Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/441

Rh species of the animal world in the nearest approach to its original form and beauty, for when so preserved they are a lifelong delight to their owner and to others of a kindred spirit. Then with regard to the professional taxidermist, of course it is only right that as he has his living to make by the business he should be chary of gratuitously imparting his skill and knowledge to others; but the day has gone by when the knowledge of these things was held only by a few, and every first-class professional man is always ready and willing to give instruction for a reasonable quid pro quo. I could name one or two, regular readers of 'The Zoologist,' who, if I mistake not, would gladly contribute on the matter, as it is one thing to be told how to do it, and quite another to do it. No one can hope to succeed who has not infinite patience and a love for his work, and then indeed practice makes perfect. In these days when Taxidermy has been raised to a high art, as witness the beautiful cases in the national collection at South Kensington, where every detail is made as true to nature as possible, there is no room for bad work. It is as easy to be accurate as the reverse, but many men who can set up a bird passably well as regards form, fail lamentably in those niceties of detail, inattention to which completely spoils a specimen. How often does one see birds placed in impossible positions, legs and beak painted the wrong colour, the tint of the iris completely ignored, fearful and wonderful productions called rockwork covered with all sorts of impossible leaves and plants and bits of variously coloured glass, birds in winter plumage cased amidst summer surroundings, and vice versâ, and even the breasts of sea-birds whitewashed! Quot homines tot sententiæ, and so with Taxidermy: one man opens his birds up the breast, another under the wing, and another down the back; one uses soft stuffing entirely, another a hard body exactly the size of the one he has removed from the skin, and another uses a combination of the two, and as in the hands of a past master each method is capable of producing excellent results, everyone must choose for himself. With regard to preservative powders,—liquids, soaps, &c,—their name is legion, from the most deadly to the equally efficacious though most harmless. Most professionals pin their faith on the deadly ones; one man that I knew had his finger-nails eaten away, suffered from salivation, and the usual concomitants of mercurial poisoning,