Section I.: Plain Stands.—The best stands for the cabinet are simple wooden ones, either of pine or other woods, turned by machinery with a simple cross-piece for perching birds. As a rule, the shaft should be about as high as the cross-piece is long, but in cases of specimens with long tails, the shaft should be somewhat higher, while the base should a little exceed in diameter the length of the perch, and should be about as thick as the shortest diameter of the other parts.
Section II.: Ornamental Stands.—Papier-maché used for making ornamental stands is quite difficult to make, but following is the receipt: Reduce paper to a perfect pulp by boiling and then rubbing through a sieve. To every quart of this pulp add a pint of fine wood-ashes and a half pint of plaster. Heat this mass over the fire, and to every quart add a quarter of a pound of glue, which has been thoroughly dissolved in a glue-pot. Mix well until it is of the consistency of putty, when it is ready for use.
In making a twig for an ordinary perch, fasten a moderately stout wire in a wooden base; wind it with cotton, larger at the base, tapering toward the end; bend it in a position and cover with a layer of papier-maché, then with a comb indicate the ridges in the bark of a tree, and add knots and excrescences as desired, by moulding small pieces with the fingers. Set aside to dry for a few days. If the papier-maché cracks it does not contain a sufficient quantity of glue, or if it shrinks too much, more ashes or plaster should be added. When dry paint with water-colors, made by adding dry paint to dissolved white glue, stirring until the mixture becomes of the consistency of cream. A quarter of a pound of glue will take up a pound of paint. Cover the bottom of the stand with this paint, or with some other color, then sprinkle profusely with smalt or mica sand. When dry, add artificial leaves to the branches by winding the stems around them. Trim the bottom of the stand with mosses and grass fastened on with glue. Stands for cases are made in a similar manner, but it is an improvement to touch the ground-work here and there with dry paint of various colors. A piece of looking-glass may be used to imitate water; and ducks from which the lower portions have been cut away may be placed on this with a good effect. A very good stand may be made by simply winding a wire with cotton and painting the cotton. The cotton can be made into a species of papier-maché by soaking it in flour-paste. Rock work is made of either papier-maché, cork, blocks of wood, or pieces of turf painted and sanded, or by pasting stout paper over pieces of wood, and the whole structure painted and sanded. If papier-maché be used the effect may be heightened by sticking in pieces of quartz or other rock. Natural stumps, branches, etc., may be manufactured into stands or cases to advantage; in short, with the aid of papier-maché, glue, moss, grasses, smalt, etc., nature may be imitated in a variety of ways.
[PART II.—MAMMALS, REPTILES, ETC.]
CHAPTER VI.—COLLECTING MAMMALS.
Mammals are, as a rule, much more difficult to procure than birds, especially the smaller species. Mice occur in all localities. The white-footed mice are often found in the deserted nests of squirrels or of crows in the tree-tops. Jumping-mice are found in the meadows, under haycocks or in nests deep in the earth during winter, at which time they are in a dormant condition. Field-mice of several species occur in the meadows, where they have nests, while the house-mouse and several species of mice inhabit dwellings. All these little rodents may be trapped by using a variety of bait, and the same is true of squirrels, which are, however, quite easy to shoot. The gray, red, and flying-squirrels live in nests placed in bushes or trees or in holes in tree-trunks. Shrews and moles burrow in the ground, and they may be snared by setting fine wire nooses in their holes. Cats often bring in these little mammals and leave them lying around, as they rarely eat them. A pit dug in an open field or a barrel set down with the top on a level with the ground and half filled with water will be the means of capturing many rare, small mammals which fall into it accidentally. Mink, weasel, otter, rabbits, skunks, etc., may be trapped or shot. A variety of bait may be used to decoy animals of this class, and the contents of the scent-bags of any of these species are good; as well as fish, birds, or small mammals. Foxes, wolves, etc., which occur in the wilder sections, may be shot or trapped, and the same is true of wild-cats, pumas, and other large mammals, in procuring which the hunter must be guided by circumstances.