W. J. Holland

Section III. Short-haired or Hairless Mammals, and Others of Great Size.—Examples: Lion, tiger, zebra, horse, giraffe, bison and buffalo, camel, all deer and antelopes; elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, tapir, etc.

Of the numerous processes described in this work there are two which I must mention as being distinctively and particularly my own. One is the general use of clay as a filling material, and the other is the evolution and development of the clay-covered manikin, on the principles now to be described and illustrated. Already this method of mounting quadrupeds has been quite generally adopted by the new school of American taxidermists, and I think it is destined to fill our museums with more perfect mounted mammals than the rest of the world can show. I have always willingly taught the advantages of the clay-covered manikin, and the various processes involved in its construction, to every enterprising taxidermist who desired to learn it, and it was my intention to have published a full description of it years ago. Now it comes as a sort of "farewell performance," and "positively the last appearance."

Among taxidermists, the term manikin is applied to the made up figure of an animal over which a skin is to be adjusted, and made to counterfeit the actual form and size of a living animal. While it is well adapted to the successful treatment of mammals, reptiles, and fishes in general, it is impossible to employ it in mounting bird skins unless they are very badly torn, and require to be put together a piece at a time, or else are of the very largest size. The worst torn and mutilated bird skin can be put together on a manikin with perfect success, provided the skin is all present.

Speaking from my own experience, I must say that my clay-covered manikin process seems to possess important and undisputed advantages over all other methods I have ever seen employed or described for the mounting of not only the most difficult mammalian subjects, but also reptiles of many kinds, and fishes. By it the most perfect results attainable by the taxidermic art are not only possible, but may be achieved without even a risk of failure save through lack of anatomical knowledge. Nearly all the mechanical difficulties which beset the other methods are eliminated, and the result becomes chiefly a question of knowledge and artistic sense. By this method, I have successfully mounted such mammals as the following: Elephant,[9] American bison, polar bear, zebra, tiger, puma, elephant seal, hairless Mexican dog, etc. The last-named specimen was in competition against the elephant in a competitive exhibition, and I learned afterward from the judges that it came near wresting the grand prize from its lordly competitor. This fact is mentioned to show that the process was equally successful in the treatment of a thick-hided elephant and a small dog with a skin as thin as writing-paper, and utterly destitute of hair. A plaster cast of the unskinned body of the dog was exhibited with the mounted specimen, to enable the observer to judge of the success of the process.

The unchallenged superiority of the clay-covered manikin process is due to the following reasons:

1. The absolute control the operator is able to exercise over the form of his subject from first to last, without prejudice to the safety of the skin to be mounted.

2. The possibility of working out anatomical details which it is useless to attempt by other methods.

3. The absolute permanency of the form produced.

4. The ability of the operator to place his subjects in attitudes so difficult that by ordinary methods they would be unattainable.

5. The most perfect preservation of the skin and its covering from damage by excessive handling, beating, and wetting.

6. The absolute perfection of form and attitude which is attainable by this method only.

Until you have fully learned the principles of manikin-making, do not attempt to mount by this process a skin that has come to you with no measurements nor leg bones. Choose for your first attempt a good-sized dog or sheep, or some quadruped of similar size which you have in the flesh, and from which you can take a full series of outlines, measurements, casts, etc. I can probably teach you as well as any living man how to proceed when you have no measurements whatever, and will give you a few hints presently; but now I say, you must have your first subject in the flesh. It is then within your power to secure to yourself all possible advantages in what you are about to do.

It is desirable to take the usual measurements before the skin is removed, but by all means make another series of the skinned body and limbs. In skinning, disjoint the leg bones at the carpal joint,[10] which leaves only the bones of the foot attached to the skin. When the skin is put on for the last time, this joint must be re-articulated with two wires. When the skin is out of the way, you can take the length of the body from the back part of the thigh to the point of the shoulder; the distance between elbow and knee, from the elbow to the top of the shoulder; the circumference and diameter of the body, neck, and limbs, at various points; the depth of the body, etc. You can also measure from the highest point of the head of the femur to a similar point on the humerus, and when the hind legs have been cut off, you can easily determine the proper length for your iron squares by measuring between the two hip sockets (os inominata). Observe, now, if you never did before, that the front edges of the tibia and the ulna have no flesh whatever upon them, nor has the angle of the elbow, the knee-cap, nor the front of the metacarpal bones.

Save the bones of each leg complete, and without any farther disjointing; but, of course, the flesh must be carefully trimmed and scraped away. Save the skull, of course, and it will be a great help if you will hastily "rough out" the bones of the entire body and save them for reference until the manikin is complete. The pelvis and the thorax will help you greatly by and by. We will now assume that we are ready to proceed with the manikin, which we will follow out by successive steps.

1. The first thing to do is to cut a deep groove in the bones of the heel, close alongside the base of the calcaneum, also in the bones of the foot at the joints, and in the head of the humerus from the back, so that the iron can fit in snugly, and not create a great, awkward, rounded hump at each of those joints. In a hoofed animal, the centre of the hoof must be cut out so that the iron can pass through it quite out of sight where it enters the pedestal. The lower joints of the foreleg must be channelled out in the same way. Study the shape of each joint and you will then see precisely what is needed. In cutting out these grooves, I use a saw for certain bones, and gouges and stone-mason's chisels for others, according to circumstances. Remember that between the tendon of Achilles and the lower end of the tibia there is always a deep hollow, where the skin of the two sides actually comes together. Keep your leg iron out of that hollow at all hazards,—and this can be done only by sinking the iron into the tibia.

2. If you have an outline of the animal's body, lay it upon the floor, and draw a straight line to represent the top of your pedestal. If you have no sketches, then you must draw an outline in chalk upon the floor, choosing a certain crack as the line of the pedestal. Now lay down the skeleton of each leg in its own place, in the position the leg is to have in the finished animal. Measure the height of the missing bones of the foot, and leave a space accordingly above the top of your assumed pedestal. It is highly important these leg bones should each have the right attitude.

3. Take four straight No. 6 wires, and with the first leg laid out carefully in position, bend the wire to fit the back of the leg bones very exactly, cut it off the right length, and so make an exact pattern for the leg rod. Remember to allow for its going through a good thick pedestal, and having about two inches to spare underneath for a nut and washer. The rod for the foreleg may project above the upper end of the humerus one-third to one-half the length of that bone, but the rod for the hind leg must not be the least bit longer than the upper end of the femur. Remember also to bury the iron well in the centre of the lowest joint of the leg and the foot, so that it will not be seen when the animal is finished. In order to show the bends that are necessary in the leg irons of a ruminant, I have taken the trouble to photograph and reproduce herewith (Fig. 32) the identical leg irons which now support the huge bull buffalo in the National Museum group, the manikin of which is also shown in this chapter. Before bending, the irons for the forelegs were each 4 feet 1/2 inch in length, and those for the hind legs were 4 feet 6-1/2 inches; diameter, 5/8 inch.

4. Having made your four patterns exact in length and bend, cut four leg irons to match, from round rods of Norway iron, or best American, if Norway cannot be procured. I can give you no fixed rule by which to determine the size that leg irons should be, but I can at least mention the sizes I use in certain animals:

Adult moose, male or female, and giraffe, 3/4 inch.

Bull bison, cow bison, horse, 5/8 inch.

Male caribou, black-tail deer, and large mountain sheep, 1/2 inch.

Male Virginia deer, antelope, tiger, 7/16 inch.

All these sizes, except the two largest, can be bent cold in a strong vise.

5. Having bent the irons to match the patterns, and to fit the bones also, cut a long thread on each end of each rod, and fit two large hexagonal nuts on each end so that they turn readily, but not loosely.

6. With soft but strong twine, or annealed wire, bind each leg iron firmly to the leg bones from top to bottom. You may now take a saw and cut off the upper third of the femur.

7. During the course of the foregoing work, you have had a blacksmith at work making your four iron squares (see previous chapter) according to a hoop-iron pattern furnished by you, and now they are ready to use in attaching the leg irons.

8. Now comes the question of a centre board for the body. If the animal is a dog, a small deer or antelope, a tiger, or anything so small that you can reach around its body with your arms, make the body board as narrow as you please, or as wide as the entire depth of the animal's body, if you choose. I think it better to make it similar in proportions to that shown in the accompanying illustration (Plate VII.) of the first stage of a tiger manikin, in order that with a long needle one can sew through the body from side to side. It is well, for the same reason, to cut a hole in the board, as shown, at a point opposite the iliac region. I mounted this tiger with a decided curve in the middle of his body, which obliged me to cut the centre board in two, and unite the two parts again at an angle by means of two bent pieces of iron screwed on either side. In most animals, however, this is unnecessary. The centre board need not be over 7/8 of an inch in thickness in any save very large animals, when it is best to have it 1-1/2 inch, or nearly that. It is best to use dry white pine, because it is light and works easily.

9. Lay the body board on your chalk outline, lay the iron legs in position, put the squares down and mark the place where the bolt for each pair should pass through. Bore the holes, bolt on the squares quite firmly (but leave the screws out as yet), then insert the leg rods, and tighten the nuts. Set the legs on as nearly right as possible while the skeleton form lies on the floor, then stand it up, put it on a rough pedestal, and see how it looks. Now comes the crucial test of your knowledge and artistic sense. A number of things are wrong, and the shaky skeleton of the manikin "don't look right."

What is the matter? Is one of the front legs bent forward at the carpal joint? Then straighten it. Is the animal coupled too short? Then move one pair of legs a trifle on the centre board, to increase the length of the body. Do not the legs walk naturally? Then make them. Are the forelegs, and hind legs also, too close together? Then your squares are too short, and they must be lengthened by placing a bit of board under each one, as seen under the hind-leg square of the tiger manikin.

You will probably need to shift the feet on the pedestal also, by boring new holes. You can make any leg longer or shorter, make the stride shorter or longer, and, in fact, make any change that your eye, or your picture or cast tells you is necessary. The vital necessity is that your eye must be so trained and educated that it detects a fault instantly, no matter how slight, and sees what is required to remedy it. The eye of a successful taxidermist must be educated just as thoroughly as the hand of a pianist.

For a large animal, it is, for me, several hours' work to attach the legs to the body board, and make the changes necessary to bring everything into perfect position. The last thing is to take the cleaned skin out of the bath, throw it over the skeleton manikin, and see how it fits. If, when it is adjusted, the feet do not touch the pedestal, you know that the manikin is too high, and you must either cut down the top of the centre board with a draw-shave, or else lower it by attaching the squares nearer the top. In this trial the feet should stand loosely upon the floor.

Having got everything finally adjusted, put the screws in the squares, tighten up all nuts, and put a washer under each nut that strikes the pedestal, both above and below, and make all secure. There must be no looseness, or the manikin will lean over immediately. The centre board should stand exactly perpendicular. Test it with a plumb-line, and see if it does so. Is the manikin now so secure that you can sit upon it without racking it? If not, it should be. To test the manikin for my big buffalo, shown in this chapter, I climbed upon it, and stood with my full weight, first on the outer end of one iron square, then on another, and to test the strength of the neck irons I put a large anvil on the top of the skull without making the slightest permanent impression on the irons.

10. It is unnecessary to speak further of the irons for the head and tail, and their attachment. See figures.

11. Next comes the making of the legs. The lower joints, where there is scarcely any flesh, had best be made of clean, long-fibre tow. Where the thick muscles lie, bunch up some tow, put it where the muscle was, and bind on with thread or twine. Continue this process until this muscle has been built up to its proper size, and wrapped at all points until it is smooth, firm, and properly shaped. Higher up, where the muscles are thicker and lie in larger masses, use excelsior in precisely the same way. Little by little, but with much excelsior and twine, the muscles are gradually built up. Leave the bones bare at the points where nature does. The hind leg must have its tendon of Achilles before it can be finished. To make this, drill a hole through the end of the calcaneum, or heel bone; pass a long wire through for half its length, twist the two halves tightly together until they will reach half-way up the thigh, then wrap tow around the twisted wire from the heel bone up, making the tendon larger as you proceed. Presently you are ready to merge it into the flesh of the leg so that its upper end disappears.

To give form to a leg, and bring out the prominent muscles, take a very long needle and a very long piece of twine, and sew through and through the leg on certain lines, putting on pressure to produce certain depressions that exist between the larger muscles. To give detailed directions on this point would oblige me to go into the subject of musculation at great and tiresome length, and since this is not a work on anatomy, I will not attempt a dissertation on the form of each genera of the mammalia. The illustrations of the tiger and bison manikins show the form of the external muscles of Felis tigris and Bison americanus, and what is possible in a manikin.

Making the Body of a Manikin.—The centre board of a large mammal, like the bison, moose, and all such animals, should accurately represent a section through the centre of the body from top to bottom. In the absence of measurements and living models, the closest approximation to the desired form is obtained by laying the skin upon the floor, hair inside, and folding it loosely upon itself so as to get what looks like the general shape of the animal, and then taking the outline thus obtained.

A very large manikin may be made hollow in the manner represented in the accompanying plate (Plate IX.), which is self-explanatory. This is often desirable to avoid making the figure too heavy, as would be the case were the entire bulk to be made a solid mass of excelsior. For the smaller buffaloes, I made the bodies of excelsior alone. Each side was built up separately by driving a row of nails along the top of the centre board, and another along the bottom to carry the twine over in binding on the layers of excelsior. At the last, these nails were driven home.

During all this process the skin has been tried on the manikin from time to time, to make sure that the structure is of the right size in every respect. Beginners nearly always make a manikin too large, especially in circumference.

It is the commonest trick in the world for legs and necks to be made so large they have to be reduced. If a skin does not fit when it is tried on, the manikin is generally to blame, though sometimes the skin is badly shrunken, and requires to be further thinned down to make it more elastic. It is easy enough to make a manikin larger or higher, especially on the hind quarters, even while the skin is being put on for the last time; but woe to him whose manikin is too large at the last moment. That means serious delay.

When the manikin is finished at every point, shear it all over with a large pair of shears to clip off the ends of the wisps of excelsior, and then poison the skin thoroughly on the inside with arsenical soap, and on the outside with arsenic water, if the hair be long. While the poison is being absorbed, mix up enough clay to cover the entire animal with a coat an eighth or a quarter of an inch thick, and smear it on with the hand. Have it soft and pasty, so that it will rub into the excelsior, and catch hold of it. If the clay is too stiff, it will neither spread nor stick.

When the manikin has been fully covered with clay from end of nose to tip of tail, not a single inch of surface having been missed, you then have a complete clay statue of the animal, except the feet. Now put the skin over and adjust it carefully. Leave no air-bubbles under it. Catch it together between the fore legs, hind legs, under the belly, the throat and neck, and around the legs, and make it fit everywhere. Then begin at the feet and sew it up with short, strong stitches in the manner already described, shaping and filling out wherever necessary, as you go. On a large mammal it is very desirable for two persons to work at the same time, to keep the skin from drying up prematurely. Of course, the skin must be kept wrapped up in wet cloths until finished. Finish all the legs first, and then the body. You can actually model the skin down upon the body, and it will not only take the exact form of the manikin—every depression and every elevation—but it will also keep it. If there is too much skin on one side of the animal, work it together with your hand, and coax it to shrink until the superfluous skin is distributed over the animal, and finally disappears. Once, when mounting the skin of a Burchell's zebra in a peculiar attitude (at bay), I found that, owing to its elasticity, there was a superabundance of about ten inches of skin in front of the left hind leg, which was placed very far forward, under the body. But for the saving grace of a clay-covered manikin I should have been in a fix. As it was, I started in half-way up the neck, to work together and stow away the surplus skin from that point backward, and by the time I reached the seat of the difficulty (at the flank) the surplus skin was all taken up, and the side of the animal was as smooth and immaculate as if nothing had happened.

There is supreme pleasure in crowning a well-made manikin with a handsome skin, and seeing a specimen take on perfect form and permanent beauty as if by magic. It is then that you begin to be proud of your work; and finally you revel in it. You say to yourself, "This is art!"—and so it is,—but let your work speak for itself.

The head is the last thing to be finished, and this feature of the work will be treated in detail in another chapter.