Chapter XXVII: Section 1: LONG-HAIRED MAMMALS OF MEDIUM SIZE.--Examples

Wolves, certain dogs, large apes, baboons and monkeys; the
smaller bears, hair seals, all long-haired quadrupeds from the
size of the fox to the Newfoundland dog; also, all old dry
skins of mammals between the two sizes mentioned._

While it will be advised in Section III. of this subject to mount _short-haired_ skins of the above sizes upon clay-covered manikins, it is very often an impossibility to pursue this course with a dry skin, no matter what its pelage may be like. Dry skins more than one year old are usually so shrunken, hard, and inelastic, that in circumference they are one or two sizes smaller than life, and it is very often impossible to stretch them sufficiently to make them fit over a manikin of the right size. The only way in which enough power can be brought to bear upon them to force them to stretch to their proper size in neck and body, is to fill them with straw, and ram it so hard that the skin is forced to stretch. Even if you fill a shrunken body so full that it will stretch no more, if you keep it thoroughly moist, or even wet, in wet cloths, and return to the charge next day with more straw and muscle, you will find that the skin yields a good deal more, and perhaps reaches the right size without further protest. Very often this is the only treatment that will save an old, dry skin from becoming a total loss. In all such cases _fill out the worst shrunken parts first_, to make sure of conquering them, and leave the less difficult portions to the last.

The chief differences between the method described in the previous chapter for mounting small mammals, and that for the subjects included in this section are simply these: (1.) The larger animals require leg wires or irons that are too large to be bent at will and twisted together. (2.) Where rods are used, a thread must be cut on the lower end of each to receive a nut under the pedestal, because leg rods can not be fastened in any other way. (3.) A stout wooden bar must be used in the body for the leg, head, and tail wires, or irons, to run through, and upon which all these can be stapled down firmly. (4.) For various reasons, it is best that all these animals should be filled with straw by the old process of stuffing.

To mount a specimen belonging in this section, proceed precisely as directed in the previous chapter, with wiring and making each leg, _except_ where the specimen is so large that it requires rods for the legs instead of wires. It is only the larger and heavier animals of this section, viz., the wolves, large dogs, large kangaroos, anthropoid apes, and the like, that require rods instead of wires. For your foxes, baboons, and small kangaroos, you can use wires of the large sizes, of about the same proportionate length as for your squirrel. In getting out the rods for the legs of your large specimens, use Norway iron, because it is toughest, and proceed as follows:

Decide upon the attitude of your specimen, then lay the bones of each leg in its intended position on the table, take a straight wire of large size (No. 9) and bend it to fit the back of the leg bones, precisely where you wish your rod to go. Leave an end about two and one-half inches long, projecting _straight downward_ from the centre of the foot, to go through the pedestal and receive a nut underneath. Cut a thread on this lower end, and fit a hexagonal nut. For the hind legs, let the upper end of each rod project beyond the upper end of the femur for a distance equal to about two-thirds the length of that bone. The irons to support the head should be two in number, and should be long enough to reach from the end of the nose to the centre of the body. The tail iron will be regulated by circumstances.

THE HAND OF AN ANTHROPOID APE.--It nearly always happens that every skin of a large gorilla, chimpanzee, or orang utan is totally destitute of bones. Now the hand of such an animal is a very important feature. Do not attempt to make it with wires and tow alone, for if you do, the fingers will be semicircles, resembling the half of an over-brown doughnut. Each joint must show _an angle_, and each finger be _flat_ on the inside. The accompanying cut (Fig. 29) shows how to make the hand of an anthropoid ape so that it shall be as natural as life. The wooden bones give the proper angles at the joints, and the tow-wrapped wire underneath gives the finger its proper breadth. When all is ready, cover each finger manikin with clay, _make the palm hollow and flat_, and let the end of the iron rod come out in the centre of the palm. This method gives a hand that is beyond criticism. For hand and foot studies of apes and monkeys, see "The Standard Natural History," vol. v., page 512.

The following animals, when of adult size, require leg supports of the following sizes: Large foxes, No. 8 wire; olive baboon, No. 5 or 6; small kangaroo, No. 4 to 6; wolverine, No. 6; coyote, 1/4 inch rod; setter dog, 1/4 inch; peccary, 1/4 inch; great ant-eater, 1/4 inch; gray wolf, 5/16 inch; giant kangaroo, 3/8 inch for hind legs; harp seal, 3/8 inch.

Having made the legs complete, lay the skin upon its back, with the legs spread out, make the irons or wires cross each other as shown in the accompanying figure (Plate VI.), and then hew out a piece of tough wood of the general shape and proportion as that shown in the cut. Let this be as small as practicable to avoid splitting when the irons are stapled down upon it. Round off the corners and the ends, so that you can easily work all around this wooden backbone, when filling the animal. Now lay this piece of wood in the skin, upon the crossed leg irons, mark the points at which the irons need to pass through it, and bore holes accordingly, _slanting_ each hole through the stick, for good reasons. The next step is to pass the irons through these holes (by bending them a little, and straightening them afterward) and when all are through, adjust the legs so that there is plenty of loose skin in the body, both in length and breadth. Remember that the stick is to be in the centre of the body, not the top. When the adjustment is complete, bend the end of each iron sharply down upon the stick, and staple it down with the utmost firmness.

Next pass one of your neck irons through the skull from back to front, boring a hole at the back for the purpose, so as to make the end of the iron pass out at the nasal cavity. Replace the missing flesh of the skull with tow or excelsior, bound down with thread, cover all with clay, poison the inside of the head and neck skin with arsenical soap, insert the skull in the head, and fasten the lower end of each neck iron firmly upon the centre stick.

The tail must now be made, but it is wise to fasten the tail iron so that it can be made to slip out or in, until it is known precisely how long it shall be, and then the end may be fastened securely with staples. Now bend up the legs into position, and give the animal its attitude. Procure your pedestal, or limb of a tree, and place the animal in attitude upon it; mark where the iron supports are to pass through, bore the necessary holes, and see if the animal will stand just as you wish it to. If not, work at its legs, and bore new holes until it does; then take it off, poison the inside of the skin liberally with strong arsenical soap, and proceed to stuff it with straw, or chopped tow, or excelsior if you prefer that, but I never do. For my own use I prefer soft straw, chopped fine.

Fill the neck first, using your wooden filler, then the body. If the body threatens to be too small, fill that first. Before going far, fill out the hind-quarters properly. Work on the body _all over at the same time_, and do not finish one-half of the animal before you have touched the other half, for this course would get you into endless trouble.

Having filled the body full, and shaped it the best you can, and sewn it up at all points save two,--a hole between the forelegs and one under the tail,--now put it in final position on its pedestal, and fasten it there. Having done this and surveyed the scene, you will observe that the form of the animal is very faulty, and the skin not nearly full enough. Something more must be done.

Unless the specimen is a seal, or something else with short, close hair, part the hair carefully and make a long, perpendicular slit in the skin behind each foreleg and in each flank, as shown in Plate III., I-I, and K-K. Through these openings you can introduce your metal filling tools, and also filling materials _ad libitum_, and give the interior a complete overhauling. You can easily push your iron filler through the straw, and raise the line of the back, shoulders, or hind-quarters, and lower the line of the breast and abdomen until both are right. Then, fill with more straw, or tow, if you like now. Through these holes you command the entire body of the animal at every point, and now you must work out your own salvation. When all is finished and the body is quite full and solid, sew up the openings carefully, and unite the hair over them so that they will be hidden. If you are careless in filling, and pull out a lot of hair around each of the openings, so much the worse for you.

For full instructions in regard to work on heads, see a special chapter.

_Cutting out Pieces of Skin._--It not infrequently happens that in mounting an old skin it will be found to have been unduly stretched in drying, and in spite of one's best efforts there will be too much skin in a flank, or behind a shoulder, or that the body itself will be entirely too large. In such cases, when the animal is clothed with hair which can be made to hide the seams, it is necessary and permissible to cut a long slit in the skin where the looseness occurs, and cut out a strip so that when the edges are brought together the wrinkle no longer exists. Usually such cuts are made in the shape of a triangle running out to a very fine point, so that when the incision is sewn up the entire adjacent surface will be quite smooth.

When a taxidermist has a fresh skin, or one which has been but recently prepared dry, it is very seldom that any skin-cutting is necessary. With a good elastic skin there are ways of working away from any part a superabundance of skin, or forcing the skin on parts adjacent to the wrinkles to contract sufficiently to cause their disappearance.

On close-haired animals, wrinkles must be worked away, which can in a majority of cases be accomplished by hard, persevering work with the filler. With long-haired animals which have no stripes or spots, and on which the hair can be made to hide all seams, it is best to cut out triangular strips of skin. In the latter case it saves much time and hard labor. It certainly gives a better specimen, and if such tricks leave no visible trace upon the animal, where is the harm? I care not if a skin be slit in twenty places so long as the cuts are tightly sewn up, _and are invisible to the eye of the observer_.

Bird skins must never be cut in this way, for to the ornithologist who diligently studies every specimen, the presence of every feather and every bare spot naturally belonging to the bird is of importance. Do not forget this caution, unless you wish to call down upon your head the just wrath of the ornithologist. Neither is it possible to do any skin-cutting upon reptiles, for there is no natural covering to hide seams, and to cut out any scales is to mutilate a specimen.