MOUNTING SMALL AND MEDIUM BIRDS.
A word of advice to the beginner as to the variety of specimen to use in
first trials. Don't begin on too small a bird until somewhat adept;
unpracticed fingers bungle sadly over tiny feathered bodies. A first
subject should be at least as large as a bob white to give room to work,
and of some variety in which the feathers are firmly embedded.
Snow birds, cardinals, and some others have very thin delicate skins,
the pigeons shed their feathers on little or no provocation. Blackbirds
and jays are very good to practice on but the very best would be a coot,
sometimes called crow duck or mudhen. It is of fair size, closely
covered with feathers which will fall in place readily after skinning
and wiring even at the hands of a beginner.
Many, in fact most, birds have numerous bare patches which the adjacent
feathered tracts cover perfectly while in the flesh, but which a too
generous filling will exhibit in all their nakedness. I had not
discovered this until some of my first attempts at mounting birds
nonplussed me by showing numerous patches of bare skin in spite of the
fact that but a few feathers had become loosened in the handling.
We will assume that a suitable specimen is at hand, freshly killed and
properly skinned as per the directions already given. All bones
remaining with the skin, lower leg, wing, skull, etc., have been
stripped of flesh and any shreds remaining poisoned, as has the entire
inner surface of skin. With the skinned body at hand cut three wires of
suitable size, one a little more than twice the length of the body and
neck, for the body wire, the other two about twice the length of the
legs may be a size larger as it is important that the leg wires furnish
adequate support.
[Illustration: CLINCHING LEG WIRES IN ARTIFICIAL BODY OF BIRD]
Form the body wire into a loop which is the outline of the body laid on
one side with the surplus end projecting along the line of the neck.
This loop should not be quite as large as the body, however, to allow
for a thin layer of filling material over it. Wad up a handful of coarse
tow, push it inside the body loop and wind with coarse thread, drawing
in by pressure and winding and building out with flakes of tow to a
rough shape of the skinned body. The neck also is built up the same way,
making it fully as thick as the original but no longer ever.
[Illustration: WIRE LOOP FOR BIRD BODY.]
If the wire projects more than a couple of inches from this artificial
neck, cut it off at that length and with a flat file or emery wheel give
it a sharp triangular point. The leg wires, too, should be pointed
similarly. All wire should be smooth, straight, and free from kinks to
work well. Coming in coils it will require straightening, the larger
sizes with mallet or hammer and No. 18 and smaller by fastening one end
in the vise and giving the other a sharp tug with a pair of pliers. It
will be felt to stretch slightly and become quite straight.
Next insert the pointed end of a leg wire in the bottom of the foot and
pass it up along the back of the bone between it and the skin. A
considerable knack is necessary to do this successfully and some force
must be used. Passing the heel joint is difficult but having done this
and emerged inside the skin continue to pass it until it is a little
longer than the leg bone beside it.
[Illustration: WIRING LEG OF BIRD]
Turn the skin of leg inside out and wrapping tow around both bone and
wire build up a duplicate of the leg from thigh to heel, wrapping snugly
with thread. Treat the other leg the same.
With forceps fill the skull back of mouth with tow cut in short pieces.
A quantity of this may be chopped on the block with the hatchet and kept
on hand in a box. Never fill any part of a mounted bird with cotton
unless it may be the sockets as it is impossible to force a sharpened
wire or pin through it.
The parts of the wing bones remaining should be wrapped with tow as the
legs are, only they hardly need any wiring inside unless the bird is to
be with wings spread. Fasten the ends of the wing bones together by a
stout cord or thread so they are separated the distance between the
shoulders, measuring across the back of body. Now insert the neck wire
in the back of skull forcing it out through the crown until the
artificial neck is brought snugly against the opening at the base of the
skull.
Bend the pointed end over to get it out of the way and adjust the skin
of the neck. Draw the skin of breast over the body keeping the bird on
its back. If the body has been properly made it will fill the skin
rather loosely. If too large it can be removed and made smaller before
proceeding.
The operator will note that in all small and medium birds the thigh and
the upper wing, next the shoulder are not built up and wired with the
rest of the limbs but are filled out later from inside the skin, as in
all ordinary positions they show but little externally, the elbow and
knee joints nestling close to the body among the feathers.
So when fastening the legs to the body let the wires enter where the
knee would lie and push the wire through obliquely, upward and forward,
pushing and drawing them through the artificial and natural leg until
the lower ends approach the feet. Grasping the sharpened ends of the leg
wires at the middle of the length projecting from the body, with round
nose pliers bend them over in a hair pin shape.
[Illustration: BIRD WIRED.]
Work this loop back through the body pulling back through the leg and
clinch the points over into the body again. If the body was firmly made
as it should be, this fixes the legs permanently to it, yet they may be
bent readily at the joints to suit various attitudes.
Adjust the skin now and fill out at shoulders, thighs, and base of tail
with some chopped tow. The breast also may need some filling. Sew up the
skin beginning at the breast and finishing at the base of tail, lacing
it together with the ball cover stitch.
The pose of the finished specimen you have probably decided on before
now so it only remains to put it in the desired attitude. This sounds
easy, like sculpture, "just knock off what stone you don't need and
there is the statue," but it may try your soul at length to obtain the
desired effect. Good pictures are a great help here, as of course a
living duplicate would be if you had it.
Before setting it on its feet, coax the wings into place as you hold the
bird in your hand and pin them to the body through the elbow and outer
joint of the wing, using several pins 2 to 4 in. long or pieces of
sharpened wire the same size. This will hold the wings out of the way
and they may be changed and fitted perfectly later.
Mounted birds are usually put on temporary stands of rough boards or
limbs and when fully dried out transferred to a permanent mount which
can be prepared in the meantime of the exact size and variety wished
for. On these temporary stands the leg wires are only twisted together
so they can be easily removed. Place the feet in natural positions of
standing, walking or running and arrange the toes correctly. They had
best have some pins driven in beside the toes to secure them till dry,
as badly shaped feet will spoil the effect of an otherwise fine piece of
work, indicating a careless workman.
If on a bough or stump the feet should grasp it as if the bird really
means to stay on it. Two or three wires like those used on the wings
hold the tail in place by being driven through the base of it into the
body for half their length.
Fix the head looking down rather than up and to one side rather than
straight ahead. If you have the proper glass eyes at hand they can be
set now, if not, later will do but the lids are relaxed just now to
receive them. Fill the back of the sockets with tow or cotton and with a
little spoon-shaped modeling tool give this and the inner surface of the
lids a good coating of soft clay. The eyes, cut from the wire stem on
which most of them come, are pressed into this and the skin worked into
place with the point of a big needle or a small awl.
Now give the plumage a general going over, re-pin the wings if
necessary, and wind down any obstreperous feathers with thread. A number
of pins or wires thrust in the middle of back and breast will help this
operation.
Starting at the head wind back to the tail, lacing the thread from pin
to pin, not binding tightly with any one thread but producing a smooth
surface by holding it down at a multiplicity of points. There are a
number of so-called systems for winding birds but the same taxidermist
seldom winds two alike as the needs of the case are sure to differ. To
spread the tails of small birds, spread the feathers as desired and pin
them between two strips of light cardboard. When dry they will retain
their position. If all arranged properly set the bird away to dry; two
weeks will be sufficient for this.
[Illustration: BIRD WOUND WITH THREAD.]
Any colors on bill or feet and legs should be renewed with oil colors as
they fade almost entirely; if of a dark or neutral color originally, a
coating of transparent varnish will do. There is a variety of beetle
which delights in dining on such hard parts of mounted birds if not
protected by paint or varnish.
Place the bird on its final mount and fasten the leg wires in grooves
cut in the under side of same so they are flush with surface. The ends
may be turned over and driven in again or held fast by small staples. If
on the under side of a limb or branch a pinch of moss or lichen glued on
will cover this fastening.
Cut away the binding threads and with cutting pliers cut off all
projecting pins and wires, leaving what part of them is covered by the
feathers. Brush any clay from the eyes and if the lids have shrunken
away from them as they do usually, coat a bit of black thread with glue
and with a setting needle place between the lids and glass eyes.
[Illustration: THE POSE OR POSITION OF CERTAIN BIRDS]
If the eyes were not on hand when first mounted the lids should have
been relaxed and the eyes set as soon as procured.
Small birds may be mounted in fluttering attitudes by pinning the wings
with a bunch of cotton beneath them, but if an attitude with wings fully
spread is called for they must be treated in a manner similar to the
legs, inserting the wire under the skin near the tip of the wing and
running it along the under side of the wing bones to the body through
which it is thrust and clinched as the leg wires were.
[Illustration: FLUTTERING POSITION OF SMALL BIRDS.]
Birds mounted with spread wings cannot be so readily wound to smooth the
plumage and require to be braced with strips of stiff paper and
sometimes extra wires, which are removed when dry.
[Illustration: NATURAL STANDING POSITION OF SMALL BIRD ON LIMB.]