Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting. W. J. Holland
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.
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