Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting
by William T. Hornaday · English · Gutenberg #40109 · 774,870 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting
Author: William T. Hornaday
W. J. Holland
Illustrator: Charles B. Hudson
Release date: June 30, 2012 [eBook #40109]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING ***
[Illustration: HEAD OF ROYAL BENGAL TIGER. MOUNTED BY THE AUTHOR.]
TAXIDERMY
AND
ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING
_A COMPLETE HANDBOOK FOR THE AMATEUR TAXIDERMIST,
COLLECTOR, OSTEOLOGIST, MUSEUM-BUILDER,
SPORTSMAN, AND TRAVELLER_
BY
WILLIAM. T. HORNADAY
_For eight years Chief Taxidermist of the U.S. National Museum; for
seven years Zoological Collector and Taxidermist for Ward's Natural
Science Establishment; late Superintendent of the National Zoological
Park; author of "Two Years in the Jungle," etc._
WITH CHAPTERS ON
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS
BY W.J. HOLLAND, PH.D., D.D.
_Chancellor Western University of Pennsylvania; President of the
Academy of Science and Art of Pittsburg, and the Iron City
Microscopical Society; Life Member of the Ent. Soc. of France; Fellow
of the Ent. Soc. of London, etc._
ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES BRADFORD HUDSON
AND OTHER ARTISTS
24 plates and 85 Text Illustrations
_FOURTH EDITION_
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1894
COPYRIGHT, 1891 BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK
To
G. BROWN GOODE, LL D.
WHOSE LIBERAL POLICY HAS DONE SO MUCH
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF AMERICAN TAXIDERMY
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED AS AN EXPRESSION
OF APPRECIATION OF HIS VALUABLE PUBLIC SERVICES IN THE
ORGANIZATION, DIRECTION, AND DEVELOPMENT OF
THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
AND ALSO OF
SINCERE PERSONAL REGARD
PREFACE.
In these heydays of popular zoology, when eager young naturalists are
coming to the front in crowds, and fine new scientific museums are starting
up on every hand, there is small need to apologize for the appearance of a
work designed expressly for the naturalist and museum-builder. Had justice
been done, some one would have written this book ten years ago.
The rapid and alarming destruction of all forms of wild animal life which
is now going on furiously throughout the entire world, renders it
imperatively necessary for those who would build up great zoological
collections to be up and doing before any more of the leading species are
exterminated. It is already too late to collect wild specimens of the
American bison, Californian elephant seal, West Indian seal, great auk, and
Labrador duck. Very soon it will also be too late to collect walrus,
manatee, fur seal, prong-horn antelope, elk, moose, mountain sheep, and
mountain goat. All along the Atlantic coast and in Florida the ducks are
being exterminated for the metropolitan markets, and the gulls, terns,
herons, egrets, ibises, and spoonbills are being slaughtered wholesale for
the equally bloodthirsty goddess of Fashion. If the naturalist would gather
representatives of all these forms for perpetual preservation, and future
study, he must set about it at once.
This work is offered as my contribution to the science of zoology and the
work of the museum-builder. It is entirely "an affair of the heart," and my
only desire in regard to it is that it may be the means of materially
increasing the world's store of well-selected and well-preserved examples
of the beautiful and interesting animal forms that now inhabit the earth
and its waters. The sight of a particularly fine animal, either alive or
dead, excites within me feelings of admiration that often amount to genuine
affection; and the study and preservation of such forms has for sixteen
years been my chief delight.
In these pages I have sought to give, in clear language, the detailed
information which I have found deplorably lacking in all "manuals" on this
subject that I have ever seen, save one, in French, published many years
ago, and which, while very tiresome to write out, are precisely what the
practical worker wants. I hold a permanent grudge against those who have
written before me on the subjects here treated of, because of what they did
_not_ write. The average book on taxidermy contains four times too much
"padding," and not one quarter enough practical information. "If this be
treason, make the most of it."
The students of entomology are indebted to Dr. Holland for his admirable
chapters on Insects, and I leave them to make their own acknowledgments. My
own very sincere thanks are hereby tendered him for his valuable
contribution to this work, thereby making it complete. I am also under
obligations to Mr. Charles Bradford Hudson, the accomplished artist, whose
skill has done so much to explain and embellish the text. The spirit and
interest with which he entered into his share of the work very materially
lightened and encouraged my own tardy labors.
My thanks are also due to my valued friend, Mr. Frederic A. Lucas, of the
Department of Comparative Anatomy, National Museum, and one of the founders
of the Society of American Taxidermists, for advice and assistance in the
preparation of the illustrations relating to work on skeletons. Mr. W.
Harvey Brown, Naturalist of the U.S. Eclipse Expedition to Africa, kindly
wrote for me nearly all of the chapter on "Mounting Disarticulated
Skeletons;" Messrs. William Palmer and John W. Hendley, of the National
Museum, also rendered me valuable services; for all of which I gladly
record here an expression of my thanks and appreciation.
Having already retired from taxidermy forever, this is positively my "last
appearance" in this field.
W.T.H.
BUFFALO, N.Y.
CONTENTS.
Part 1.
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
THE WORKER, AND THE WORK TO BE DONE, 1-7
CHAPTER II.
OUTFITS, AND HINTS ON HUNTING, 8-19
CHAPTER III.
HOW TO SELECT AND STUDY FRESH SPECIMENS, 20-23
CHAPTER IV.
TREATMENT OF THE SKINS OF SMALL MAMMALS, 24-36
CHAPTER V.
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING THE SKINS OF LARGE MAMMALS, 37-45
CHAPTER VI.
COLLECTING SKINS OF SMALL BIRDS, 46-57
CHAPTER VII.
COLLECTING SKINS OF LARGE BIRDS, 58-63
CHAPTER VIII.
COLLECTING REPTILES, 66-70
CHAPTER IX.
COLLECTING FISHES, 71-79
CHAPTER X.
COLLECTING MARINE INVERTEBRATES, 80-89
CHAPTER XI.
COLLECTING BIRDS' EGGS AND NESTS, 90-97
Part 2.
TAXIDERMY.
CHAPTER XII.
THE LABORATORY AND ITS APPOINTMENTS, 99-101
CHAPTER XIII.
PRELIMINARY WORK IN MOUNTING MAMMALS, 102-107
CHAPTER XIV.
PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL APPLICATION IN MOUNTING THE HIGHER
VERTEBRATES, 108-114
CHAPTER XV.
MOUNTING SMALL MAMMALS, 115-128
CHAPTER XVI.
MOUNTING LARGE MAMMALS: ORDINARY METHODS, 129-139
CHAPTER XVII.
MOUNTING LARGE MAMMALS: THE CONSTRUCTION OF MANIKINS, 140-149
CHAPTER XVIII.
FINISHING MOUNTED MAMMALS, 150-157
CHAPTER XIX.
MOUNTING MAMMAL HEADS AS TROPHIES AND ORNAMENTS, 158-170
CHAPTER XX.
FACIAL EXPRESSION AND MOUTH MODELING, 171-178
CHAPTER XXI.
RELAXING DRY SKINS OF BIRDS, 179-182
CHAPTER XXII.
MOUNTING SMALL BIRDS, 183-190
CHAPTER XXIII.
MOUNTING LARGE BIRDS, 191-197
CHAPTER XXIV.
CLEANING THE PLUMAGE OF BIRDS, 198-201
CHAPTER XXV.
MOUNTING REPTILES, 202-207
CHAPTER XXVI.
MOUNTING FISHES, 208-216
CHAPTER XXVII.
MOUNTING LOBSTERS AND CRABS, 217-219
CHAPTER XXVIII.
ORNAMENTAL TAXIDERMY, 219-228
CHAPTER XXIX.
GROUPS AND GROUPING, 229-235
CHAPTER XXX.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF GROUP-MAKING, 236-239
CHAPTER XXXI.
GROUPS OF MAMMALS, 240-247
CHAPTER XXXII.
GROUPS OF BIRDS AND REPTILES, 248-250
CHAPTER XXXIII.
HINTS ON PAINTING MUSEUM SPECIMENS, 251-257
Part 3.
MAKING CASTS.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL APPLICATION IN MAKING MOULDS AND
CASTS, 259-267
CHAPTER XXXV.
CASTS OF MAMMALS, FISHES, AND REPTILES, 268-270
Part 4.
OSTEOLOGY.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
COLLECTING SKELETONS, 271-281
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CLEANING LARGE SKELETONS BY MACERATING, 282-284
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CLEANING AND MOUNTING SMALL SKELETONS, 285-295
CHAPTER XXXIX.
MOUNTING A LARGE DISARTICULATED SKELETON, 296-304
Part 5.
THE COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.
CHAPTER XL.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS, 305-308
CHAPTER XLI.
EGGS AND LARVÆ: BREEDING AND REARING, 309-319
CHAPTER XLII.
COLLECTING IMAGOES, 320-327
CHAPTER XLIII.
PREPARATION, CARE, AND DISPLAY OF INSECTS, 328-338
Part 6.
GENERAL INFORMATION.
CHAPTER XLIV.
INSECT PESTS, AND POISONING, 339-345
CHAPTER XLV.
USEFUL INFORMATION, 346-350
CHAPTER XLVI.
THE BEST BOOKS OF REFERENCE, 351-355
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FULL-PAGE PLATES.
FACING
I. HEAD OF ROYAL BENGAL TIGER. (_Frontispiece._) PAGE
II. TWO PAGES FROM AN OLD FIELD NOTE-BOOK (Double Plate), 22
III. MEASUREMENTS OF A LARGE MAMMAL, 38
IV. HOW TO CUT OPEN AND MOUNT A FISH, 76
V. PARING DOWN A LARGE MAMMAL SKIN, 104
VI. INTERIOR MECHANISM OF A HALF-MOUNTED WOLF, 132
VII. MANIKIN FOR BENGAL TIGER: FIRST STAGE, 142
VIII. MANIKIN FOR BENGAL TIGER: COMPLETED, 148
IX. MANIKIN FOR MALE AMERICAN BISON: HALF FINISHED, 152
X. MANIKIN FOR AMERICAN BISON: COMPLETED, 156
XI. HEAD OF PRONG-HORN ANTELOPE, 168
XII. WORKSHOP OF A BIRD TAXIDERMIST, 182
XIII. MOUNTED BIRD, WITH INTERIOR STRUCTURE EXPOSED, 192
XIV. MOUNTING AN ALLIGATOR: LAST STAGE, 206
XV. AMERICAN LOBSTER, 217
XVI. SPECIMENS OF ORNAMENTAL TAXIDERMY (Double Plate), 222
XVII. A FIGHT IN THE TREE-TOPS, 231
XVIII. GROUP OF COYOTES, 235
XIX. GROUP OF AMERICAN BISON (Double Plate), 246
XX. A LIGAMENTARY SKELETON, MOUNTED AND DRYING, 288
XXI. SKELETON OF AN AMERICAN BISON, 298
{ FIG. 1.--BEATING THE BUSH, 320
XXII. { FIG. 2.--A SUCCESSFUL STROKE, 320
{ FIG. 1.--BOTTLING A SKIPPER, 326
XXIII. { FIG. 2.--JAPANESE PORTER WITH COLLECTING BOXES, 326
TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS.
PART I.
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING.
FIG. PAGE
1. THE BEST KNIVES FOR A COLLECTOR OR TAXIDERMIST, 15
2. SQUIRREL PARTLY SKINNED 27
3. SKINNING A SQUIRREL'S HEAD, 28
4. A MODEL MAMMAL SKIN, 34
5. ANOTHER FORM OF MAMMAL SKIN, 35
6. OPENING CUTS ON A LARGE MAMMAL, 40
7. OPENING CUTS AT BACK OF PRONG-HORN ANTELOPE'S HEAD, 41
8. A WELL-MADE DRY DEER-SKIN, 43
9. FOOT OF AN ORANG-UTAN, 44
10. NAMES OF THE EXTERNAL PARTS OF A BIRD, 47
11. FIRST STEPS IN SKINNING A BIRD, 50
12. BIRD SKIN, WRONG SIDE OUT, 51
13. THE BIRD SKIN IN POSITION, 53
14. THE SKIN HALF WRAPPED, 54
15. SPREADING THE TAIL, 55
16. THE SKIN FULLY WRAPPED, 55
17. A PERFECT BIRD SKIN, 56
18. HOW TO SHAPE A HERON SKIN, 60
19. HOW TO OPEN A TURTLE, 69
20. AGASSIZ TANK, FOR ALCOHOLICS, 73
21. BIRD NEST, _in situ_, 92
22. WIRE STANDARD FOR NESTS, 93
23. NEST ON WIRE STANDARD, WITH LABELS, 94
PART II.
TAXIDERMY.
24. SKIN SCRAPERS, ABOUT ONE-FOURTH ACTUAL SIZE, 103
25. LEG MAKING AND WIRING, 117
26 WIRING TOGETHER, 119
26a. THE LEGS WIRED TOGETHER, 121
27. THE FINISHED SPECIMEN, 124
28. AUTHOR'S METHOD OF MOUNTING BATS ON GLASS, 128
29. ARTIFICIAL SKELETON FOR HAND OF AN ORANG-UTAN, 131
30. FILLERS OF VARIOUS KINDS, 133
31. AN IRON SQUARE, 136
32. LEG IRONS OF AN AMERICAN BISON, 144
33. SKINNING A DEER'S EAR, 161
34. THE EAR HALF-SKINNED, 161
35. SKINNING DOWN THE INSIDE, 162
36. THE CARTILAGE OUT, 162
37. INTERNAL MECHANISM OF A DEER'S HEAD, 164
38. COMPLETE MANIKIN FOR A DEER'S HEAD, 165
39. MODELING TOOLS OF WOOD, 173
40. MODELING TOOLS OF WOOD, 173
41. MODELING TOOLS OF WOOD, 173
42. STEEL MODELING TOOL, 174
43. STEEL MODELING TOOL, 174
44. STEEL MODELING TOOL, 174
45. SIDE VIEW OF TIGER'S TONGUE, 175
46. END VIEW OF TIGER'S TONGUE, 175
47. TOP VIEW OF TIGER'S TONGUE, 175
48. WIRING A BIRD'S LEG, 184
49. CROSS-SECTION OF ARTIFICIAL BODY, 185
50. THE FINISHED BODY AND NECK, 185
51. HOW THE LEG WIRES ARE INSERTED AND CLINCHED, 186
52. THE WINDING OF THE BIRD, 189
53. CAST OF THE NECK AND WINDPIPE OF A HERON, 195
54. METHOD OF MOUNTING ALCOHOLIC REPTILES, 203
55. MEDALLION OF YELLOW PIKE, 213
56. CROSS SECTION, 213
57. WALL CASE OF BIRDS, 223
58. WOOD DUCK, 232
PART III.
MAKING CASTS.
59. BEGINNING TO MAKE A PIECE MOULD, 260
60. SECOND STEP IN MAKING A PIECE MOULD, 261
61. LAST STEP IN MAKING A PIECE MOULD, 262
62. THE FINISHED MOULD, 262
63. THE BEGINNING OF A WASTE MOULD, 263
64. SECOND STEP IN MAKING A WASTE MOULD, 264
65. CHISELING OFF THE WASTE MOULD, 265
PART IV.
OSTEOLOGY.
66. ROUGH SKELETON OF A SMALL ANIMAL, 274
67. ROUGH SKELETON OF A BIRD, 277
68. STEEL BONE-SCRAPERS, 286
69. SKELETON OF A BAT, AS EXHIBITED, 291
70. SKELETON OF A BIRD, MOUNTED AND DRYING, 292
71. WIRING A SKELETON WING, 293
72. SKELETON OF A TURTLE, 294
73. THE SACRUM AND SPINAL ROD, 298
74. ATTACHMENT OF RIBS TO A VERTEBRA, 298
75. MIDDLE JOINT OF THE HIND LEG: SIDE VIEW, 300
76. MIDDLE JOINT OF HIND LEG: REAR VIEW, 301
77. BONES OF THE FOOT: SIDE VIEW, 301
78. BONES OF THE FOOT: REAR VIEW, 301
79. THE KNEE-JOINT, 302
80. FRONT VIEW OF KNEE-JOINT, 302
81. FRONT VIEW OF ELBOW-JOINT, 302
PART V.
THE COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF INSECTS.
82. APPARATUS FOR INFLATING LARVÆ, 314
83. DRYING OVEN, 315
84. DRYING OVEN FOR LARVA SKIN (After Riley), 315
85. WIRE BENT INTO SHAPE FOR MOUNTING LARVA (After Riley), 316
86. BREEDING CAGE (After Riley), 317
87. BREEDING CAGE, 318
88. NET-FRAME (After Riley), 320
89. NET-HEAD, FOR REMOVABLE FRAME (After Riley), 321
90. FOLDING NET (After Riley), 321
91. COLLECTING JAR, 322
92. PERFORATED PAPER DISC FOR JAR, 322
93. METHOD OF PINCHING A BUTTERFLY, 325
94. MANNER OF FOLDING PAPER ENVELOPE, 328
95. BUTTERFLY IN ENVELOPE, 328
96. DOUBLE MOUNT, 330
97. FRAME FOR MOUNTING BEETLES, 330
98. SETTING-BOARD, 331
99. SETTING-BOARD (After Riley), 331
100. SETTING-BLOCK, 331
101. SETTING-BLOCK, WITH BUTTERFLY, 331
102. SETTING-NEEDLE, 332
103. BOX FOR RECEIVING SETTING-BOARDS, 333
104. SHINGLING SPECIMENS, 334
TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING.
PART I.--COLLECTING AND PRESERVING.
_Eternal vigilance is the price of a collection._
CHAPTER I.
THE WORKER AND THE WORK TO BE DONE.
The need of thoroughly skilled collectors is increasing every hour; and
right here let me say to the young naturalist athirst for travel and
adventure, There is no other way in which you can so easily find a way to
gratify your heart's desire as by becoming a skilful collector.
The most important vertebrate forms are being rapidly swept off the face of
the earth by firearms, traps, and other engines of destruction. In five
years' time--perhaps in three--there will not be a wild buffalo left in
this country outside of protected limits. There are less than one hundred
even now--and yet how very few of our museums have good specimens of this
most interesting and conspicuous native species.
The rhytina, the Californian elephant seal, the great auk, and the Labrador
duck have already been exterminated. For many years the West Indian seal
was regarded as wholly extinct, but a small colony has lately been
discovered by Mr. Henry L. Ward on a remote islet in the Gulf of Mexico.
The walrus, the manatee, the moose, mountain goat, antelope, mountain
sheep, the sea otter, the beaver, elk, and mule deer are all going fast,
and by the time the museum-builders of the world awake to the necessity of
securing good specimens of all these it may be too late to find them.
Even in South Africa, where big game once existed in countless thousands,
nothing remains of the larger species save a few insignificant springboks,
and no game worth mentioning can be found nearer than the Limpopo Valley,
eight hundred miles north of the Cape!
_Now_ is the time to collect. A little later it will cost a great deal
more, and the collector will get a great deal less. Sportsmen, pot-hunters,
and breech-loading firearms are increasing in all parts of the world much
faster than the game to be shot, and it is my firm belief that the time
will come when the majority of the vertebrate species now inhabiting the
earth in a wild state will be either totally exterminated, or exist only
under protection.
But do not launch out as a collector until you know how to collect. The
observance of this principle would have saved the useless slaughter of tens
of thousands of living creatures, and prevented the accumulation of tons
upon tons of useless rubbish in the zoological museums of the world. It
costs just as much to collect and care for scientific rubbish as it would
to do the same by an equal number of scientific treasures. Between fool
collectors on one hand, and inartistic taxidermists on the other, the great
majority of the world's zoological museums have been filled with objects
that are anything but attractive; and for this state of affairs the
collectors are more to blame than the taxidermists.
Bad work in collecting is, in nine cases out of ten, due to one of two
causes--ignorance or laziness. By some curious process of reasoning, many
really intelligent men conclude that they can go into the field and collect
successfully without having learned a single thing about methods, or asked
a word of advice from a competent instructor. Many seem to think that the
only thing required is main strength, and that even that may be exerted by
proxy. Even now, men who have travelled and written books go to South
America and dry all their skins in the sun--after having carefully removed
all the leg bones--and their small skeletons they _boil_!
Some of the worst mammal skins I ever saw were made by a professor of
natural history, who actually managed to do nearly everything as it should
_not_ have been done. And yet, collecting all kinds of animal specimens,
in all climates, is perfectly simple to any one who has enough enterprise
to inform himself of the most reliable methods, and put them in practice.
I will confess I feel very deeply on this point, for I have toiled,
needlessly, unnumbered hours, and days too, in overcoming, as far as
possible, the inexcusable blunders of collectors. I have seen thousands of
dollars wasted in this way that could have been saved by good work in the
field. It is easier to mount two good skins within five per cent of
perfection than to mount one poor one not nearly so well. Let me advise the
directors of all scientific museums, institutions of learning, and patrons
of natural history generally, when appealed to by an enthusiastic collector
for funds with which to go abroad and collect an untold amount of priceless
specimens, in every case withhold your aid until the would-be collector
demonstrates conclusively that he has _learned how to collect_. If he has
not wit enough and grit enough to acquire ability, and then prove property,
he is not fit to send anywhere, save back to the bosom of his family.
These are the qualities which are required to make a first-class collector:
He must have a fair general knowledge of zoology, especially the
vertebrates. He must be a good shot, a successful hunter, and capable of
great physical endurance. Then he must be a neat and skilful operator with
the knife, and conscientious in the _details_ of his work, down to the
smallest particulars, for without this quality his specimens will always be
faulty and disappointing. In addition to all these requirements he must be
a man of tireless energy, incapable of going to bed so long as there are
birds to be skinned, and who, whenever a doubt arises in his mind in regard
to the necessity of more work on a specimen will _always give the specimen
the benefit of the doubt_.
I strongly advise every one who becomes a collector to learn to sketch from
nature. No matter whether you have any artistic ability or not, if you are
determined about it, you can learn to make pencil sketches of rare
specimens in the field, and of native houses, costumes, weapons, etc., and
remarkable natural objects of all kinds, which, even though crude and
inartistic in finish, may be of permanent value to the scientific world.
The camera and dry plate are of great value, but commend me to the pencil
and sketch-book that "sticketh closer than a brother," and that never fail
you on account of weather, weight, or accidents. Therefore I say, sketch;
sketch poorly if you cannot sketch well, but above all, _sketch_.
The moment you make up your mind to go on a collecting trip, even if be
only into the next county, read everything you can get hold of which will
tell you aught about the natural history of the country you are to visit.
Ask what has been written, search library catalogues for titles of books,
then get all you can, and read all you get. Only the churl will refuse to
lend you a book you cannot afford to buy. Read all about the physical
geography, geology, climate, inhabitants, fauna and flora, for all these
will have a direct bearing on your work. If you are going to unexplored
territory, about which nothing has been written, then "read up" on the
adjacent countries, for even that will be very useful information.
GUIDES AND COMPANIONS.--No matter where you go, you will be obliged to have
one or more companions, who know the country, to act as guides and general
assistants. It may be that you can find a single person combining the
necessary qualities of a guide and interpreter with those of a boatman, a
teamster, or porter. The expense of such assistants must be counted upon
from the very first. It may be stated as a general rule that in the tropics
the services of natives can be had cheaply; while those of Europeans are
generally dear in comparison with what they do.
CLOTHING AND FOOD.--These subjects I propose to leave entirely alone. They
make excellent "padding" for a work of this kind when there is a lack of
really useful information with which to fill up; but every man feeds and
clothes himself according to the dictates of his temperament, his purse, or
his own sweet will. Whether his way is the best or the worst, he will still
have food and clothes more or less suitable to his needs, and time spent in
advising him what to wear and to eat is time wasted. These questions are
generally controlled by the locality and circumstances.
PRESERVATION OF HEALTH.--There are certain hygienic principles which apply
all the world over, and since their observance becomes in the tropics a
question of life and death, I will record them. Their observance has
preserved my health intact in unwholesome jungles in a way that I consider
nothing short of wonderful.
Never sleep on the ground in the wet portions of the tropics when possible
to avoid it, but keep above the poisonous miasmatic vapors that lie close
to the earth.
Boil water before drinking it, if it is thought to be bad, and avoid
stagnant water at all times.
Drink no spirits whatever except when really sick or debilitated, nor wine,
nor other alcoholic beverages. Avoid brandy, whiskey, and rum as you would
the plague.
Eat no unripe fruit, and with moderation of even ripe fruits, excepting
bananas, which are harmless and most excellent food.
Avoid eating large quantities of meat, but give the preference to rice, and
farinaceous foods generally.
Wear light flannel shirts, and at all hazards keep the head and nape of the
neck well shielded from the sun. Pith helmets are best.
After getting wet, do not sit down in the hot sun with your wet clothes on,
but if you must remain in the sun, keep moving.
By means of rubber clothing, or "ponchos," keep from getting wet whenever
you can.
On coming into camp with wet garments, do not sit down in them to rest, but
_change immediately_ to dry clothing and footgear. The strict observance of
this rule will save many an attack of fever.
MEDICINES.--Every traveller or collector who goes beyond the ready reach of
doctors (and for that matter also every family living in the country)
should have a small box filled with certain medicines and simple appliances
as a resort in all cases of emergency. Very often a deal of mischief can be
prevented by having the proper remedy at hand and ready for immediate
application. Who has not seen great suffering endured for the lack of a
simple remedy costing only a few cents? No matter where I go in the field,
or how much luggage I am impeded with, I always carry with me a small,
square, japanned tin box (10 inches long, 7 inches wide, and 4 inches
deep) which contains the following:
1 roll silk court-plaster (about 1 yard). |1 bottle Collis
|Browne's chlorodyne.
6 curved surgeon's needles and silk thread. |1/2 ounce quinine.
4 ounces spirits of turpentine. |1 package Epsom salts.
4 ounces tincture of arnica. |1 package senna
|leaves.
2 ounces syrup of ipecac. |1 package carbonate
|of soda.
1 ounce paregoric. |2-ounce bottle of
|Squibb's diarrhoea
|mixture.
1 ounce ammonia. |1 box Beecham's pills.
2 ounces castor oil. |1 small measuring
|glass.
1 pint lime-water and linseed oil. |1 piece of small
|rubber tube, a
|foot long.
1 pint best brandy. |12 doses of tartar
|emetic.
The above makes a formidable showing, but the whole stock costs only about
three dollars and fifty cents, and the box, with lock and key, about one
dollar more. I have lately added to this outfit a most valuable and helpful
little book, entitled "Till the Doctor Comes," by George H. Hope (G.P.
Putnam's Sons, New York), which to any traveller or country dweller is
worth twice its weight in gold. Fortunately, however, it costs only fifty
cents, and no one need be without it.
While a traveller or hunter should never drink brandy or whiskey _as a
beverage_, it is a most excellent thing to have in many cases of sickness
or accident, when a powerful stimulant is necessary. Above all things,
however, which go farthest toward preserving the life of the traveller
against diseases and death by accident, and which every naturalist
especially should take with him wherever he goes, are _habits of strict
temperance_. In the tropics nothing is so deadly as the drinking habit, for
it speedily paves the way to various kinds of disease which are always
charged to the account of "the accursed climate." If a temperate man falls
ill or meets with an accident, his system responds so readily to remedies
and moderate stimulants that his chances for recovery are a hundred per
cent better than those of the man whose constitution has been undermined by
strong drink.
There are plenty of men who will say that in the tropics a little liquor is
necessary, "a good thing," etc.; but let me tell you it is no such thing,
and if necessary I could pile up a mountain of evidence to prove it. The
records show most conclusively that it is the men who totally abstain from
the use of spirits as a beverage who last longest, have the least sickness,
and do the most and best work. As a general rule, an energetic
brandy-drinker in the jungle is not worth his salt, and as a companion in a
serious undertaking, is not even to be regarded as a possible candidate.
CHAPTER II.
OUTFITS, AND HINTS ON HUNTING.
In making up an outfit with which to work on specimens in the field, away
from civilization perhaps, you must first decide definitely upon the line
of work you intend to do, for upon this the extent and character of your
outfit must depend. The requirements to be met are economy of space,
weight, and labor, with no necessary article lacking. The mere item of
keeping one's tools in order, and always accessible, is much more important
than it would at first seem to be. There must be no confusion, and not a
single article must get lost. _Good tools_, and _plenty of them_, in _good
working order_, go a great way toward the production of faultless
specimens, having the highest possible value.
I think I may say without boasting that on my third collecting trip abroad
(to the East Indies) my outfit came as near perfection in size and
arrangement as can ever be reached without far greater expense than that
entailed. I was obliged to pack and unpack the whole of it at least fifty
times, but its arrangement was so systematic and compact that the complete
packing up never required more than fifteen minutes, and I could go to it
in the dark and find any article desired, even to a needle and thread.
The whole arrangement was very simple. To start with, the entire outfit of
firearms, ammunition, tools, hunting-gear, and a good stock of
preservatives was contained in an iron-bound black walnut chest about the
size of a carpenter's tool-chest.
To keep my loading implements and ammunition in order, I had an
ammunition-box of walnut, 14-1/2 inches long, 12-1/2 wide, and 4-1/2 deep,
outside measurements, divided inside into five compartments, which held and
kept in order all the appendages belonging to my three guns, and enough
ammunition to last a month for ordinary shooting.
Another small box, made of ash, one-quarter of an inch thick, and divided
into four compartments, contained an assortment of knives, labels, and
small tools (see list below), and was in every way _multum in parvo_. Both
these boxes had their places in the chest, and my guns, each in its own
box-case, were provided for in the same receptacle. I have had made for
collectors going out from the National Museum nearly a dozen tool-boxes in
exact duplication of the original mentioned above, and I can confidently
recommend both it and the ammunition-box as serving their purposes most
satisfactorily.
Since my outfit for the East Indies proved very satisfactory, and with one
or two additions is precisely what I should take were I to go again on a
similar expedition, I give below a full list of its contents. The additions
I should make would be a Winchester 7-shot repeating rifle, calibre 45-75,
with the necessary ammunition, a double-barrelled breech-loading gun, No.
12, and possibly a wooden tank 2 feet × 2 feet × 2 feet, with a screw top,
for the preservation of mammal skins in a salt and alum bath. This last
addition is rendered necessary by the fact that I have adopted a different
method of preserving skins from that I had followed up to that time.
Instead of drying all skins as I did then, I now preserve the majority of
them in a wet state, and keep them so, except such as are desired as skins
for study, and not for mounting. The apparatus necessary for collecting
insects will be described in the section devoted to work of that class.
OUTFIT FOR GENERAL COLLECTING,
_Vertebrates and Invertebrates, both Large and Small, Dry and in Spirits,
and on a Large Scale._
1 Agassiz tank (copper), in wooden box, for alcoholics.
1 chest of black walnut, iron-bound, to contain all the articles
enumerated below:
1 Maynard rifle, two barrels, calibre 40, |40 pounds shot, assorted
|sizes.
and 45-85. |10 pounds Maynard
|bullets.
1 double-barrelled breech-loading smooth-bore |1,000 Berdan primers.
gun, No. 10, in case ($30). |12 pounds Orange ducking
|powder.
1 Maynard shot-gun, No. 16. |30 pounds arsenical
|soap.
1 Smith & Wesson revolver, cal. 32. |15 pounds dry arsenic.
1 cartridge-belt and cartridge-bag. |1 dozen large skinning
|knives.
1 dozen small skinning-knives. |2 pairs scissors.
6 scalpels. |1 brain hook.
2 claw hatchets. |1 pair long forceps.
1 saw. |1 pair short forceps.
1 large skin scraper. |1 pair cutting-pliers.
1 geological hammer. |1 pair flat pliers.
1 bull's-eye lantern. |2 sets skeleton
scrapers.
1 A No. 1 field-glass. |1 small skin scraper.
1 compass. |1 flat file.
2 brushes for arsenical soap. |2 three cornered files.
1 blow-pipe and set of egg-drills. |1 cold chisel.
1 hydrometer and test-glass. |2 awls.
1 thermometer. |1 4-inch saw (for
turtles).
2 pairs hunting-shoes. |1 tape measure.
2 rubber blankets. |1 2-foot rule.
1 double woollen blanket. |1 ivory thimble.
1 Ashanti hammock. |1 oil stone.
3,000 labels, three sizes. |1 spool thread.
1 tool-box, size 7 × 13 × 3 inches, to
contain the following: |2 dozen labels.
4 skinning-knives. |3 papers glover's
needles.
With this outfit I collected, in two years, more than $15,000 worth of
salable skins, rough skeletons and skulls of mammals, many of which were
very large; birds, reptiles, and fishes, especially the large and important
species; also fishes and fish skins in alcohol and brine; crustaceans,
shells, star-fishes, corals, and a few insects. In not a single case did I
ever fail to collect a desired specimen through lack of implements and
preservatives with which to care for it, and only three or four specimens
spoiled on my hands in course of preservation. One of these was an orang
skin, the last one I took, which spoiled because I had to pack it up and
travel with it without giving it even one day's drying; and the others were
skins which spoiled while I was on my back with jungle fever.
The outfit listed above is of such a nature that for a trip across Africa,
South America, or even a much shorter distance on foot or horseback, away
from rivers and wagon-roads, it would be difficult to take the whole of it.
But then, on some expeditions, for example, such as are made through
Darkest Africa, the travellers are generally glad to get through with their
lives, to say nothing of more cumbersome luggage, and very little
collecting is done. In nine cases out of ten, however, it is advisable to
take along a good outfit, even though there are three or four boxes of it,
for, except in such journeys as those mentioned above, there will always be
a way to get it along. It will cost a few dollars for freight, and some
trouble in management; but if you are a good collector, and mean business,
you will not mind that in the least. Where there's a will there's
locomotion; and to collect well, or even at all, one must have something to
collect with. It is an expensive and exceedingly laborious business at
best, so don't go expecting to have your "baggage checked through to
destination, free of charge."
But there are a great many of my readers who, while they may never want to
go off into a howling wilderness, might greatly enjoy collecting on such
trips as they do take. Then, again, there are sportsmen and travellers who
will willingly carry into good game districts a book of instructions, and
enough tools to enable them successfully to remove and preserve the skins
of valuable trophies of the chase, and other specimens which should be kept
on account of their scientific value or their beauty. To meet the
requirements of both the amateur and the sportsman I recommend:
THE TRAVELLER'S HANDY OUTFIT,
_For a Collector of Mammals, Heads, Trophies, etc., and also Birds._
Firearms, as you please.
A tool-box of 1/4 inch ash, size 7 × 13 × 3 inches, containing the
following:
2 large skinning-knives (see Fig. 1). |1 tape measure.
2 cartilage knives (see Fig. 1). |1 brain hook.
1 pair scissors. |1 pair 9-inch
forceps.
1 small oil-stone. |1 pair short
forceps.
1 spool thread. |And if eggs are
to be collected,
then must
1 package needles. |be added:
1 package labels. |1 blow-pipe.
1 2-foot rule. |1 set of egg
drills.
With the addition of 10 large skinning knives, this was the identical
outfit I took with me on two collecting trips to Montana, during which we
skinned and skeletonized 24 buffaloes, about 20 antelope, 10 deer, 9
coyotes, and a goodly number of birds and small mammals.
The points in favor of this outfit are its cheapness, compactness,
portability, and great general utility. It can be carried in a knapsack
behind a saddle on an overland journey, and to an explorer it is useful in
a hundred ways besides those for which it is specially intended.
FIREARMS.--The gun question is a good deal like the wife question--every
man prefers to choose for himself, and advice is chiefly superfluous.
Nevertheless, to those who have as yet no preferences, I will briefly state
mine, and the reasons for them.
If I could have but one weapon, I should choose the Maynard rifle, calibre
40, with extra long cartridge, and a No. 12 shot-barrel fitting to the same
stock, and interchangeable in less than fifteen seconds of time. The rifle
is light and handy; it hits hard, and is as true as steel ever gets to be.
It will hit every time precisely where you hold it. Its construction is so
simple it seldom breaks or gets out of order, the brass shells never wear
out, and when loaded are about as impervious to water as marine torpedoes.
Should you go under water--rifle, cartridges, and all--you have only to
"bob up serenely," and go on firing as if nothing had happened.
By the addition of a shot-barrel, at a very slight expense, you have, in
reality, two good breech-loading weapons that will serve you well for
general purposes.
For ordinary large game I also prefer the Maynard rifle, but of a heavier
calibre than the above. Calibre 45 is the best size, taking the U.M.C.
Co.'s Bullard cartridges loaded with 85 grains of powder and 295 grains of
lead. These with the Maynard make a beautiful combination. It carries
point-blank up to 170 yards, if not even 200; the ball has great accuracy
and penetration, with a very low trajectory, and very little recoil. A
heavier bullet means a hearty kick and loss of accuracy, and one of 500
grains of lead means occasional blood at your end of the gun, and a black
and blue shoulder.
For such great beasts as the elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, the
choice must lie between a double 8-bore rifle, and the No. 8 smooth-bore.
For my part, I would rather hunt my elephants with such a gun as I used on
them in India, a No. 8 smooth-bore, double-barrelled, which, though
weighing less than 10 pounds, never kicked seriously, even with enough
powder (6 drachms) to send a zinc bullet through an elephant's skull and
brain, and out on the other side. With such a weapon there will be no need
to run after an animal, nor run away from it either, after you get one fair
shot at it.[1]
For hunting large birds and small mammals a No. 10 shot-gun is the best;
but if you are specially interested in birds and care little for mammals, a
No. 12 breech-loader with top-snap action will be preferable. For my
purposes, however, my No. 10 double Werner and No. 16 Maynard always worked
beautifully together, and I think these two sizes afford the best
combination a collector can find. Being very strongly built, I often loaded
my No. 10 with a single ball, and bagged many a fine Indian bison in that
way.
I always used heavy brass shells with all my shot-guns, for the following
reason: I could not spare room to carry paper shells, the rains I
encountered would have spoiled too many of them, and away from home they
were too expensive a luxury for me to afford. The brass shells are
expensive to start with, but they last forever, or until they are lost.
HINTS ON HUNTING.--The duty of a naturalist to his specimen begins when he
levels his gun at it in the field.
Do not shoot a specimen to pieces, or mutilate it beyond recognition by its
own mother.
Study the moral principles of your guns, find out exactly what they will do
with what you put into them, and then don't shoot your specimens too much.
What is a tiger worth with the top of his head blown off, or a deer with a
great hole torn in his side by an explosive bullet?
Three vital principles to be observed in hunting specimens are the
following: See everything ahead, and allow nothing to see you. Shoot to
kill, but shoot so as to get your specimen with the least possible
mutilation. A squirrel shot with a rifle is usually unfit for a specimen,
and a bird with its legs shot to pieces, mandibles shot off, and half its
tail feathers torn to pieces is about the same as no bird at all, unless it
happens to be a rare one. In using a rifle, get as close to your game as
you can (unless it be a tiger or bear!), so as to be sure of getting it.
With the shot-gun, get as far away as you dare, so as to get no more shot
into your bird than is necessary to kill it.
It is a disgrace for a collector to shoot a bird to pieces and be obliged
to throw it away.
I append a showing of what I use in collecting, according to circumstances.
It is hardly likely that any two collectors in the world agree on these
points, therefore I do not expect that these tables will suit the old
hands. I put them forth as mere suggestions to beginners.
RECOMMENDATIONS IN REGARD TO HUNTING WITH THE RIFLE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Animals to kill. |Weapon to use.|Charge of| Weight of| Best
| | powder. | bullet. |dist.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elephant |Smooth-bore, | 6 drs. |Spherical,|30 yds.
|No. 8. | |pure zinc.|
Tiger, bear, elk, deer, sheep, | | | |
seals, large crocodiles | Maynard, 45. | 85 grs. | 295 grs. | 75 "
Apes, monkeys, small ruminants,| | | |
and small carnivora | Maynard, 40. | 60 " | 200 " | 50 "
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
RECOMMENDATIONS IN REGARD TO HUNTING WITH THE SHOT-GUN.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Animals to kill. | Weapon to use. | Charge of | Charge of shot.
| | powder. |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deer | No. 10. | 6 drs. | 20, No. 8 buckshot.
Fox | " 10. | 5 " | 1-1/2 oz., No. 00.
Woodchuck | " 10. | 3 " | 1-1/4 " " 2.
Squirrel | " 12. | 3 " | 1-1/2 " " 6.
Chipmunk | " 16. | 2 " | 1 " " 10.
| |_Eagle Duck|
| |Powder._ |
Eagle, crane, vulture | " 10 or 12. | 5 drs. | 1-1/2 " Double 00.
Turkey buzzard | " 10 or 12. | 4 " | 1-1/4 " No. 4.
Crow | " 12. | 3 " | 1-1/4 " " 6.
Quail | " 12. | 3 " | 1-1/2 " " 8.
Robin | " 12. | 2-1/2 drs. | 1 " " 10.
Warbler | " 16. | 2-1/2 " | 1 " " 12.
Humming-bird | " 16, or | 2 " | 1 oz. dust shot.
|Auxiliary, 22.[2]| |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course it would be easy to recommend a large assortment of different
weapons for different purposes, but when it comes to providing an outfit of
firearms, I must say I never cared to take care of more than three or four
weapons, and I doubt if the average amateur will feel disposed to maintain
a small arsenal. In preparing the above tables I have limited the weapons
to those I have actually used. For my use, the following constitutes a
model collector's outfit of firearms for all purposes in all countries. It
is cheap, but first class, not cumbersome, easily cared for in all
climates, and equal to every occasion that can arise:
1 No. 8 double breech-loading smooth-bore, and
1 Auxiliary barrel, No. 22, for very small birds (price, $12).
1 Calibre 45-85 Maynard rifle, 1 calibre 40-60 rifle-barrel,
and 1 No. 16 shot-barrel, all to fit interchangeably on the
_same stock_. A smaller rifle-barrel might also be added, but
it is not really necessary.
1 Calibre 45-75 7-shot Winchester.
1 No. 12 breech-loading shot-gun.
The Winchester is useful for rapid firing at short range, but the Maynard
is the weapon to depend upon for perfect accuracy at all ranges.
KNIVES.--For general use the best knife for the collector or taxidermist is
a steel-handled cartilage-knife, as shown in Fig. 1, _B_. It costs
seventy-five cents. There are two kinds of cartilage-knives, but the one
shown has the best-shaped blade.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--The Best Knives for a Collector or Taxidermist
(about two-thirds actual size). _A_, Russell's "killing-knife;" _B_,
Cartilage-knife.]
For heavier work the best knife I have ever used or seen is the so-called
"killing-knife," No. 01512, as shown in Fig. 1, _A_, made by John Russell,
Green River Works, Turner's Falls, Mass., the retail price of which is only
seventy-five cents. Had I designed it myself, especially for collectors'
use, I could not have done better. The shape of the blade, the thickness of
it, and the shape of the handle are all perfect. If you cannot procure one
of these knives, then buy a good butcher-knife, and grind the blade down to
this shape. A knife with a straight edge is not fit to use, for many
reasons.
Always keep a good coarse (water) whetstone for large knives, and a Wichita
oil-stone and oil for your finer knives, and the final touches to your
large ones.
SEASONS FOR COLLECTING.--_Mammals._--In the temperate zone never take
fur-bearing or game animals before September 1st, or later than February
1st, if possible to avoid it. On most of these mammals the pelage is the
finest during November and December. It is then at its maximum length, very
clean and well dressed, and also at its brightest color. The ruminants
begin to shed in May (the American bison as early as March), and by July
the new hair upon them is only about half an inch long, but very fine and
sleek. At that time it does not have its natural color. In our country,
September, October, and November are the months _par excellence_ for the
taking of mammals, especially the large species, for after December 1st the
storms and snows of winter render their haunts untenable for the hunter,
unless he builds a cabin in the woods and makes a winter of it. The haunts
of the mountain sheep and goat must be abandoned by December 1st, at the
latest, on account of the snow. The best time to take families of young
mammals is from May to August. If taken earlier they are too young, and
later they have passed their most interesting age. The smaller the species
are, the quicker the young mature, and in collecting all such, the
naturalist must be on the keen lookout to take them at the precise time
they reach the most interesting size and age.
_Birds._--In the temperate zone the best months for bird collecting are
March, April, May, June, September, October, and November; but since the
study of migration depends upon collections and observations made all the
year round, there is really no time to begin collecting, and no time to
cease. At the same time the amateur will soon discover that, aside from the
birds that are found only in their particular season, the greatest number
of species to be obtained in the Northern United States come in the months
mentioned; and, of course, in the cold half of the year they are most
plentiful in the South, whither they go to escape the cold weather. In the
northern regions bird-collecting naturally begins with the spring migration
from the South, and is most active from that time up to the end of June.
During July and August the old birds are moulting, and the young ones have
immature plumage and stub tails.
A rule which can be safely applied, to all tropical climates is that the
dry season is best for either collecting, sport, or travel. Never collect
in the rainy season if you can help it. Animal life is doubly hard to find,
specimens are desperately difficult to preserve, and field work is very
trying on the patience and the constitution.
In the Arctic regions, hunting and collecting must be done in midsummer, or
not at all. While it is true that in the torrid and temperate zones there
is a certain amount of work to be done all the year round, there is always
a particular season which may be regarded as the harvest-time.
COLLECTING BY AMATEURS.--There is one kind of collecting which should be
discouraged in every possible way, and that is the postage-stamp style of
collecting by boys who have no real love for natural history. Boys in their
teens often make collections of bird-skins, eggs, and nests in precisely
the same spirit that prompts them to gather coins, postage stamps, and
autographs--"to see who can get the most kinds." This vicious propensity is
apt to involve a very good boy in a useless and inexcusable warfare against
the feathered tribes. Many a time I have been saddened by the sight of
drawer upon drawer, full to overflowing, of poorly made skins of our most
beautiful songbirds,--hundreds of them in a single collection, perhaps not
worth ten cents apiece in any market,--each skin merely recording the
important fact that it was shot on a certain day in a certain place. There
is a way to prove whether a juvenile collector has really a love for the
study of birds. Let the one who furnishes the sinews of war--parent,
guardian, or elder brother--demand that he shall _mount every good specimen
he kills_, and be able to tell all about its habits, food, economic value,
etc. This will in any event result in great good. If the collector is not
really absorbed in the study of bird-life, the labor such a course involves
will soon deter him from indiscriminate slaughter; and even if he is
destined to become a distinguished member of the A.O.U., it will be all the
better for him to be taught to place a high value on every bird, living or
dead.
SHOOTING BIRDS AS A PASTIME.--I cannot, without being profane, find
language strong enough to adequately express my abhorrence of the damnable
practice some parents have of providing thoughtless boys with shot-guns
and ammunition for the slaughter of birds and small mammals, just for the
fun (!) of the thing, or to become proficient in the use of the gun. For
the killing of birds for food, or to mount for the cabinet, or to study
intelligently, there is some excuse; but for the slaughter of birds as a
boyish pastime there is no excuse whatever, and either boys or parents who
have such a disregard for life as to make it possible should be fined as
heavily as can be done under the law. Firearms and their users are
multiplying at such a frightful rate that it seems highly probable the time
will come when there will be no more wild birds or quadrupeds left upon the
face of the earth.
It is a good thing for a boy to be taught to shoot, and skill in the use of
a rifle may fairly be regarded as an accomplishment; but the taking of life
is not in the least necessary to its acquirement. If a boy wants to shoot
for the sake of becoming an expert with the gun, give him a rifle and a
target, or a shot-gun and clay pigeons, that he may start in the right
direction. Do this, and the chances are ten to one that he gets ten times
the sport and twenty times the benefit out of rivalry at the target that he
would out of roaming over the country and killing every bird he can
discover. Even in the immediate vicinity of Washington a song-bird can
hardly raise a note without attracting a boy with a gun.
POISONING AND TRAPPING MAMMALS.--Inasmuch as there are in print a number of
good books that treat this subject exclusively, I may be spared the labor
of taking it up here. The reader must be assured, however, that traps and
strychnine are very valuable allies in collecting, and he who ignores them
will lose much. Above all things, carry with you plenty of strychnine, use
it industriously, and it will bring you many a fine carnivore you would not
get otherwise. Poison a skinned carcass by cutting gashes an inch deep in
the rump and other fleshy portions, and putting strychnine in them. Also
cut up chunks of meat in little cubes, put poison in the centre of each,
and scatter them around for the benefit of the wily wolf and fox, the fat
and festive badger, the wary golden eagle and raven, and other meat-eaters
in general. On our hunt for buffaloes in Montana, Mr. W. Harvey Brown was
our Borgia, and his industry and strychnine laid low some of the finest
small specimens we obtained, including specimens of all the species
mentioned above. After putting out poison, search the vicinity thoroughly
for two or three days, and the chances are your efforts will not be in
vain.
Dr. C. Hart Merriam and his collectors have reduced the trapping of the
very small mammalia to an exact science, the like of which I venture to say
has never been seen before. They use three kinds of traps--the Lamb
steel-trap, No. 0; the Cyclone, and the Climax. These are all small, all
may be used with bait, or quickly modified to serve as runway traps, for
arvicolas and the like. Boiled oatmeal mixed with corn meal is the standard
bait used for small rodents. For shrews, small carnivora, and omnivorous
rodents, meat baits are used, such as birds' heads, intestines, pieces of
skin, and meat--in fact anything fleshy.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] For further particulars, see Two Years in the Jungle. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons.
[2] For No. 22 use wood powder and a gun-cane. It makes no noise, does not
frighten the little birds and mammals, and, if you are wicked enough, you
can use it on Sunday.
CHAPTER III.
HOW TO SELECT AND STUDY FRESH SPECIMENS.
SELECTION OF SPECIMENS.--This is the golden rule in collecting: _Preserve
the first specimen you collect of every species you encounter, lest you
never get another._ When you have obtained too many of a kind, it is an
easy matter to throw some away. At all hazards, try to obtain one really
fine adult male and female of each species, to serve as standards of
comparison in your subsequent studies. Remember that immature, undersized
specimens are not typical representatives of a species, nor do they add
glory to a collection. At the same time, quite young specimens, say
one-fifth to one-tenth adult size, are always very interesting, and should
be collected and preserved whenever possible. Collect your mammals and
birds during the season when their pelage and plumage are at their finest.
Especially should every specimen that you propose to mount be strictly
first-class. Life is short and species many, and when you do go through
with the task of mounting a specimen, it should be so fine in every way
that you will never need to replace it for the reason that it is too poor
to keep. Of rare species, the rule is to preserve every specimen taken,
and, I may add, make as many different kinds of preparations of a rare
species as you know how to prepare. For example, of the guacharo bird, or
cave-bird of Trinidad (_Steatornis caripensis_), my friend Jackson and I
prepared skins, skeletons, and alcoholic specimens, and took a full
assortment of nests and eggs.
MEASUREMENTS.--It is of great importance to acquire a fixed habit of
carefully measuring every specimen you prepare, unless you are already in
possession of an abundance of measured specimens of the same kind. After
getting into the habit of measuring, it takes only a very few minutes to do
the work, and the value of the information thus obtained is sure to be
equal to ten times its cost.
Record the measurements on the label bearing the name of the object, and by
all means adopt for each class of objects a certain system of measurements,
which should always be followed. Under their respective headings, in the
following chapters on collecting, I will give directions for measuring
small mammals, large mammals, and birds, according to the system I think
most useful.
CASTS.--The great value of casts as working models and records cannot be
overestimated nor ignored without loss of accuracy. They are especially
valuable in preserving records of the forms of mammals; and the methods of
making them--all very simple and easy--will be found fully described and
illustrated in the chapters devoted to "Making Casts" (Part III.).
PHOTOGRAPHS.--To the taxidermist and collector, photographs of dead animals
are of very little value unless it be a large picture of the head of a
large specimen, such as a moose. Photographs of live animals taken
"broadside on," as the sailors say, are extremely valuable aids in
mounting; but these you get only in the zoological gardens. I never took a
camera into the field with me, and have always been glad of it, for it
would not have repaid the trouble it would have involved. No man who has
his hands full of shooting, preserving, and packing specimens can afford to
waste time on a camera with which to take dead animals, because it is apt
to fail to emphasize the very points you most wish to have recorded. I have
had enough dead animals photographed to feel sure on this point.
On the other hand, the taxidermist who permits himself to be wholly unable
to make simple sketches, with a fair degree of accuracy, from animals in
the flesh, is seriously handicapped. It is only the heaven-born genius--as
yet unborn, I believe--who can study animals and remember everything he
sees. Written descriptions help out a great deal, especially when
particular emphasis is called for, and in the absence of sketches,
photographs are the next best thing. It is an excellent thing to be able to
photograph animals, both living and dead; but the trouble is, one cannot
always get the game and the camera together. A note-book and a pencil one
can always carry, and even when you have the camera, the former often
proves the better ally of the two.
OUTLINES.--For years it has been my constant practice to make outlines of
dead animals, on large sheets of paper, before skinning them. My plan is to
lay the specimen on its side on a sheet of heavy manila paper, place the
legs and feet in an easy walking attitude, pin or nail them fast in place,
then mark entirely around the animal with a long lead pencil. To get an
exact diagram of a rather large mammal, I invented a wooden square,
carrying a pencil point at its outer angle, with which it was easy to get
the exact outline of a large animal, or large skull. In mounting a
specimen, such an outline is of great value as a check on errors in
proportion that might easily be made in putting it together.
FIELD NOTES.--There are hundreds of specimens on which you will not need to
take notes, unless you have the time to study their habits, find out what
they eat, how they live, etc. But of rare and interesting objects you will
want to record all the information you can gather regarding their life
history. To determine what they feed upon, examine the contents of their
stomachs. If there is no time to do that in the field, then preserve the
stomachs in alcohol, carefully labelled, and examine the contents at your
leisure. Learn how to observe, and then put down in black and white,
between substantial leather covers, all that you do observe, and all that
is told to you by the natives about species with which they are familiar.
Do not forget to ascertain and record the native names of your specimens,
for after you get home you will be certain to wish to know them. One thing
is certain; when you come to write about your collection, you will wish you
had taken more notes in the field.
While a specimen is fresh, take careful notes as to the color of all the
soft parts that will lose their color when the skin is dry. Learn to
describe colors accurately, and, if possible (though this seems like
asking a great deal!), try to describe colors so that afterward, when your
notes get cold, you yourself will know what they mean!
[Illustration: PLATE II.--TWO PAGES FROM AN OLD FIELD NOTE-BOOK.--A
TAXIDERMIST'S NOTES.]
[Illustration: PLATE II.]
In describing the colors of soft parts, I would advise you to purchase the
following Windsor & Newton tube colors (oil) and use them as standards for
reference: Ivory black, Vandyke brown, burnt umber, burnt sienna, raw
sienna, Naples yellow, Indian yellow, chrome yellow, Indian red, vermilion,
purple lake, cobalt blue, and indigo.
LABELLING.--For scientific purposes, a specimen without a label is not
quite so good as no specimen. It takes up room, and is useless. The most
important record to make on a label is the name of the locality in which it
was taken. Next in importance is the date of its capture. You may leave off
everything else if you really must, for as to its name the specimen can
speak for itself. But it is by all means desirable that the label should
give the name, locality, date, sex, and some measurements. I need not
mention "name of the collector," for the collector can always be trusted to
look out for that without advice from anybody, even under the most
discouraging circumstances.
CHAPTER IV.
TREATMENT OF THE SKINS OF SMALL MAMMALS.
Many hundred beautiful and curious quadrupeds are shot every year and
allowed to perish utterly for lack of the little knowledge and skill which
would enable the hunter to remove and preserve their skins. The operation
is simple and easy, the requirement in tools and materials quite
insignificant, and the operator has only to exercise a little patient
industry to achieve good results. There are few circumstances under which a
determined individual finds himself thwarted in his desire to remove and
preserve the skin of a dead animal. In nineteen cases out of twenty the
result hinges on his own disposition. If he is lazy, a thousand things can
hinder his purpose; if he is determined, nothing can. A sharp pocket-knife,
a little powdered alum and arsenic in equal parts, or failing that, common
salt alone, will do the business in lieu of a better outfit, for any small
mammal that ever lived.
I begin with small mammals, because it is squirrels, rabbits, cats,
woodchucks, weasels, opossums, raccoons, and foxes that the beginner will
fall in with long before he is called upon to wrestle with such subjects as
deer, bear, elk, or buffalo. These general directions apply to the skinning
of all terrestrial quadrupeds up to the size of a setter dog, and the
preservation of their skins in a mountable condition.
MEASUREMENTS.--The following are the most valuable measurements to take of
a small mammal.
1. _Length, from end of nose to root of tail._ This is to be taken with the
head stretched out straight as far as it will go. Measure from the tip end
of the nose to the point where the tail joins the body. In my judgment it
is always best in determining this latter point to take the angle made by
the tail (underneath) and the rump when the tail hangs or is bent down at
an angle of forty-five degrees to the spinal column. This point is always
fixed and constant, and can be quickly and accurately determined by bending
the tail down and sticking a pin or awl at the angle. To measure an animal
like a monkey on the top of the tail is to attempt the location of a point
which can rarely be determined twice alike. For this reason I have always
taken this measurement in both large and small mammals underneath the tail.
2. _Length of tail, from root to end of vertebræ._
3. _Length of hind foot._ Bend the heel at a right angle, and measure from
the outer extremity of the angle to the tip end of the longest toe,
including the nail.
4. _Height at shoulders_, if the animal be not too small. To take this, lay
the animal on its right side, then, as nearly as you can, place the right
leg and foot in the position they would assume if the animal were standing
erect (the sole of the foot must be parallel to the axis of the body), and
measure in a straight line from the bottom of the heel to the top of the
shoulders. Record, also,
5. _The color of the eyes, and the other soft parts._
6. _Weight, in certain cases._
Do not forget what has been said in Chapter III. about outlines and
sketches. On one corner of the outline-sheet we record the name of the
specimen, locality, date, sex, measurements, color of eyes, lips, feet,
etc. It takes but a few moments' time, and the result is a complete and
accurate record of what the animal was in the flesh. These sheets are
numbered and filed away, the skin is numbered and put in the bath, and even
though it be not until five years later that we are ready to mount it, we
can tell as accurately what the animal was like as if it had been received
only the previous day. If the specimen is a baboon, for example, with
several colors on its face, it was for years my practice to make a rough
sketch of the face and put upon it the various colors that belong there, in
oil-colors, usually, though sometimes with water-colors. It was also my
custom to spend half an hour or so in taking a mould, and making a quick
cast in plaster Paris of the face of every monkey or baboon which came to
me, unless I already had one which would answer as a model to copy in
finishing the face.
SKINNING SMALL QUADRUPEDS.--Lay the animal flat upon its back, head to your
right. Hold your knife with the edge up, and push the point through the
skin of the throat, precisely in the middle of the neck. Now push the point
of the knife forward under the skin, between it and the flesh, and divide
the skin in a straight, clean cut along the middle of the neck, breast, and
body, quite to the base of the tail. If the animal has a large, fleshy
tail, like a dog or raccoon, it must be slit open along the under side
(without cutting the hair) for its entire length, except an inch or two at
the base. If the tail is small, slender, or bony, like that of a squirrel
or a rat, it can usually be slipped out of the skin by pulling the bony
part between two sticks held close together against the skin of the tail.
The sole of each foot must be slit open, lengthwise, from the base of the
middle toe straight back to the heel, and in case the foot is large and
fleshy, like that of a dog, the cut must be continued on up the leg,
perhaps one-third of the way to the knee, to enable the skin of the leg to
be turned wrong side out over the foot.
Having made all the opening cuts, begin at the abdomen, catch one edge of
the skin between thumb and finger, and with the knife cut it neatly and
cleanly from the body, leaving as little flesh as possible adhering to the
skin. In using the knife do not go at it in a daintily finical way, as if
you were picking birdshot out of the leg of a dear friend; for, if you do,
it will take you forever to skin your first specimen, and there will be no
time left for another. Learn to work briskly but carefully, and by and by
you will be able to take off a skin with a degree of neatness and rapidity
that will astonish the natives. It is not a dissecting touch that is called
for in taking off a skin, but a firm, sweeping, _shaving_ stroke instead,
applied to the inside of the skin, and not to the carcass. This applies to
all skinning operations on all vertebrates except birds.
After starting at the abdomen, we come very soon to where the foreleg joins
the body at the shoulder, and the hind leg at the hip. Disjoint each
there, and cut through the muscles until each leg is severed from the body.
Skin each leg by turning the skin wrong side out over the foot quite down
to the toes. That done, cut the flesh away from the bones of the leg and
foot, neatly and thoroughly.
_Never leave the foot of an animal unskinned_, unless it happens to be a
very small one, like a chipmunk, or smaller, and the proper way is to skin
the flesh out, even then.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--A Squirrel partly Skinned, showing Process.]
Be careful to leave all the bones of each leg attached to each other by
their ligaments at the joints (see left hind leg in Fig. 2), and to the
skin itself at the toes. _Never throw away the leg bones_, unless the skin
you are preserving is to be kept as a pelt or a rug.
Detach the skin from the back, shoulders, and neck, and when you come to
the ears, cut them off close down to the head. Turn the skin wrong side out
over the head, until you come to the eyes. Now be careful or you will do
mischief. Work slowly with the knife, keeping close to the edge of the bony
orbit, until you see, through a thin membrane under your knife edge, the
dark portion of the eyeball--iris and pupil. You may now cut fearlessly
through this membrane and expose the eye. If your work has been properly
done, you have not cut the eyelids anywhere. If you are ever in doubt when
operating on the eye, thrust the tip of one finger fairly into the eye and
against the ball, from without, and cut against it. This is always an
excellent plan in skinning large mammals.
Skin down to the end of the nose, cut through the cartilage close to the
bone, and cut on down to where the upper lip joins the gum. Cut both lips
away from the skull, close to the bone, all the way around the mouth. The
lips are thick and fleshy, and must be split open from the inside and
flattened out so that the flesh in them can be pared off. Do not mutilate
the lips by cutting them away at the edge of the hair, but leave the inside
skin, so that in mounting you can fold it in (with a little clay replacing
the flesh) and thus make a mouth anatomically correct. Do not shave off the
roots of the whiskers, or they will fall out. Gash the flesh between them
(they are set in rows), but leave the follicles themselves untouched. Pare
away the membrane which adheres to the inside of the eyelids, and turn the
ear wrong side out at the base, in order to cut away the flesh around it.
If the ears have hair upon them, they must be skinned up from the inside
and turned wrong side out quite to the tip, in order to separate the
outside skin, which holds the hair, from the cartilage which supports the
ear.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Skinning a squirrel's head.]
For a full description of ear skinning, see another chapter.
The great principle which is the foundation of all valuable field work on
mammal skins is this: _A skin must be so taken off, cleaned of flesh, and
preserved that the preservative powder or fluid can act directly upon the
roots of the hair from the inner side of the skin, and over every portion
of its surface._ Neither alum, nor salt, nor alcohol (unless it be of great
strength) can strike through a thick layer of flesh and penetrate through
the skin to the epidermis quickly enough to save it from decomposition. The
epidermis of most animals is of such a close and oily nature that
preservatives cannot strike through it from without, and therefore when a
skin is removed it must be cleaned of flesh and fat, so that the
preservative liquid or dry powder can come immediately in contact with the
cutis.
The skin is now off. If the lips have been opened out, the ears skinned to
the tip (if they be haired), and the feet well skinned down, we are ready
to go on. But first we must clean the skull. Cut the flesh all off, or the
most of it at least, for it is not possible to get it all away at the base;
cut out the eyes and tongue, and with your brain-hook, or a piece of wire
hammered flat at the end and bent up at a right angle, patiently draw out
the brain through the occipital opening at the base of the skull. By this
time, perhaps, the skin will be bloody in places, or possibly it was dirty
to start with. Now is the time to wash it thoroughly in clear water.
Remember that a skin which has been dried with blood upon it is damaged
forever. It stains the hair, and very often forms a hard, gummy mass which
nothing will dissolve.
PRESERVATION OF THE SKIN.--The next step depends upon what you propose to
do with the skin, or it may depend upon the conditions under which you are
collecting. 1. If you are in your laboratory preparing skins to mount,
preserve them all (except quite young specimens and certain others) in a
soft, or wet state, in a salt-and-alum bath. 2. If you are in the field
(especially the tropics), making a large collection of mammal skins for
mounting, by all means do the same if possible. 3. If the skins are for
purposes of study _as skins_, during which frequent handling and
examination is absolutely necessary, make them up as dry skins. 4. If you
lack facilities for preserving them wet, then make dry skins of them. 5. If
the necessities of travel and transportation make it necessary to reduce
the weight to the lowest possible limit, and to divide it up for carriage
overland, make up all skins dry, both little and big. 6. If you have only
one or two skins to preserve, it will be less trouble to you to make them
up dry at once.
Here are the two methods:
_A._ THE SALT-AND-ALUM BATH.--This is the finest solution ever discovered
for the preservation of the skins of quadrupeds that are destined to be
mounted. It is inexpensive, simple, and easy to make; its action is
perfect; its strength can be regulated to suit any kind of a skin; it never
gets stale; and if properly handled will preserve a skin for a hundred
years in the same pliable and elastic condition as when it leaves the
animal's back. In only two or three instances have I ever known it to
change the color of the hair in the least. Every taxidermist knows that it
is far easier to mount a fresh specimen in fine style than an old, dry skin
which has lost all its elasticity. The work on a soft skin (_i.e._, one
which has never been dried) can be done more easily, more quickly, and
vastly better. With a dry skin you can make only what it will let you; but
with a wet skin you can make just as fine a mount as your skill is capable
of producing. And with the latter it makes no difference whether the skin
came off the animal last week or ten years ago, except in the case of very
young animals. Of these the bath softens the leg bones. For years it has
been my custom to preserve all skins that I expect to mount (except the
young of the smaller species) in this salt-and-alum bath, and it is almost
superfluous to add that I strongly advise all others to do the same. In
many ways it is a _great economy_ to do so.
_Directions for Making It._--For every gallon of water put in
three-quarters of a pound of alum (one pint) and a pound and three-quarters
of salt (about one quart), and heat the liquid to the boiling-point,
stirring occasionally, so that the salt and alum will dissolve. Then pour
it into a wooden, earthen, or glass vessel, or a tank lined with _lead_
(for zinc or galvanized iron will not answer), and when it is cool, or even
milk warm, it is ready for use. Test it with your salometer (which you can
procure for fifty cents of Bahmann & Hoehn, 21 Park Place, New York), and
see that it stands at 15°. This is the normal strength. If stronger than
that, _e.g._, 16° or 17°, the skin will be hardened too much. It can go as
low as 13° with safety, but that is the limit. At 12° skins are liable to
lose their hair.
_Directions for Use._--If the hair is tight on the skin everywhere, simply
immerse it in the bath, leg bones and all, giving it plenty of room at
first. Move it up and down, and leave it as much spread out and free from
folds as possible. Remember that the fluid must act upon _the inside_ of
the skin, for the epidermis is often almost impervious to it. If you allow
the skin to lie upon itself in thick folds, stuck together on the inside,
those spots are liable to lose their hair in a most unaccountable and
aggravating way. If the skin is small and thin, the bath soon does its
work; but if it is a large skin, move it up and down, and all about, every
day for the first two or three days. By the end of that time its
preservation will be complete.
_Half-spoiled Specimens._--Very often a subject will be brought to you in
the flesh, several days old, green on the abdomen, and the hair starting to
slip off between the hind legs. If the hair pulls out readily on various
parts of the body and limbs, it is a gone case; but if it starts only a
little on the lower part of the abdomen, and is firm everywhere else, put
some bath, with a little extra alum in it, on the fire to get warm, snatch
that skin off in a hurry, and without stopping for any fancy touches whisk
it into the warm bath. The bath should not be so hot that you cannot bear
your hand in it. It will act like magic. Then you can gradually finish your
work on the skin, so as to keep it safe from harm. Very often quick work,
and a warm bath with plenty of alum in it, will save a skin in fine,
mountable shape, when nothing else will. The alum acts as a powerful
astringent, drawing together the fibres of the epidermis around the root of
each individual hair, and likewise binding together the cutis and
epidermis.
_Cleanliness._--You will observe that as fresh skins are put into a bath it
gradually loses its strength, and it is also liable to become, in time, so
dirty with blood and grease that it must be thrown away. Keep skins that
are greasy (bear, seal, etc.) carefully by themselves, and never put the
skin of a deer, cat, or any animal with a fine coat in a greasy or dirty
bath. If a bath is clean, but of too low strength, make some extra strong
bath, say 20°, and add to it and bring it up to 15°. Keep all your bath
receptacles tightly closed, or the liquid will evaporate very rapidly.
_Testing the Bath._--If you have no salometer, and are not overparticular,
you can test your bath by tasting it; but unless the bath is new and
untouched, I prefer the little salometer. By tasting the bath when first
made in the proportions given above, and remembering the degree of its
astringency upon the tongue, you can make that a standard for
comparison--if it suits your taste!
_Skulls and Leg Bones._--The leg bones of all small and medium sized
mammals, even up to the deer, can just as well go into the bath, after they
have been _thoroughly cleaned of all flesh and tendons_. The skulls,
however, had better not go into the solution. Clean them carefully, anoint
them all over with thin arsenical soap, put a tag on each to show to what
skin it belongs, and let it dry. Don't lay it aside without poisoning, or
it will be swarming with dermestes before you know it.
As before stated, a skin must have room while it is curing, but when that
has been thoroughly accomplished, which with the largest skins never takes
more than four or five days, they can be packed together like sardines so
long as the bath is strong enough.
_B._ MAKING DRY SKINS.--_Poisoning and Preserving._--When the skin has been
removed and cleaned, the next step is to sew up from the inside any holes
that may have been made in the skin by bullets or knives. Then make up a
mixture of two-thirds powdered alum and one-third arsenic, and rub as much
of it upon the inside of the skin as will stick there. The alum is to
preserve the skin, the arsenic to poison it against the attacks of insects.
Apply this mixture thoroughly, especially in the feet, ears, head, and
tail, for these are the points the dermestes attack first.
_Another Method_, and one which I almost invariably follow when I am
compelled to make dry skins, is to anoint the skin with strong arsenical
soap,[3]--the finest poison for skins yet discovered,--then rub on the
skin, as soon as the soap has been fully absorbed, a mixture of fine salt
and powdered alum, in equal proportions. Though the arsenical soap may be
thought "mussy" at first, it should not be used thin and watery, but as a
thin paste, like thick cream. The advantages of this method are--(1), that
the skin is more thoroughly poisoned, especially externally, on the
hairless portions; (2), the skin dries without becoming so hard and brittle
and inelastic; and (3), it can be softened and mounted much more easily and
successfully than skins prepared by the first method. For skins which are
to be mounted, the advantages of this method are very obvious.
_The Simplest Method_.--If you have neither arsenic nor arsenical soap, and
yet wish to save a skin so it can be sent to a taxidermist in good
condition, prepare it with fine salt alone. Use the salt liberally, and if
the weather is warm, leave the skin turned wrong side out and roll it up in
a quantity of it. If you use it sparingly, the skin will absorb it all in a
day or two, literally "cry for more," and failing to get it will sweat and
spoil. It is simply a question of enough salt.
Even when collecting in the field, I nearly always cure small skins with
salt only, so that they will stay quite soft and fresh until they get to
the laboratory, and then go into the bath without ever having been dried.
_Rats._--Skins preserved with salt only must be carefully guarded from the
attacks of mice, rats, cats, dogs, and other vermin that go about seeking
what they may devour.
MAKING UP A DRY SKIN.--_The Legs._--Having applied the preservatives, if
you propose to make up your specimen as a dry skin, wrap a little tow,
oakum, cotton, or cotton cloth around the bones of each leg, to partly
replace the flesh, and keep the skin away from the bone, so that both can
dry quickly. If you have no other material, paper will do. In the East
Indies, where transportation was difficult, I used to carry with me bundles
of coarse brown paper such as the grocers use, and used it for wrapping the
leg bones of monkeys, foxes, and the like. But for the small rodents, one
must have either tow, oakum, cotton, or cloth, the preference being in the
order named. On no account should the skin be left to dry down upon the
bone. The proper filling out of the legs is desirable in order that they
may have a neat, shapely, and natural appearance, so that the hair will lie
naturally, and can be studied to advantage. If this part of the process is
neglected, the skin of the leg shrivels up, dries down upon the bone, and
looks like a mummy. In the tropics the moisture in a leg bone is sufficient
to cause the decay of the skin which surrounds it unless they are separated
by some kind of wrapping. To avoid this, some tropical, collectors allow
their skins to dry _wrong side out_, a most lazy and vicious habit, the
results of which are in most cases totally worthless.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--A Model Mammal Skin.]
Having wrapped the leg bones enough fairly to replace the flesh, turn back
the skin of the leg until it comes right side out again, adjust the skin
neatly, and make the member as shapely and natural as you please.
_The Skull._--There are two ways of disposing of the skull. The universal
custom has been to replace it in the head, with a little filling in the
cheeks and orbits, the lips neatly adjusted on the teeth, and the eyelids
also in their place, half open. This makes the best looking skin, and
unless you wish to study the skull, is the best method to follow. For skins
that are specially designed for study, the plan lately adopted by the
curator of mammals of the National Museum is an excellent one. It is to
remove the skull entirely from the head, and in case of all mammals smaller
than a coyote, put it in the centre of the body, with the filling, in the
line of the seam along the belly, so that by cutting a few stitches in the
dry specimen it may be readily taken out at any time. The advantages of
this arrangement are obvious.
_The Tail._--The tail must be disposed of according to its character. If it
is long and slender, take a small wire, wrap it with tow or cotton cloth,
so that the skin cannot touch the iron at any point, insert it in the tail
and sew it up with a few long stitches. If you have not the means wherewith
to do this, whittle a slender stick to a point, and insert it in the tail
from within two inches of the body out to the tip. If the tail is large,
and has been split open for its entire length, it can be left flat.
_Filling._--Begin at the head and fill out the head, neck, and body to
about the natural size of the animal when alive, _but no larger. Better
leave it too small than fill it too full_, and stretch the skin out of
proportion. With needle and thread sew up the skin to give it a neat
appearance, beginning at the throat. Comb and brush the hair so that it
will lie naturally, and show its texture and colors to the best advantage.
Take a stitch also in the centre of the lips to hold them together.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Another Form of Mammal Skin.]
_Shaping._--The ends to be sought in laying out a skin to dry are, to have
it take up a limited amount of space in a drawer, to have all breakable
points protected, and at the same time to have all parts of the specimen
accessible for examination. The shape of a dry skin, therefore, must depend
upon its character. The handsomest collection of small mammal skins that I
have ever seen is that of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the Bureau of
Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, Department of Agriculture. Although it
is purely a private collection, it contains at this date 5,750 skins. Dr.
Merriam's method of shaping a skin is certainly, so far as looks are
concerned, the best yet devised. Fig. 4, on the opposite page, shows it
perfectly. The tail is wired, and extends straight out behind, lying
between the hind legs, which also extend directly backward. The forelegs
are drawn forward just far enough apart to allow the head to lie between
them. The skin is well shaped, and lies flat upon the belly, with all the
members resting down upon the bottom of the drawer.
With specimens having long tails this arrangement is open to one objection.
In the rough-and-tumble experiences that collections made in the field
almost inevitably go through before they reach safe anchorage in the
museum, a long tail sticking straight out for its full length is very
liable to suffer damage in various ways, especially at the tip. For this
reason I always bend the tail down and lay it along on the belly, with a
stitch or two to hold it there, safe from harm (Fig. 5). And with such
animals as monkeys, sloths, cats, etc., having long and slender forelegs, I
always place those members close alongside the body, instead of extending
them their full length toward the front.
STEEL COMBS.--For dressing the hair of an animal it pays to have a
furrier's fine steel comb, and a coarser comb of German silver, such as can
be obtained at seventy-five and fifty cents each, respectively, of J.
Ruszits, No. 73 Mercer Street, New York. The same furrier also furnishes a
very large steel robe-comb (like an infant garden rake), which is very
useful on large mammals having long, matted hair, such as buffaloes,
camels, llamas, and the like.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] See recipe in Chapter XLV.
CHAPTER V.
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING THE SKINS OF LARGE MAMMALS.
The fundamental principles to be observed in skinning a large mammal are,
in general, precisely the same as those which govern the same process in
small mammals, and which have been recorded in detail in the preceding
chapter. Having done my best to afford the student a clear and full
understanding of those principles, it is almost unnecessary to say anything
about large mammals. A keen-witted worker could skin any mammal and
preserve the skin by the light of the directions already given, with such
variations as common-sense would dictate.
But, in order to aid the student to the fullest extent, we will endeavor to
state the exceptions and variations of method which are necessary in
disposing of large subjects.
MEASUREMENTS.--Up to this hour there has been a total lack of system and
uniformity among naturalists and hunters in taking measurements of large
quadrupeds. I have in several important cases found it utterly impossible
to interpret the meaning of measurements taken by other collectors--and it
is very likely they have experienced the same difficulty in understanding
mine. In the hope of securing uniformity hereafter in observations of this
kind, I venture to propose the following system, which will apply to all
terrestrial mammals larger than the fox, except the large quadrumana. If
the method here proposed is rigidly adhered to, it will produce a
uniformity in results that will certainly increase the value of specimens
collected hereafter. The measurements are listed in the order of their
importance, and are fully indicated in the accompanying illustration (Plate
III.). Straight lines indicate straight measurements between two points,
not following curves; and curved lines indicate circumference measurements.
Record all measurements _in feet and inches, and fractions of an inch_. If
you would have your records understood by the few rather than by the many,
then bow to the dictates of the French and German naturalists, who, as a
rule, care not a brass farthing for American science or zoological
nomenclature, and employ the metric system. The chances are as twenty to
one that no one outside of the English language will ever care a
continental about your measurements, and for this reason United States
measurements ought to be good enough for us. There is no more reason why
120,000,000 English-speaking people should adopt the metric system for a
few Europeans who might care for their measurements, than that we should
write all our zoological books and papers in French or German. If you wish
to make your records available _to the people who will care for them_, make
them in the United States language.
1. _Length of head and body to root of tail_ (Plate III., A-A).--In taking
this measurement, lay the animal upon its side, stretch the head straight
forward as far as it will go, and hold a stick perpendicular against the
tip of the nose. Erect another perpendicular rod under the tail, close to
where it joins the body, at the angle formed by the lines _A_ and _H_, then
measure between these two perpendiculars.
2. _Height at the shoulders_ (B-B).--This is a difficult measurement to
take, because it is subject to the management of the operator. Plant a
perpendicular rod close against the shoulders at the highest point. Then
hold the foreleg perfectly straight, at a right angle to the axis of the
body, and bend up the foot into the position it would assume if the animal
were standing upon it. In short, place the foreleg and foot exactly as they
would be were the animal alive and standing, _with its weight resting upon
it_, and measure from the bottom of the heel in a straight line to the
perpendicular at the shoulders.
3. _Girth behind foreleg._--In taking this, always measure at the point
where the girth of a saddle touches the horse, and draw the tape-line taut
upon the skin. If the hair is thick and long, part it.
4. _Circumference of the neck._
[Illustration: PLATE III. MEASUREMENTS OF A LARGE MAMMAL. (POLAR BEAR ON
ICE-FLOE. MOUNTED BY THE AUTHOR.)]
5. _Depth of flank_ (E-E).--To a taxidermist, this is often a very
important guide in the construction of a manikin. There is always a thin
fold of skin at the point where the skin of the hind leg passes to the side
of a large animal, as indicated by the dotted line in the figure, at the
lower end of the line _E-E_. Erect a perpendicular at the upper end of the
line _E_, and measure between the two points.
6. _Circumference of forearm_ (F-F).--To be taken at the point where the
forearm has the greatest circumference.
7. _From head of humerus to head of femur._--This is always of extreme
value in building a manikin. As the animal lies upon its side, hold the
foreleg the same as when you measured the height at the shoulders. Then
feel for the two high points _G-G_, where the skin rests on the outer
extremity of the arm and thigh bones (_not_ the pelvis), at shoulder and
hip, and measure between the two points.
8. _Length of tail_ (H-H).--Hold the tail down at an angle of forty-five
degrees with the axis of the body, or the line _A-A_, and measure from the
angle A-H _to the end of the vertebræ of the tail_. If you measure to the
end of the hair, let this be a supplementary measurement.
These are the measurements which should always be taken on a large animal.
Of course, of certain subjects, there are many other measurements that you
will want, but your own needs will tell you what they are.
WEIGHT.--It is very desirable to ascertain the weight of an animal whenever
possible. A thousand times, at least, have I been asked the weight of my
big tiger (495 pounds), and that number of times have I been glad that in
spite of jungle fever, I persevered with my 50-pound scales, and weighed
the animal piecemeal, after he had been skinned and cut up. With a
particularly fine animal it is well worth the trouble it costs.
SKINNING A LARGE MAMMAL.--Rip the skin open by a clean, straight cut from
the throat along the neck, breast, middle of the belly, and on to the root
of the tail. We are now obliged to slit the legs open along their entire
length, so that the cuts will be as much out of sight as possible when the
animal is mounted. In making these opening cuts, always insert the point of
the knife under the skin, _edge uppermost_, to avoid cutting the hair. To
rip open a leg, seize the foot in your left hand, bring the leg against
your own knee to hold it tense and firm, then insert the point of your
knife into the middle of the foot at the back, and cut straight up the back
of the leg until you come to the "knee" on the foreleg, and hock-joint on
the other. At these points gradually change the direction of the cut and
run it on up the inside so that it will finally come to the body-cut at a
point exactly between the legs, and as much as possible out of sight. The
lines in the accompanying figure (6) show how the cuts in the legs should
be made. In skinning the head of an animal having antlers or horns, it is
necessary to make an opening at the back of the neck shaped like a Y. Make
the cuts as shown in Fig. 7, on opposite page; cut completely around each
horn at its base, and skin the head by working downward over the forehead
and cheeks. The skull is then taken out through this Y.[4]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Opening Cuts on a Large Mammal.]
_Thoroughness._--The principles to be observed in skinning the body are
precisely the same as those given for small mammals. Remember that it is
easier to take the skin off clean and free from flesh as you cut it from
the animal, and can stretch it tight with your left hand in order to shave
the flesh off clean, than it will be to clean the skin after it is off. An
excess of flesh left on the skin means unnecessary weight, a waste of
preservatives, and longer time in curing the skin. A clean, thin skin is
more easily and quickly cured and carried than one badly taken off. My
habit is to clean a skin so thoroughly in taking it off that no paring down
is necessary before curing it--unless, indeed, it be the skin of an
elephant or other pachyderm. When I once preserved the skin of a large, old
elephant in an Indian jungle, I kept ten native chucklers at work upon it
for three days, thinning it down to a portable degree.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Opening Cuts at Back of Prong-horn Antelope's
Head.]
_The Legs._--If the specimen is of medium size, _e.g._, not larger than a
deer, disjoint the legs at shoulder and hip, and leave all the leg bones
attached to the skin, just as with small mammals; but, of course, cutting
off the flesh and tendons carefully. If the animal is larger than a deer,
the skin would be too heavy and cumbersome to handle if all the leg bones
were left attached to it. Therefore, with your elk, moose, buffalo, etc.,
cut off the foreleg at the "knee" (so called), and the hind leg at the
hock-joint, leaving the calcaneum, or heel-bone, attached to the canon
bone, and thus remaining with the skin. The bones from the two upper joints
of the legs are to be cleaned of flesh, tied in a bundle, and sent with the
skin--unless the collector happens to be travelling by pack train in
mountainous country, far afield. In such a case we can forgive him for
throwing away the large bones of the legs if he will only bring in the
skin, skull, and lower leg bones all right. The point is, in mounting a
skin we _must_ have leg bones--if not the real ones, then they must be
counterfeits carved out of wood, to give shape to the legs, particularly at
the joints. And he who tries it once will find it is a two or three days'
job to carve a large set of leg bones, even with patterns by which to work,
to say nothing of having to evolve models from one's inner consciousness.
Therefore, I say, _save the leg bones_.
_Beware of Blood._--By all means keep the hair from getting bloody, but if
you cannot possibly keep it clean, keep it as clean as you can. Remember
that blood must be washed out on the spot, no matter how scarce water is,
nor whether the mercury stand at 110° above zero, or 10° below. If a wound
bleeds profusely, throw plenty of dry dirt or sand on the hair that has
become bloody, to absorb the blood. The dirt can be knocked out with a
stick, and it will take the blood with it. If the white hair of the
prong-horn antelope once gets soaked with blood, it is impossible to remove
all traces of it. The soft, tubular hairs get filled with blood wherever
there is a break, and enough of it will always remain to mark the
catastrophe. In the Bad Lands of Montana I once washed three long and
bitterly cold hours on a fine antelope skin that had lain twenty-four hours
with blood upon it, but had to give up beaten, at last, and throw the skin
away.
_Shaping._--Since these directions will be used chiefly in preparing the
skins of deer, antelope, and kindred ruminants, the accompanying
illustration (Fig. 8) is given to show how such skins should be made up
when they are to be preserved dry, either for study or for mounting. It is
best to defer folding up a skin until it is partially dry and has begun to
stiffen a little.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--A Well-made Dry Deer Skin.]
SPECIAL AND EXCEPTIONAL DIRECTIONS.--_Apes and Monkeys._--If you are in the
jungle, the chances are that you will have no plaster Paris with which to
make casts, in which case you must make the sketching-pencil and
tape-measure do double duty. With such a wonderful and characteristic form
as a gorilla, chimpanzee, or orang-utan, you cannot study it too much,
unless you study it until the skin spoils. Above all things, study every
feature of the face, and also its expression, so that you can make a copy
of it two years afterward which shall be both mathematically and
artistically correct. If you have plaster Paris, fail not to take a mould
of the face, and also of one hand and foot, so that later you can make
casts. The same advice applies to the great baboons with their fearful and
wonderful faces and ischial callosities, some of them gotten up with all
the colors of the rainbow, and far more brilliancy. Remember that when the
skin dries all those colors _totally disappear_, and the skin turns to the
color of parchment. Therefore, out with your box of colors at once, and
make a color-sketch of the face. If you have skill but no colors, or colors
with no skill, then out with your "Ridgway's Nomenclature of Colors," make
a large diagram or sketch of the head, and mark the names of the respective
colors upon it. Whenever the skin of any animal has any noticeable color,
record the fact in as definite terms as possible.
All the great anthropoid apes should have the opening-cut for the body made
along the middle of the back, up to the back of the head, instead of along
the abdomen and breast, which are generally but thinly haired, and on the
throat are quite naked. By doing this, the sewed-up seam comes at the back
of the mounted specimen, in the hair, and out of sight. With adult
specimens of the gorilla, chimpanzee, and orang the skeleton is quite as
valuable as the skin, therefore every bone must come forth and be carefully
preserved. Skinning the fingers is a tedious task, and one which requires
some skill, especially when it comes to working the end off so that the
nail is left in its place in the skin, and without mutilation. But when the
value of a skin and skeleton runs up into hundreds of dollars, you can well
afford to spend a whole hour in skinning a hand, if you cannot do it in
less time. The opening cuts for the hand and foot of any ape or monkey are
to be made as shown by the dotted lines in the accompanying sketch of the
foot of an orang-utan (Fig. 9). This is necessary even in skinning small
quadrumanes which are to retain their leg bones, because the skin of each
finger must be separated from the bone so that the preservative powder or
liquid can get at the inside of it.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Foot of Orang-Utan, showing Opening Cuts.]
_The Eyes and Nose._--Be exceedingly careful in skinning the face. The eyes
are deeply sunken in their sockets, and if you are not very careful your
knife will make an ugly gash at the corner of the eye before you know it. A
finger held in between the lids against the eyeball will be a safe guide.
Of course, you will cut the lips away at the gum, and split them open
afterward from the inside to remove the flesh. And, of course, the
proboscis of the baboon and the long-nosed monkey of Borneo must be skinned
out quite to the tip while the specimen is fresh, or it will dry up
horribly.
_The Ear._--The ear of a quadrumane, especially that of a chimpanzee,
because of its great size, is a very miserable part to preserve, unless you
have a salt-and-alum bath at hand. If the cartilage is entirely skinned
out--itself a difficult thing to do--it will afterward be almost a
practical impossibility to give the ear its proper shape. Therefore the
cartilage must remain. The skin can be loosened from the cartilage at the
back of the ear, however, which is a great gain. Do this, and insert a good
quantity of powdered alum. Then paint the whole ear over on both sides
with arsenical soap, and put on all the powdered alum that will
stick--unless the skin is to go in the bath. In that case treat each ear to
a little strong alum water for an hour or so.
FOOTNOTE:
[4] For detailed instructions in skinning large heads, see Chapter XIX.
CHAPTER VI.
COLLECTING SKINS OF SMALL BIRDS.
The lives of hundreds of thousands of wild birds have been sacrificed to no
purpose by persons claiming to be ornithological collectors, and yet who
had not the knowledge, skill, or industry to make up good bird skins. There
are now in this country numerous large collections of bird skins that are a
sight to behold. The ability to make up fine, clean, shapely,
well-preserved skins, and make them rapidly also, is a prime requisite in
anyone who aspires to be sent off to interesting "foreign parts" to shoot,
collect, and see the world--at the expense of someone else. An aspiring
young friend of the writer, whose soul yearned to travel and "collect,"
missed a fine opportunity to make a very interesting voyage on the
_Albatross_, for the sole reason that with all his yearning he could not
make good bird skins,--and it served him right for his lack of enterprise.
Let me tell you that, while twenty years ago any sort of a bird skin was
acceptable to a museum, now such specimens must be first class in order to
be well received. Fine skins are _the rule_ now with curators and
professional ornithologists, and poor ones the exception. Although the work
itself is simple enough, it is no child's play to perform it successfully.
It is best for the beginner to learn first how to skin small birds, and
make up their skins, and when he has mastered these details he is prepared
to undertake the preparation of large specimens, and learn how to overcome
the exceptional difficulties they present. To this end the present chapter
will be devoted to setting forth the leading principles involved, which are
most easily learned from small specimens.
We will first undertake the work of skinning a small bird--a robin, thrush,
or blackbird, whichever you happen to have. If in skinning, skin-making,
and mounting you master the robin, for example, which is the highest type
of a bird, you will be well prepared for the great majority of the other
members of the feathered tribe.
Shoot your specimen with as fine shot as possible, and not too much even of
that, in order to avoid shooting its mandibles, feet, legs, and feathers to
pieces. As soon as it is dead, plug the throat, nostrils, and _all wounds
that bleed_, with bits of cotton, to keep the blood and other liquids from
oozing out upon the feathers, and putting you to more serious trouble.
Carry the specimen home in any careful way you choose, so as to avoid
rumpling or soiling the plumage. By all means let your first practice be
upon clean birds.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Names of the External Parts of a Bird.[5] 1,
Crown; 2, forehead; 3, nostrils (or cere); 4, upper mandible; 5, lower
mandible; 6, throat; 7, neck; 8, spurious quills; 9, occiput; 10, ear; 11,
nape; 12, breast; 13, middle coverts; 14, large coverts; 15, belly; 16,
tibia; 17, tarsus; 18, inner toe; 19, middle toe; 20, outer toe; 21, thumb;
22, under-tail coverts; 23, tail; 24, primaries; 25, secondaries; 26,
tertiaries.]
A bird should lie an hour or two after being shot, in order that the blood
may coagulate. Warm specimens bleed very badly in skinning.
We are now in our workroom, with the gun standing quietly in its corner,
and a robin lying on the table before us. Look at it. Study its form and
structure, and remember what you see. Notice how smoothly the feathers
lie--how nicely they fall over the angle of the wing at the shoulder--how
completely the thigh is buried in the feathers of the breast and side, and
also where the legs emerge from the body feathers. Notice how
short the neck is, how the eye does _not_ bulge out of the head, and note
the fact that the breast and belly look full, round, and comfortable,
instead of presenting that ghastly, drawn-up, eviscerated appearance so
often seen in the amateur's mounted specimens. Note the color of the eye,
the bill, the cere, tarsi, claws, and all other parts that will require
painting when the specimen is mounted, if it ever should be. Now take the
following:
MEASUREMENTS.--It would be high treason for me to recommend any
other system of bird measurement than that directed by Dr. Coues in his
incomparable "Key to North American Birds," and it is hereby set forth:
1. _Length._--Distance between the tip of the bill and the end of the
longest feather of the tail.
2. _Extent of wings._--This means the distance between the tips of the
outstretched wings as the bird lies flat upon its back.
3. _Length of wing._--Distance from the angle formed at the (carpus) bend
of the wing to the end of the largest primary. In birds with a convex wing,
do not lay the tape-line over the curve, but under the wing, in a straight
line.
4. _Length of the tail._--Distance from the roots of the tail feathers to
the end of the longest one. Feel for the "pope's nose;" in either a fresh
or dried specimen there is more or less of a palpable lump into which the
tail feathers stick. Guess as near as you can to the middle of this lump;
place the end of the ruler opposite the point, and see where the tip of the
longest tail feather comes.
5. _Length of bill._--Dr. Coues takes "the chord of the culmen," which is
determined thus: "Place one foot of the dividers on the culmen just where
the feathers end; no matter whether the culmen runs up on the forehead, or
the frontal feathers run out on the culmen, and no matter whether the
culmen is straight or curved. With me the length of the bill is the
shortest distance from the point indicated to the tip of the upper
mandible."
6. _Length of tarsus._--Distance between the joint of the tarsus with the
leg above, and that with the first phalanx of the middle toe below. Measure
it always with the dividers, and _in front_ of the leg.
7. _Length of toes._--Distance in a straight line along the upper surface
of a toe is from the point last indicated to the root of the claw on top.
Length of toe is to be taken _without_ the claw, unless otherwise
specified.
8. _Length of the claws._--Distance in a straight line from the point last
indicated to the tip of the claw.
9. _Length of head._--Set one foot of the dividers over the base of the
culmen, and allow the other to slip just snugly down over the arch of the
occiput.
For skinning a small bird, the only instrument imperatively necessary is a
good-sized scalpel or a sharp penknife. You can use a pair of small
scissors now and then, if you have them, to very good advantage, in
severing legs and wings and clipping off tendons. Have ready a dish of corn
meal to absorb any blood that is likely to soil the feathers. Now push a
wad of cotton up the vent, and we are ready to remove the skin.
No, there is one thing more. The wings lie close to the body, and will be
continually in our way unless we break them so that they will fall back and
leave us a clear field. It is the humerus that must be snapped in two, as
close to the body as possible. Those of small birds are easily broken with
the thumb and finger, but in a large bird they must be treated to a sharp
blow with a heavy stick, or a hammer.
Lay the bird upon its back, with its head toward your left hand; part the
feathers in a straight line, and divide the skin from the _centre of the
breast_ straight down to the end of the breastbone, and on until the vent
is reached. Cut through the skin only, for if you go too deep and cut
through the wall of the abdomen you will have the intestines and various
other troubles upon your hands.
Skin down each side of the bird until you come to the knee-joint, which
lies close to the body, and well within the skin. Sever each leg completely
at the knee, leaving the thigh attached to the body, turn the skin of the
leg wrong side out over the fleshy part, quite down to the joint, and then
cut away every particle of flesh from the bone of the leg.
Sever the tail from the body close to the ends of the tail feathers,
without cutting through the skin. Now take the body between the thumb and
forefinger of the left hand, holding it at the hips, and with the other
hand separate the skin from the back. From this point we proceed to turn
the skin wrong side out over the shoulders and head. When the wings are
reached, cut them off where they are broken, and turn the skin down over
the neck. Avoid cutting through the crop. If blood flows at any time,
absorb it all with the corn meal or plaster Paris.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--First Steps in Skinning a Bird.]
Almost before you know it you have skinned your bird down to the head, for
it hangs head downward during the latter part of the operation, suspended
on a small wire hook thrust through the pelvis, so that you can work with
both hands.
It is a trifle more difficult to turn the skin over the head. Push it up
from the back of the head with the thumb-nail, working it patiently, at all
points, and stretching the skin gradually until it will pass over the
widest part of the skull. Presently the crisis is past, the skin slips down
without trouble, and we see by the way it is held at a certain point on
each side of the head that we have come to the ears. Cut through the skin
close up to the head, and a little farther on we reach the eyes.
Now be careful. Cut very slowly at the eye, and close to the head, until
you can see through the thin membrane and define the exact position of the
eyeball. Now cut through the membrane, but do not cut the eyelid on any
account. A little farther and we come to the base of the bill, where the
skin and our skinning stops.
Cut through the back of the skull so as to sever the head completely from
the neck, and lay bare the base of the brain. Remove the brain from the
skull; cut the eyes out of their sockets; cut out the tongue and remove all
flesh from the skull.
Skin each wing down to the first joint, or the elbow, and stop the
"wrong-side-out" process there. The ends of the secondaries must not be
separated from the bone of the forearm, or the ulna. It is possible to
clean out the flesh from the forearm and also from the arm bone (humerus)
without detaching the ends of the secondaries, as you will readily see. Cut
away any flesh which has been left at the root of the tail, but do not cut
the ends of the tail feathers.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--The Skin Wrong Side Out, and Ready to be
Poisoned.]
The next thing is to poison the skin. Do this with a mixture of powdered
arsenic and alum, in equal parts. Some of our most extensive collectors use
no alum, simply pure arsenic in liberal quantity; but I consider that the
use of alum also is always desirable, and under certain conditions it is
extremely so. Some collectors use arsenical soap exclusively, even on small
birds, and on large birds I, too, have used it quite extensively,
supplemented by an immediate sprinkling of powdered alum, to do the curing
of the skin. For genuine thoroughness in poisoning and preserving, I will
back arsenical soap and alum against all other substances the world can
produce; but in treating _small birds that are to be made up as dry skins_,
I prefer and recommend powdered arsenic and alum, as stated above.
Whatever poison you decide to use, apply it thoroughly to every part of the
skin, the skull, wings, legs, and tail. Now put a ball of cotton in each
eye-socket to fill up the cavity, and you are ready to reverse the skin and
bring it right side out once more. It is usually some trouble to get the
skin back over the skull, and that I accomplish in this wise:
Let the skin rest on the edge of the table, place both of your thumbs on
the back of the skull, and with all your fingers and finger-nails, reach
forward and begin to crowd the skin of the head back where it belongs. At
the same time, you must push on the skull with your thumbs, as if trying to
push it into the neck, and in a very short time, by a combination of
coaxing and crowding, the skin made passes the critical point on the skull,
and, presto! the whole skin is right side out once more. Now take it by the
bill and give it a gentle shaking to stir up the feathers so that they will
fall back naturally. Pluck outward the cotton in the orbit into the opening
of the eye, to imitate the round fulness of the eyeball.
The wing bones of very small birds need not be wrapped with cotton, but the
leg bones should be, always. Now take a bunch of cotton batting of the
right size, and roll it between the palms until it attains the proper size
to fill the neck, and is a trifle longer than the entire body and neck.
Fold over one end of this, take it between the points of your forceps,
insert it through the neck, and into the cavity of the skull. Tuck up the
other end at the tail, and give the cotton body its right length. Then in
the middle of the skin, pull the cotton roll apart sidewise, spread it out
and lay on it a ball of cotton to form the body.
Next, take hold of the broken humerus with the forceps, and pull it inward
until the joint of the wing appears, and the two humeri lie parallel and
close to each other. This draws the wings into place.
Be sure to put enough cotton in the body of a skin; for a little plumpness
and rotundity is desirable in a small skin. Avoid making cylindrical bird
skins; avoid the East Indian native habit of crowding the breast of a bird
clear up into its neck, and also avoid stretching a skin.
We have now to finish the head by inserting a little bunch of cotton in the
throat, until that part is properly filled, and plucking out or cutting off
the surplus. The mandibles must be held together by a thread or a pin until
they have dried in position. Next adjust the wings, legs, and tail. The
tail should be slightly spread, and there are two ways of doing this. One
is to reverse the natural overlapping of the tail feathers, which is the
quickest way, and quite satisfactory. The other is to lay the skin on a
board, put a pin through each corner of the "pope's nose," spread the tail,
and thrust the pins into the board until the skin is dry. Finally, tie on
your label, which should be as small as possible to contain the necessary
data--locality, date, sex, number, collector's name, measurements, and
remarks. Some collectors label only with numbers, corresponding with
recorded data in a note-book; but it is a bad plan. Note-books often get
lost, and then such specimens lose half their value.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--The Bird Skin in Position.]
WRAPPING UP A SKIN.--There are various ways of "laying out" bird skins. The
best is to wrap each skin in a very thin sheet of cotton batting or
wadding, which draws with the softness of down, and yet, when pinched or
twisted at the ends, it holds every feather in place. The bird skins
prepared by Mr. William Palmer, one of the National Museum taxidermists,
are fine examples of how skins should be made. Mr. Palmer's method of
shaping and wrapping up a small skin is as follows, and the accompanying
figures are from specimens prepared by him: Take the skin up between the
left thumb and forefinger, at the shoulders, and pinch it together, while
with the small forceps you adjust the scapulars over the point of the
wings. Cross the feet, lay the skin breast downward on a thin sheet of
cotton batting of the proper dimensions, and arrange the feathers of the
back, the wings, etc. (Fig. 13). Then lift the outer edge of the sheet of
cotton, bring it forward over the skin toward the operator, so that it will
cover the back (Fig. 14). Next, lift the inner edge of the cotton sheet,
draw it with gentle pressure to make the skin of the right size, and lap it
well over the other. The two edges of the cotton sheet will stick together
very well by simply overlapping them.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--The Skin Half Wrapped.]
The head can be adjusted by pulling on the cotton at that end, and pinching
the end together beyond the head. The bill must be set at the proper angle,
and held by catching the point in the cotton. Do not let the bill point
straight out, for it will stretch the skin of the throat too much; neither
should it point up at a right angle to the body, for the tip will be
catching in everything that comes near it. The best way with most
short-billed birds is to let the bill point at an angle of about forty-five
degrees to the axis of the body. Beaks that are very long require special
arrangement, as shown in Figs. 17 and 18.
Now lift the wrapped-up skin, lay it with the tail toward you, breast
uppermost, and with both hands tear the cotton open in a straight line up
to the base of the tail (Fig. 15). You can now spread the tail by
overlapping the feathers, or leave it closed if you prefer. See that your
label is on, adjust the toes and legs carefully, then fold over the edges
of the cotton and overlap them, and the skin is done (Fig. 16). Always
spread the toes of all swimming-birds.
Another plan is to dispose of each skin in a little cylinder of paper, made
to fit, of course. This is the best plan when you are far from the
conveniences of home, and in a hurry. The effect of this, however, is to
produce a cylindrical skin, which is not a prize shape. Still another way
is to make a small cornucopia of stiff paper, and slip the skin into it,
head first, after which the large end is closed by bending in the edges.
The old-fashioned, corrugated drying-board is an excellent resource when
you are in a great hurry with a number of specimens.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Spreading the Tail.]
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--The Skin fully Wrapped.]
The illustration on p. 56 (Fig. 17), from one of Mr. Palmer's specimens,
shows the shape a small skin should have to be considered perfect.
Freshly made bird skins should never be subjected to crowding or pressure,
nor should old skins either, for that matter. If you go far afield, and
expect to collect hundreds of skins, you should go provided with a light
and strong chest, either made to open at one side and contain a series of
shallow drawers to receive skins, or else, which is the next best thing,
and very easily made, a box containing a series of shallow tills of varying
depth, standing one upon another from bottom to top. Each drawer or till
should be made just deep enough to hold skins of a certain size, but no
more, or else in travelling the skins will tumble about. Remember it is
useless to try to make large collections of good skins in the field unless
you can take care of your finished specimens. This is for specimens freshly
prepared and _not yet dry_. After skins become thoroughly dry, they can be
packed "in bulk," in a chest or trunk, by putting the largest at the
bottom, and filling the cavities with the small skins which cannot stand so
much pressure. Bird skins should always be packed in cotton when they are
to be shipped, giving to each a soft, comfortable resting-place, and the
box must be filled full, so that there will be no tossing about.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--A Perfect Bird Skin.]
DETERMINATION OF SEX IN BIRDS.--To a collector who is working under
difficulties this often seems like the very "last straw upon a camel's
back;" but it must be attended to in every case wherein the sex of the bird
is not clearly and unmistakably indicated by the plumage. If you can, get
an experienced ornithologist to show you how to determine the sex in
difficult subjects (_e.g._, young birds, or birds midway between two
breeding seasons). But there are ways in which we can help ourselves. If
you begin with birds during or near the breeding season, you will have
plain sailing long enough to become familiar with the subject.
In birds the organs of generation lie close up to the lumbar vertebræ, near
the kidneys, in the region called "the small of the back." The best way to
reach this region for examination is to make a cut clear across the wall of
the abdomen, break the back over at the last pair of ribs, and the
intestines will at once fall down, exposing the lumbar region. You will
then see the kidneys--two large, dark-brown masses situated in the
concavity of the sacrum--and on their surface, at the upper end, lie the
reproductive organs. The testicles of the male are two dull, whitish,
ellipsoidal, or nearly round bodies, of the same size, lying close
together. The sign for this sex is the astronomical sign for the planet
Mars [Male].
The ovary of the female is, except during the breeding season, the most
difficult to distinguish. Look first for a little bunch of minute round
globules, of varying sizes and grayish white color. In the breeding season
the eggs are easily found. Failing in that, you must look for the ovary
itself, which, when found, will be recognized as a little, irregular,
flattish bunch of a light gray color. If you search with a
magnifying-glass, you may be able to detect it by its peculiar granulated
appearance. The sign for the female is the sign for the planet Venus
[Female].
FOOTNOTE:
[5] From Steele's Popular Zoology, by permission of the American Book
Company.
CHAPTER VII.
COLLECTING SKINS OF LARGE BIRDS.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN SKINNING LARGE BIRDS.--In skinning a large
bird you must have room according to your strength and the size of your
subject. You will need the usual materials in quantity, plenty of table
space, and a stout hook depending from the ceiling at the end of a stout
cord, to hang your half-skinned victim upon at a certain stage of the
proceedings.
With but few exceptions, the process in skinning a large bird is, from
start to finish, precisely similar in principle to that for a small one,
which has already been described. When you get the body about half skinned,
and are well started up the back, thrust your hanging hook into the top of
the pelvis, and suspend the bird in mid-air, so that you can work with both
hands. Be careful, however, throughout the whole operation that you do not
allow the weight of the body of the skin to stretch the skin of the neck.
If the head is small enough that the skin of the neck will pass over it,
skin right over it to the base of the beak itself, and proceed in every
respect as with small birds. If, however, the skin of the neck will not go
over the head, then skin the neck as far toward the head as you possibly
can (usually in such cases you can go no farther than the lower end of the
axis or second cervical vertebra), and then cut it off.
The next step is to skin the head. Turn the skin right side out, make a
clean, straight cut from the top of the head straight down the back of the
neck for a sufficient distance to allow the remaining cervical vertebræ to
be drawn up through the opening. It is now a very simple matter to skin the
head and clean the skull.
The wing of a large bird contains, between the elbow and the so-called
"shoulder-joint" (carpus), quite a quantity of flesh lying underneath and
between the radius and ulna. Whatever you do with the wing, _never cut the
ends of the secondaries loose from the ulna_. In spacing and adjusting
those secondaries nature has done something which, to save your life, you
cannot do as well, and if you meddle with her work some one will be sorry.
Slit open the skin all along the under side of this long joint of the wing,
cut out all the flesh from around the radius and ulna, and poison the
interior thoroughly. Put in a little filling of tow or cotton, and sew up
the opening. Even in small birds, except the smallest ones, it is an
excellent plan to slit open the wing on the under side and put some dry
poison on the flesh, without stopping to sew up the cut. Clean out the
flesh and the oil sac from the root of the tail, and poison that part so
thoroughly that any insect who ever dares to think once of harboring there
will instantly drop dead.
A bird like a large heron, with long legs, or an eagle with very thick
legs, should always have the tendons removed from the legs in order to
facilitate curing, and for the mutual benefit of both specimen and
taxidermist when, a little later, the two meet in the laboratory and engage
in a hand-to-hand struggle for supremacy. To accomplish this, cut a slit
lengthwise in the ball of the foot where its rests upon the ground. Cut off
the tendons where they branch and attach to the toes, seize the end of each
large tendon with your pliers and pull it forcibly out of the leg. You can
do this with a fresh bird in about five minutes, whereas in a dry skin that
has been relaxed it will take you much longer. This removes a fine subject
for decomposition, and also leaves the space necessary for the leg wire
when the specimen is mounted. After having removed the tendon I always
give the legs a coat of rather thin arsenical soap, both to cure them and
protect them from insects. Another excellent plan is to lay all such long
legs in a pan of salt-and-alum bath solution for a few hours to thoroughly
cure them.
If there is a layer of fat adhering to the skin, it must be scraped off and
absorbed with corn meal, and scraped again until it is all off. A layer of
fat spoils a skin more quickly and more effectually than any novice can be
expected to believe until he sees for himself, in some of his finest ducks
and brants, just how it is done. If a skin is worth saving at all, it is
worth preserving properly. Grease left on a skin "burns" it.
In making up a skin having a long, slender neck like that of swan, goose,
heron, or crane, it is an excellent plan (when possible) to take a stout
wire, as long as the entire neck and body, wrap a little tow or cotton rags
around it to partly form a false neck, and insert it in the skin. This will
often save a neck from being completely broken in two. Fill the body of the
skin with excelsior, tow, cotton, or _crumpled paper_, which, in distant
jungles, far from civilization, is an excellent thing. In case of need, you
may fill with dry leaves, dead grass, in fact almost anything except wool,
hair, or other animal products. Do not fill the body out to more than
two-thirds its natural size, unless you have abundant storage-room, and
transportation facilities. If filled out full size, large bird skins fill
up boxes and drawers wonderfully fast, and generally it is best to flatten
such skins a little.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--How to Shape a Heron Skin.]
Large bird skins should always be sewn up. The head must be properly filled
out, and if cut open at the back, that also should have a few stitches, but
not too many, for obvious reasons. In laying out a large skin, if the neck
be long, bend it around to one side as the specimen lies before you on its
back, and lay it on the side of the body along the edge of the wing. If
the legs are long, they, too, must be bent up so that the feet lie upon the
body. The accompanying figure, from a specimen prepared by Mr. William
Palmer, shows just how a great blue heron should be done. The wings must be
carefully placed, the plumage dressed and nicely adjusted, and the finished
skin pinned up in a wide strip of thin cotton-cloth, or anything else you
please, to keep it in perfect shape until it dries.
Of course, a large skin requires plenty of air while it is drying, and
several days' time besides. If such specimens are packed and shipped before
they are dry, mould and destruction will be their portion, and the
collector will do well to flee from the wrath to come. In shipping bird
skins in the East Indies and similar climates, it is customary to solder
them up, air tight, in tin-lined boxes. Dr. W.J. Holland advises me,
however, that dry wooden boxes are good enough if they are tight, and are
first painted over on the inside with melted crystals of carbolic acid.
SPECIAL AND EXCEPTIONAL CASES.--Having fully considered the various
principles involved in making ordinary bird skins, it is now necessary to
note the exceptional cases, and state how each is to be disposed of. It is
my desire to equip the beginner, as far as possible, against every
emergency that is likely to arise in ornithological collecting. For
convenience we will take a few of the avian orders, in their natural
sequence, beginning with the lowest.
THE STRUTHIONES: _Ostriches, Emus, and Cassowaries_.--These great birds are
prime favorites with the showmen, and many a fine specimen often falls most
unexpectedly into the hands of an astonished "local taxidermist," to the
ultimate enrichment of some museum. Happy is he to whom falls a beautiful,
glossy, brown-black cassowary, with head and neck of rich purple, and red
and yellow, and what-not--truly a wonderful bird, and not too large. A full
grown African ostrich is an avian colossus, and his enormous size makes him
quite a serious matter.
With these great birds it is best to open the skin of each leg from the
lower end of the tibia all the way down to the foot, in order to entirely
remove the tendons. Detach the skin from the bone all the way round, and
cure it with arsenical soap and a _little_ alum. The leg should be cut open
on the inside, well back, where the seam will be most out of sight. After
having removed a skin, you will need to keep it soft, sometimes for several
days, perhaps until you can make a suitable manikin, if it is a large
ostrich. Cure the skin with arsenical soap and salt (protecting the
feathers carefully meanwhile), and keep it wrapped up and away from the air
until you are ready to put it on the manikin for the last time; then treat
it with dry alum to make it dry and harden properly.
ORDER SPHENISCI: _The Penguins_.--The penguin of the Antarctic seas is the
king of fat birds, but such magnificent monsters as those brought home by
the Challenger, and now in the British Museum, are worth a long trip to
secure. Mr. Frederick Pearcy, who collected and preserved the specimens,
assured me that it required two men to carry one, and that the removal of
the grease from the skins was a dreadful task. Of the largest specimens,
the huge legs and feet were cut off at the lower end of the tibiæ, and
preserved in alcohol until they could be skinned and cleaned. Since it is
probable that only a very few of my readers will ever visit the rainy,
foggy, storm-beaten and God-forsaken land of the penguin, I will leave the
question of grease removal to the paragraph relating to the Lamellirostres.
LONGIPENNES: _The Gulls, Albatrosses, etc._--The gulls, terns, and petrels
are so beautiful in flight that they are often mounted with the wings fully
spread, in flying attitudes. When a bird is to be mounted thus, the large
wing-bones must not be broken, but simply disjointed and cut loose from the
body at the shoulders. When it is possible to do so, an albatross should be
mounted with wings, outspread, to reveal to the student their enormous
length, and the disproportionate shortness of the primaries and
secondaries. If all the albatrosses in a museum collection are mounted with
closed wings, as they nearly always are, the average observer gains not the
faintest conception of the form and size of the bird in motion--_its normal
condition_.
STEGANOPODES: _The Pelicans_.--The great white pelican is one of the most
satisfactory and even agreeable birds to mount that could possibly fall
into the hands of an able-bodied taxidermist. If I ever adopt a shield and
an assortment of devices with which to cover it, one of the latter shall be
a figure of a huge white pelican rampant; for it was a bird of that
species that gave me a start in taxidermy. It happened in this wise:
The year before I penetrated the walls of my Alma Mater, its venerable
president sought to find among the students an (alleged) taxidermist, or at
least the promise of one. He publicly offered the princely sum of $10 to
anyone who could come forward and mount a bird decently. The gauntlet thus
recklessly thrown down no one could pick up that year, and by the year
following, when I appeared upon the scene, it had grown cold. Like another
Lochinvar, I "came late" for that offer. I had seen one bird skinned and
mounted, and I knew I could do one like it. That was an old, rusty,
second-hand crow. I petitioned to have a chance to "stuff birds," but it
fell on deaf ears. I even went so far as to mount a squirrel, to show what
I could do, and although it was a very fair specimen for that benighted
period, it failed to win.
But one day some good genius sent a dead bird to the president, for the
museum, and with it heaven sent my opportunity. Professor Bessey sent for
me and said, "Now, young man, we are going to see how much you know about
stuffing birds. We've got a specimen for you to try your hand on, and if
you succeed in mounting it decently, you may possibly get an opportunity to
work in the museum." I replied, "Show me the victim."
He took me to his room, and there, spread out upon the carpet, lay an
enormous white pelican. His body was like a great downy pillow, his bill
was as long as a fence-rail, with a great horny knot atop of it, and his
huge yellow pouch would have held a whole school of mackerel, teachers and
all. And what wings! They were full-grown angel's size, and as white and
spotless as Gabriel's own. It seemed like sacrilege to touch them. And such
feet! Enough of them would have covered the college campus. I had never
before seen such a bird, even in my dreams. He really was larger than the
maximum measurements given by Audubon for that species. Professor Bessey
informed me that his name was _Pelicanus erythrorhynchos_. It was not quite
so long as his bill, nor so rough, but it was pretty nearly.
With a pocket-knife, an old misfit pair of pliers, and a smooth, flat piece
of steel that had once been a file, I skinned and mounted that bird, "in
the highest style of the art," as the taxidermic business card always hath
it. I have also faint recollections of a great wad of oakum made into a
body, a thimbleful of arsenic, and a pair of eyes--merely this and nothing
more. As I hope to live, I believe I could feed a live pelican as much
arsenic as I put upon that great skin without even giving him the
stomach-ache; but the bugs seemed to know that was my first effort, and
they have never touched him. I mounted him as the Irishman played the
fiddle at Donnybrook fair, neither by note nor by ear, but, "be jabers, by
main strength," and posed and shaped him by Audubon's superb plate. He was
pronounced an unqualified success. I shaped his future, and he shaped mine
at the same time. When I saw him again, seven years later, he was every bit
as good as new, and I was astonished to find how really good he was. He was
the first bird I ever skinned or mounted, and a lucky bird he was for me.
Had he been a dirty, greasy, old swan, think what a scrape I should have
been in!
LAMELLIROSTRES: _The Ducks, Geese, Swans (and Flamingoes)_.--There are but
two points to be spoken of under this head. The first is that all the birds
of this order must have their heads skinned through a slit at the back of
the head. The other is in regard to cleaning.
All ducks, geese, and swans are very fat, even when they are poorest. Were
they otherwise, they could not live on the water as they do. Nearly the
whole body is enveloped in a firm, tenacious layer of fat, into which the
ends of the body feathers run and take root, and bind the skin itself down
so firmly that it really becomes a part of the fatty layer. To remove the
skin, you must have a keen knife, and by hard labor slice through the fat
as you go. As a general thing, it is slow and tedious work. When you begin,
and all the way as you proceed, use plenty of plaster Paris or cornmeal to
absorb the free oil, and keep it off the feathers.
After the skin is off the body, and before you turn it right side out,
scrape the inside to get the oil off, absorb it with your absorbent
material, and scrape it again and again until the grease is practically
all off, and you have only the skin remaining. This takes work. There is no
royal road to making good duck skins. If you think you can get along all
right by overwhelming the grease on the skin with arsenic and alum, and
venture to leave it half cleaned, you will pay the penalty later, and it
will serve you right. You cannot cure grease with preservatives. You may
fill a fat duck skin half full of arsenic, and yet the oil will ooze out
through the skin on the other side, turning the feathers a dirty yellow
color. The dermestes can eat _every feather_, and also the skin itself,
from the outside, without getting a morsel of the arsenic. The fat simply
acts as an impervious wall between the poison and the skin. Clean a duck
skin thoroughly or else throw it away. It used to be a common thing to see
duck skins with the breast feathers a solid mass of nasty yellow grease
from the oil that had run out from the opening cut, but such specimens are
becoming rare now.
If the feathers get soiled with grease, blood and dirt, wash the plumage
with clean turpentine and a soft tooth-brush, apply an abundance of plaster
Paris, rub it into the feathers, and immediately beat it out with a supple
switch, or piece of stiff wire of proper size. If you have not these
materials, wash the feathers with warm water and a little soap, and dry as
best you can, according to what you have. Manipulate the feathers while
they are drying and they will come out soft and fluffy as in life; but if
left to dry without this, they will remain in a bedraggled, soaked, and
stringy condition. This subject will be fully considered in a separate
chapter (XXV.).
In making up the skin of a duck or goose, a piece of wire must be put into
the neck, with the tow or other filling wrapped around it, or failing that,
the neck filling must be wrapped around a small stick, the upper end of
which is to be thrust forcibly into the skull. The head is large and heavy,
and the neck is very small, so small that the skin will break in two if
there is not a wire or stick run through the body and neck into the head to
support the latter when the skin is being handled. The feet of all
web-footed birds should be spread while drying.
ALECTORIDES: _The Cranes and Herodiones_.--There is but little to add in
regard to birds of either of these orders. The cranes require a slit in the
skin at the back of the head, but the herons do not. The necks of the
latter are very often filled too full in making up a skin, and the neck
filling is often made round, whereas it should always be _flat_, like the
actual neck of the heron or bittern. It is not necessary to remove the
tendons from the legs of the small herons, ibises, etc., but the legs
should always be bent up and the feet disposed of on the body. The feet and
legs of all the above must be treated to a coat of thin arsenical soap, for
the benefit of insect pests.
CHAPTER VIII.
COLLECTING REPTILES.
OPHIDIÆ: _Serpents_.--All the small and medium-sized serpents should be
preserved entire in good, clean, ninety-five per cent alcohol, diluted with
one-half its own bulk of water. If the spirits is not as strong as
ninety-five per cent., then dilute with one-third water instead of
one-half. There should be from two to four incisions made along the median
line of the belly, each one a few inches in length, to make openings
through which the spirits can reach the abdominal region. Give the specimen
plenty of room until it is thoroughly penetrated with the alcohol.
Large serpents must be measured carefully, slit open underneath in a
straight line from the vent up to within six or eight inches of the head,
and completely skinned. A dry snake skin is about as good as none at all
for mounting. I have seen many, but never yet knew of one being mounted
well. By all means preserve all snake skins in spirits, as described above,
or in the salt-and-alum bath. By making a head of cork it is quite easy to
take both the complete skin and skeleton of a large serpent. If the head is
to be mounted with the mouth open, an extra skull must be procured.
LACERTILIA: _The Lizards_.--As with serpents, the small ones should be
opened underneath and preserved entire in spirits, while the large ones, if
alcohol is scarce, may be skinned in the field, and the skins only put into
the spirit-tank for preservation. In putting up specimens entire, the
abdominal opening must be large enough fully to insure the entrance of the
liquid into the abdominal cavity, or otherwise the decay of the intestines
may cause the epidermis to slip from the outside.
CROCODILIA: _The Crocodiles and Alligators_.--A word in regard to shooting
saurians. Go prepared to hunt and kill whatever specimens you require, for
the chances are you will not get any save what are brought to bag with your
own trusty (or rusty) rifle. To kill a crocodile, proceed as follows: Find
where he is in the habit of coming out on the bank for his daily sun-bath;
then, at precisely the right time,
"Come where my love lies dreaming."
Sneak up as close to him as you can, get a position so that you can attack
him broadside on, and post a couple of natives close by, primed beforehand
with instructions to rush forward and grab the scaly monster by the tail as
soon as you fire. Estimate the distance carefully, wipe the perspiration
out of your eyes, aim at the neck-bone, or the vertebral column anywhere in
front of the shoulders, and let drive. If the reptile's body lies still and
his jaws fly wide open, run for him like a quarter horse, for you have hit
his spine, and he is your meat if you only get to him in time to lay hold
of his tail. Take your rifle along, for you _might_ need it again,
particularly if the crocodile is more than ten feet long. If he requires a
_coup de grâce_, give him another bullet in one of his cervical vertebrae,
and the subsequent proceedings will interest him no more.
It is quite a task to skin a ten-foot saurian properly, and to preserve the
skin so successfully that none of the scales will slip off when the time
comes for the skin to be softened and stuffed. My method, which I have
practised successfully with the skins of eleven species of crocodiles and
alligators, is as follows: For the sake of science in general, and the
taxidermist in particular, measure the crocodile carefully and record the
dimensions. Divide the skin along the under side, following the median line
from the throat to the tip of the tail, in one long, straight cut.
Beginning at the end of each middle toe, divide the skin along the bottom
of the foot and the under side of the leg, up to the point where the leg
joins the body, but no farther. Then begin at the edges of the first cut,
and skin as far down the sides of the body as possible. When the legs are
reached, detach them from the body at hip and shoulder without cutting the
skin, and continue on round the body until the backbone is reached and the
skin entirely detached. Sever the head from the neck at the first cervical
vertebra without cutting the skin. Skin out the tongue and remove the flesh
from the palatal apertures and various cavities of the head. Skin each leg
by turning the skin wrong side out until the toes are reached. Leave all
the bones of each leg attached to each other and to the skin itself at the
toes, but cut away the flesh carefully, the same as in skeletonizing.
Remove from the skin as much as possible of the flesh which will be found
adhering to it. When the skin is thoroughly clean, immerse it in a strong
bath of salt and water, and allow it to remain twenty-four to thirty hours.
Then take it out, rub the inside and the leg bones thoroughly with strong
arsenical soap, after which apply powdered alum liberally over the inner
surface, so that not a single spot is missed. Then hang the skin up by the
head (no danger of stretching in this case), and allow it to dry in the
wind and _shade_. When almost hard and stiff, take it down and fold it up
as carefully as if it were a Sunday coat, so that it can be packed in a box
of ordinary dimensions.
Of course small crocodiles, and the skins of larger ones not exceeding six
feet in length, can best be preserved in alcohol, as already described for
lizards. Full instructions for "roughing out" skeletons will be found in
Chapter XXXVII. I will only add to this paragraph the suggestion that of
all the objects that a collector can gather, nothing so well repays in
every way the time and labor spent upon them as a few large, well-made, and
sufficiently hideous skins of crocodilians. They are at once big, ugly,
awe-inspiring, and marketable. The general public is very fond of horrible
animals from far-distant countries, and I always gave it crocodiles galore.
CHELONIA: _Turtles_.--Go where you will in the warm regions of the earth,
you are almost certain to find representatives of this order. In the
tropics the species are very numerous, highly interesting, and often of
commercial value. Many a time your own hunger will be appeased by a tender
steak of green turtle or loggerhead, or a terrapin stew, or a "soft-shell"
fried in batter, or a peck of terrapin eggs dug out of the sand, fresh and
otherwise. The rare and hideous mata-mata of South America will make you a
good meal, and afterward bring you in $25 in hard cash. The hawksbill, with
the valuable "tortoise shell" upon his back, is "a thing of beauty" and "a
joy forever," price, $15. Wherever you go collecting in the tropics or
sub-tropics, turtles are your lawful prey.
_How to Kill a Turtle._--Mr. Lucas says the best way is to do it with
chloroform, by tying a saturated cloth over the victim's head, and keeping
it there until death ensues. This is undoubtedly the most merciful way, but
somehow I never had the chloroform to spare. My plan was to do the killing
in a short, sharp, and decisive onslaught with the knife. With a small,
sharp saw (a dissecting saw with an adjustable back, for the small
specimens), saw through the bridge which unites the shell of the back
(carapax) with that of the under surface (plastron) at B, B (Fig. 19);
then, with the quickest of work, divide the skin around the plastron, as
shown by the dotted line A, A, A, A; with half a dozen quick strokes of the
knife detach the plastron from the flesh of the body, and lift it up until
the interior of the body is exposed. Except for the sawing through the
shell, the rest is but the work of a moment. Now pierce the heart
instantly, and cut the neck in two, which ends all pain at once. The only
merit of this method of killing is that the victim is disposed of and put
beyond the power of pain in about three or four minutes. Very often it is
better to make an incision on the dotted line shown immediately behind the
foreleg, and through this pierce the heart and lungs.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--How to Open a Turtle.]
The dotted lines in the figure show all the opening cuts that are
necessary. The skin is left attached to the front of the plastron for
apparent reasons, but the plastron is turned up and over the head to
completely expose the interior. In the case of a sea-turtle, which has the
front limbs developed as broad, flat flippers instead of feet, the opening
cut must extend on up the leg, quite out to the extremity of the flipper.
The animal's legs, tail, and neck are now skinned precisely as those of a
mammal would be, with the exception that each of these members is detached
from the body and pulled inward in order to turn the skin wrong side out.
Of course all flesh is to be removed from the animal, precisely as with a
mammal, and unless the skeleton is to be preserved, the shoulder girdles
and pelvis may be cut out with the flesh and thrown away.
Having removed all flesh from the entire subject, wash it clean, and if it
is not to be preserved in alcohol apply arsenical soap and alum to the
skin, putting some of the latter on the outside as well as inside, and make
up the skin otherwise as directed for dry skins of ordinary mammals. The
neck, legs, and tail should have the right quantity of filling to prevent
their shrinking and shrivelling up to the point of unsightliness. Remember
that the specimen may remain as you preserve it, and be studied for years
as a dry skin.
The box turtles are so constructed that when they desire to retire from the
world nothing whatever save the hard shell remains exposed. They cannot be
opened up as described above. It is necessary to meet their wants by simply
sawing a big rectangular section out of the plastron, leaving only a rim
remaining, and through the hole thus made the animal can be skinned, and
also stuffed when the time comes.
CHAPTER IX.
COLLECTING FISHES.
As to the methods of procuring your fish, I have very little to say. In all
my collecting I have never yet seen the time when it did not pay far better
to buy fish specimens of professional fishermen than to turn fisherman
myself. With an enterprising set of fishermen, much may be done by offering
to purchase the strange and curious species that are often unfit for food,
and are usually thrown away. Be first in the fish-market when the day's
catch is being landed; be on hand persistently, in season and out of
season, and by so doing you will have the first chance to buy the handsome
sharks, rays, rhinobati, etc., before they are ruthlessly cut up and sold
piecemeal. Mask your enthusiasm; learn to dissemble, and then you will not
need to pay more than the ruling market prices, even for the specimens
which are of the highest scientific value. In Ceylon I once bought a
remarkable shark-ray for three shillings, which I sold again, almost
immediately, for $75; but it almost cost me a fit of apoplexy to control my
feelings while the bargain was being made. I wanted to give three cheers
for _Rhamphobatis ancylostomus_!
FIELD NOTES ON FISHES.--_Colors._--In collecting and preserving fishes,
happy is he who can sketch with a pencil, and thrice happy is he to whom
the gods have given the ability to paint in water-colors. If you are
blessed with this ability, the correct and _imperative_ thing to do in
collecting is to make a good outline sketch of each species, and color it
carefully from a perfectly fresh specimen. Then, when the glorious colors
of the living fish vanish like magic in the alcohol, or in the air, as the
case may be, there is your permanent and indisputable record, a thing of
great value to science until a better one is produced. At the National
Museum it has for years been the policy of Dr. Goode to have an accurate
water-color drawing made by Mr. Schindler of every species of fish,
cetacean, and reptile received. The result is a series of exhibition casts
in which every detail of color is reproduced with admirable accuracy and
life likeness. In preserving your fresh specimens remember that, no matter
what you may do, _the colors will fade_, and the more delicate tints will
disappear entirely.
_Labels._--For alcoholics the best thing to use is a small bit of pure
sheet tin, or else sheet lead, with a number stamped upon it. The next best
thing is a parchment tag having the necessary data written upon it with a
lead pencil, which is much more permanent in alcohol than any ink.
_Scientific Facts._--Of the many facts the novice should try to ascertain
regarding each species, the following are the most important: All the local
names; degree of abundance; time when most abundant; whether it is a
permanent resident or is migratory; if migratory, the facts relating
thereto; its habits; the depth and character of bottom preferred; food;
what fishes prey upon them; value as food or for other purposes.
_Methods of Preservation._--In the field, fishes may be collected and
preserved in four different ways, according to circumstances, as follows:
1. Preserved entire in spirits. 2. As skins, preserved in spirits. 3. As
skins preserved in brine. 4. As rough skeletons, either preserved dry or in
spirits.
For the purposes of scientific study and close investigation, the most
valuable fish specimens are those which have been preserved entire in
alcohol, or some equally efficient preservative solution. Good alcoholic
specimens rank next in scientific value to fishes fresh from their native
element. Ordinarily, however, the collector's resources are limited, and it
is necessary for him to preserve only the skins of the large and bulky
specimens.
_Tanks for Alcoholics._--For years past the National Museum and United
States Fish Commission have used square, box-like tanks, made of copper and
lined with tin, each tank having a large round hole in its top, as large as
the width of the top will allow, and which is closed tightly by means of a
screw cover. These are known as "Agassiz tanks," for the reason that the
design originated with Professor Louis Agassiz. They are light, not very
costly, easily managed, and are about as nearly perfect for their purpose
as anything can be in this world. They are made of three sizes, to hold
four, eight, or sixteen gallons. To protect them during shipment a strong
pine chest is used, which is provided with wrought-iron handles, hinged
cover, hasp, and padlock. The chests are made to contain one sixteen-gallon
tank, two of eight gallons, and either three or four four-gallon tanks. The
tanks used by the National Museum are made by W.S. Barker, Seventh and D
Streets, S.W., Washington, at the following prices, exclusive of the
chests; sixteen-gallon tank, $16.50; eight-gallon, $10; four-gallon, $4.25;
pine chests, complete, $3 each.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Agassiz Tank, for Alcoholics.]
If Agassiz tanks are not obtainable, the next best and the cheapest course
is to have some large round cans made of galvanized iron, with tops that
can be soldered on when the time comes to ship specimens. Wooden kegs are
not of much use in collecting, but both kegs and barrels are good enough to
use in transporting collections. Many a time I have helped myself out of a
difficulty afield by falling back upon the immortal American kerosene can,
holding five square gallons, and which goes to the uttermost parts of the
earth.
_Glass Jars._--In the field I have never found any other sort of a glass
jar half as useful and safe as a common Mason fruit jar, varying in size
from pint to half-gallon. They are infinitely superior to glass-stoppered
jars, and far less liable to be broken.
PRESERVING FISHES ENTIRE IN SPIRITS.--Having taken all the notes on a fresh
specimen that you desire, the next thing is to wash it thoroughly. But
"before washing the fish," says Dr. T. H. Bean, "look it over for external
parasites; examine the gills and the inside of the mouth carefully, as
these are favorite situations. These parasites often furnish a clue to the
migration of the fish; remove them if they can be taken off entire; if not,
let them remain, and call attention to their presence in your shipping
notes. Preserve the parasites in vials or bottles, and provide them with
labels, stating from what fish they came, and in what situation they were
found."
Many fishes when taken from the water have the entire body and gills
covered with a coat of persistent mucus that can be removed only by
determined effort. If you have any alum at hand, you can in a moment make
up a pint or quart of alum water, which will cut the mucus instantly, and
clear it off. Use a stiff brush--a large tooth-brush is the best thing--in
cleaning off this mucus, and do not forget to cleanse the gills thoroughly.
Open the abdominal region of every fish by making a generous cut from the
vent straight forward toward the ventral fins. Usually the length of the
opening should be equal to about one-fifth of the entire length of the
fish. If the fish be a large one, it has always been my practice to open
the fleshy interior still farther by working through this cut, and
detaching the skin from the flesh as far up each side as possible. This
gives the spirits immediate access to the entire mass of flesh, and the
result is very speedy and perfect preservation without any change whatever
in the form or weight of the specimen.
Dr. Bean always directs that the viscera be preserved, to assist in
identification, even though it becomes necessary to remove them from large
fishes and preserve them in separate jars. When there is no particular
reason for their preservation, it is a great advantage to remove them and
throw them away. They are--unless of scientific value--an abominable
nuisance, and do more to spoil good alcohol than all the rest of the fish.
Fishes that have begun to decompose, and have become offensive, yet are too
valuable to throw away, may be disinfected by washing them inside and out
with a moderately weak solution of pure carbolic acid and water, or with a
solution made by dissolving a tablespoonful of chloride of soda in a pint
of water.
For years a very common formula for preservative alcohol has been
ninety-five per cent alcohol diluted with one-third of its bulk of water,
or, in other words, three parts of alcohol and one of water. If there is
any fault to be found with this solution, it is that it is stronger than is
really necessary. I have preserved barrels of alcoholic specimens in a
solution composed of two parts of proof spirits and one part water, and
have never lost a specimen except through leakage. This solution is strong
enough to stand considerable deterioration without the loss of its
contents.
I have never attempted to collect quantities of alcoholics without an
alcoholometer in constant use. This little instrument costs but a trifle,
and affords the only reliable means for testing the strength of alcohol.
Its use enables the collector to exercise economy in the use of his
spirits, and get the maximum benefit from it. Therefore I say, buy an
alcoholometer at all hazards, and carry it and a suitable test-glass with
your outfit. Test the spirits on your specimens frequently, and you will
then run no risks of loss.
Keep a receptacle to use as a receiving and curing tank, into which all
fresh specimens are placed, with abundant room for each to undergo the
curing process. Every animal contains in its body a heavy percentage of
water, which must be, in great measure, replaced by the spirits before the
flesh can be preserved from decay. Into the first bath a great quantity of
blood and abdominal fluids will be soaked out from the specimen, and it is
bound to lose strength rapidly, and also become foul. As long as it remains
clean enough to use, keep up its strength by the addition of pure spirits,
and in it immerse all specimens until they are thoroughly cured. Give them
plenty of room at first, and keep them from settling down to the bottom by
putting there a bunch of excelsior, tow, or cloth. While the spirits in a
can may be strong enough on top to preserve a specimen, at the bottom,
where the animal impurities settle, it may be so weak that anything lying
in it would soon spoil. Often the tail of a fish which hangs upright in a
jar will spoil while the remainder will be preserved.
After specimens have remained in the receiving-tank for from two to four
days, according to size, put them in another receptacle in clean, fresh
spirits, still allowing them plenty of room. Finally, when ready to pack up
and make a shipment home, wrap each fish separately in a piece of thin,
white cotton cloth, just large enough to cover it well, dip it in clean
spirits, and without any tying or pinning of the cloths, lay the fishes in
your barrel like sardines in a box, as closely as they will lie without
being squeezed. Fill the receptacle full of fishes, head it up, and then
pour into it all the clean spirits it will hold.
In order to proceed with the second and third methods of preserving fish
specimens, it now becomes necessary to describe a process.
HOW TO SKIN A FISH.--Of course, no one aspiring to become a collector of
fishes will remain in ignorance of the names of the different fins. And,
more than that, before he can prepare even the rough skeleton of a fish he
must know what its bony structure is like. On the whole, there is a good
deal to be learned about methods in collecting fishes, and as a beginning
we must learn how to skin a scale fish. The methods with cartilaginous
fishes will be considered later.
The principles with all scale fishes are precisely the same, the only
difference being in the greater amount of cold steel and energy required
for such great, hulking brutes as the jewfish, and the magnificent tarpon.
For convenience we will take a specimen about a foot in length; for
example, a striped bass, a pike, or a red snapper.
As is the case with quadrupeds, the left side of a mounted fish is always
expected to be "the show side." Lay the specimen upon its left side, start
at the vent with a stout pair of sharp-pointed scissors, and divide the
skin in a perfectly straight line along the median line of the belly toward
the head, stopping the cut when you approach close to the narrow,
tongue-like point which terminates between the lower angles of the gill
openings. Now reverse the fish, begin again at the vent, and divide the
skin with a clean cut through the scales, in a line parallel with the base
of the anal fin, and about half an inch from where the scales meet the fin
rays. This is really a cut along the side of the fish, as low down as
possible, made necessary by reason of the anal fin. Continue this cut
straight back to the tail, as shown in the dotted line _g-h_ in Plate IV.
[Illustration: PLATE IV. HOW TO CUT OPEN AND MOUNT A FISH.]
You will find that the ventral fins are joined together in the flesh by a
strong bony arch, called the pubis, and this must be divided through the
middle so as to entirely separate the fins. The anal fin-rays must now be
cut loose from the interior rays (called interhæmal spines), which are
really their bony foundation. The ventral fins must also be cut loose from
the pubic bones at the point where they are articulated. Now take the cut
edge of the fish skin between the left thumb and forefinger, and with the
cartilage-knife carefully cut the skin free from the flesh. Be careful not
to disturb the white layer of color pigment which is spread like a silver
lining of feeble tin-foil over the inside of the skin. This is what gives
the fish its silvery color, and if skinned off or scraped away the skin
will look like colorless parchment. _Whatever you do, do not disturb that
color lining._ Proceed with the skinning until the skin has been detached
from the entire upper side of the fish. This brings you to where the dorsal
and caudal fins are inserted.[6]
Now turn the fish over, and proceed as before, as far as you can go. You
presently reach the caudal fin, which must be cut loose from the end of the
vertebral column as far back in the skin as possible. When this has been
done, the skin and the fleshy body still hang together by the attachment of
the rays of the dorsal fin to the interhæmal spines. Cut these apart with
the scissors, from back to front, close up to the skin, which brings you to
where the vertebral column joins the skull. You will make very short work
of that, which frees the fleshy body from the skull. Now scrape away the
surplus flesh from the inside of the skin, wash it thoroughly, remove the
gills (if they are not to be studied), and lay the skin flat upon its side
in your tank of alcohol.
By thus preserving the skins of fishes, instead of whole specimens, a great
number of really large specimens can be preserved in a small quantity of
alcohol, for at the last they can be packed together, heads and tails,
precisely like sardines.
SKINNING CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.--_Sharks, Rays, etc._--The skinning of a
shark or saw-fish calls for no special instructions in addition to the
foregoing, except that the long, narrow, pointed tail requires to be slit
open along the right side of its upper lobe for a considerable distance.
Remember the principle that wherever there is flesh, a way must be made so
that it can be removed, or at least reached from the inside by the
preservative. Of the skull, nothing is to be left attached to the skin
except the jaws. The skeleton is wholly of cartilage instead of bone, and
is easily cut through.
The extremely flat, circular-bodied ray, also with a cartilaginous
skeleton, must be opened on the underside by two cross cuts at right angles
to each other, one extending from mouth to tail, and the other from side to
side. The fin rays are very long stems of cartilage, set so closely
together as to form a solid sheet of cartilage extending from the thoracic
skeleton out to the extremities of the fins, which taper out to nothing.
The thoracic skeleton gives shape to the body of the ray, particularly the
back, and it must be left in place, with the skin of the back attached to
it. Cut through the fin rays where they join the body, and this will enable
you to skin down each side of the fish until you get so near the outer edge
there is no longer any flesh. Stop at that point, cut the flesh away from
the fin rays, and cut away as much of the fin rays themselves as you
please.
Clear out all the flesh and preserve the skin in a very strong solution of
salt and water (what is known to chemists as a "saturated solution"), or in
alcohol if you have it to spare.
PREPARING ROUGH SKELETONS.--In about seven cases out of ten, it is a far
easier and more simple matter to rough out, clean, and mount the complete
skeleton of a fish than the uninitiated would naturally suppose. A few
fishes, such as the shad, have more bones than the law allows, and the
preparation of a complete skeleton thus becomes a practical impossibility.
Fortunately, however, most fishes are more reasonable in the matter of
bones, and to these we direct our efforts.
First and foremost, study the bony structure of a typical scale fish, learn
what its principal parts are, and how they are articulated. Learn how the
ribs lie, and how a row of slender, riblike bones called appendices, or
epipleural spines, are attached to the true ribs, and at their outer
extremities _touch the inside of the skin_ along the lateral line of the
fish. If you will take a good-sized perch as your first subject, you will
not be troubled with any osteological extras, and the process will be as
follows:
Lay the perch upon its side, and with a sharp scalpel cut away the skin
from the whole of the exposed side. Remove all the viscera. By careful
examination, ascertain the exact location of the ribs, and particularly the
row of epipleural spines attached at the upper ends of the former. With a
broad, flat bone-scraper, or your knife-blade if you have nothing better,
begin at the lateral line of the fish, and work toward the top of the back,
taking the flesh away in chunks as you go. In a very short time the
vertebræ and the interhæmal spines are exposed, and with a narrower
bone-scraper the flesh is easily removed from them.
Now turn the fish around, and with great care cut and scrape the flesh away
from the ribs and the epipleural spines. Do not on any account detach the
latter from the former, but at this stage leave them attached to each other
by a thin strip of flesh for their better protection.
Do not separate the ventral fins by cutting through the pubic arch, but
with your small, curve-ended bone-scraper remove the flesh from the angular
recesses of these bones, and leave the anterior end of the pubic arch
attached to the coracoid. Next, pick out the flesh from around the base of
the pectoral fin, remove the eye from its socket, and whatever flesh the
skull contains. Thus does the bony structure of one entire side stand
revealed. The gills are of course to remain in place, as the skeleton would
not be complete without them.
There is but one thing more to add. In treating the other side of the fish
in a precisely similar manner, care must be taken to not disturb the
attachment of the interneural and interhæmal spines which join the dorsal
and anal fin rays to the processes of the vertebral column.
Having thus denuded the fish of its flesh, lay the skeleton in a pan of
water, and with a moderately soft tooth-brush, or nailbrush, brush it
carefully to wash away all blood and mucus. If the bones are full of blood
(which is very rarely the case), the skeleton must be soaked in clear water
for an hour or two, or longer if necessary, to soak out the blood, so that
it will not dry in the bones and permanently disfigure them.
Rough skeletons of fishes may be preserved in alcohol, but for many reasons
it is much the best to dry them. Poison them with dry arsenic; _do not put
upon them either salt, arsenical soap, or alum_, hang each one up by the
head, and see that it dries in good shape. The pectoral fins should lie
well down upon the ribs for mutual protection.
FOOTNOTE:
[6] Some operators open a fish in a straight line along the _middle_ of one
side, but I have never been able to see any reason for this preference.
CHAPTER X.
COLLECTING MARINE INVERTEBRATES.
SPONGES.--A live sponge is simply a vast colony of protozoan animals, each
member of which lives an independent existence, but all are at the same
time mutually dependent upon each other. The sponge of commerce, and the
"cleaned" sponge of the museum collection is, like a branch of coral,
merely the skeleton of the living aggregation. A live sponge is a dark
colored, heavy, tough gelatinous mass, cold and clammy to handle, quickly
offensive if left in the open air, and utterly useless until "cleaned," or
rid of its mass of animal matter. The skeleton of a sponge may be _horny_,
like that of the useful sponges of commerce; _silicious_, like the
marvellously beautiful framework of the famous glass sponge of the
Philippine Islands (_Euplectella_); or _calcareous_, like the curious
little _Grantia_, which looks like a miniature bouquet-holder, with a frill
of spines around its open end.
Owing to the extreme scarcity of sponge collections, very few persons know
how great a variety of forms, and what really remarkable forms, exist no
farther from home than the waters that wash the coast of our own beloved
Florida. I once had the pleasure of collecting no fewer than sixteen
distinct species on the beach between Biscayne Bay and New River Inlet,
some of them of remarkable form, and all of them nicely cleaned for me by
old Ocean.
Of course, I _searched_ for sponges, and found many a fine specimen buried
almost out of sight in the sand,--but what glorious fun it was, to be sure!
There I obtained the large, coarse "basket sponge" (_Hirvina campana_), a
hollow, inverted cone, often capable of holding a pailful of water; the
remarkable finger sponge (_Tuba vaginalis_), which forms clusters of
upright, hollow cylinders; a large cylindrical sponge of a rich brown
color, and beautiful wiry texture, called _Verongia fistularis_; and
sponges that were like trees, like interlocked deer antlers, and what not.
Professor H.A. Ward's last catalogue of invertebrates enumerated
forty-three species of sponges that were on hand when the list went to
press. Of these, the largest specimen was a huge Neptune's cup (_Paterion
neptuni_), four feet in height, and shaped like a gigantic goblet, which
came from the neighborhood of Singapore.
Therefore, I say, when on the seashore, be on the lookout for sponges. If
you can find them on the beach ready cleaned and dried for you, so much the
better; but if you get them alive, the soft animal matter must be macerated
and washed away, just as you would macerate the flesh from a large
skeleton. Soak them in fresh water for a short time to macerate the soft
matter, then wash it out in salt water, and keep this up until the sponge
is at last clean.
CORALS.--The bleached white coral cluster of the cabinet is, like the
sponge, only the skeleton of its former self. When it was forcibly torn
from its foothold at the bottom of the sea it was covered with living coral
polyps, which gave it the color which is peculiarly its own. Some species,
notably _Madrepores_, when first taken from the water look like colored
glass. The main branches are of a yellowish-brown tint, shading toward the
tips to the most delicate and beautiful bluish purple. There is no way to
preserve these colors, because they are due entirely to the presence of the
living polyps. When those delicate organisms die, as die they must, the
color vanishes, and if not cleaned and bleached, the coral assumes a dead,
smoky brown appearance, suggestive of dust and dirt.
Therefore it is best to clean and bleach your corals at once. This requires
a little time, but the process is "so simple a child can use it." Small
specimens can be cleaned quickly by washing them in dilute muriatic acid,
and afterward in clear water to keep the acid from going too far, and then
placing them out in the sun to bleach. Large specimens cannot always be
treated in this way, and the best plan for wholesale operations is to place
the coral on the ground, in a sunny situation, and dash water upon it daily
until the soft animal matter has been washed away, and the wind and sun
combined have bleached the specimens to snowy whiteness.
As a general thing, the natives who live within reach of coral groves are
in the habit of gathering it in quantity, cleaning it very successfully,
and offering it for sale at prices that defy competition on the part of any
scientific collector whose time is worth more than fifty cents a day. The
best thing the collector can do is to get acquainted with the native
fishermen and boatmen, treat them well and pay fairly, and then, if there
is anything in the sea that his collectorship wants, it will soon be
forthcoming. Thus, instead of the growth of the collection depending upon
one or two men, there will be from ten to twenty local experts directly
interested in it. I once came to a complete deadlock with my interpreter
and three boatmen on the translation of the word "coral." They were
Singhalese and Tamils, and coral was worse than Sanskrit to them. Finally,
as a last despairing effort, I took a pencil and began to make a sketch of
a madrepore. The crowd watched its progress in breathless silence until
very soon one appreciative auditor shouted triumphantly, _"Koki kalli!"_
The crowd joyfully echoed it, the mystery was solved, and in five minutes
more we were afloat and on our way to seek
"The treasures of the sea,
In the mystic groves of coral
Where her spirit wanders free."
The packing and shipping of branching corals is a serious matter. I have
tried every way I could think of, and have seen others do the same, and am
firmly convinced that no matter how the large _branching_ clusters are
packed, they are _bound to get somewhat broken anyway_! Of course, if you
care to travel with them and see to their handling at every transfer, that
is another thing, but who can do that? The trouble is that the individual
branches are so very heavy for the diameter of the stems next the base, a
sudden jar causes them to snap in two by their own weight. But then corals
are very beautiful, very interesting, and no matter though they are
troublesome, we must have them.
In packing brain coral, and other compact forms without branches, the
principal thing is to wrap them in sufficient soft materials that their
surfaces cannot get rubbed, for that would ruin them. Do not pack a large
chunk of brain coral without putting a partition across the box to hold it
firmly in its own place, no matter how the box is turned. In Ceylon I once
took the trouble to divide a large box into twelve separate compartments
for the reception of that number of coral specimens.
In packing branching coral, a good quantity of soft, elastic, fibrous
material like coir, cotton, tow, oakum, or something similar, is necessary.
From first to last, take whatever precautions are necessary to keep your
corals from getting filled with dirt and litter. Each cluster must lie on a
thick pad of your fibrous material. In order to get downward pressure upon
it, to hold it in place without breaking the branches, take some soft paper
or cotton cloth, roll up a long, cylindrical pad of cotton or something
else, and thrust it far down into the largest opening between the branches,
with one end projecting above the top of the cluster to receive and
transmit pressure from above. This principle, if properly carried out, will
enable the collector to so firmly fix even the most fragile cluster that it
is fitted to withstand pretty rough treatment in transit without serious
damage.
STAR-FISHES.--When star-fishes are first taken from the water their arms
are pliant, but after a bath in alcohol they become perfectly rigid. If
left to themselves when first put into spirits, the smaller and more
spider-like species will almost tie their arms into double bow-knots, and
insist on keeping them so forever after. Since the way to cure a star-fish
is to soak it in alcohol for from six to twenty-four hours, according to
size, and then dry it flat and in good shape, it becomes necessary to pin
the small ones firmly in shape upon thin boards before immersing them, and
then they will "stay put." See to it that while in the spirits all your
star-fishes, large and small, cure in proper shape, flat, and with each arm
flat and extended in the right direction. After removal from the spirits,
pin out all those not already fastened upon boards, and then let them dry.
I have never found it necessary to poison the spirits, for the reason that
dermestes and other insects seem to respect a dried star-fish for his own
sake.
ECHINI.--In all tropic seas the collector is liable to find echinoderms,
"sea-urchins," "sea-eggs," or "sea-porcupines." These creatures are
usually spherical in shape, with the mouth underneath, and the internal
structure of the animal is covered with a stout, calcareous shell of
uniform thickness, which is set all over on the outside with a mass of
protecting spines, usually fine and very sharp-pointed, but sometimes thick
and blunt. In life the spines are movable, and by means of them the
creature walks, or clings to its native rocks most tenaciously.
The best time to seek echini is at low tide, and the best places are those
where the shore line is composed of rough rocks, scooped out here and there
into shallow pools. Take with you a large basket, a large screw-driver, if
you have one, or failing that, a knife with a long, stout blade. Wear old
clothes, unless you can afford to spoil new ones. When the tide is low you
can wade around in the now peaceful pools, and find the echini in the
sheltered crevices, clinging to the bottom, or the perpendicular sides of
the rocks, but always under water.
To dislodge them, the knife-point or the edge of the screw-driver must be
neatly and skilfully worked under the victim far enough to enable you, with
the exertion of some force and a steady pull, to pry him loose from the
rock, whereupon he becomes your lawful prey. Next comes the cleaning
process. With a small knife, detach the skin of the mouth parts from the
edge of the round hole underneath, in the middle of which the mouth is
situated, and remove all fluid and fleshy matter from the interior of the
shell. That done, wash it out thoroughly. The bony jaws, or "Aristotle's
lantern," may also be drawn out through the hole and thrown away--_unless_
you happen to be collecting for someone who is studying the anatomy of
echini, in which case he must speak for himself.
Having cleaned your sea-urchin, put it in clean alcohol (same strength as
for fishes) and let it soak for about twenty-four hours. This will prevent
the spines from gently dropping off, like leaves in autumn, when you
proceed to dry the specimen. After soaking in spirits, put the specimens
out in a shady place to dry. It is a curious fact that all the echini of
Ceylon and Malayana lose their spines unless soaked in spirits before
drying, whereas those of the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the West
Indies can be dried without soaking, and the spines will not fall off.
SHELLS. _"Living" and "Dead" Specimens._--The first thing that the amateur
needs to learn about a shell is that it may be living or dead. As a general
thing, what is technically called a "dead" shell is worthless in a cabinet.
A live shell is one which has been collected with a living mollusc in it,
and then duly cleaned, preserving all its beautiful colors. A dead shell is
one in which the occupant died a natural death, has lain and bleached in
the sunshine until its colors are entirely gone, and its form also ruined
by the weather. Therefore I say, leave dead shells alone, unless it be that
you are making an exhaustive collection of the species in a given locality,
when a dead shell which is identifiable is as good a record as a living
one. Where a shell is actually devoid of color, a dead shell is as good as
a living one, provided it is collected before its edges or its angles have
been rounded by exposure to the sun and rain. Many a living shell has an
epidermis, the same as an animal, while a dead shell has none.
When shells are obtainable, who can resist the impulse to gather them? The
man, woman, or child who is proof against the seductive powers of the
beautiful and many-colored shells of the seashore "is fit for treason,
stratagems, and spoils." Next to the pleasure of collecting shells one's
self is that of witnessing the keen delight of children and ladies in
gathering these beautiful treasures of the sea. If you have never yet had
an opportunity to stroll along the smooth sands of an ocean beach at low
tide, and gather your basketful of beautiful shells, curious sponges, bits
of coral and coralline, while your soul is soothed by the rhythmic music of
the surf, then I pity you. You have indeed yet something left to live for.
Hooker has divided the shell-bearing mollusca into three great
groups--land, fresh-water, and marine--and the shell collector will do well
to study each one separately.
_Land Shells._--These are most abundant in the tropics, less so in the
subtropical regions, and are rare elsewhere. They are seldom found where
moisture is not abundant. In the tropics they are to be collected all the
year round, but in the temperate zone it is best to collect them in the
autumn, when they are fully grown. It is impossible, without devoting too
much space to this subject, to give more than a general idea of the
situations in which land shells are found. Some species are to be looked
for on trees and bushes; others on rocks and stone walls; others again on
the ground, and others again on the blades or in the roots of grass. In the
tropics it is particularly desirable to watch for the beautiful land
snails, which are almost strictly arboreal in their habits. They are to be
found on the trunks and leaves of palms, the banana, myrtle, orange, and
scores of other trees and shrubs.
_Fresh-Water Shells_ which inhabit clear and shallow water are easily
gathered with a stout hand-net. Where the water is murky, or so deep that
the bottom cannot be seen, it is necessary to have an instrument like an
iron-toothed rake, with the teeth set closely together, to be used as a
sort of clam-dredge, raking the bottom and gathering up the mussels. In our
own country the amateur collector will doubtless be surprised at the number
of species of _Unio_ which will repay the labors of a diligent collector.
_Marine Shells._--If you would have one of the jolliest picnics in the
world, don a suit of old clothes, equip yourself with a stout basket, a
screw-driver with a long handle, and a case-knife with a thin blade,
"Hang up thy lute and hie thee to the sea."
Go before the tide is at its lowest ebb, and search in the vicinity of the
largest bowlders, under ledges of rock, under loose stones, in
shallow pools, in bunches of sea-weed, in fact everywhere along the shore.
In these various places you will find cowries, ormers (_Haliotis_),
chitons, limpets, and more others than I could name in an hour.
When wading in shallow water it is well to look out for the pestiferous
sting-ray, and not step on one unawares, lest you find its caudal spine
driven through your foot like a poisoned arrow. But, fortunately, they
seldom trouble the collector. With the limpets, chitons, and other small
shell-fish, you must work the point of your case-knife under them, and with
it gradually detach them from the rock. Where such prey is plentiful, the
collecting of it is grand fun, I assure you.
There are many bivalves which burrow or bury in the mud or sand, which must
be dug out with a stick or trowel, while other species, still more
enterprising, bore into wooden piles, and even into rocks! These, of
course, can be collected only with the aid of a hatchet, or chisel, or
stone-hammer, as the case may be. If you are on the Florida coast you will
do well to search over the coral reefs and the mud flats at low tide. On
the latter you will find conch-shells, pinnas, and numerous other species.
I once made a very successful search for pinnas by wading around barefooted
on a sandy flat on which the receding tide had left the water but little
over a foot in depth. These shells were always found standing up in the
sand, at bay, with their sharp edge up. By going barefooted as I did, you
find the shells by stepping on them and cutting your feet, which is to be
accomplished, however, without hurting the thin edge of the shell. A cut
foot will heal up, but a broken shell never will.
CLEANING SHELLS.[7]--In gathering shells, particularly the marine species,
many of them will be found covered with a thick, leathery, and persistent
epidermis, and many others will be so buried under rough, limy accretions
that their own fathers would scarcely recognize them. However beautiful
such shells may be when cleaned, it is no child's play to clean them and
get them ready for the cabinet. To anyone willing to learn, the processes
are really very simple; and what manual labor under the sun could be more
interesting to a lover of natural history?
_Removing the Animal._--With a large shell, such as a conch, the first step
is to remove the living animal. In some cases I have accomplished this by
hooking a fish-hook into the head of the animal and hanging it up so that
the weight of the shell constantly pulling down on the animal would cause
it to gradually relax and draw out. An excellent plan is to place the shell
for a few days in fresh water and macerate the animal sufficiently that it
may be drawn out. Fortunately the great majority of molluscs are very
small, and it is possible to prepare them for the cabinet without the
necessity of removing the animal. Mr. Greegor's plan is to soak the shell
in alcohol for a few days, to completely preserve the anima
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