ng, and may be kept in it for months or years without
injury. If you have time to skin an animal properly the skin may be
dropped in the pickle jar and in a day, week, or month be better fit for
final mounting than at first.

For the first few days it is necessary to move it about every day so all
parts may be exposed to the action of the pickle. The form of pickle
which I have found most helpful is:

TANNING LIQUOR.

Water 1 gal.
Salt 1 qt.
Sulphuric acid (measure) 1 oz.

Bring to boiling point to dissolve the salt. Allow to cool before
stirring in the acid. When cold is ready for use.

When keeping skins in a wet state a long time I would prefer to use:

SALT AND ALUM PICKLE.

Water 1 gal.
Salt 1 qt.
Alum 1 pt.

Boil to dissolve salt and alum; use like preceding.

If skins are to be kept some time they should, after a preliminary
pickling, be put in new, fresh pickle and it should be occasionally
tested with a salinometer and kept up to the original strength. Dirty
and greasy pickle should be thrown away, but if clean and of low
strength it can be brought up by adding new pickle of extra strength. It
will do no hurt if more salt, even a saturated solution, is made of
either of the foregoing.

While the salt and alum or acid pickle will keep our animal skins safely
and in a relaxed condition ready for further preparation at any time, it
will not answer for bird skins. For this we have a solution for keeping
bird skins soft:

Glycerine 2 parts
Carbolic acid 1 part

After skinning the bird and applying some arsenical solution to the
inside, brush this solution liberally over the entire inside of the
skin. Pay special attention to the bones, wing and leg, skull and root
of the tail. If necessary the skin may be packed flat for shipment. One
treatment will keep all but the larger skins soft for several months.
The feet, of course, will become hard and dry and must be relaxed as
usual before mounting.

Every taxidermist needs to be more or less of a modeler, and one of the
most useful materials is:

PAPIER MACHE.

Wet wood pulp 10 oz.
Glue (hot) or LePage's (measure) 3 oz.
Plaster paris, dry 20 oz.

This formula may be varied at the convenience of the operator. Work the
glue into the pulp and knead the plaster into the mass. The more glue
the