Procure some tube colors, oil and turpentine, equal parts, and a small sable brush, with which to tint the eyelids and the end of the nose their natural color. Put a little varnish and turpentine, equal parts of each, on the toe-nails, and, in short, do everything you can that will give the specimen the look of a living animal. If it looks stuffed, put it in the darkest corner of your cabinet, and try another. The glass eyes must be cleaned with great care, and polished with a soft cotton rag until they glisten.
At the last moment change the rough board pedestal for a permanent one, either of black walnut, polished, or ash, planed and sand-papered very smooth, and covered with two coats of shellac. If you have perched your squirrel on the top of a small stump, sawed off square at the bottom, or upon a large branch, with a section of the trunk serving as a base, of course no artificial base is necessary. Artificial branches for mounted birds are bad enough, but for mammals they are altogether too bad, and should never be used.
In conclusion, do not expect that your first mammal is going to be an overpowering success. Do not take a cat for your first subject, for a cat is the most difficult of all small quadrupeds to mount successfully. A tough old squirrel is the best thing for you to wrestle with until you have learned the method thoroughly.
Exceptional Cases.—There are certain classes of small mammals whose skins should not be put through the salt and alum bath, if possible to avoid it, for several reasons. These are the young of the smaller mammalia, especially such as rabbits, squirrels, and other familiar forms. It is by far the best plan to mount all such skins as soon as they are taken off, without wetting the hair, and using dry arsenic and alum, equal parts, to preserve and poison them. The bones of young animals become quite soft in the bath, and the hair is difficult to dress to look like life. The fur of a rabbit is the meanest fur in the world to comb out and dress to look fluffy and immaculate after it has once been wet with salt-and-alum water. Mount them without wetting when you can, only poison them well against moths. Alcohol is far preferable to the bath for the skins of such species as the above, and, as our English cousins would say, is "not half bad."
Mounting Bats.—Having tried all known methods of mounting and displaying these pestiferous little subjects, I finally evolved an arrangement which I now conceitedly believe is the only satisfactory solution of the difficulties they present. My plan is to mount the bat without any wires, save in the legs of the larger species, and when finished lay it on its back on a smooth board, spread the wings, put pieces of pasteboard over the membrane until all is covered, and pin them down. Of course the wings must be in perfect position. When the specimen is dry, apply some royal glue of the best quality to the back of each wing, and stick his batship permanently on a strip of thick plate glass, which has been prepared previously by being cut to the proper size, and ground on the edges.
[a]Fig. 28.]—Author's Method of Mounting Bats on Glass.
The accompanying cut (Fig. 28) was drawn from a specimen as exhibited, omitting the label. The advantages of this arrangement are as follows: It shows the specimen perfectly on both sides; the wings do not warp and shrivel up; it is possible to repair breaks in the wing membrane, and the most delicate specimen is well protected. The strip of glass stands on edge in a deep groove which has been cut to fit it tightly in the top of a flat, narrow pedestal having the usual moulded edge.