When the skin is in the water, a board may be placed upon it, weighted so as not to flatten against the bottom of the vessel, or it may be kept in position under the water by pressing thin slips of wood over from side to side. The skin being well saturated — which, according to the size of the bird, will take place in from twelve to twenty-four hours — must have the stuffing removed from it, and then be allowed to soak for so long a time as experience will dictate. [Footnote: This should not be attempted before the skin is properly soaked, otherwise the cotton wool, or whatever it maybe stuffed with, will "stick" and frequently pull the head, etc.. off with it.] As a rule, however, when the wings and tail will spread out with gentle handling, the bird is fit to mount.
Sometimes the legs, if thick, and even the wings and tail, if large, will require a longer time to soak than is conducive to the well-being of the remainder of the skin; in this case, nothing remains but to skilfully pull off the wings, legs, and tail, and let them soak a few hours longer. [Footnote: This would seem to an amateur very rough treatment, but often it is the only method to pursue especially if the skin be "tender," although in them latter case vinegar is recommended to be added to the water in which it is steeped.]
Supposing, however, that the skin is properly relaxed without recourse to this, it must then be hung up by a wire secured through the nostrils, in order to drain the water out of it. After hanging a few hours (or many, if large) it is, when all the water has drained away from it, but while yet damp, carefully wiped down in every part with benzoline, applied liberally, but from head to tail, the way of the feathers; this is important. The skin may now be placed in a long shallow box, called the dry plaster box, and all the feathers well covered above and below with common dry plaster of Paris, and the skin allowed to be buried in it for three or four hours, then the damp caked plaster may be shaken off and fresh dry plaster added, allowing it to remain for several more hours.
This should be repeated until the feathers are fairly dry — which, if the bird be large, will take from twelve to twenty-four hours. The feathers of the skin must now be beaten with a bundle of stiff feathers, or the wing of a goose, or other large bird, until nearly dry, then dry plaster added from time to time, and the skin twirled about in the open air if possible. Very soon the feathers will cease to remain clogged with plaster, and will come out ready for mounting, nicely dried, fresh, and so beautifully clean as to surprise any person ignorant of the process.
Carefully managed, this is one of the most valuable aids to artistic taxidermy, as by its means birds' skins are rendered as limp and supple, and much tougher, than if just removed from the body. In proof of my assertion, I may mention that I have caused skins from ten to fifteen years old, and ranging in size from a cassowary to a humming bird, to be prepared by this method, all of which subsequently mounted up in a first-rate manner. [Footnote: A humming bird, after relaxing by water, is, when drained sufficiently, best treated by plunging in benzoline and then carefully dried in plaster. A night in water, and half-an-hour's treatment with benzoline and plaster, is sufficient for these small creatures.]
The points to observe are — first, perfect relaxing; secondly, wiping down thoroughly with benzoline; thirdly, drying the feathers of the skin well, by dusting in plaster and beating and agitating them in a current of air. Should the skin be greasy, covered with fat, or imperfectly freed of flesh (as many of the foreign birds' skins are), it will be necessary to scrape and trim when the specimen comes out of the plaster, before it is finally cleaned. In any case, it is always advisable to turn the skin of the head inside out, stretch the face, scrape the neck, and stuff the head in the ordinary manner before returning the skin.
The great advantage in the water process is, that a "Past master" in the method can mount a skin in as artistic and natural a manner as if done from the flesh. Usually, specimens done from the "skin" are at once recognisable by their uneasy and "wooden" appearance, but I defy anyone to pick out the skins in the Leicester Museum — unless by their neater appearance — from those anciently mounted from the flesh.
Skins of mammals, if cured by the formula (No. 9) given in Chapter IV., need only to be plunged in water for a night or so to relax them, wrung out, thinned down where required, and mounted straight away; a wet skin being an advantage when modelling mammals, wet cloths even being necessary to cover over certain parts, should the mounting occupy more than a day or so. This, if the skin is properly cured, does not injure the fur or any part in the slightest degree, while, at the same time, it thoroughly relaxes.
As newly relaxed skins (especially those of birds) dry rapidly it will be advisable to have everything ready, and shape them up as quickly as possible.
The colours of the bills and feet of most birds recover their pristine hues whilst being relaxed — a matter of great importance as assisting the naturalist to the subsequent natural rendering of those parts.