1, 2, and 3 indicate the brow, bay, and tray antlers respectively; 4, indicates the line along which a head should be measured for length; 5, the line along which to measure for span; 6, where to measure for girth.
In sending skins home from temperate regions I have never found it necessary to use any preservative against insects other than the powdered alum with which the skins are dressed; but in hot climates more elaborate precautions are necessary, and a liberal dose of spirits of turpentine should be applied externally from time to time.
An application of spirits of turpentine put on with a liberal hand, and brushed in, the way of the hair, with a dandy brush at spring-time, will go a long way towards saving trophies from the ravages of moth.
A covering of fine glazed gauze, made like a nosebag, is useful as a protection to heads left stored in an unused room.
Here it may be convenient to set out the ordinary systems of measuring game trophies amongst English sportsmen.
Skins are measured from the snout to the tip of the tail, and from side to side under the forearms.
There is a system of measuring bear skins upon the American continent which may have given rise to some errors—to wit, measuring from the ‘heel to the snout.’
In measuring the heads of sheep, ibex, and such like, the chief points are the girth of the horns at the base, and the length of each of them from base to point measured along the outside edge of the curve.
In measuring stags’ heads the points to note are: (1) the number of points or tines, (2) the length of the horn measured from the skull along the outside curve of the beam to the tip of the longest tine, (3) the greatest width between the horns, and (4) the circumference of the beam between the bay and the tray points. The diagram on p. 419 illustrates these measurements, indicates the points named, and displays the normal growth of tines in a wapiti head.