If you wish the hoofs mottled (they look best that way) file same until you get to the "quick," which is light in color and gives the foot a very attractive appearance. Smooth down with sandpaper or edge of glass. Oil a rag and dip it in powdered pumice stone and rub hoof vigorously a few moments, and you will have a beautiful polish.
The smaller articles are complete as they are or may be mounted, ink wells, etc., on round, and thermometers on long panels of variously finished woods. Many nice articles may thus be made from what is usually considered worthless offal.
CHAPTER XX.
MOUNTING FISH.
These with reptiles are most difficult to preserve with any success by the ordinary methods. There are some individuals which it is impossible for the taxidermist to prepare the skins of, so as to retain a natural appearance for any length of time. They can only be represented by casts painted to the best of the artist's ability.
Most of the varieties of medium and large game fishes can be mounted by the average taxidermist and it is with these we are mostly concerned. There are almost as many methods of mounting fish as there are operators, each having some pet kink of real or fancied superiority.
As often as otherwise fish are mounted in the medallion style, with one side only showing. This is especially adapted to display on walls and panels. For filling material everything from sawdust to plaster has been employed but as good results as any are secured by a hard core of the approximate size of the skinned fish, coated with some plastic substances which is moulded into shape through the skin.
In skinning some fish the scales must be protected by pasting thin paper over them but ordinarily it is sufficient to keep the skin wet and not allow it to dry out until it is complete. A piece of oil cloth is good to work on in skinning fish or birds either. Some taxidermists have a large pane of glass set flush in a table top for this purpose.
