cal paste preferably,
before the filling process.

After stitching up the opening cut the skin is laid on a board, back up
and the legs neatly disposed, the front feet beside the head and the
hind ones drawn back beside the tail. The feet are fastened with a pin
each and after smoothing down the fur with a small metal fur comb the
skin is laid aside in an airy, shady place until fully dry.

With each scientific skin a record should be made of the following
details:

1. Length, end of nose to root of tail.

2. Length of tail from root to end of bone.

3. Height at shoulders.

4. Color of eyes, lips, feet, etc.

5. Name of species, sex, locality, date, and collector's name.

These may be noted down on a corner of the outline sheet, which is
numbered and filed away; the skin tagged with a duplicate number is put
in the pickle jar or made up as a dried skin, whichever is desired, or
the full information may be put on a tag attached to the skin. Many
collectors simply number all specimens and preserve all information in
their note books. The foregoing details are sufficient for animals less
than bear and deer in size.

The larger animals should have as many as possible of the following
additional measurements:

Distance hip joint to shoulder joint.
Circumference of forearm.
" " neck.
" " body.
Back of leg.
Weight if possible.

Skins of large animals, a bear for instance, may have a slight wrapping
of tow or excelsior on the leg bones to prevent their coming in contact
with the skin and the whole skin laid to dry on a scaffold of poles or
something similar. When nearly dry fold up with the legs inside in a
square shaped package. This can be tied up with heavy cord or even sewed
up in burlap to prevent damaging the skin in transit. Fish and reptiles
are not a success as dry skins.

CHAPTER VIII.

PREPARING DRY AND WET SKINS FOR MOUNTING.

Let us assume that we have a dry skin each of a small bird and a furred
animal which has been properly made up sometime in the past and which it
is necessary to mount. Taking the bird skin first, the usual way is to
first wrap the unfeathered parts of legs in some strips of cotton cloth
saturated with water containing a few drops of carbolic acid until they
begin to relax or lose their stiffness somewhat.

Then the filling may be removed from the whole interior of the skin and
be replaced with pieces of cotton, d