The American Boy's Handy Book

by Daniel Carter Beard

  Wind cotton around both wire and bone to the natural thickness of the thigh, and go through the same process with the other leg; then push the wires clear through the artificial body and bend the protruding ends into a hook form (Fig. 151). Taking hold at the part extending from the bottom of the foot, pull the wire of each leg down until the hooks fasten firmly into the body. The ends of the wires protruding from the foot are left to fasten the bird to its perch, which is done either by wrapping the wires around the perch or by thrusting them through holes made for the purpose and clinching the ends. With a few stitches sew up the hole in the breast. For small birds this is not necessary. After your owl is set up in this manner, gather the wings up close to the body and fasten them there by thrusting two wires, one from each side, diagonally through the skin of the second joint.

  If you wish the tail to be spread you must push a wire across the body through each feather.

  Eyes can be made of white marbles painted yellow with black centres, but glass eyes are better and cost very little. To fix the eyes, put a touch of glue upon the cotton in each orbit and insert the glass eyes, being careful to place them properly under the eyelids; with a sharp needle pull the lids nicely in place.

  The stuffing of the bird is now finished, and it may be placed upon the branch in some natural position (Fig. 147, page 187).

  The attitude fixed, it only remains to put the feathers in their natural order as smoothly and regularly as possible, and to keep them in place by winding a thread over the body very loosely, beginning at the head and winding until all the feathers are secured (Fig. 152). The bird must be left in some dry place for several days. When it is perfectly dry the thread may be taken off and all protruding wires cut close to the body. The specimen is now ready for the parlor or library.

  The above directions, with very little modification, will serve for any other bird. For practice, a chicken is the best subject, as it is easily obtained and large enough not to be readily damaged by the awkwardness of a beginner.

  The more tools you have the better, but if my reader has carefully read the foregoing description he must have noticed that during the whole process of skinning and stuffing the owl the only tools used were such as are within the reach of every boy—a penknife, a paper-cutter, small spoon (a mustard-spoon will answer), and a thread and needle. Arsenical soap is the only material used not likely to be easily procured. This preparation is of course very poisonous and should be so labelled. It can be procured of any taxidermist or made by any druggist from the following recipe of Bécœur:

  Arsenic in powder...................... 2 pounds.

  Camphor.................................... 5 ounces.

  White soap................................. 2 pounds.

  Salt of tartar............................. 12 ounces.

  Powdered lime........................... 4 ounces.

  Mr. J. Wallace, the taxidermist, recommends the following recipe: “Dissolve ten pounds of finely cut, best white soap in warm water; add one pound of potash; thicken with pipe-clay and a little lime to give the preparation body; heat and stir well. When cooling add ten pounds of arsenic.” Of course the young beginner will not need any such quantity as is represented in either of these recipes, but if he goes to the druggist that gentleman can make the soap in any quantity desired. The utmost care must be observed in handling this preparation and keeping it out of the reach of children and animals, although it is not very tempting in taste or looks and hence not as dangerous as other compounds might be.

  A New Manner of Preserving Fish.

  The boys at school used to say, “You cannot eat your apple and keep it.” Being not only fond of fishing and fish, but also taking an interest in the study of ichthyology, the question with me has been, How can I eat my fish and still preserve it for future reference? A few experiments and several failures suggested a plan which has proved partially successful.

  Having caught a very large bass or trout that you would like to preserve as a trophy, or some odd-looking fish that you want to keep as a specimen, the following is the plan to adopt:

  Place your fish upon a piece of paper of any kind you may have, or a piece of birch bark; spread out the fins and trace a careful and accurate outline; then with your pocket-knife remove the tail at a point just beyond its junction with the body of the fish; in the same manner cut off the fins, being careful not to injure them; a small portion of flesh will be attached to each; this must be removed with your knife. Put the fins in a safe place, and again taking your knife, insert the blade under the gill and cut up to the centre of the top of the head; split the head down in a line exactly on the top to the upper jaw; carefully cut through this and the lower jaw to where the gill commences underneath; this will sever the whole side of the head. Cut away all the flesh from the inside and remove all the bony structures possible without injuring the outside. The eyes can be removed so as to leave the outside skin or covering unbroken. Wash the half of the head clean and put that with the fins in your note-book, taking care to leave a leaf of paper between each, to prevent their adhering together.

  When you reach home you can have the fish cooked, and while it is cooking trace the outline of the fish upon a clean sheet of white paper; take the fins, head and tail from your note-book, dampen them with a sponge or wet cloth, and with glue or mucilage fasten them in their proper places upon the outline drawing, distended by means of pins; the latter may be removed after the glue or mucilage is dry; write in one corner the weight of the fish, the date upon which it was caught, and the name of the place where it was captured. You can then frame it or number the sheet and place it in a portfolio (Fig. 153). In the course of a season’s fishing quite an interesting and valuable portfolio of fishes can be made. The writer has often caught fish whose names were unknown to him, and in this manner preserved them, or enough of them to identify the fish at some future period when he had time to look it up.

  Design for a Sketching Aquarium.

  If the reader desire to try his artistic skill and attempt a colored drawing of a fish, he should do it from life. To see the fish as it really appears, a very simple contrivance can be made in the form of an aquarium, with wooden ends and glass sides; the wooden ends must have perpendicular grooves in them so that an extra pane of glass can be used as a slide (Fig. 154). Place the live fish in the aquarium, and when he is on one side of it quickly slip the slide in so as to imprison the fish in such a narrow space that he is unable to flop or turn around, but must patiently keep his broad-side to the artist until the picture is finished.

  Preserving Insects.

  Great care must be taken in killing insects, intended for the cabinet, and death should be produced without disfiguring them or rubbing off the down or scales that covers the bodies and wings of some specimens. A convenient and successful way to kill insects is to drop them into a wide-mouthed bottle, the bottom of which is lined with blotting-paper that has been previously saturated with ether, benzine, creosote or chloroform. When a butterfly, bug, or beetle is put into a bottle prepared in this manner, and the bottle tightly corked, the insect expires without a struggle, and hence without injuring itself. From the bottle the specimens may be taken and pinned upon a mounting-board, consisting of two strips of wood resting upon supports at each end, a space being left between the strips for the body of the insect. Under this space or crack a piece of cork is fastened (Fig. 155) in which to stick the point of the pin. After pinning the specimen to the mounting-board, spread the wings and legs out in a natural position, and if it be a butterfly or moth, fasten its wings in position with bits of paper and pins, as shown in Fig. 156. An ingenious and simple device for pinning the leg of an insect is illustrated by Fig. 157. It consists of two needles with their heads driven into a small pine stick.

  Morse Insect Box.

  Mr. E. S. Morse gives probably the best device for arranging an insect box for the cabinet. It consists of a light wooden frame with paper stretched upon the upper and under surf
ace. Dampen the paper and glue it to the frame; when the paper dries it will contract and become as tight as a drum-head. Inside the box upon two sides fasten cleats, and let their top edges be about one-quarter of an inch above the bottom. Rest the paper-covered frame upon these cleats and secureit in position. The bottom of the box should be lined with soft pine to receive the points of the pins. The space under the frame can be dusted with snuff and camphor to keep out such insects as delight to feed upon the prepared specimens of their relatives. Fig. 158 shows a cross section of a box upon Mr. Morse’s plan.

  The Lawrence Breeding Box.

  The best moths and butterflies are obtained by rearing the caterpillars in cages made for the purpose. I am indebted to Mr. Albert Lawrence for the accompanying plan of a larvae box, invented and used by himself for several seasons (see Fig. 159). The Lawrence box, as may be seen by the diagram, can be taken apart and packed away when not in use or during transportation.

  The sides, ends, and top are wooden frames covered with wire netting; the bottom is a flat board. They are all joined by hooks and screw-eyes. To take them apart it is only necessary to unfasten the hooks.

  Spiders

  are very likely to lose their colors if placed in spirits, and if pinned and dried like beetles they will not only lose all color, but their bodies will shrivel up and change in form and proportion to such a degree as to make the specimens next to worthless. Mr. Ralph Hemingray, of Covington, Ky., sent the author some spider bottles manufactured under his direction of very thick, clear, white glass, three inches high by one and one-quarter inch broad, and three-quarters of an inch thick. These bottles are convenient in shape, and when a spider is put in one and the bottle filled with glycerine, the spider looks as if it might be imbedded in a solid block of crystal.

  I have had some brightly colored garden spiders preserved in this manner for two years, and they have not only retained their original shape but color also. In the place of corks, pieces of elastic are stretched over the tops of the bottles; this allows the glycerine to expand or contract. Fig. 160 represents a drawing of one of these bottles with a spider in it. A case of specimens preserved in this manner makes not only an interesting cabinet, but a very pretty one. Although many persons have a horror of spiders, they lose all their nervousness when the insects are seen neatly labelled and enclosed in pretty glass bottles.

  How to Make Beautiful or Comical Groups and Designs of Insects.

  Many really beautiful, as well as some absurdly comical designs can be made of properly preserved insects by ingenious lads.

  Butterflies may be made to have the appearance of hovering in mid-air by mounting them upon extremely fine wire.

  Grasshoppers can be arranged in comical, human-like attitudes.

  Beetles may be harnessed like horses to a tiny car made of the half of an English walnut-shell. A very pretty design can be made by seating a grasshopper in a delicate sea-shell of some kind, and glueing the shell to a bit of looking-glass; fine wires attached to the shell will answer the double purpose of a support and harness for a couple of flying beetles; a little moss glued around the sides so as to conceal the ragged edges of the glass will add greatly to the effect, and the whole will have the appearance of a fairy boat being drawn over the surface of the water by two flying beetles, guided by the long-legged imp in the shell.

  Preserved insects are exceedingly brittle, the least touch will often break off a wing or leg or otherwise disfigure the specimen, hence it is necessary not only to be very careful in handling them, but to supply some sort of cover to protect them from accidents, dust, and injurious insects. Dome-shape glass-covers are best adapted for small groups or compositions, and these may be obtained from the dealers at moderate prices, or, if the young taxidermist has acquired sufficient skill to make his work valuable, he can readily trade off duplicate specimens for glass-covers, as many amateurs as well as some professionals do.

  Marine Animals.

  Starfish must be first placed in fresh water and allowed to remain there for several hours; they may then be removed and spread out upon a board, and held in position by pins or nails driven in the board alongside of the rays, but not into the creature. Put the board in a dry place out of the sun, and the air will absorb all the moisture in the specimens; the latter, as they dry, become hard and stiff.

  I have several starfish preserved in this simple manner, and although no pickle or artificial preservative was used, they have kept in good condition for several years.

  Small crabs may be dried in the same manner. The flesh must be extracted from the big pincers of the larger crabs and lobsters; this may be done by breaking off the points of the pincers and removing the meat with a crooked wire. The points of the claws should be saved and glued in place after the animal is dry. The smaller claws may be allowed to dry; small holes pierced in them will allow the air to enter and facilitate the drying process. The insides of both lobsters and large crabs must be removed from an opening made underneath. Wash them with cold water and inject carbolic acid and water into their extremities; place them upon a board to dry, with their legs spread out; after all moisture has evaporated, varnish them and fasten the bodies and legs of the specimens to a board with fine wires.

  All soft-bodied animals, such as squids and slugs, can be preserved in spirits. Sea-urchins, such as are found upon our coast, may be dried like starfish, but it is best to remove the insides of the larger specimens.

  With these suggestions, sufficient to help the young taxidermist, I will close this chapter. I have purposely avoided advising the use of expensive material or tools; where it was possible, I have not suggested the use of poisonous preservatives but have given the most simple and safe methods of mounting specimens for the cabinet or for decorations.

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  EVERY BOY A DECORATIVE ARTIST.

  Shadow Pictures—Photographic Paper—How to Enlarge or Reduce a Picture, etc.

  ONE day while the author was sketching, a piece of drawing-paper happened to fall upon the ground in the bright sunlight. As the paper rested on the sward the shadows of the grass and weeds were cast upon it. How beautiful and graceful they were! Stooping down the writer passed his brush over the shadows; the result was a sort of half silhouette, an excellent suggestion for a bit of foreground or a decoration. If the thousands of amateur decorators that are daily engaged in daubing pictures of all manner of unnatural-looking plants upon china would only confine themselves to tracing in one color the simple shadows cast by plants in the sunlight, what graceful and pleasing designs Mother Nature would furnish them! How much more pleasant it would be to eat off dishes decorated in this manner than to be called upon to admire and eat from china covered with “finiky” little flowers or broad, meaningless daubs of color intended to represent something only known to the artist (?) who conceived the design. Any boy can make the most graceful designs by placing a piece of paper in such a position that the shadow of a flower or fern shall fall upon it. Then with a small paint brush and some ink he may carefully paint in the shadow just as it falls upon the paper. Fig. 161 shows a dandelion, a facsimile of a sketch made in the manner just described. Fig. 162 is an anemone. Not only can beautiful designs be made, but valuable sets of botanical sketches can be obtained in this manner, as no skill is required with the brush; all that is necessary is to follow the shadow on the paper.

  A wooden frame or stretcher might be used with a candle or lamp at night. By tacking the paper over the stretcher, then placing a pot or vase containing plants in front of the light and the stretcher in front of the plants, the shadows of the plants will be thrown upon the paper and show through, so that they can be painted upon the opposite side of the paper without any danger of moving either the light or plants.

  At most of the artists’ material stores in New York there is to be found for sale a sensitive paper which changes color when exposed to the light. If a shadow be cast upon this paper by some object between it and the sunlight, the paper will grow
lighter in color all around the shadow, and in a few moments the shadow is marked distinctly by the difference in tints. At this stage the paper, which is of a dark blue color, may be removed, and if it be held under a stream of water the parts that were covered by the shadow will become white and remain so. I have before me a photograph of a large dragon-fly, which shows all the beautiful network of veins in the wings of that insect traced in the most delicate white lines upon a background of dark blue. I allowed the dragon-fly to rest for a few moments upon a piece of sensitive paper and then quickly placed the paper under a hydrant, with the result described.

  Photographic paper is not expensive, quite a large sized sheet costing only fifty cents. Many pretty experiments can be tried with this material.

  How to Enlarge or Reduce by Squares.

  Suppose you have a picture of a horse and want to enlarge it. First draw a line under its feet, and at right angles with this line draw another line in front of the horse’s head; divide these lines into equal parts and then carefully rule lines across from these points so as to intersect each other at right angles, as illustrated by Fig. 163. When the horse is all enclosed in squares, take another piece of paper and make exactly the same number of large squares on the paper as there are smaller ones on the horse picture; number the squares on both as in the diagrams (Fig. 163). If you will look at the top diagram you will see that the horse’s head cuts off one corner of the upper left hand corner square; with your pencil make a line cutting off the same part of the corresponding large square; curve the line like the copy. By again referring to the horse picture you will notice that the line of the neck continued strikes exactly at the intersection of the lines 1 and 2; draw it so. The next point the line touches just above is the intersection of the lines 2 and 3; from this point the line of the back runs almost straight to the point on the tail at the intersection of the lines 2 and 6; thus, by finding and connecting the points of intersection you may reproduce the whole horse as illustrated by the diagram. In a similar manner a landscape, figure piece or a plan can be accurately enlarged by a boy who may have little or no talent for drawing, but who for some purpose wishes to reproduce a picture or plan. By making the squares on your drawing-paper exactly the same size as those upon the picture, you can draw a facsimile of the picture, and by making the squares smaller you may reduce a picture. Remember these hints, for when I tell you how to make a puppet show, although a pattern for each puppet is drawn, there is not space in a book of this size to make all the puppets large enough, and many or all may have to be enlarged.