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    Taxidermy Vol. 10 Collecting Specimens - The Collection and Displaying Taxidermy Specimens
    Taxidermy Vol. 10 Collecting Specimens - The Collection and Displaying Taxidermy Specimens
    Taxidermy Vol. 10 Collecting Specimens - The Collection and Displaying Taxidermy Specimens
    Ebook129 pages1 hour

    Taxidermy Vol. 10 Collecting Specimens - The Collection and Displaying Taxidermy Specimens

    By Read Books Ltd.

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    About this ebook

    This comprehensive guide to collecting taxidermy specimens is part of a series on taxidermy and comprises eleven detailed chapters by various experts on the subject. It is extensively illustrated with black and white photographs, diagrams and drawings. Taxidermy Vol. 10 Collecting Specimens takes a comprehensive and informative look at the subject, and is a fascinating read for any taxidermy enthusiast or historian of the craft Contents Include: History of Taxidermy; Of the Chase, and Manner of Collecting Animals; Field Collecting; Outfit, and Hints on Hunting; Collecting Birds' Eggs and Nests; How to Collect and Preserve Insects; Collecting Marine Invertebrates; How to Select and Study Fresh Specimens; Ornamental Taxidermy; Market Trophy Hunting; Sportsmen's Trophies. This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateAug 26, 2016
    ISBN9781473353541
    Taxidermy Vol. 10 Collecting Specimens - The Collection and Displaying Taxidermy Specimens

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      Taxidermy Vol. 10 Collecting Specimens - The Collection and Displaying Taxidermy Specimens - Read Books Ltd.

      THE EARLY HISTORY OF TAXIDERMY

      Taxidermy is the art of preserving the skin, together with the fur, feathers, or scales of animals. The word is derived from the Greek words taxis, meaning order, arrangement, or preparation, and derma, meaning skin. A skin may be so prepared for use as a specimen for study, as an exhibit in museums and private collections, as an ornament, or article of apparel. Formerly, such mounting of animal skins was called stuffing and, in many cases, this was actually what was done (Figure 1). The skin was simply stuffed with straw, excelsior, or other similar material until it looked something like the living animal. Now, however, the stuffing process is entirely obsolete, and great care is taken to model the specimens so they look as lifelike as possible. The old-fashioned bird-stuffer has been replaced by the taxidermist, or preparator, and the verb to stuff, as applied to the art of taxidermy, abandoned. The modern taxidermist mounts, or models a specimen; he does not stuff it.

      The art of taxidermy as we know it today does not appear to be an ancient one, and is probably not more than 300 years old. This statement, of course, applies only to the mounting of specimens. The curing of skins for use as wearing apparel, rugs, and so forth, was perfected in very early days. Tracing back to the beginnings of taxidermy, one might say that prehistoric man was the first to practice this art by tanning animal skins for use as clothing. The early tribes which inhabited ancient Britain had no other means of covering their bodies and often used the skins of animals as adornments for their persons and in their homes. Our own American Indians preserved the heads of porcupines, foxes, raccoons, loons (Figure 2), and other birds and animals as decorations on clothing and equipment and for use in ceremonies. The ancient Egyptians also practiced taxidermy of a sort when they embalmed the bodies of dogs, cats, birds, and other animals, although this embalming was accomplished by the use of spices and oils and not by taxidermy methods. Many mummified remains of these birds and animals have been unearthed in the tombs of Egypt and are on exhibition in museums throughout the world.

      FIGURE 1

      FIGURE 2

      The first attempts at taxidermy date back about 350 years. Specimens of birds were collected in India and skinned, and the skins preserved with spices. These were then brought to Holland where they were arranged and held in a somewhat natural position by wires run through the body and anchored to a perch. The oldest specimen of a mounted animal in existence today is a rhinoceros in the Royal Museum of Vertebrates, Florence, Italy, prepared around the year 1600. The methods used in the mounting of this specimen are not known.

      That a crude kind of taxidermy was practiced in England toward the end of the eighteenth century is shown by specimens in the Sloane Collection, which in 1753 formed the nucleus of the British Museum in London. At the great exhibitions held in the middle of the nineteenth century throughout Europe, many examples of British taxidermy were exhibited. In America, the Society of American Taxidermists was founded March 24, 1880, but was disbanded three years later, largely because of a lack of cooperation among the taxidermists of the day. This was the first and only organization of its kind in the United States and lasted only long enough to hold three competitive and general exhibitions; the first in Rochester, the second in Boston, and the third in New York City. These exhibitions gave the public a chance to see the art of taxidermy as it was practiced at that time and brought about much higher standards for exhibits by individuals and museums.

      For some time, taxidermy had been carried on throughout the world by a small group of men who were more or less secretive and jealous of their methods with the result that many techniques were not widely known. Later, as the need of museums for highly skilled taxidermists became more and more apparent, information came to be circulated more freely. The publication of books and pamphlets on the subject also contributed to breaking down previous secretiveness.

      All the early works published on the subject of taxidermy, such as R. A. F. Réaumur’s treatise and the Guides and Instructions for collecting and preserving natural history specimens, by E. Donovan and others, are now outmoded and only of historical interest to collectors. For field work and the preparation of specimens for scientific purposes, the instructions contained in the publications of museums are of great assistance. The actual mounting of specimens, however, is so intricate and requires such specialized training that it is rarely undertaken successfully by amateurs. A few works have been published dealing with this branch of taxidermy. The reader who wishes to continue taxidermy as a profession will find much that is helpful in John Rowley’s Taxidermy and Museum Exhibition, published in 1925.

      Rowland Ward’s, Ltd., the first important taxidermy studio, was founded about 1850 in London, and is still in existence. The work turned out by this studio helped to improve the methods being used in all branches of taxidermy of that time. Associated with the beginnings of taxidermy in America was the Scudder Museum in New York, the collections of which were later acquired by the famous Peale’s Museum of the same city. In 1861, Ward’s Natural Science Establishment (in no way connected with Rowland Ward’s) was founded by Henry A. Ward at Rochester. This famous institution turned out many of the well-known taxidermists and preparators of the time and was a center for the development of the newer methods practiced today. It was at Ward’s that the old stuffing methods of mounting animals gave way to the modeling and casting techniques considered later in this book. With such leadership, the art of taxidermy has been developed in America to a higher degree than in any other country of the world.

      OF THE CHASE, AND MANNER OF COLLECTING ANIMALS.

      QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS.—It is hardly necessary to recommend a double-barrelled gun. One of the barrels should be loaded with small shot, or dross of lead for small birds, and the other with large shot. These should have much less powder than an ordinary charge, so as not to tear and injure the animals. Paper, cotton, or flax, and powdered dry earthen ashes should form part of the naturalist’s stores.

      When a bird is killed, a small quantity of dry dust is put on the wound. For this purpose, the feathers must be raised with a pin, or a gun-picker, close to the wound. The bill of the bird should have a small quantity of cotton or flax introduced into it to prevent the blood from flowing, and spoiling the plumage. The feathers must be all adjusted, and the bird then placed on the ground to allow the blood to coagulate. Every specimen should be placed in a piece of paper of the form of a hollow cone, like the thumb bags used by grocers. The head should be introduced into this, the paper should then be closed around the bird, and packed in a box filled with moss, dried grass, or leaves.

      Birds taken alive in nets and traps are to be preferred to others for stuffing, and also those caught by birdlime, which must be removed by spirits of wine.

      Birds should always be skinned the same day they are killed, or next day at farthest, particularly in summer, as there is a danger of putrefaction ensuing, by which the feathers will fall off. However, in winter there is no danger for some days; but in tropical climates they must be prepared soon after they are killed. The same observations apply generally to quadrupeds.

      Bats and Owls are caught during the day, in the hollows of aged trees, in the crevices of walls, and ruins of buildings. These are animals which, it may be presumed, are still little known in consequence of their nocturnal habits.

      Those who prepare for the chase, with the intention of preserving animals, should take care to provide themselves with implements necessary for fulfilling the objects advantageously. The articles most needful are one or two pairs of large pincers, scissors, forceps, scalpels, knives, needles, thread, and a small hatchet, as well as one or more cannisters of preserving powder, some pots of arsenical soap, or arsenical composition, and some bottles of spirit of turpentine. If in America, cotton may be employed in stuffing the skins, and therefore a considerable quantity should always be taken along with

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