Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/399

Rh equally efficacious, but I would strongly warn everyone against the use of alum for bird-skins, as it tends to make them brittle, and I fancy is not of much effect against the attacks of Dermestes. For the skins of large animals it may be useful. I always anoint my specimens with carbolic acid and a special kind of powder containing such, and make a mixture of the two, which I paint on the skin of the creature I am preserving. Arsenical soap should also be avoided, as it is undoubtedly dangerous to have much to do with this poison. That an ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory is an axiom which no one would think of disputing, and the beginner who can start away under the supervision of a professional is to be envied. I had to wait several years before such a chance was available. Most professional taxidermists I have met have been very kind in giving me many hints, which have been of the greatest use, and they themselves are always glad to hear of any new "discoveries," even if they do not adopt them. Presuming, therefore, that the following suggestion may be of some use to those readers who study taxidermy, and also in meeting a well-recognized difficulty, I should be pleased to hear if my idea meets with any approval. Everyone has noticed, even in the cases of the South Kensington Museum, where a sheet of glass is made to represent water, the utter absence of ripples, and this is all the more noticeable where a bird is stuffed swimming or at rest in the water. My plan is to paint, in very dilute glue, those ripples which would naturally occur from the motion, however slight, of the bird in the pool of water. I have found it the most realistic of any plan which I have as yet come across, and I sincerely hope it may be of some use to others until a better one is substituted. The glue does not crack or chip off (according to my experience) as one might expect. I very much want to know of some cheap way of making a large hole in a sheet of glass, as is done in the National Museums, in order to receive the body of a bird or the stump of a tree. I should be delighted to hear of any feasible plan which would answer my purpose. Another thing I should like to know is the address of some firm which supplies really good artificial flowers, leaves, &c, at moderate prices. Good accessories are of great advantage to the life-like effect of a carefully-finished case.

A few words more as regards the accessories, more especially the rockwork: anyone who has a taste for painting and an eye for colour will find it of no great difficulty to successfully imitate the colour of any stone, and a well-painted scene at back of a case is a great pièce de résistance of undoubted value to the general tout ensemble. Witness some of Rowland Ward's cases; the beauty and perfection of detail are charming. It is most satisfactory to look at cases made years ago and compare them with those which have recently been finished. The amount of improvement which is acquired by constant practice will be noticed at once. I think a case