Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting / A Complete Handbook for the Amateur Taxidermist, Collector, Osteologist, Museum-Builder, Sportsman, and Traveller

by William T. Hornaday; W. J. Holland

The most pert and characteristic attitude of a squirrel is sitting up on its haunches, either on the alert, eating something held in its paws, or, perhaps, washing its face with its paws. This attitude is rather difficult to get, but it is well worth trying for. Bend each hind leg at the knee until the thigh touches the calf and rests upon it. Bend the ankle-joint until the foot makes an acute angle with the calf. Make a very decided curve in the backbone, so as to throw the body well forward between the knees, which must come nearly opposite the centre of the body. Push the hind legs up into the body so that the squirrel can sit upon his tail.

The elbows drop down until they almost touch the knees, which is partly accomplished by curving the back. Just below the shoulders the backbone must be curved, to throw the head and shoulders up, and hold them well erect. Give the head the pose you wish it to have, slightly turned to one side, let us say.

The next step, a very important one, is filling the body. If you do not do it intelligently, your squirrel will need to find a grave in the ash barrel. The mechanical part of this filling process is exceedingly simple, and everything, or nearly everything, depends upon how much you know of the anatomy of the animal before you. This is a private matter between yourself and nature. Your hand will nearly always be able to keep up with your eye if you give it a fair chance.

With your long forceps, which work like a dextrous thumb and finger eight inches long, pick up the chopped tow, and little by little insert it in the skin where it is needed. First fill out above the backbone until you get the desired outline, in profile, of the back and shoulders from tail to head. Then fill out the shoulders and form them properly. Fill in the neck, first around the base of the skull, and sew up the neck skin from the end of the cut downward for about two inches, and without cutting off your thread insert more chopped tow in the neck and shoulders, packing it firmly, if you have the proportions right. Do not allow the tow to roll up into wads and make the skin full of hills and hollows on the outside. The pressure of the tow on all points of the skin should be the same, and the filling must be packed firmly and evenly, so that the finished animal will keep its shape tenaciously in the struggle for existence, and not collapse at a firm touch.

One secret of success in filling the body lies in gradually and equally filling out the entire body to fair proportions before finishing any one part. Give the animal its exact attitude, then proceed. If there is an apparent lack of skin at any particular point, attack that first, and fill it out. You will soon find how easy it is to draw skin from one part of the body to another by judicious filling.

Having finished the neck and shoulders, leave that part and go to the haunches. Fill around the base of the tail, the hips, the upper part of the thighs, and the abdomen. Be careful to make both sides alike. Commence at the root of the tail and sew up the opening for about two inches, without catching the hair in your stitches, after which you may bore two small holes in a pine board, the proper distance apart, pass the two hind leg wires through, and set the little animal up. This is only a trial trip, and if you find the feet are not the proper distance apart (or the squirrel does not walk properly, if you have put him in a walking attitude), or does not sit properly, take him off the board and remedy the defects. When you have corrected his attitude, proceed with the filling, sewing up from both below and above, until the body is properly shaped, filled full of tow, and the opening entirely sewn up.

Now comb the tow out of the damp fur, and, if it is dirty, wash it with washing soda, soap and water until it is thoroughly clean. Place the animal upon its board pedestal, and correct the attitude with the utmost care before you bend the wires up underneath the board and clinch them fast. If the specimen is even a moderate success thus far, we will go on with it.

If the animal you are mounting is a tree-climber, and you wish to mount it upon a tree limb, select one for the purpose, and, according to your desire to have it nearly perpendicular, slanting, or horizontal, saw it off at the lower end, plant it firmly upon a rough board pedestal, and fasten it by putting two long, stout screws through the board and up into the base of the branch. Put your specimen upon the branch as nearly in position as possible, mark the places where the holes should be bored, and bore them with a bit of the proper size. You can then run the ends of the leg wires through, draw the feet down closely, and clinch the wires on the opposite side.

As soon as the little animal is firmly fixed on his temporary pedestal, or his branch, which must be permanent, we are ready to give the final touches to the body. We will, with thumb and finger, press in the shoulders if they are too high or wide, flatten the body by pressure if it is too round on the sides, and emphasize the undulating outline of the sides also by pressure. If there is a hollow spot where the surface should be smooth, thrust a sharp awl through the skin, catch some tow on the point of the awl, and, with a sharp lifting motion, pull the fibre up until it fills out the hollow. If there is a lump of tow under the skin, making an unsightly hump, thrust the point of the awl through into it, and spread it out underneath until the skin lies flat. It is often necessary to work all over the body of an animal with the awl in this way.

We have now to finish the head. With the cutting pliers, cut off the end of the body wire close up to the skull, so that the end will be hidden. Adjust the skin so that it fits naturally and easily on the skull and around the mouth, and see that the eyes come over the centre of the orbits. If the clay which was put upon the skull does not fill out the jaws and sides of the head quite naturally, push in a little chopped tow until the proper form is obtained.