ns require similar methods.

The main rule in collecting skeletons is to never, never lose a bone or
anything of a bony nature attached to the specimen.

CHAPTER XXIV.

SPORTSMEN'S TROPHIES.

As our game becomes scarcer I believe there will be more demand for the
preservation of the sportsman's trophies than in the days of abundance
now past. Then only a phenomenally rare or large or freakish example
seemed to warrant the trouble and expense of putting in the
taxidermist's hands. Now the souvenir of a good day's sport or a
memorable outing is deemed well worth keeping.

Heads, horns, skins for floor or hangings and fish and game panels for
the dining room walls have always been in high favor with sportsmen. So
also are unique articles of use and decoration for the home. The
naturalist sportsman whose trips are, from force of circumstances, only
local can in a short time make a splendid showing by preserving such
good types of game as he may procure.

In mounting birds as hanging dead game it is well to hang the specimen
before skinning, in the position wished and if possible sketch it so, at
least impress its appearance well on the memory. The main points of the
process are the same as for ordinary mounting. There are, however, a few
exceptions which I will mention.

If one side of a bird is defective in any way it may be mounted with
such side next the panel, so often, if the specimen is to have the
breast or under side displayed, the opening cut is made down the back or
on one side. If a pair of birds of the same kind are used on one panel
pose them to display the back of one and breast of the other.

It will usually be necessary to wire the wings of birds for game panels
so as to adjust them properly, though they are sometimes fixed from the
outside by embedding sharpened wires in the body.

Ducks of all kinds are especially suitable for panels in that their
plumage being stiffer and more durable does not make casing in glass so
necessary, though most of our game birds can, by proper treatment,
dispense with such protection. One of the most effective duck trophies
which I ever saw was a string of three or four small duck rising in
flight apparently from one corner of a room, to the ceiling in the
center of the side wall.

[Illustration: FLYING DUCK. (For wall.)]

For this effect they are mounted with wings spread and raised, head and
legs outstretched. They are hung on nails in the wall in a regu