The Project Gutenberg eBook of Taxidermy without a Teacher
Title: Taxidermy without a Teacher
Author: Walter Porter Manton
Release date: March 13, 2016 [eBook #51439]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Gemma J. Wright and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
Transcriber's note:
Corrections/alterations from the original can be found at the end of the book. Larger images are available by clicking the images, and on the links for negative (black on white) images. These may not work on all devices.
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
PRACTICAL HELPS IN NATURAL HISTORY
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
INSECTS
HOW TO CATCH AND HOW TO PREPARE THEM FOR THE CABINET
Illustrated Price 50 Cents
FIELD BOTANY
A HANDBOOK FOR THE COLLECTOR
Illustrated Price 50 Cents
Taxidermy Without a Teacher
COMPRISING
A complete Manual of Instruction for Preparing and Preserving
BIRDS, ANIMALS AND FISHES
Illustrated Price 50 Cents
Lee and Shepard Publishers Boston
TAXIDERMY WITHOUT A TEACHER
COMPRISING
A COMPLETE MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION
FOR PREPARING AND PRESERVING
BIRDS, ANIMALS AND FISHES
WITH
A CHAPTER ON HUNTING AND HYGIENE; INSTRUCTIONS
FOR PRESERVING EGGS AND MAKING SKELETONS
AND A NUMBER OF VALUABLE RECEIPTS
BY
WALTER P. MANTON
Illustrated
SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM
Copyright, 1882,
By Lee and Shepard.
All Rights Reserved.
TO
PROFESSOR J. W. P. JENKS, A.M.,
OF BROWN UNIVERSITY,
This Second Edition
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
- BIRD SKINNING AND MOUNTING 13
- PERCHES 34
- SKINNING AND MOUNTING MAMMALS 37
- SKINNING AND MOUNTING FISHES AND REPTILES 41
- EGGS AND NESTS 46
- SKELETONS 49
- HUNTING AND HYGIENE 51
Fig. 1. [Click here for negative image]
A—Primary Quills.
B—Secondary Quills.
C—Spurious Wing.
D—Wing Coverts.
E—Tertiary Quills.
F—Throat.
G—Jugulum.
H—Beak—Upper and Lower Mandible.
I—Culmen of Upper Mandible.
J—Cere.
K—Commissure.
L—Frons, or Forehead.
M—Occipital Feathers.
N—Scapular Feathers.
O—Back.
P—Upper Tail Coverts.
Q—Rump.
R—Shows position of Under Tail Coverts.
S—Abdomen.
T—Tarsus.
PREFACE.
The success of this little book during the past six years necessitates a second edition. As a manual it is not intended to compete with the larger handbooks on the subject; but the attempt has been made to furnish the beginner with reliable instruction for the least money possible. The present edition has been thoroughly revised, and many additions made.
As was said in the first edition: "I have employed the method given for a number of years, and with great success, and guarantee success to the learner who fully carries out the directions embodied herein. I ask the reader to take himself, in imagination, to my work-shop, and to proceed as if I were at his elbow, guiding his hand, and explaining to him the mysteries of this beautiful art. It is only continuous, untiring labor that accomplishes anything of real merit in this life; and the most successful ornithologists will be found to be the hardest workers.
"Therefore I would caution the beginner against all impatience and disappointment at unsuccessful attempts, and urge him to press forward, continually striving to improve upon past failures, and soon, to his own astonishment, those things which at first appeared difficult and awkward, will become comparatively simple and easy. Said an old teacher to me: 'I can tell you how all these things are done, but I cannot enable you to do them; practice alone will accomplish that.'
"A person with a light and delicate touch will be most successful in this art; therefore I recommend it to the special attention of ladies. It is a continual source of pleasure, and promotive to the love of the great Nature which moves so mysteriously around us. It is true that we have seen those of coarse and vulgar minds and clumsy fingers, eminently successful; but what is more revolting to a delicate appreciation, than to see these bright creatures, so marvellously constructed by our all-wise Father, tortured into life-like attitudes by one who acts merely as an automaton, and has no sympathy with his work otherwise than to gain a livelihood? It is only the refined and the lover of nature who can thoroughly enjoy this art of reproduction. A close observer of nature, in two short hours spent in the fields and woods, will see and learn more than the unobserving and careless person in as many years.
"A careful observation of the habits and attitudes of the little songsters when free, will be of great assistance in mounting. A knowledge of drawing will also be found of service."
FROM THE FIRST EDITION.
Brown University, Providence, R. I.
Mr. Manton,—Having perused your MS. "Taxidermy Without a Teacher," I feel free to say, that its suggestions are eminently practical, and cannot fail to render such aid to the beginner as he most needs, and indeed must have from some source, at the outset of his efforts to acquire the beautiful art of preserving and mounting specimens in Natural History.
Whatever induces the young or old to turn their attention to the study of nature, is a gain to society at large, as substituting truth for fiction, and leading the mind to the contemplation of Him whose devising wisdom and sagacity are manifested in all His works. Commending highly your effort, I am yours,
With great respect,
J. W. P. Jenks.