The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-10
MISTAKES IN sTuFFING ANIMALS.
Tigers and Other Beasts and Birds
That Don't Get Justice.

That Don't Get Justice.
New York Sun.
"A walk along Broadway will show some
curious sights to a naturalist" said taxi
open mouths in the act of snarling vicious
~, the cars erect, the tongue between the
There is a singular lack of ferocity in
their appearance, which copious daubing
of red paint inside the mouth is altogether
of tiger when snarling is very different
In the first place, the ears are invariably
laid close against the head while the tongue
is drawn back into the mouth as far as
possible. The eyes are half closed, and the
outer corners Of the upper eyee 81 dr9 POI
tie of the blood-red so often used for the
interior of the mouth.
1.-THE most common error in stuffed heads
OF large deer is the position OF the ears.
They will often be found from six to ten
inches back of the horns. In nature the
ears of a. large deer are never more that
two or three inches behind the horns while
in the smaller deer they are close up
against them. :. The eyes of a deer have
represented by the distended, glaring eye
balls too often seen. Most of the heads
taxidermst to make them as imposing as
possible. Up to within a very few years
ago artificial eyes could be, obtained only,
with round pupils. Now the eyes of all
the ruminants have oblong pupils. The
pupil of deer's eye is twice as long as it
is broad, and an eye with round pupil
Characteristic of all the deer tribe About
the most curious artificial eyes that have
stuffed deer, which l bought from an In
dian. When / took the head apart I
found the eyes to consist of the broken
ends of two green glass bottles. Strange
to say the effect was surprisingly good
though they would not bear close scrutiny
on account of the absence of any pupil.
Most large animals when stuffed are
placed in position which they never .oc-
cupy when alive. A tiger, lion, or bear when
standing keeps its legs close together, and
when walking places all it's feet successive
spoor OF lion or tiger consists of a series
of tracks all in the same straight line.
When stuffed, however. these animals
usually assume position in which the
from the body like the legs of table.
Birds are often perched upon bough with
total disregard of the laws of gravity.
The center of gravity in most birds lies
midway in the body, at which place the
legs should be placed. Among swimming
and diving birds the legs placed behind
movements on land, but aids them con-
sderably when in the water. The wings
are generally too far back, and too much
on the side of the body, especially among
do not present so many contradictions of
nature may be found among the beasts.
Fishes used to be cast in plaster and
then colored, but year or two ago gela-
tine was used from plaster mold, and
the result has been very satisfactory. The
love for establishing records has caused
many tricks to be practiced by some taxi
dermists. The latest trick is to obtain a
great breadth of the antlers on deer S
head by saving the skull in half and turn
ing the horns half around. BY doing this
the space between the antler tips is often
increased a foot or more. Unless the
head is taken apart this trick is rather
often vary in position. even though they be
of the same species"