The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-12-01
sTUFFING TEsH: PETS.
The Way I'm Which Tax Idcrniists ID
Their Work

The Way in which TaxIdernaists DO
Their Work
There is one corner in Savannah at which
every stranger stops in passing the first
time. That corner is Mobiles, the north
cast of Bull and Hull streets. Inside the
window there is q triangular space crowded
with odd specimens of the taxidermist's
art. Pheasants, partridges, owls, q mon
|'ev. two or three kinds of ducks and q
sc of other birds and animals are perch
Ell IA the window gazing solemnly at the
pa'sars through glass eyes and looking MS
II ural as life. The owl and monkey seem
t. be bordering some grave matter, as for
instance, the possibility of their being able
t. digest the cotton with which they are
st fed.
Mr.. Noble is the only professional taxi
dermist in the city. "a stuffed bird will
keep forever" said he, pointing to some
nonpareils that were stuffed more than fif-
teen years ago. Their plumage is as
bright as 1t was the day they were killed.
When taxidermist wants to stuff and
mount a dead bird or animal he has to go
to work carefully and methodically. If he
has bird in hand the skin is cut with
sharp scalpel along the breast from the
throat to the tail. While this is being done
the feathers are blown aside in order to
escape blood. Then, with the sharp scalpel,
the skin is pulle'l back on each side of the
breast-bone, and, as the worker progresses,
liquid arsenic is applied. This is to pre-
serve the skin. When it is removed from
the body of the bird the tail and throat are
cut through, and the carcass is lifted out.
The skin is pushed back over the skull, the
brains are removed, and after the legs are
cut at the second joint and the flesh remov-
| ed, the skin is ready for stuffing. Wires
are placed in the legs, tail and wings,
enough raw cotton is put in the skin to
distend it as in life, glass eyes are inserted
and the skin is then sewed up and the
wires bent to give the bird natural posi-
ton. Four bandages have to be kept
around the body until the skin is dry to
keep it in shape.
II stuff more canaries than any thing
else," remarked Mr.. Noble. Ladies
bring their dead pets here and cry abont
them and declare they would not part with
them for anything. Every once in q while,
| though, there is some one whose grief lie
not lasting and the pet is left on my hands,
and then 1t is matter for me to grieve
over"
There is parrot that belongs to Ma
con-" he continued, nodding in the direction
Of Polly that was sitting demurely under
glass cover. "Of course no one wants to
buy some one else's dead pet, and If the
birds are not called for they are dead
loss. 1t is the same everywhere, and taxi
dermists now generally require deposit
Alligators are in fair demand in the win
ter when the tourists are passing
through. Live ones are too much trouble,
while stuffed one answers the same pur-
pose"
Mr.. Noble has gators of all sizes, from
a tiny one three inches long to an old sau-
rian nine feet long.
81 don't like to stuff snake,n the taxi
dermist observed, and / am glad that
there is very little occasion to have them
stuffed. Poisonous snakes have to be han
dled very carefully, and there is always
more or less risk. Cats and dogs are fire.
quently stuffed, and now and then squirrels
and white rats. Sportsmen often have a
bird or fox or deer head mounted as sort
of trophy .r-Sag~nnah Neaos.