trial of their
powers ensues. Hyeing his puny rival with great contempt, the
majestic eagle spreads his huge wings, in sign of acceptance
of the challenge, rises up into the air with rapid gyrations; not
so rapidly, however, but that the wren has nimbly perched on
the eagle’s back, where it concealed itself among the feathers.
Up rose the royal bird, high above the mountain; up beyond
those cloudy streaks of grey vapour; up beyond cirri and
cirro-cumuli that float in the blue ether; up till he seems a
mere point to goshawk and peregrine; up till he is at last
compelled to stop for breath, gasping with swollen eyes and
palpitating heart; he can rise no farther, and, spreading wide
his wings and tail, he floats in the dazzling light; he is
satisfied the little vain-glorious thing which had defied him
is left a mile behind at least. But lo! up starts the wren
from its concealed perch; with a hop and a jerk of its tail, and
with a glance of pride, it springs up into the regions, higher
still, where it floats for a moment, and sings its song of triumph ;
it seizes a feather from the eagle’s neck, and descends to receive
the prize,—‘ for strength is no match for cunning.’ ” Such at
least is the Hebridean moral, as related by Macgillivray.

In this “ bosky dell,” just under a mossy bank, which formed
a coping to the wall, where a stone had given way, the nest

was placed. It was large for so small a bird. Outwardly,.

it presents the appearance of a mass of decayed vegetable
fibre, of an irregularly rounded form; its foundation is a
layer of decayed ferns and other plants, herbaceous and

woody. The outer wall of the nest is of the same kind of
313

NESTS AND EGGS.

material, interwoven with mosses of several species, which are
fresh and green, curiously interwoven with fibrous roots and
hair of various animals; the imner surface is spherical, and
smooth as a piece of felt, some three inches in diameter, and
it is arched over with fern leaves and straws. To the height
of two inches there is a lining of soft large feathers, chiefly
pheasants and wood-pigeons’ with a mixture of ducks’
feathers. The oblong aperture in front is low and arched,
two inches wide by one and a half in height; its lower edge
formed of slender twigs, herbaceous stalks and grasses, the
filing or plastermg bemg “ made good,” as a workman would
say, m a very workmanhke manner.

Some wren’s nests are without the internal layers, and en-
tirely of the hypna moss, others have the lining of the feathers
of the domestic fowl ; and far away from human habitations, in
the wild glens of the Grampians, the nest is found, in some
rocky chink, in which an Alpine torrent flows between rough
heathery banks, with overhanging blueberry twigs. Nor does
the wren disdain altogether the haunts of men for its nest: a
hole in a wall, in the thatched roof, in a tree, in an ivy-covered
wall; in fact, it is not capricious im its choice, but readily
adapts itself to circumstances.

The eggs (fig. 15), five or six in number, are extremely
delicate and pretty, of a rounded oval form, four-sixths of an
inch in length and half an inch in thickness; pure white,
with some scattered dots and streaks of light red at the
larger end, but varying in number of dots in different eggs
even of the same nest.

The CHAFFINCH is a constant resident on the skirts of such
plantations as we have been describing; avoiding the depths of
the woods, and especially fir-plantations, orchards, and hedge-
rows,—the outskirts of copses and groves are its most favoured
haunts. In the fork of a shrub, often on a tall tree, on the
ivy-covered wall, or in a thick hawthorn hedge, its nest will
frequently be found. Externally, it is composed of moss, covered
with ashy-coloured lichens and interwoven with hairs and woolly
fibres ; its interior is lined with feathers, mixed with cow and
horse’s hairs, and the seed-down of such plants as the thistle.

The eggs (fig. 1) are four or five in number, of a regular
oval form, about three-fourths of an inch long and half an inch
thick, of a purplsh-white or rather a reddish-grey colour,
shehtly spotted with reddish brown, with a few irregular lines

of the same hue.
314

BIRD-NESTING IN WOODS AND HEDGEROWS.

The Hawrtncu, or grasbeak, is becoming a rare bird in this
country, being shot down by collectors for stuffing wherever
it is seen, and naturalists have expressed great doubts of its
breeding in this island. It has, however, been not unfrequently
found of late years in the hornbeain pollards of Epping Forest,
and also in Lord Clifden’s grounds at Roehampton, where two
nests were seen in 1835. The nest was built at the extremity
of the branch of a horse-chestnut tree, near the lodge, and was
composed chiefly of the twigs of privet and birch, and lined
with hair and fine grass; the nest is shaJlow, and the twigs
loosely put together.

The eggs (fig. 2) are three to five, of an ashy-grey colour, tinged
with green, and marked with brown spots and binish-black lines.

The nest of the Butirincu is found im similar localities, but
later in the season; about the beginning of May it begins
to build its nest, beg a loosely-formed fabric of dry twigs,
placed at no great height on the fork of a spruce-fir tree, or
hawthorn-bush, lmimg it with fibrous roots of small plants.
It is a denizen of the woods, and rarely found where roots
are absent, for it lives the greater part of the year in
thickets and hedges, only betaking itself to the fields in
search of seeds, and to the gardens in search of the seeds of
flowers and fruits. The eggs (fig. 4), four or five m number,
are of a broadish oval form, of bluish or purplish-white colour,
spotted and streaked with purplish grey and reddish brown,
about three-quarters of an inch long and a little over half an
inch in greatest width. The bird is remarkable for its undu-
lating flight, occasionally protracted, as it flits along from the
hedges and roads; it is an active, lively bird.

The Sisxrx, while it is found among us in considerable
numbers, does not seem to breed south of the Tweed; at least
none of our naturalists have recorded more than an occasional
pair. Macgillivray and his correspondents were more fortu-
nate; Mr. Weir, of Boghead, having observed the small nest
of a pair built in the fork of a spruce fir. It was built on a
branch, about four feet and a half from the ground, one side
resting against the stem, and one of the best concealed nests
he had seen. The nest is cup-shaped, with walls an inch and
a half thick, and the interior of the nest an inch and a quarter
in diameter, formed, externally, of hypna moss, held together
by hairs and fibrous roots interwoven; the edg2s interlaced
with grass and root fibre; the lining, half an inch thick, formed

of seed-down and hairs densely matted together.
315

——

NESTS AND EGGS.

The eggs of the siskin (fig. 38) are five or six in number, of
an oval shape, five-eighths of an inch in length and half an
inch in breadth. ‘They vary considerably in their colour and
markings, but the prevailing colour is a pale bluish-white,
shaded at the thick end with purple and a few reddish-brown
dots.

ROCK AND WALL-BUILDING BIRDS.

There are some birds whose breeding-places are neither
woods nor commons, but wild rocky places, old ruins, walls
near dwelling-places, and lofty trees near to houses. Most of
the falcons and the raven belong to the first of these; jackdaws
and owls belong to the second; starlings, redwings, sometimes
the robin and the whitethroat, belong to the third; the magpies
and others of their congeners to the fourth.

A vision of the past rising before us, presents the ruins of an
old sixteenth-century castle, with pointed turrets; the ancient
* pnleasaunce” has returned to a state of nature, overgrown
with thickets; a grove of ancient plane-trees, of the largest,
dimensions, occupy one of its sides. The castle is the haunt of
the barn-owl, the jackdaw, and a colony of pigeons, which
have almost become wild from the deserted state of the
place. Among the trees a colony of magpies had established
their home, as long as we can remember, and many a fruitless
effort had been made to scale the trees, but their girth was all
too large and the branches too high for tiny limbs to accom-
plish the adventure. In the mean time, from this vantage-
ground, Mag, watching her opportunity, had pounced upon and
carried off to her castle many a young chicken, almost from
beneath then owner’s eye. At length the depredations could
no longer be borne; a war of extermination was declared, which
only terminated when the last of the magpies was destroyed.

The nest of the Macrrm has been described at page 293.
The eggs (fig. 20), from four to six, although differing greatly, are
generally oval in form, an inch and a half long, rather pointed,
and about an inch in diameter. They are frequently of a pale
green, freckled all over with brown and purple, rather a dusky
looking egg, but handsomely shaped.

The JackDAw as well as the owl was a constant inhabitant in
the ruins we have indicated. The former’s nest is built in some
dark recess, but generally beyond the reach of the curious, under

a6

ROCK AND WALL-BUILDING BIRDS.

some projecting coping or ancient waterspout. On a founda-
tion of sticks a quantity of straw is laid, and a linmeg of
feathers and other softer materials; here are deposited from
four to seven eggs (fig. 22), of a broadly oval form, an inch
and a half long and an inch in diameter, of a pale greenish
blue or bluish white, with small round spots of dark brown or
purple at the larger end, laid about the middle of May.

The Jur-Fatcon never having been known to breed in this
country, its nest is only known to us by description, and the
eges by imported specimens; they are, in size and shape, like
those of the domestic fowl, of a reddish brown, dashed over with
irregular markings and spots of a darker shade. The peregrine
falcon is becoming very rare with us, but breeds on many parts
of our shelving rocky coasts, from the Isle of Wight to the
Murray Frith, and at many intermediate stations. It is by
no means particular as to its nest, and very commonly appro-
priates one deserted by the raven, or some other bird, in which
it lays its three or four eggs, of a deeper reddish brown than
the jer-falcon ; two inches and an eighth in length, by an inch
and three-quarters in diameter, blotched with a deeper brown
and in larger blotches than the former.

The elegant Faleo Hsalon, or Meru, haunts the heaths and
moors which abound in the North of England and in Scot-
land. Some authors say it builds a nest of sticks externally,
thickly lined with wool, in the pine woods of Norway, whichis |
at variance with the habits of the bird, as far as is known in
this country, where it lays its four or five eggs in a hollow in
the ground, without further preparation. Of the same reddish-
brown with those of the peregrine and jer-falcon, but without
the blotches, being slightly dotted over with greenish-black
spots, the egg is about an inch and a half in length by an inch
and a quarter in diameter.

The Kerstret, which is the only falcon’s egg our space per-
mits us to illustrate, is more widely diffused, and better known
than any of the other hawks. Breeding in rocks, in some old
crumbling ruins, or in the trunks of hollow trees, and gene- |
rally appropriating the deserted nest of the jackdaw or the |
magpie, it lays four eggs (fig. 19), smaller than any of those |
previously described, bemg only an inch and a half long and
an inch and a quarter in breadth, but strongly resembling |
that of the peregrine falcon in colour and markings. The |
eggs vary from three to five, are of a broadly elliptical or |

roundish shape, of a pale reddish-orange, patched all over
37 |

NESTS AND EGGS.

with a dull brownish-red. The Gosnawk has the largest egg
of all the falcons, being in shape and colour as well as size
very much like that of the common duck; it is scarce with us,
but common in the North of Scotland, breeding, as Mr. Low
informs us, on the rocks of the sea-coast, on the rocky Gram-
pians, and on the wooded banks of the Dee. In the forests of
Germany it builds in a hich tree on the outskirts of the forest,
laying three or four eges of a bluish-white colour, two inches
and a quarter in length by an mch and a quarter in diameter,
and without spots.

The ege of the Sparrow-Hawk is the most marked of all the
falcons’ eges, but remarkable also for its variations; 1t forms
a roundish oval, an inch and four-eighths long by an inch and
three-eighths broad, of an ashy-grey colour, covered at the larger
end with brown blotches and streaks. The sparrow-hawk is
most frequently found to appropriate the deserted nest of a
crow or magpie. Sometimes the eggs are found on the ledge
of a rock or some lofty cliff. Mr. Selby says it also builds a
shallow nest in some low tree or thorn-bush, the material
used being slender twigs, on which it lays.

The Owts make litile preparation in the way of nests; a
hollow in the ground, lined with the compressed castings of the
birds, or a similar accommodation in the hollow of some tree,—
the ledge of a rock or a hole in the wall of some ghostly ruin,
seems all the preparation to which they have recourse; on this
bed, sometimes so shallow that the wind would seem able to
roll their eggs away, the owls lay their two or three eggs, which
vary much, both in size and shape, but are almost invariably of
one colour; a whitish blue, without spots, some of them round,
others oval, more or less acute.

He who would find the nest of the Raven must now follow
him far from the abode of men, scale the rocky cliffs of the
seashore, or the shelving rocks of remote hilly countries, the
centre of a grove, or some ancient oak; for persecution has
driven this “‘ bird of evil omen,” as it is sometimes considered,
away from its old haunts, the ruined tower or ancient steeple.
Sometimes, however, it is still known to build its nest in some
lofty tree, and if left undisturbed it will return successively for
many years, refurnishing its nest annually with a liming of
the fur of the rabbit and other animals. The nest is large, com-
posed of a foundation of sticks crossed and plastered together
with clay, with a lining first of fibrous roots, and inside a

carpet of fur, wool, or hair. The eggs (fig. 21) are four, five,
318

ROCK AND WALL-BUILDING BIRDS.

or Six in number, two inches in length and an inch and five-
twelfths in diameter, of a dirty greenish brown, with thick
blotches on the larger end, but with several important varia-
tions, from a greenish grey with streaks of reddish brown, up
to greenish brown in different eggs.

The Strariine builds its nest early in May or towards the
end of April, m the crevices of rocks, in caverns, in holes under
grassy banks, in holes in a wall, or in the trunk of trees. It is
a bulky structure, composed of grass and other plants, with a
rough lining of hair and feathers. The eggs (fig. 24) are five
or six, of an elongated oval form, of a delicate feeble greenish
blue, and about an inch and a quarter long by three-quarters
in diameter.

The Repstart, like the starling, places its nest in the cavity
of a wall or the trunk of a tree, in the chink of a rock, or
among stones. The nest is bulky, composed of fibrous roots
and moss, plentifully lined with hair and feathers; the eggs,
six or seven, of an oval form, three-quarters of an inch long by
half an inch in diameter, and of a light greenish-blue, and the
favourite locality which it affects for nidification is the old wall
of a garden.

The Rine-Ovzet, on its arrival in April, betakes itself to the
open hilly country, sheltermg itself in the furze and juniper
bushes, if within its reach, in preference to any other. In this
situation its nest is usually found; sometimes also under the
face of a rough bank or in fragments of rock. It is composed
of rough coarse grass, plastered internally with mud and lined
with finer grasses. The eggs (fig. 30) are from four to six, of
an oval form, about an inch long by over three-quarters
in diameter, of a pale bluish green, freckled all over with pale
brown.

The red-backed shrike ButcHER-BIRD, or fly-catcher, as this
bird is sometimes called, is common enough round London,
and in the western counties, especially among the orchards of
Gloucestershire. It frequents the margins of woods, thickets,
and tall hedgerows, furze-covered commons, and open downs
in the rorth as well as the south, bemg, in fact, very widely
diffused. About the middle of May,

When buttercups and daisies deck the ground,
And blackbirds whistle clear,

by the borders of some grassy meadow, ere the oak or the ash
have yet unfolded their buds, when the apple-blossom and the
a9

entrees

NESTS AND EGGS.

pink-eyed florets of hawthorn rival each other in the hedge-
rows, the sparrow-like note of the shrike may be heard, and
the bold black head seen, as he perches, sentinel-like, on some
twig or spray. The nest is also found in some shady locality,
—a large mass of twigs on the outside, with fibrous roots of
plants and green moss, with an internal lining of hair, put
together in a somewhat slovenly manner, not very unlike the
nest of the missel-thrush, is the butcher-bird’s performance.

In this nest the red shrike lays four or five eggs, of an oval
shape, about an inch in length by about five-eighths in breadth,
of a reddish white, covered with brown spots, which form a
band round it at the thick part.

The nest is sometimes selected to receive the ege of the
cuckoo, and the bird even bestows its paternal care on the
young cuckoo when hatched. In the Linnean Transactions
for 1861, a paper states that a pair of red shrikes were
observed feeding a young cuckoo which was perched on the
branch of an oak, a fact which has been confirmed by
Temminck, who says that the cuckoo will sometimes lay its
egg in the nest of this bird.

eens
\

(3
<<)

SKELETON OF THE OSTRICH.

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

—— OS

Tue art of preserving objects of natural history, to which
the name of taxidermy is sometimes given, from the Greek
word implying the arrangement of skins, is of French origin
and of recent date, probably not later than the present cen-
tury ; the more ancient collections, including the celebrated
one of Réaumur, having been only a simple collection of dried
skins suspended on the walls of the saloon. The Germans
appear to have been the inventors of a mode of preparing and
setting up birds by placing feather over feather upon paper so
as to imitate nature; but they were very imperfect imitations,
scarcely conveying an idea of the bird represented. In our
day the taxidermist rivals Nature herself, studying the passions
as well as the attitude and shape of the object he wishes to
preserve. At the same time he has, by the use of scentless

disinfectants, overcome much of the disagreeable smell which
321
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pene eee oO EEA SSI 8 Na ROLL

ee

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PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

formerly rendered a collection of preserved animal forms so
offensive in a private house.

Looking back, then, for about 200 years, we come to the
age when the germ of the art of taxidermy was practised by
Réaumur. In the cabinet of this learned Frenchman the first
traces of taxidermy seem to have been found as now prac-
tised, although it was in truth of a most imperfect kind. The
ideas of Réaumur were caught up and described by Manduyt.
The letters of Kuckau on the method of embalming birds
succeeded. Several zealous disciples followed, and in 1797 the
Abbé Manesse published a method of collecting and arranging
animals, and preserving their skins. The poisons and aromatic
products were the materials he employed at first, but he after-
wards abandoned these for the acids and alkalis. Daudin, in
his “ Ornithology,” quotes all these processes, and adds to
them those of Dufresne. About 1801, Nicolas published his
method of preserving animals of all kinds, for which he made
use of a paste or pomade consisting of camphor, potash, alum,
oil of petral, and a kind of liquor which had the property of
tanning the skin. But these preservatives, and many others,
have been superseded by the composition of Bécoeur,* which is
the only one employed in the present day, especially for large
animals,

The art of preparing and stuffing any animal is one of great
simplicity, but requirimg clever manipulation, good taste, and
habits of observation so as to note the attitude assumed
by the different animals. Every one can, with a very little
preparation, be made to perform the process; but this is not
sufficient; as in painting and other fine arts, so there is an
immense gulf between the mere mechanical process by which
a bird or animal is set up and mounted, and another in which
the exact form and attitude is imitated, and the divers
colours which ornament it are preserved. In order to imitate
its attitude, the manners and habits of the species must be

* The arsenical soap prepared by Bécceur was as follows :—Five ounces
of camphor, two pounds of arsenic (in powder), two pounds of white soap,
four ounces of white chalk (in powder), and two ounces of salt of tartar.
Mix the ingredients by melting the soap, previously cut into thin slices,
in a pipkin, with water, and over a gentle fire. When melted, add the salt
of tartar and chalk, and withdraw the pipkin from the fire ; now add the
arsenic, stirring it in by degrees with a wooden spatula; then, having
reduced the camphor to a powder in a mortar, add it to the mixture, and
stir till thoroughly incorporated, adding spirits of wine, till it is of the
consistence of a thick paste ; pour it into jars, and cover, when cool, with
a bladder, and put it away for use, marking it ‘‘ Poison.”

328

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

studied profoundly ; not less so, indeed, than is required from
the painter; and he who would succeed in the art of mounting
animals, must have something nearly approximating to the
painter in his powers of observation and representation.

Some writers have attempted to reduce the various attitudes
assumed by animals to a rule. Conventional arrangements of
this nature have no counterpart in nature, and must result
in abortions outrageous to good taste. ‘There is only one rule
to be followed by those who would follow and represent nature.
Study the habits of your model, and understand well the
anatomy of the animal to be reproduced. ‘Then only can you
hope to impress the natural and life-like character which really
belongs to it.

The means of preserving the skins of vertebrated animals
from insects is now pretty well understood. The Memoirs of
Duhamel, Pinel, Chaptal, and some others, possess informa-
tion of great value. To these Dupont has added his own
practice, to which Swainson, the Bowditches, the late Captain
Brown, and Mr. Waterton, and some of their more humble
practical followers, as the Gardeners, Wilson, Cooke, and some
others, have scarcely left anything undiscovered. And now taxi-
dermy, in the hands of many men of great ability and obser-
vation, has reached a point of great perfection.

I must not forget, in my enumeration of artists, the ad-
mirable collection of life-like animals which ornamented the
German section of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Those re-
markable specimens of the taxidermist’s art were exhibited by
H. Ploucquet, of Stuttgart, and represented a boar-hunt and a
stag-hunt of the natural size, and the same in miniature; groups
and nests of different birds of prey; several hawks pouncing
upon their prey; numerous groups, in which stuffed animals
are made to imitate the attitudes and actions of men, with such
an expression of comic intelligence as will not soon be for-
gotten by the spectators who gave their attention to the
subject. They were, perhaps, the most beautiful specimens of
the art ever produced; at the same time, the mirth-excitine
groups owed quite as much to the comic invention of the artist
as to the taxidermist’s art.

It is almost impossible to estimate the extent to which a
taste for natural history has been promoted by this art; for if,
at first, curiosity has been the chief motive which led to its pur-
suit, that motive has been inevitably followed by a higher one,
namely, the study of the habits and actions of eatataies which

xy 2

|
|

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

leads to other habits of observation; and many a collection com-
menced from motives of mere curiosity, as it Increased in ex-
tent, has of necessity led more or less to the study of compara-
tive anatomy. The art which brought the facts together, and
which necessarily leads to analysis, conducts insensibly to
synthesis—to tracing effects to their cause. Even the capture
of the animals makes the collector acquainted with the peculiar
habits of different species. The chase makes him acquainted
with the instinctive shifts by which animals of all kinds evade
their pursuers.

HINTS TO TRAVELLERS.

An internal decay, named putrefaction, tending to sepa-
rate, and resolve the components of the body to its elements,
attends all animal and vegetable substances immediately after
the vital principle ceases ; and unless this tendency to decay is
counteracted, the form and characteristics of these bodies would
soon become valueless, either for the investigations of science
or as the objects of a rational curiosity. There are various
processes by which this is accomplished. In the case of birds,
and most animals, this is done by removing the skin and
drying it, after purifying it by preservatives. Others, as
serpents and smooth-skinned animals, are preserved by being
plunged in liquids which have the power of checking this
tendency to decomposition.

_ Water dissolves divers parts of certain bodies, not by
checking decomposition, but, on the contrary, by accelerating
it im some cases. Water charged with alum acts as a preser-
vative on skins of animal fibre, but in so weak a manner that
it cannot be relied on for any constant results, especially when
the skin is charged with common salt; its use is limited to
fruits, which it will preserve for some time. The spirits of
turpentine, sometimes employed, damages the tissues, and
has a tendency to become thick and viscous, and should be
avoided. Oil may preserve some animals, as mollusks and
certain fish. Sea-salt, or muriate of sodium, presents no advan-
tages as a preservative; it alters both the form and colour of
objects submitted to its influence. Some fishes with very thick
and hard skins are subjected to it with advantage; however,
in such cases it should be frequently changed and fresh salt
added. Employed with care, it may be used when arsenical
224

HINTS TO TRAVELLERS.

soap or paste cannot be obtained in sufficient abundance. A
solution of the finest table-salt im water is even recommended
by some as a substitute for alcohol; but it is doubtful if this
has been yet sufficiently tested. Corrosive sublimate has been
proscribed by Péron, the French naturalist, who enumerates
its defects; but, carefully employed, and taking proper pre-
cautions to avoid its poisonous effects, it is highly effective
in a variety of cases. The sublimate salt operates as a rapid,
enduring, and energetic desiccating medium, reacting power-
fully upon all animal matter, modifying its character in a
peculiar manner, and rendering the matter subjected to it
unalterable when it has been sufficiently saturated. Exposed
in the open air, it facilitates drying and prevents the slightest
movement towards decomposition in the skins. The sublimate
seems to combine entirely with the air; the liquor, which
contains only a weak proportion of this very insoluble salt, is
soon exhausted unless the precaution is taken to add fresh
sublimate from time to time, as the process of saturation goes
on. Finally, when the skins will no longer absorb the liquor, the
preservative process is complete; they are then laid out to dry.

But the medium for preserving on which we may rely most
securely is alcoholic liquors, especially brandy or spirit dis-
tilled from the vine. Arrack, rum, and spirits distilled from
grain, while they serve the purpose, are less adapted for
zoological preparations than the spirits obtaimed from the
vine; and where it is necessary to employ the alcohol of the
country, the most highly rectified spirit will be found best
adapted to the purpose. Nevertheless, alcohol has the dis-
advantage of deteriorating the tissues as well as disfiguring
them, and the strength of the liquor should be reduced in order
to avoid this. 'The more perfect the transparency of the liquor
the better is it adapted for the purpose. Pure alcohol destroys
the colour of animals immersed in it; much concentrated, it
destroys the animal tissues. Alcohol united with acids has
been very successful, when diluted with water. For larger
animals, however, the strongest alcohol may be used. In the
absence of pure alcohol or spirits of wine, add to the spirits
of the country some dissolved camphor, which, without adding
to the strength of the liquor, is found to be sufficient for the
preservation of most animals; while the camphor protects the
colours from change. A mixture in the proportion of two parts
distilled water and one part alcohol, adding two ounces of
sulphate of aluminum to every quart of the liquid, is recom-

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PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

mended; but the liquor prepared by M. Guyot, having a high
reputation in France, is made as follows :—Take twenty pints of
the best Cognac brandy, and withdraw by distillation five pints ;
add to what remains equal parts of well water and a pound of
the green flowers of lavender, and again distil them to dryness.
This done, take twelve parts of the spirits of wine which has
been distilled. Mix them with sixty-nine pints of well water,
and add to the mixture equal parts of the liquid furnished by
distillation. This is the Guyot preserving fluid, which is per-
fectly pure and limpid, and of a bitter taste and slightly
aromatic smell, containing only one part of alcohol to thirty of
water. Monro adds small doses of nitric or muriatic acid to
this liquor. Ruysch used spirits of wine distilled with the
black powder of cardamine and camphor.

Before immersing objects of natural history in this liquid,
they should be carefully washed in many baths of pure water
at a moderate temperature, more especially all marine animals
and crustacea, which would be destroyed without this precau-
tion. When immersed they require to be watched, and the
liquor rendered weaker or stronger, as may be required.

“The spirituous liquor,” says Dufresne, “is still preferable
to all other modes of preservation.”” We recommend to travel-
lers to put into the spirit all the fish they preserve; but let us
indicate the precaution to be taken for their transport. In

species of valve, with a bevel about six inches long, fill the cask
with the liquor to about two-thirds. When you have a fish to
preserve, and having taken note of all connected with it, roll it
up in a piece of linen and tie it, attaching to it a piece of wood
on which a figure has been carved corresponding with that in

! the note-book, and plunge it mto the liquor through the

valve, which is again hermetically closed. Should the fish
show by the swelling ovarium that she is full of eggs, they
should be removed by an incision in the anus, plunging the
knife towards the anterior part of the ventre, and extracting the
eggs, which would soon escape, and reduce the liquor below the
required strength, if left in the fish.

As a layer of fish is deposited in the barrel, a layer

of cotton should follow, so as to prevent them from shaking
with the motion of the ship. The barrel should net contain
more than two-thirds of fish, the remainder bemg made up
with cotton and liquor.

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long voyages furnish yourself with little barrels, holding from-
thirty to sixty pints, with iron hoops. At one of the ends make a-

PROCURING SUBJECTS.

The preservation of serpents requires still fewer accessories.
Smaller species are usually plunged at once into a bottle of
spirits, previously making a cut in the abdomen, by means of
which the spirits can be introduced so as to preserve the intes-
tines from decay. In the larger species skinning becomes
necessary, when great care is required to avoid injury to the
scales, aS much as must be taken with the tails of lizards.
The head also requires some care, being the most valuable
characteristic of its zoological character.

PROCURING SUBJECTS.

He who would be his own procurator as well as his own
curator must rise with the sun, or, rather, before it. The
equipment required, supposing the locality fixed upon to be
within walking distance, is a warm rough coat, which is not
too cumbersome and which will not be damaged by brushing
through the underwood, for the objects of our search lie in the
depth of the woods; strong boots and leather gaiters, for he
will have to dash the early dew from many a blade of grass;
a game-bag well furnished with inside-pockets, in which the
smaller birds or animals may be placed when secured, and
subjected to such necessary preparation as cau be bestowed on
them on the spot. Besides these, a box or boxes in which such
eges as fall in his way can be deposited.

He has next to provide himself with a gun,—that indispens-
able object of the fowler’s occupation. My own practice is to
keep a gun at two or three farmhouses in the country where
I am known, choosing the best localities I can conveniently
select, and when I require specimens or my leisure permits, I
can either slip down by a very late or very early train, and be
on the ground I have selected by early dawn. My gunisa |
double-barre!l, 18 bore. I load one barrel with two drachms of |
the best powder and an ounce and a half of No.8 shot; the |
other with the same quantity of powder and No. 6 shot. I |
am thus prepared for whatever may turn up: with the smaller
shot I can bring down any of the smaller birds without injury
to the plumage, and should any of the larger kinds come in
my way, I am also prepared for them—advantages which are
obviously unattainable with a single barrel; for, to shoot a
small bird with the larger shot would be to tear it all to pieces,
and render it quite unfit for stuffing. The bird being shot,I |

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PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

have found by experience that it is best to let it le until
the blood round the wound has coagulated, and then, carefully
pulling the surrounding feathers on one side, I remove it with
a penknife, put a little cotton-wool into the wound and also into
the mouth. After this I smooth down the feathers, wrap it
carefully in a sheet of soft paper, and place it in one of the
pockets of my knapsack, while I pursue my sport.

IT am quite aware that some fowlers prefer the smaller dust-
shot; and for some of our more delicate birds, as the golden-
crested wren, the bottle-tit, and some others even in our own
country, and the humming-birds of the tropics, I believe that
the concussion of the powder and wadding is enough to bring
them down. But I think less damage arises from No. 8 than
even the smaller shot, inasmuch as the latter is thrown in a
denser mass against the bird, and does infinitely more damage
to the plumage.

Having provided himself with the necessary appliances of
his intended sport, the young naturalist has next to consider
the character of the object of his pursuit. All animals have
their assigned place in creation. Some are only to be found
in the corn-fields; others haunt the woods; while others again
abound in rocky and mountainous districts, on the sea-shore,
or on the river’s bank; and he who has set his mind on any par-
ticular object must acquaint himself with the locality which it
affects most. It is equally indispensable to know the best season
for its capture or destruction; that is, the season when its fur
or plumage is brightest, or when the skin is in the most proper
state for preservation. Nor is it unimportant, in anticipation
of a successful search, to know the hour of the day at which itis
abroad. It has been attempted to construct a floral time-piece ;
another might be constructed of greater exactness, calculated
upon the basis of the regularity with which animals pursue
their avocations : some creatures are only abroad at noon-day ;
others, like the lark, are abroad with the dawn. At night the
nightingale becomes the most prominent songster of the grove :—

** An April night
Would be too short for him to utter forth
His love-chant, and disburden his full soul
Of allits music!”

Accordingly it is pretty well established that the nightingale,

if it does not sing all night, sings late in the summer even-

ing and early in the dawn. Farther on in the night the owl is
328

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heard—haunter of ancient ruins—he flits about with melan-
choly, sepulchral sounds, with his Too-whoo, too-whoo !—fittine
sounds for the “ivy-mantled tower,” his usual abode. Some
knowledge of the animal or bird which is to be the object of pur-
suit is thus indispensable. In the season of reproduction, when
incubation has made some advance, it would be both wicked
and cruel to destroy the female. Again, in the moulting season
it would be waste of time as well as cruelty to attack them.
The best season, perhaps, is the early pairing season: the plu-
mage or fur is then most brilhant; the migratory species have
recovered from the effects of their long journey, and their lives
are redolent of hope and joy. It is, perhaps, a piece of cruelty
to mtercept so much happiness; but then how are collections to
be made without exposing collectors to the charge? In my
own experience I have found the best localities to be some one
or other of those long green lanes, between high hedgerows,
which form the charm of our rural scenery. If an occasional
clump of young plantations intervene, there will be found the
titmouse, chaffinch, yellowhammer, and most of our songsters,
in great abundance; and should there be a watercourse by the
side of the hedgerow, blackbirds and thrushes will be found.
For larks you must look in the open grassy fields, or among the
Waving corn in summer; in winter they nestle and shelter
themselves under the broad leaf of the turnip and other green
crops.

Magpies, jays, woodpeckers, and the wood-pigeon haunt the
more densely-wooded districts; and there also must the owls
and the falcon tribes, which breed with us, be sought. Rooks,
as is well known, affect some ancient grove near some ancestral
home, the loftiest branches of which they colonize, hundreds of
them together; whilst the carrion crow, often confounded with
the rooks, builds in some solitary tree in a hedgerow. Star-
lings are found in short decayed trees and deserted towers,
when not assembled in flocks. I have a kindly recollection of
one of these amusing birds which I once possessed. His usual
morning’s salutation to me was a “ Good morning, sir. Pretty
creature. Jacob’s mistress pretty creature,”—Jacob being his
own name. He would then imitate the canary so closely
as to render it nearly impossible to distinguish one from the
other in the lower notes.

The haunts of the moor-fowl, dabchick, and coot, and other
fresh-water birds, are, of course, widely different from these
localities. Among the flags and reeds by the river-side their

329

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PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS,

nests will be found. There also the reed-warblers build a nest,
which they suspend by means of a glutinous clay to the stumps
of four reeds, adjusted to it so exactly, that while it almost
touches the water, the most boisterous wind rarely immerses it.
The water-ouzel builds a nest and lives in it under some old
mossy bank overhanging the water of some running stream,
and in similar situations the kingfishers are found to nestle
under the bank—sometimes in the hole of a water-rat.

Nests and eggs are somewhat foreign to my present pursuit,
but I cannot avoid giving a word of advice on this subject.
Both are important accessories to mounting birds, and I
find great advantage in using the real nest and eggs in that
way; unfortunately the nests are generally too bulky to be
easily moved. I find the most convenient way of preserving
the nest is to wrap cotton round it until I get home. As
for the eggs, I dispose of them for the moment in round
wooden boxes filled with cotton-wool, which I provide myself
with for the purpose. On reaching home, I take the eggs
and bore a small hole at each end with a small drill, which I
make myself by filmg a piece of wire to four square sides,
and then to a sharp pomt; having drilled a hole with this
point, I blow out the contents of the egg with a small pointed
blow-pipe and place a label over the hole containing the name
of the bird. I recommend the young collector to do what I
did—place the eggs back in the nest until he gets perfectly
acquainted with it. In this manner I preserved, and made
myself acquainted with a large collection of good eggs.

While on this subject I may mention some of the various
places m which many birds construct their nests, so that the
learner may have some idea where to look for such birds or
eggs as he may require. ‘The kestrel and sparrow-hawk
usually build im trees in woods, or they take the deserted

nest of a rook or crow; owls, woodpeckers, titmice, wrynecks,

nuthatches, and starlings, frequently build in the hollows of
old trees ; blackbirds and thrushes in old stumps, a little above
a bank near to some watercourse; nightingales nestle among
the dead leaves at the bottom of a thick hedge, requiring sharp
eyes to distinguish them from the mass of leaves; the missel-
thrush, or storm-cock, as he is sometimes called, chaffinches,
goldfinches, and greenfinches, build in orchards, near dwelling-
houses; while the larger falccns and eagles build on precipitous
and nearly inaccessible rocks.

The kind of cabinet I would recommend for eggs is a stout
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PROCURING SUBJECTS.

case, three feet high, a foot and a half wide, and a foot deep,
the four top drawers two inches deep, with twenty-seven divi-
sions for eggs, the fifth drawer three inches deep, with forty-
five divisions, the bottom drawer four and a half inches deep,
with six divisions: in all making nine drawers. A small piece
of wadding should be put into each compartment, to keep the
eggs from contact with the wood, and cracking. I have already
said that winter is a good season for procuring birds in fine
plumage.

On the approach of winter those birds that remain the whole
year with us assume their thick wintry garb ; but except in very
severe weather most animals are difficult to discover at this
season. The animals which hybernate have now sought refuge
in their holes; the mice and reptiles are concealed in the bosom
of the rocks and crevices of walls; nature has sealed up in her
frozen caves the fish and other inhabitants of the deep. The
season of love, therefore, is the most favourable one for the
naturalist, as the moulting season is the worst. The sexes
have then assumed the nuptial robe. They are more easily
approached at that season also; there is, therefore, reasonable
hopes of a successful expedition.

With the exception of the hare, fox, and rabbit, there are
hardly any of the mammiferz of this country on which it is
necessary to hunt with the gun; and to shoot a fox is, in most
English counties, a high crime against the social laws. But
if Reynard is wanted he must be found. His den is in hilly
countries crowned with copse wood, over the bank of some
stream or under a bank of furze, and, ten to one, if there is a
retired hen-roost within a reasonable distance of it, he will not
require to be sought, but may be met prowling about it half
way, at carly dawn; in this case he is fair game, at least to
the naturalist who wants a specimen! We need hardly tell
where a hare or rabbit is to be found; im acorn or turnip field,
or in young plantations and grass meadows, they will be found
gambolling about at early dawn, from September to March, after
which they are sacred till the season rolls round again. Mice,
rats, weasels, and other mammifere, may be taken in traps, or
destroyed in many ways when found. Some of them, however,
as the weasel, are difficult to find when wanted. It is generally
during the night or evening such creatures venture abroad.

There are a few precautions to be taken with skins of ani-
mals. To prevent damage to the fur large shot is used, as we
have seen. Spots of blood may be washed from the fur either

331

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

before or after skinning, and generally the same steps may be
recommended for the feathers of birds.

It sometimes happens that after death a viscous humour
issues from the beak and nostrils, moistening and injuring the
head feathers. It also happens that some of the birds of prey,
and certain water-birds, will disgorge portions of the food
which remains undigested in the crop, and this is calculated
to damage their plumage. To prevent these accidents, the
fowler, as soon as the bird falls, should either proceed to arrest
the flow of blood, or leave it to congeal, and then proceed
to stuff the beak with cotton, and tie the upper and lower
mandibles together by means of a thread, the object being to
prevent the plumage from being soiled by any evacuations
whatever. After this, if the bird is a large,one, dispose of it
in such a manner that the feathers are not disturbed; if, on
the contrary, it is small or of middle size, and delicate plumage,
slip it head foremost into a paper bag, or cornet, such as
grocers use for small packages, and place it in the pockets or
boxes in the bag. Birds taken in the snare require the same
care; they are easily killed by pressing the sides of the breast
opposite the heart, or even the throat, between the finger and
thumb, and placing them in the paper-bag when dead.

Birds taken by means of limed twigs generally have the plu-
mage much soiled by the bird-lime, which it is necessary to re-
move before it gets hard. It is removed by using a little fresh
butter or olive-oil, rubbed on the feathers. When the lime and
the butter are thoroughly mixed—which is indicated by the lime
losing its adhesive power—scrape the feathers one by one with
the edge of a scalpel, or knife, until every particle of the grease
is removed, when it may be washed with water containing a
strong solution of potash, and finally with pure water, drying
them by dusting plaster of Paris over them. Soap lees or
sulphuric ether are better adapted for washing feathers im-
pregnated with fatty matter.

One thing the naturalist fowler should not forget is to note
the colour of the eyes of the animal, in order to replace them in
the stuffed specimens; for all species confined in cages lose part
of their natural colours in confinement, and present little of the
freshness either of eye or plumage which distinguishes the wild
animal.

ReEpTILEs are chiefly to be sought for in May and June; in
these months they have generally just changed their skin. They

require less care than either of the preceding class of animals,
332

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be AI a ence: 2 fe meee LE NF eR eae tas SEES 9 ABET ATES ESA WE te A OTS

ee ee, ee

as the glossy skin which covers them requires fewer precautions
for its preservation. The species which can be captured with
least injury, as the chelonians, or tortoises, have their softer
parts protected by a special organization or shell. It is other-
wise with the saurians and ophidians, or lizards and serpents.
Here, to real danger in the pursuit, is added the difficulty of
taking them without injuring the external skin. In the lizards,
for example, especially those of small size, the skin is so deli-
cate that the slightest blow damages it; and it is extremely
difficult to procure them without such violence. Some persons
recommend that they should be approached without being dis-
turbed, and struck on the back by a slight blow with a small
pliant twig or cane. This blow, could it be delivered, would
suffice to break the vertebral column, and thus effectually pre-
vent them from running away. But the first difficulty is to
approach them unperceived. It is like putting salt on the
bird’s tail; and when they can be so approached, the blow
must be very shght indeed, in order to avoid breaking the skin,
and yet strong enough to accomplish the end in view, which
requires discrimination. In fact, they are not easily obtained.

The spring is the period when it is most desirable to attack
them. At the commencement of this season, the sun, for
which they crave, leads them to issue from their winter retreat,
while the heat in which they display themselves seems rather
to render them torpid than to vivify them, as it does later in
the season. Slow to move at this season, they will suffer
themselves to be approached without stirring. In this state
their hole may be covered with a handkerchief, and their re-
treat cut off. Having no place of refuge, they may now be
caught by the hand without injuring them, taking care at the
same time to avoid their bite; not that it is dangerous, but it
causes a considerable bruise and a livid contusion. The tail is
very fragile, and must neither be seized nor struck. Never-
theless, in spite of every precaution, if it is separated from the
body, it should be secured, and, with a litle mgenuity and
care, it may be replaced in mounting.

The chase of ophidians is, without contradiction, a dangerous
occupation, the bite of many of them being venomous, but their
skin is less delicate than the lizard’s. They are slower in their
motion, and consequently more easily secured. Should any of
my readers have a fancy for this pursuit,—which, I confess, I
have not,—let them furnish themselves with a pair of long-

handled pincers and a bag made of skin, with a mouth formed
333

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PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

with two semicircular rims attached, and tested and secured
by a cord; the bag bemg sprinkled over copiously with snuff,
the trap being laid and baited, when the reptile approaches it
the pincers are employed, and if they are adroitly used, the
serpent is introduced into the bag, which instantly closes, and
the serpent soon dies, for snuff is a deadly poison to it.

Bartracutans, or frogs and toads, are neither dangerous nor
difficult to take. They are cold-blooded, slow, and heavy, and
cannot escape by flight. They haunt dark and humid places,
and the safest way to take them, so as to avoid injury to the
skin, is to seize them with the hand, either naked or gloved.
With the exception of the larger species, reptiles are not usually
mounted. The vivid and brilliant colours of the majority of
them are extremely beautiful, and are best preserved in spirits
of wine.

FisH are captured by many different processes: in soft
water by line and bait of many kinds; in the sea these means
are insufficient, but give place to other processes, on which we
need not enter here. Fish are sometimes stuffed, but generally
are only divested of the intestines, and plunged into alcohol ;
sometimes the dead skins are mounted on paper.

CRUSTACEA are preserved for a long time in salt water. After
many years in this water their colours are only slightly altered.
They may be transported to any distance in this preservation
of colour. ‘This process preserves the animal perfectly mtact.

Mo.tiusks are procured with equal ease, but they are un-
fitted for mounting. The animal discolours, and even gets
as hard as horn, without some means of preserving it in its
natural state. They are generally sought for their shells.

Insects.—Among insects, butterflies and moths are the most
attractive; and in ‘indicating the locality in which they are to
be found, I might content myself with the well-known advice
of an eminent " eritomolopist: in reply to a similar question,
“Search everywhere.” I will, however, specify a few places
where I have found some of the most beautiful of them. The
white admiral, distinguished by the silvery blue and brown
markings below, with ‘bands and spots of pure white, is found
in June and J uly, its favourite haunt being oak woods in
Kent, Essex, and Sussex, and, I believe, also in the north of
England. The purple emperor, so named from the splendid
purple of its wings, is also a denizen of the woods, being found
near Colchester in the Great and Little Stone Woods in the
Forest of Dean, in Darenth Wood, and other and similar locali-

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SKINNING AND PREPARING BIRDS.

ties. Others, as the wood white, are found near fields of lezumi-
nous plants, and are very generally diffused. Another, which is
often mistaken for it at a distance—the marble white—has, on
a nearer view, streaks of black and a pale yellow, feeds chiefly
on grasses, and is found in Sussex and Hampshire, and on
the Surrey hills in July and August. But my space does not
permit of my entering on this interesting subject further, and
as I cannot return to the subject, I shall here say a few words
on the best mode of killing and preserving insects. Some col-
lectors carry chloroform in a small bottle. When an insect is
captured, a little chloroform is dropped on the blotting-paper
at the bottom of the box in which it is placed; this kills the
insect; but the more usual way is to give it a quick nip between
the finger and thumb just under the wing, which kills it instantly.
It is then transfixed by passing a pin through the thorax, fixing
the sharp point in the cork of the box.

On returning home set it out in the following manner :—
Having provided yourself with a setting-board, which is sold at
any of the naturalists’ shops; place the body of the insect in
the centre of the board in which there is a groove to receive it,
so as to let the wings spread out smoothly without any curve.
Having spread out the wings very gently, take four pims and
four small pieces of cardboard of an angular shape, with the
base rounded off; place the pointed end over the four tips of
the wings just far enough to hold them down, and fix each
down firmly to the board by passing a pin through the card
into the cork. All the beauty of the preparation depends on
the wings being evenly spread and lying smooth on the board,
and care only is required to make them lie so.

er ne er eS ET Sr STS

SKINNING AND PREPARING BIRDS.

In skinning and preparing the animals whose capture we
have been plotting, certain instruments are necessary. These
are, 1. a case of scalpels; 2. a knife with toothed blade sharp
towards the point, the other a straight blade; 3. two pairs of
scissors of different sizes, one six inches long, another ten inches,
and one with a short blade, the other straight and sharp-
pointed ; 4. two pairs of cutting-nippers; 5. two pairs of pliers
for stretching wire, one stronger than the other; 6, a smith’s
portable vice for holding the wire; 7. a scoop for removing the

335

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

brains; 8. many files of different sizes and grains, from five
to twelve inches long; 9. a quantity of iron wire of different
sizes; 10. a hand-saw; 11. a small hammer and some nails of
different sizes; 12. some flat files, needles of different sizes,
bodkins with triangular blades; 18. pencils in horsehair and
badger-hair, the one for spreading the arsenical soap, the other
for smoothing the feathers; 14. thread and cotton for sewing
up and stuffing the skins of animals; 15. three stuffing-
wires about seven, twelve, and eighteen inches long; 16. a
pair of caliper compasses; 17. several stilettos, or bodkins,
varying in length, bradawls of different sizes, and a supply
of arsenical soap or paste, which is prepared according to
the following prescription:—To four pounds of white curd
soap add one pound of arsenic and one ounce of camphor;
cut the soap into thin slices and dissolve it in one pint
of water. When melted, add the arsenic and camphor,
stirring them well up together, and boil again until the
substance of a thick paste is attained, and pour it into
jars while hot. When cold tie it up carefully with bladder,
and it will retain its qualities for years im any climate.
A useful preservative powder is prepared as follows :—
To four pounds of alum add one pound of arsenic and two
ounces of the flour of sulphur; mix them well together and
pound them in a mortar to break the lumps. The use made
of this powder is to rub it into the skin during the process
of skinning. The wire used in bird and animal stuffing varies
from two sizes smaller than a pin, used for the smallest birds,
as humming-birds; to two sizes larger than a pin, used for
sparrows, canaries, and similar sized birds and animals. Black-
birds, thrushes, oreoles, and others of the same size, require
two sizes larger again; while squirrels, hares, and foxes among
quadrupeds, and the eagle among birds, require a wire strong
in proportion to their size.*

With these implements all kinds of animals may be skinned

and mounted whose size does not exceed that of the wolf. '

Larger animals amateurs will probably be disposed to leave to
professional hands.

In skinning a bird, having first provided all the articles for
anointing the skin, a little fine tow cut short, a little cotton-

* Arsenical soap, preservative powder, boxes containing all the requisite
instruments, corked boxes, and apparatus for butterfly collecting, and
glazed cases of all sizes, may be obtained in great variety at Messrs.
Buffon & bie Naturalists, 391, Strand, London.

a re

SKINNING AND PREPARING BIRDS.

srool, and some absorbing powder,—either burnt alum powdered, |
flour of sulphur, or plaster of Paris; and having stuffed a little |
cotton into the mouth, and tied or sewed the mandibles together
to prevent the mucous discharge which sometimes takes place, |
to the great injury of the plumage, lay the bird on its back |
on a bench or table covered with a clean white cloth, with the |
head towards the left hand of the operator; part the feathers |
carefully on the breast, and with a sharp knife or scalpel, the |
handle of which it will be convenient to have with a spatula,

make an incision from the sternum or breast-bone to the vent, |
just deep enough to cut the skin without penetrating the flesh |
or intestines. Raise the edge of the skin with the sharp edge
of the handle of the knife, and turn it back, cutting with the
knife where necessary, until the thigh-bone is reached. Having
done so, seize the leg and foot with one hand and the skin
with the other, and push the skin forward over the thigh
until the middle joint condyles of the thigh-bone become visible;
cut this through so as to leave the thigh-bone and leg attached
to the skim. Having done the same with the other side, the
lower part of the bird is entirely divested of its skin as far
as the tail. Having introduced the blade of a small knife |
between the skin and the back-bone, under the root of the tail,
draw it upwards so as to cut through the rump-bone, taking
care that the skin is not imjured in so doing. Now lay hold
of the carcase by the rump-bone with one hand, or, better still,
attach a hook to the rump-bone and suspend the carcase by |
it, and draw the skin gently but forcibly towards the head; _ |
the skin will readily peel off as far as the wings, the plumage
being of course inverted. The wings are now separated from |

the bod by cutting off the humerus, or fore-arm, where it joms

the body. The skin will now fall over the head, and, by gently

pulling it over the vertebra of the neck, the crown will be

exposed. The bird is now as represented in the engraving; the
° 337

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

skin inverted and drawn over the head, the femur or thigh-
bone attached as well as the first vertebree of the tail b, the
articulation of the humerus or pinion-bone c, where it was
separated from the body, the membranes of the ear d, with-
drawn from their cavities e, and the skin cut round the
cavities of the eyes f.

The head is now separated from the body at
Ay the last vertebrae, or rather a little beyond,
lad) being cut through the occipital opening a, to
———Sf © facilitate the removing the brains, which are

& withdrawn through the opening. The carcase is
now entirely disposed of.

The next operation is to remove the fleshy parts from the
head and cheekbones, clean out the occiput or cavity, and fill
the opening as well as the orbits of the eyes with cotton-wool,
having first given them a good coating with the preservative
paste. Having replaced the flesh removed from the cheeks and
crown with soft tow, turn the skin back over the head. The
wings are now to be skinned as far as the humeral bones by
pushing the skin backward over them; the bones are carefully
cleaned, all flesh, muscles, and tendons removed, the bones as
well as the skin covered with the preservative paste, and tow
or cotton-wool wrapped round them to replace the flesh and
give the appearance presented in life; the skin is then replaced.

The legs and thighs now undergo the same process. Taking
hold of the feet, the skin is gently pushed back over the tibia,
or leg-bones, to the knee-joimt, and the flesh and tendons re-
moved; by passing the knife round the head of the bones, the
flesh and tendons will be found to strip off cleanly from the
bone; a coating of soap is now given to the bone and skin, the
bone is covered with tow so as to give its natural appearance,
and the skin replaced; the same operation is performed on
the vertebrae attached to the tail, the flesh bemg removed as
far back as the insertion of the tail feathers, the skin and bones
stripped, covered with the soap, and the skin replaced as before.
The entire skin now receives a coating of the preservative
paste, and is ready for stuffing and mountmg. It is impor-
tant that, as these different parts are finished off, the feathers
should be arranged and made to fall into their places while
the skin is damp, otherwise it may be difficult to get them to
he smooth and in their natural order afterwards.

The process we have just described is applicable to all land-

birds, and to most water-birds also; but there are some, as the
338

SKINNING AND PREPARING QUADRUPEDS. |

penguin, dabchick, and some others, whose natural position is |

nearly upright, and their breast plumage thick, white, and
feathery ; from their upright attitude, sewing up the breast would
leave a very obvious mark in the pure white plumage. To |
obviate this defect, the cut is sometimes made in the side under
the wing; I myself prefer making it in the back, where I
can rely on finding plumage to conceal the stitches. In other
respects the process is the same; but all sea-birds being very
oily in their flesh, it is more necessary with them to use some
absorbent for the fatty matter and blood—a subject I have
purposely avoided, in order to prevent confusion in my descrip-
tion of the different processes.

There are, indeed, several modes of performing the operation
of skinning, differing in their details, but alike in all essentials,
the object being to obtain cleanliness, and avoid soiling the
plumage. Mr. Waterton employs for this purpose soft cotton-
wool, with which he covers the carcase up to the knife, pushing
it forward as the skin is raised; others use burnt alum pounded
to a powder, and flour of sulphur. The French naturalists use |
powdered plaster of Paris. For my own part, from long prac- |
tice, I can skin almost any animal without the slightest stain
on the plumage; but to those who have not had my experience
I would recommend plaster of Paris, as perfectly efficient, and,
being the least offensive powder. It should not be too copiously |
applied, but just dusted over the body as the skin is removed
in sufficient quantity to absorb the moisture, and no more.
It is also useful in removing any stain from the plumage, |
and is easily brushed off when dry.

Mr. Waterton also uses corrosive sublimate dissolved in |
spirits of wine as a substitute for the arsenical soap, and this
composition is strongly recommended by other naturalists, |
but I have not found anything so perfectly satisfactory as
M. Bécour’s soap. At the same time let me remind the reader
that it is a very deadly poison, and should be applied with
great caution, with gloves, on the hands, kept for the purpose,
to prevent its getting under the nails or other parts, and that |
it should never be suffered to be about within the reach of
children or animals; moreover, that it should always be marked
* poison ” on the jars.

SKINNING AND PREPARING QUADRUPEDS. |

The fox admits of most picturesque attitudes and accesso-

ries, and will admirably serve our purpose as an example.
a nihy

a

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.
Therefore, Reynard being procured, we need not say how, lay |

him on his back in the same position as before recommended ;
and, having first stuffed the mouth with cotton and tied
it up, and measured his neck and body with rule and calipers,
and noted them, proceed. Make an incision from the last rib
nearly to the vent, but not quite up to it. Having done so, pro-
ceed to raise the skin all round the incision as far as the thighs,
first skinning one side and then the other, using the flat end of
the knife in preference to the blade to raise the skin. Having
reached the hind legs, separate the latter at the femur or
thigh-bone close to the back-bone, leaving the legs attached
to the skin. Now skin the head-quarters close up to the tail,
and separate it from the body at the last vertebree, taking care
not to injure the skin. Pull the skin over the heads of the hip-
joimts, and now the carcase may be suspended by the hind-
quarters, while the skin is stripped by pulling it gently and cut-
ting towards the fore-quarters. The fore legs are separated from
the body, as the hind ones had been, close to the shoulder-bone,
and the skin fairly pulled over the head and close to the nose,
when the head is separated from the body by cutting through
the last vertebree of the neck. Reynard is now skinned, the
head, legs, and tail being all attached to the skin, from which
the carcase 1s separated.

The flesh is now cut entirely away from cheek-bones, the
eyes removed, the brains taken out by enlarging the occipital
opening behind the cranium, the whole cleaned and suppled
with a coating of arsenical paste, and stuffed with tow or wool
to the natural size.

The legs are now successively skinned by pushing out the
bones and inverting the skin over them until the foot-joint is
visible; every portion of flesh and tendons must be cut away,
and the bone cleaned thoroughly, and a coating of arsenical
soap laid over it as well as the skin. Wrap tow, or cotton, or
any other suitable material, round the bone, bringing it to its
natural shape, and draw the skin over it again. Do this to
each leg in succession, and the body itself is ready for stuffing
and mounting.

The utmost care will not prevent accidents: the fur and
plumage will get sullied, and before stuffing it is well to ex-
amine the skin, for stains and spots are calculated to deteriorate
its appearance. Grease or blood-spots may be removed by brush-
ing over with oil of turpentine, which is afterwards absorbed
by dusting plaster of Paris over; Macgillivray recommends

340

|

PREPARATIONS FOR REPTILES.

that all skins, whether they are to be put away in a cabi-
net or stuffed, should receive a washing of spirits of turpentine
sprinkled on, and gently brushed in the direction of the feathers
or fur. Not to trust too much to memory, it is desirable to
measure and note the proportions of the animal before skinning,
first taking the muzzle to the tail. Afterwards, from the junc-
tion of the tail to the tip. Secondly, from the middle of the
shoulder-blade, or scapula, to the articulation of the femur, or
thigh-bone. Thirdly, the animal beimg placed on its side,
measure from the upper part of the scapula to the middle of
the sternum—that is, to the spot where the two sides meet
above, and finally from the socket of the scapula to the socket
of the articulation of the femur or thigh-bone. In addition to
these, note, by measurement with caliper compasses, the size
of the head, the neck, the tail, and other pomts which affect the
shape of the animal. These measurements will serve as a guide
in stuffing, and for the size of the case and length of the mount-
ing wires. In the process of skinning, it is important to avoid
penetrating to the intestines, or separating any of the abdominal
muscles which lead to the intestines: any such accident would
be very disagreeable, as well as injurious to the skin.

PREPARATIONS FOR REPTILES.

In preserving reptiles, many different modes are adopted by
different naturalists. The first and most simple of all usually
employed by travellers, is to put them, when small in size, into
a vase or bottle of spirits—of spirits of wine, for example—but
before plunging them in, it is necessary to make an incision in
the belly, so that the liquor may enter the interior of the body,
and preserve the intestines. This may be employed for lizards,
frogs, toads, serpents, and for all reptiles not too large. For
the larger kinds, as the crocodile, for instance, it is neces-
sary to skin them; and this is done in the same way as in
the larger mammifers, only their skins being excessively hard
and provided with scales, it is necessary to prolong the incision
from the belly to the throat. Without turning the skin inside
out, raise it from the body. For the turtles, it is necessary to
have recourse to a hand-saw; their envelope, especially in the
terrestrial species, being so hard that it cannot be cut. The
plastron, or breastplate, is separated from the carapace by
making an incision on each side, and cutting through the skin

which surrounds the anterior and posterior members with a
341

ie.

pA TPR YPC IE EPC ROTC

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

scalpel, thus leaving the plastron free, and withdrawing all the
intestines from the place. The skin is now removed from
the other members, which are furnished with a paw so hard
that it is necessary to cut it open from top to bottom in
order to remove the fleshy parts beneath the shell. With re-
gard to the head, the skin need not be completely inverted,
because the plates or scales upon it can be detached from the
superficies; it is only necessary, therefore, to scoop out the eyes
without damaging the orbits and the brain, enduing all the
parts thoroughly with arsenical paste before covering them
with the tow on which the shell is to be replaced. The
breastplate thus restored is held in its place by means of iron
wire properly inserted.

Some serpents are so large that it is necessary to skin them in
order to their preservation. This is sometimes done by making
a cut round the neck immediately behind the head, raising
the edge of the skin round the incision, and drawing the body
through it, thus turning the skin inside out, a process which
might, in some instances, be attended with danger as well as
difficulty. A more convenient process is to make a longitudinal
incision into the belly, but a little on one side, taking care to
avoid damaging the large scales by cutting on one side of
them. ‘This done, the skin is raised by means of the scalpel,
the head separated from the body at its last vertebra,
leaving the head attached to the skin. When entirely sepa-
rated from the vertebrae, the brain removed, and the cavity
cleaned out, cover the inside of the skin with a coating of
arsenical paste, or wash it with spirit of turpentine and sew it
up neatly, placing a layer of cotton-wool under the seam,
taking care not to catch it up with the thread so as to prevent
the stuffing from showing itself through the interstices. This
done, fill it with dry sand, or, better still, with sawdust or
bran. It is important in all instances to preserve the head
of serpents as perfect as possible, as on its construction much
of the zoological character of the animal depends.

PRESERVING AND SKINNING FISHES.

The same means applied to serpents may be employed for
preserving fishes; but before putting it into practice the fish
must be washed in a mucilage which prepares them for the
spirit in which they are to be preserved. This is best done by

342

PRESERVING AND SKINNING FISHES.

making an incision under the belly, a little on one side, so as
to avoid cutting the fins; then, raising the skin from the sides
by the handle of the scalpel, separate the body from the tail,
and turn the skin towards the back in order to save the
dorsal fin, detaching the body from the head near the occiput,
and withdrawing the gills in order to wash and dry them.
The skin is now ready either for stuffing, sewing up, and
mounting, or for stretching between sheets of paper, which
preserves its colours; in this process the fins are afterwards
fixed upon plates of cork or cartridge-paper by means of pins.
There is not much to commend in this last process, for the
fins, which are the most striking characteristics of the fish,
soon become defaced.

_ Preservine Crustacea.—Small crustacea are easily pre-
served by plunging them into spirits, or even into chalky
water, in which they may be preserved some time; after which
they may be taken out and dried. Marine salt also preserves
them; but for larger species other means must be employed,
which approach to the skinning process although not quite
belonging to it. In order to get rid of the fleshy matter and
the gills, it is necessary to raise the shell which covers the
back of most of the species. The carapace, as the shell upon the
back is called, is replaced, after covering the bed with arsenical
soap and stuffing with cotton to replace the flesh removed.
The shell is held in its place by being gummed round the
edges. "When operating on species furnished with formidable
claws, the smaller opposing claw may be removed, the flesh ex-
tracted through the orifice, and the claw restored to its place.
Mollusks, as the occupants of these shells are called, are some-
times covered by a shell, in other species the body is always
naked. Both the marine, fluvial, and terrestrial species, may
be preserved in alcohol. The shelless mollusk may be other-
wise preserved alive; but those with the shell, where it is desired
to preserve that appendage apart from the animal, the only
mode is to plunge it into some spirit in which it can only live
a few minutes; when dead, it is easily withdrawn from its shell
by means of a piece of wire. When it is wished to preserve
the shell and bring out its fine colours, a weak solution of nitric
acid is employed, brushing it with a hard brush; for a second
washing use pure water. After which it is agam plunged
into fresh water to remove any of the acid which may remain,
when it may be wiped dry with a soft rag, and a coating of

oil applied which brings wp its colours,
ea

PRESERVING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

There are some marine creatures, such as the star-fish,
echinites, and some others, which are dried with very little
preparation. ‘The echinites are difficult to preserve, however,
with their spikes, and the only certain mode is to place them
in spirits of wine, and wrap them up in lmen, which may be
double or even triple when they are to be carried any distance.
It is necessary first, however, to put them in fresh water in
order to make them disgorge certain saline matters, withdrawing
them afterwards and putting them into a dry place.

STUFFING AND MOUNTING BIRDS.

Skins are sometimes kept so long as to have become hard
and dry; or they may be the skins of other climes which it
is desired to stuff and mount. I have already given directions
for preserving and moistening the skins of larger animals, but
there are hundreds of skins of birds and small animals sent daily
from India, Africa, America, and various other places, which re-
quire a different mode of treatment from those that are stuffed
immediately after being skimned. These skins, by the time
they reach England, are of course very dry, and require to be
thoroughly relaxed before they can be brought to a fit state
for stuffing. One plan is to get an earthenware pan with a
lid, and put three quarts of silver sand in it; after well washing
it, drain the water off and put a sheet of blotting-paper on
the top of the sand, and on this place the dry skins, as many
as will cover it without crowding, then put the lid on and
allow them to remain several days, when they will be found quite
fit for stuffing. Another method, which I find to answer very well
in most cases, is to take the wadding carefully out of the skins,
damp it, and replaceit; then get a clean damp cloth and roll
the skins in it; by this process, in the case of the skins of
small birds, they will be ready in twenty-four hours, when they
can then be stuffed in the manner I am about to describe.
In the case of birds of paradise and humming-birds, whose
skins are extremely delicate, it is found sufficient in practice to
suspend the skins over damp tow or moss after unstuffing them.

The same remark applies to specimens requiring remounting,
the old stuffing being drawn out with a hooked wire and re-
placed by wet tow, while a wet cloth is folded round, the skin
soon becomes moist and pliable, unless they have become very
hard indeed, when hot water, or the bath already described

a4

—$

ek.

STUFFING AND MOUNTING BIRDS.

might be used. I assume, however, that we have to do with
a recently removed skin which requires no such preparation.

Having all the required materials at hand, which consist of
some fine cut tow or cotton-wool, or both; suitable sized wires,
a stuffing wire (which consists of a strong wire, one end of which
has been beaten out into a spoon-like shape), a pair of cutting-
nippers and pliers, and the other tools already described; lay the
skin on its back, as before, with its head to the operator’s left ;
take a piece of wire of suitable size, and of sufficient length to
project an inch or so beyond the head and rump of the bird.
Having filed both ends to a point, take a piece of cork long enough
to reach from the rump to the side bones of the wing, pass the
wire through this piece of cork and double up one end of it so
as to form a loop or staple, the loose end of which is also fixed
in the cork. Now proceed carefully to stuff the head and
neck if not already done, imitating the form of the head and
the muscles of the neck to the best of your ability. This part
of the process, as well as stuffing the head, requires great care;
no inequalities of surface must appear except those natural to
the attitudes and natural muscles of the part. The head stuffed,
let it be carefully examined, and any defects in the stuffing cor-
rected ; this may be done by means of a hooked wire or pointed
bodkin inserted through the openings of the eyes; but it re-
quires great care, otherwise the orbits may be irretrievably
injured. Having arranged the head and neck in a satisfac-
tory manner, bearing in mind that all parts of the skin and
bone should be covered with soap or some other preservative,
the pointed wire may be pushed up the stuffing of the neck,
and through the crown of the head, until it projects an inch
or so beyond the cranium.

Two other wires are now selected of sufficient strencth to
support the bird; these are also filed to a point at one end,
and of a length suited to the legs of the bird, and are passed
through the feet by the side of the leg-bone. One end of the
wire is left projecting three or four inches through the foot ;
the other end, after being regulated to a suitable length, and
bent so as to accord with the shape of the body, is pushed
through the cork at the poimt where the legs were separated
from the body, and firmly riveted into it, or at least twisted at
the opposite side.

According to some methods, no cork is made use of, but a
loop is formed in the body wire at this point, to which the wires
of the leg are twisted on each side, and the place of the cork

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS

supplied by stuffing; in either case the position of the legs is
a very important element of success. In posing a bird, the
talons should never extend beyond the rump-bone, but much
will depend on the attitude the bird is to assume.

Where the tail is a small one, and is intended for a sitting or
perching bird, the single wire loop attached to the cork will
generally support it. But where the tailis long, or is intended
to be expanded, a second wire of smaller dimensions is used ; this
wire, being filed to a point, is also bent in the form of a staple,
with a broad or narrow exterior according to the shape of the
tailto be supported. The sharp points of this staple are forced
through the portion of the rump-bone left attached to the taal,
and inserted into the cork, while the bone rests against the first
wire, which thus acts as a fulcrum to the tail. The bird now
shows, as represented in the en-
oraving, the body wire occupying
the centre of the body, and coming
out at the tail and through the
cranium between the eyes, while
the wires of the legs and wings
are attached by a loop to the body
wires.

The process of stuffing the body
now commences; the tow or other
material used bemg wound round
the wires until something lke the
shape of the bird is attamed. The
legs and thighs claim particular

\ care; the wires which represent the

\\ \ tendons may be twisted in any
NN \ direction, but considerable skill
er will be required to represent truly
the form of the thighs and bend of the knees.

The set of the tail also requires much care; the flesh and
bone removed are replaced by tow or cotton-wool, which is pushed
in with the stuffing wire.

The operation of sewing up is now performed, during which
the stuffing is completed, all vacant places being filled in with
soit tow or cotton by means of the stuffing wire. As the work
proceeds, the caliper compasses will now be found useful if the
previous measurement of the dead bird were carefully made.
‘The sewing should be very neatly done, with fine cotton-thread,

taking care that none of the feathers are caught by the thread.
346

STUFFING AND MOUNTING BIRDS.

The stuffing and sewing up finished, and the feathers brushed
and placed in their proper order, a perch is provided for the
bird if it is a perching bird. ‘Two holes are bored in the perch
at proper distances, through which the wires of the feet are
pushed and riveted on the other side.

The wings are the next consideration. Having fixed upon
the position they are to occupy, cut two pieces of wire of suf-
ficient length to carry out the design; if they are to le close
to the body, a small wire passed through the first pinion joint
through the stuffing, and into the cork, willkeep them in thei
position. When they are expanded as in flying, the tail must
be expanded also; im this case the wire should be long enough to
support both joints of the wing, through which it is passed into
the cork in the body. I am not sure that one wire long enough
for both wings would not be an improvement on this arrange-
ment. Hach end of the wire being pointed, it could be pushed
through the joints and the wire twisted into the required form,
support bemg given to the wings by cardboard, cork, or by
double wire, as with the tail, where they were too heavy for one
wire. And now, it is only necessary to fix the eyes, which is
done in various modes: some eyes, being provided with a shank,
are stuck into the matter used for stuffing the head, using a
little gum round the edges; others fix them im with a little
putty ; the orbits are dressed and painted, the feathers neatly
arranged in their places; and some naturalists wash the whole
surface with rectified spirits of turpentine, both as a preserva-
tive and to give gloss and brilliancy to the plumage.

The operator’s taste may now be displayed in giving the
finishing touch to the setting of the bird. If the work has
been well executed, and the wires firmly mserted and riveted,
the neck, head, wing, feet, or tail, may be twisted in any
direction without fear of dislocation, and a good memory will
enable him to give it a natural and life-hke appearance.

The attitude must of course rest with the operator; but a few
words on the subject may direct his attention to certain ana-
tomical results which should accompany particular attitudes.
A bird seizing its prey, for instance, stretches out its leg with
extended claw and with head and neck bent forward, wings
raised in an arched form, and tail spread out vertically, and the
body also bending forward. In flying, the wings are spread out
to their whole extent, the tail in a line with the body and ex-
panded, the claws closed, and the legs drawn close to the body.
In a bird surprised, the side on which the alarm _ originated

34

ee a a A A

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

is raised, the wing on that side slightly elevated, the head turned
in the same direction, and the foot advanced, the tail drooping,
but raised slightly towards the point of alarm. Perhaps, how-
ever, the tyro will obtain a better lesson on this subject than we
can give by studying the attitudes given to birds in the sketches
of Mr. Harrison Weir, some of whose drawings illustrate the
series of books to which this belongs. 'The Landseers, Ansdell,
Wolff, and several artists of well-known repute as painters of
animals, may also be studied with advantage.

But his task is not yet finished; however carefully the skin-
ning may have been performed, there will be a difficulty with
some of the feathers. In order to keep them in their place, and
get them to be smooth, it is sometimes necessary to dress them
m a modeller’s iron, heated, taking care that the iron is not
hot enough to scorch the feathers. Having
got them into a proper state, the French
curators bind long bands of soft paper
round them to keep them in that position,
~ fixing the paper by means of pins, as in
the engraving. My own practice, and, I
believe, that of most English
naturalists, is to keep the
feathers in their place and
position by winding cotton-
thread round them. By this
jmeans, having smoothed a
feather into its proper curve
at the hollows and twists

of the neck, for instance,
by adie a thread round it in two or three places while it is
damp, I can be certain that it will retain that position when
dry; the thread wound round the body keeps every feather in
its place. This, I think, cannot be accomplished by a paper
band, however skilfully placed.

STUFFING AND MOUNTING QUADRUPEDS.

Before commencing operations, it is necessary to have the
materials which are to form the carcase at hand, as well as the
wires which are to form the framework, which must be propor-
tioned to the size of the animal. Cut the wire into five pieces,
of which four are for the limbs and the fifth for the body. This

348

nr RN te A A A i A NN LA SA RIS TREE

STUFFING AND MOUNTING QUADRUPEDS.

last is the frame to which ail the others are attached; for mam-
mifers which have a tail of any length, it is necessary to have a
sixth wire, a little shghter than the others, to represent that
appendage; each wire intended for the limbs and tail being, of
course, as long as it is intended to make the member, with
six Inches over to insert in the board on which it is to be
placed; the central wire or framework the length of the animal ;
and a third longer, for loops and projections.

Commencing with the tail, which is made up of the vertebrae
cleaned as far as possible from all fleshy ligaments, whose office
is now performed by the wire which has been thrust through
them ; round these tow is wound in regular order, until it has
acquired in its whole lenoth the necessary degree of thickness :
this done, cover it well with a coating of arsenical soap or cor-
rosive sublimate, and, thus prepared, introduce it into the caudal
envelope in such a manner as to resemble the natural tail of
the animal.

And now the wires for the fore legs, being reduced to the
proper length, are inserted into the foot and pushed through
by the side of the bone, and tow is wound round them in
such a manner as to represent the muscles and flesh upon
the limbs, terminating, as in the case of the tail, at the upper
part; the limbs, being each, in their turn, thus shaped and
covered with a coating of preserving paste, are inserted in the
skin, the wire projecting through the centre of the foot; but as
it is not always possible to give the exact form to the limbs in
this stage of the operation, it is attained afterwards by stuffing cut
wool into the parts to fill out to the proper shape of the model.
The hinder limbs are prepared in the same manner, but with
greater difficulty, from the complicated character of the tendons.
At the Musée de l’Histoire Naturelle at Paris, Madame Char-
pentier gets over the difficulty by taking out the tendon and
replacing it by a second wire, which is made to enter the bone
of the foot, and is afterwards attached to the knee-bone. The
bones of the hind leg being properly endued with preserving
soap, the form of the limb is exactly imitated and inserted into
the skin, as we have indicated for the others.

The four members and tail thus disposed of, the head demands
the utmost attention, especially the lips and eyes. The arrange-
ment of the lips consists in replacing the fleshy parts, which
have been removed, by stuffing. The cotton-wool is not suffi-
ciently plastic for this operation, and requires to be well mixed
with arsenical soap, so as to form a sort of thick paste of the

349

es nn a
re npr a UO er PPP PA ELA I SL COLO

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS.

consistence of putty. With this the form of the animal’s lips
are moulded, or modeller’s wax may be used for the same pur-
pose, so as to fill up the more delicate fleshy parts, which have
no hairy covering; the cheeks being stuffed with fine cotton-
wool, retained in its place sometimes by a piece of fine calico,
which surrounds the head, the whole being covered with soap.
The skin is now drawn over the whole as far as the cartilages
of the ears, which are sewed on and fixed in their place.

The sixth wire or framework is now fixed in the middle of
the body, from the neck to the tail, penetrating the bones of
the head between the eyes, as represented in the engraving, the
wires for the four feet and tail — attacked in the following
manner, having previously surrounded the wire with tow
approximating to the thickness of the neck of the animal:
At the junction of the anterior members with the body, a loop
is made in the body wire to which those forming the limbs are
firmly attached; a cork is sometimes placed at the end of the
body wire, to which the tail is attached, as in the case of
‘birds, but in general the wire

which forms the tail is only
twisted round the central wire
in such a manner as to form a
sufficient fulcrum for carrying
the tail. All the wires bemg
aitached, and the members
placed in the position they are
to retain when the animal is
mounted, the stuffing may pro-
ceed. We have now to do with
the neck, which was roughly
stuffed to receive the body wire.
It now requires more careful
stuffing with fine material to
bring out the contour and mus-
cular swellings. This should be
stuffed with great care, first
giving it a coating of soap;
no void must be left near the
head, nor must it be thicker
than in nature. As the opera-
tor approaches the body, as
much natural form should be
given as possible. In sewing up, also, the suture of the two

STUFFING AND MOUNTING FISH.

edges of the skin should be neatly executed so as to be covered
with the hair, commencing at the breast, which permits the
tow used to be more easily supplied when it fails, the stuffing
should be finished as the sewing proceeds; using a stufiing- |
wire and fine tow or cotton-wool for the purpose.

The animal is now fixed upon the board it is to occupy, four
holes being pierced in it at proper distances, the lower extre- |
mities of the wires, forming the limbs, are placed in them, and
riveted beneath the board m such a manner asto render the |
figure of the animal immoveable. And now the eye of the
artist comes into play; the attitude which is most naturaltothe |
animal when living is now to be imitated, and on the taste of the |
operator will depend whether the imitation is successful or not. |

The mouth is now to be arranged, and the lips moulded into
form, the nostrils reduced to order and filled with cotton to
hinder them from shrivelling. Fimally, the orbits of the eyes
are put in proper condition to receive artificial eyes, which are
held firmly in their place by an application of gum to the edge
of the pupils, while the ears are held to their places by pieces
of cardboard or linen, occupying the place of the cartilages.
And now the animal is left to dry, durmg which it should be |
looked at daily to see that the skin does not in drying get |
puffed out in some place, or show differences in another—acci- |
dents which should be remedied at once by means of the bodkin |
already described.

STUFFING AND MOUNTING FISH.

In most fishes there is a line from head to tailm the middle |
of the body. Place the fish on its side, and, with a sharp knife |
or pair of scissors, clip the gills; then proceed to clip the skin
from head to tail down that line; a paper-knife is the best |
thing for dividing the skin from the body. Having separated |
the skin from one side, cut the back-bone through at both ends,
and proceed to skin the other in the same way. Remove the |
eyes, and a little flesh under each eye, and rub the skm weliin
the inside with preservative, and sew up the skin again, begin- |
ning at the tail, and sew up by degrees, as it is fitted to its |
proper shape, using wet bran, putting a flat piece of wood in |
the middle of the body, with two pieces of wire fastened in it, |
to support the fish. The wood must be the length of the fish.

Be careful to mould the fish to its proper shape while it is
damp; then let it dry.

:
|

FO ne ae a Oe

PREPARING SKELETON LEAVES.

Gather the leaves from the middle of summer to September,
put them in one gallon of soft water, let them soak for almost
a month, and then take out a leaf and try it; if it is ready,
the green coat will rub off directly and leave the fibre; some
will take two months before they are ready; but you can
always tell by rubbing the leaf rather gently. After ob-
taining the skeleton of the leaves, place them in one quart
of water, with two table-spoonfuls of chloride of lime, well
mixed; let them remain about twelve hours, and they will
be perfectly white. Keep them in a close box until you want
to use them. The best and most ornamental way to mount
them, is to get either round or oval shades and gilt or black
stands ; cover the stand with velvet, black or coloured, accord-
ing to taste, and then arrange the leaves so as to form a pretty
group; when the shade is placed over it, with chenille, it will
be a very handsome ornament.

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