This subject is more of interest to the museum preparator than the home taxidermist, but a short consideration of it is not out of place here.

Many instructive and pleasing little groups of our smaller mammals and birds can be prepared for display in the home. Such groups usually require casing for protection but are well worth the trouble and expense.

Always try to make a group mean something. Let the subjects be feeding, fighting or occupied in any natural way. Family groups showing the male and female, adults and young, in the home surroundings are always good.

The seasonal groups of Spring, Autumn, Summer and Winter have been produced by most bird taxidermists at some time. Appropriate varieties of small birds are the blue birds for Spring; gold finches, Autumn; yellow birds or tanagers, Summer; snow birds, Winter. Framed with painted backgrounds and suitable accessories their shallow wall cases may be hung like pictures.

Never make the mistake of grouping animals that would never meet in natural circumstances or furnish them with incongruous surroundings.

The arrangement of groups for the exhibition cases of museums is very exacting as they are made open to the view on all sides. In order to judge of the affect such groups are modelled in miniature clay figures which are changed and re-arranged until satisfactory before the mounting is begun.

Such work is rather out of our province but an intelligent arrangement of two or more figures can be made to convey many more ideas than a single one would suggest.

Some of the most striking groups are those of the larger carnivora in combat, but they hardly possess the real value of painstaking life studies of some of our more familiar kindred of the wild.

A knowledge of this subject coupled with the necessary mechanical ability will enable their possessor to take place in the front ranks of taxidermists. Even if we have but little opportunity to study the anatomy of some of the rarer varieties of animal forms we can inform ourselves of certain typical features possessed in common by other more common members of the same great family or species.

Press and camera supplies us with much reliable information on the subject. Books on natural history, travels and sports were never so complete, interesting, and withal, so easy of access as they are nowadays.

A great help to the naturalist is a collection of pictures such as appear from time to time in periodicals. Back numbers of magazines on outdoor life and sports will contribute quantities of these, most of them reproduced from photographs and in a short time a large collection of such can be made. Packing these in the pockets of a letter file will keep them together, and at the same time make it possible to withdraw any one or more for inspection when wanted.

Photos of dead animals are not particularly valuable but casts always are; make them whenever opportunity offers. Not so much casts of the entire specimen as casts of various details.

Get a set of moulds of the noses of say deer, moose, domestic cattle and sheep and keep the resulting casts for reference. Their value will be apparent when mounting heads. Any sketches, however rough, will also be of use.

The circus and zoo will furnish feast days for the student of animal anatomy and pencil and camera may be used freely at both with the assurance of the best of treatment from officials and keepers.

A visit to the meat market will afford opportunity for study of the muscular system of the domestic animals.

The sculptor builds up his clay model unhampered by fur, feathers or bones and chisels out his statuary on a scale determined by himself while the taxidermist must not only construct his figures or manikins in correct proportions, but make them fit a certain skin. Hence it behooves him even more than the sculptor to be well grounded in at least the main principles of the anatomy of animals.

Two of the frugal minded workmen having skinned a large plump duck laid the body minus head, feet, and wings aside to furnish a dinner next day. The porter regarding same as his perquisite abstracted and hid it. The first owners discovering it substituted the body of a large horned owl then in the process of mounting and so made all concerned happy. The porter bragging loudly next day of the fine duck he had done them out of, they were able to convince him of the truth only by exhibiting the duck remains as a part of their lunch.

One of the leading authorities in this country has aptly said, "The ideal taxidermist must be a combination of modeller and anatomist, naturalist, carpenter, blacksmith and painter. He must have the eye of an artist and the back of a hod carrier." This should not dismay the beginner for such casting and modelling as will be indispensable are comparatively simple.

In order to cast we must have molds and in our work these are chiefly of plaster. They are divided into two classes known as piece and waste molds. As the names indicate the latter is wasted or destroyed after making one copy while the piece variety can be used for a number of reproductions. The piece mold is divided into sections in such a way as will allow its removal without injury to either mold or cast. The waste mold is made from soft or fleshy objects which can be drawn from it in spite of projections known as undercuts.

Now mix in a bowl or basin a sufficient amount of water and plaster of paris to cover the surface of the deer's nose about ¼ inch thick. This should be of the consistency of cream and enough bluing or lampblack should be added to give it a decided tint.

If the skin of the lips and nose is disposed naturally the plaster may be ladled on with the spoon, endeavoring to get about an even coating. Wash any remaining bits from the dish and mix say twice the amount of plaster without coloring. Distribute this over the other and allow to harden, which they will do in about 20 minutes. A little careful work will withdraw this mold from the nose and it may either be laid aside or used at once in making the cast.

If a wire loop was inserted before the plaster hardened the cast may be hung on the wall for future reference.

Remove the clay from the other half of the face, and after countersinking two or three shallow holes in the edge of that part of mold already made and coating that edge with clay water, pour plaster for the second piece of mold. When this hardens pick up head from its bedding of sand or clay and turn over so the final piece of model can be made.

Always coat the edges with shellac or clay water to prevent adhesion and countersink a few holes for dowels to aid in holding the pieces in place. Dry out thoroughly and shellac the whole interior and joining edges. If it is slightly oiled before using a great number of casts may be made from it. This will give us a complete cast of a fox head with closed mouth.

MAKING MOULD FOR HALF HEAD.

To cast half head forms soak some paper and after coating one side with paste, press into the mold with the fingers. The first layer should be quite soft so as to crowd into all depressions. About six layers of building paper is thick enough for a fox head size. When dry cut the cords and detach the mold.

Molds for deer head forms are made in two pieces, one for each side of the head, and are necessarily not carried completely around the antlers. This gap is just filled in the head form by the plate of bone bearing the antlers, which is sawed from the skull.

Clay is the stand-by of the taxidermist modeller. That furnished by art dealers is best, but for common use potter's clay is all that is necessary. A little glue mixed in plaster delays its setting and makes it harder when dry. Good papier mache is one of the best materials for much modelling and wax for very fine work. Tools for this work may be purchased or home made of wood, bone or metal.

Many forms of fishes and reptiles are difficult or impossible to mount by ordinary methods. On these the caster and modeller may work his will, and if he also possesses a good eye for color the results may be of the best. As an indisputable record of anatomy even a poor cast is valuable.

In this country and day of conservation this would seem like a delicate subject to attack. The hunter for the trophy market a few years back was slaying elk, mountain sheep, moose, deer, or antelope indiscriminately.

While modern game laws have changed or at least modified this I can see no reason why a hunter who is entitled to a certain head of game per season should not utilize them fully by preparation and sale to others who have not similar opportunities.

MOUNTAIN LION OR PUMA HIDE.

While the day of trophy hunting as a business in the United States is past probably, by preserving such heads, horns, feet and skins as come in his way the trapper, prospector and settler can often add considerably to his income. For instance, from one to five deer may be legally killed in different states. If two good heads are taken, worth say $15.00 and $20.00 each when prepared, that sum would go far towards paying the expenses of an enjoyable outing.

The fur trapper will frequently take some animal the skin of which may for many reasons be of little value. The puma or mountain lion is such a one, worth but $2.00 or $3.00 usually, the mounted head is a striking wall ornament and the skin is suitable for couch or floor.

Though fur dealers will make some deduction from the regular prices on skins from which the heads are removed, it is vastly more profitable to retain them and preserve as trophies.

Commercial fishermen handling fish in large numbers would do well to preserve at least a few of the more notable specimens of their catch.

In localities where the tarpon, tuna, muscallonge, and other large fish are caught it is well to keep some good specimens on hand as such are often in demand to substantiate a fish story.

In a word, gather and preserve some of the best objects of animated nature your locality affords, whether fur, fin or feather.

Commercial taxidermy is roughly divided in two branches, custom work, and collecting and mounting for sale. For the first you need some fixed place of business easy of access to the public and convenient to lines of transportation. The latter may be taken up anywhere if a demand has been noted and a market assured or in prospect.

Travelers in little known parts of the country often pay their expenses or even gain considerable profit by collecting desirable specimens of animal life. As a side line on pleasure trips it is sometimes remunerative. Woodsmen and fishermen will often find it to pay better to preserve for mounting part of their game at least.

The sales end of the proposition is the most difficult for the outdoor man. Such work has not the fixed (?) value of furs and meat. There are a number of dealers in naturalists' material who aim to keep on hand a pretty complete stock of specimens for museum purposes. Correspondence with these will procure their want lists.

Many more deal in unmounted trophies of heads, horns and rug skins. Occasionally an order for small and common species may be secured from some school or college. Such institutions will often place an order for desirable material with a prospective traveler.

Finally it is well to mount a good specimen or two of almost any variety on general principles. It is astonishing how difficult it is to procure some very common species on the spur of the moment. If you accumulate a number of nicely done and attractive specimens it is possible to secure their sale on commission.

As such things are apt to draw attention as a window or wall display some druggist, sporting goods dealer or other business man may be glad to aid in their disposal. In or near a game country the local hotels will help advertise you by giving wall space in dining room or office to suitable pieces accompanied by a business card. Donations to libraries, schools and other public and semi-public institutions will keep you more or less in the public mind.

Endeavor to fill any orders you receive even if obliged to purchase at such rates that no profit remains.

Do not diminish the animal life of your locality by collecting everything you can lay your hands on. It would be time misspent and mostly unrewarded.

To those who hope to coin spare hours into dollars and cents, or others who must make a hobby pay its own expenses at least, an important question is, what is my work worth?

And one will concede that a taxidermist should receive at least as much as a skilled mechanic and the experts both in commercial and museum work are sometimes (not always) highly paid.

What seems the fairest method of compensation is by "piece work" and most custom taxidermy is handled on that basis. Most professionals have a regular scale of prices which, while necessarily more or less elastic, will give the public an estimate of cost.

The schedule which I give is, I think, about that in use in the Eastern States. The outside prices are for extra large specimens or those mishandled or injured so as to require an extra expenditure of time to give satisfaction.

PRICES FOR MOUNTING SPECIMENS.

ROBES.

According to size and variety of skins from $15.00 to $25.00 including tanning, sewing up and linings. The smaller skins of course require the most work.

Domesticated animals, dogs, cats, cage birds, etc., are mounted at the rates for similar sized wild specimens. Inasmuch as they are of value only for associations most taxidermists require a small advance payment on pet animals before commencing work; other work is usually C. O. D.

A discount of 10 to 20 per cent is often made for large quantity or to those in the fur trade who may be so induced to secure orders.

It would pay for at least one person in every furriers shop to have a knowledge of taxidermy and a connection with some dealer in sportsmen's goods is often of advantage.