The Sportsman's Handbook
to
PRACTICAL COLLECTING
ifornia
mal
ity
THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
{All rights reserved.']
THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK
TO
PRACTICAL COLLECTING,
PRESERVING,
AND
ARTISTIC SETTING-UP
OF
TROPHIES AND SPECIMENS.
TO -WHICH IS ADDED
A Synoptical Guide to the Hunting Grounds of the World.
By KOWLAND WAKD, F.Z.S.
THE AUTHOR, 166, PICCADILLY.
SIMPKIN, MAESHALL, & CO., STATIONERS HALL COURT.
1880.
ClllKLliS DICKENS AJfD LVAJfS,
CBYSTAL PALACE PKESS.
gook is ilebicat^b to
THE REVERED MEMORY OF
THE LATE HENRY WARD,
OF LOXDOX,
(MY FATHER),
WHOSE EMINENCE AS A PEACTICAL TAXIDERMIST,
AMD AS
TRAVELLER, SPORTSMAN, AND NATURALIST,
I PRIZE LIKE AN INHERITANCE,
AND AFFECTIONATELY EMULATE.
ROWLAND WARD.
PREFACE.
I HAVE made an endeavour, by the following pages,
to present for the sportsman-naturalist some informa-
tion that may be valuable to him as derived solely
from experience either the accumulated experience of
my family, of whom I am now the only representative
in our profession, or the carefully collected experience
of others in those parts of the subject where my own
work has not carried me. My grandfather was a
practical naturalist ; my father, the late Henry Ward,
became eminent in the same way, but with some
remarkable advantages, having travelled much in
pursuit of his profession in both hemispheres, and
notably as the companion of Audubon, when that
distinguished man was so greatly enriching and ex-
tending the field of natural history. My brother,
Edwin Ward, late of 49, Wigmore Street, London,
was one of the best known and most skilful operators
in artistic taxidermy that we have ever had in this
country. I have had the benefit of his advice and
help, and have been greatly assisted, moreover, by
the information given me by many travellers and true
Vlll PREFACE.
sportsmen. It has been my object to avoid mere
speculative opinion, and to make the book as concise
as might be.
It is only in comparatively recent times that
taxidermy has been elevated to claim any real art
position. What has been gained for it has not been
achieved by mere skill, but by extended and more
accurate observation of nature in its living forms of
the behaviour and habits of animals, not simply ex-
amination of their carcases, or what remained of those.
Such observation, carefully and correctly recorded, is
invaluable to the naturalist who seeks, by the pre-
servation unimpaired of the natural features of an
animal, to use the verisimilitude so obtained as an aid
to art illustration. The material means for such a
result are indeed important ; but something more may
be done with a prepared group of animals, or a single
specimen, than preservation for the identification of
details in anatomy or of outward appearance. Its
value to the student may be preserved and increased
by displaying its beauty truthfully to life, while the
beauty is recognised for its own sake by even the
unscientific. This is the cause I advocate, and the end
I have in view.
R. W.
May 12th, 1880.
THE
SPOKTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
INTRODUCTORY.
IN starting from this or any other country on an
expedition for collecting, that is likely or certain to
separate him from the means and conveniences that
he can command for money in settled and civilised
communities, it is all important for the explorer or
sportsman to provide himself carefully with everything
he may want. But it is more important still that in
doing so, he be able to define what his real wants are,
and restrict the satisfaction of even these with skill to
the smallest proportions. He should therefore quite
judiciously consider what he really does need that it is
desirable he should take with him, because he cannot
obtain it so well elsewhere ; but it is not well to
imagine possible difficulties or wants, and endeavour
to provide for them particularly. In regard to most
of the apparatus, simplicity is to real usefulness like
his skin is to a nigger. Attention should be paid to
appropriateness of dress, but always with the recollec-
2 THE BPOETSMAN'B HANDBOOK.
tion that in this respect a small modicum of native
experience in any country is worth any amount of
speculation out of it. That observation may also
apply to most of the shifts and expedients of camp
life. The well recorded experiences of good sports-
men, who have gone in similar fields before, are of
infinite value to instruct ; not for the simplicity of
servile imitation in particulars, since the conditions
may entirely differ, but as exemplifying the principles
on which given means were applied to certain ends.
Important factors in the consideration of these ques-
tions are the strength, stature, and constitution of
the sportsman himself.
The progress of invention has of late years
strengthened the position of the sportsman in respect
of his armament, especially as regards great and
dangerous game. He has wide choice of excellent
weapons. In quite recent times this abundant facility
has a little vexed the question, and some good sports-
men think they recognise the obtrusion of not indeed
a fresh element, but more prominence for it the
endeavour to cloak deficiency of skill by increase of
mere mechanical power in dealing with great game.
In reality, the conditions have not changed for the
true sportsman, who seeks rather an exercise of his
skill and courage than the silly vanity of copious
butchery. Indifferent ability may find compensation
of a kind in that, but hardly the admiration of the
judicious. In selecting particular weapons, each man
will follow his bent; but on some points there is a
consensus of opinion among good men that should
strongly influence: That in the hands of a true sports-
man of fine skill the chosen weapon for dangerous
game should be light in relation to his personal
AFPAEATUS. 3
strength; so that his ability to wield it easily may be
without doubt : The " Express " rifle, on account of
its easy carriage and manipulation, its power for in-
ternal wounding, its accuracy and extended point-
blank range, is lauded by many as all-sufficient for
ordinary game : For large game and dangerous animals
a heavier bore is of course requisite, but one of not
excessive capacity is considered sufficient for credit in
good hands : The weapons should be carefully suitable
to the stature of the sportsman, and to his length
of reach, etc. There are some details, too, that have
much to do with success indeed, are almost, in such
circumstances, a condition precedent of it viz., the
temper (hardness) of the ball, shot, or missile, the
quality of the powder, and the quantum of the charge.
These points should have careful attention. Expe-
rience on the field is the only true guide (our own or
others'), and experiments are only valuable according to
the conditions. Although sportsmen among great game
have at all times had only such arms to deal with
as they at the time possessed sometimes arms that
seem now quite primitive in comparison with modern
weapons the testing by sportsmen of such arms in
real action is the only true test; indeed, eye and hand,
as confident agents of undisturbed skilful judgment,
are as important active forces for the result as the
powder that utilises the best made missile, or the
most accurate bore of any index. The gentleman who
can, without erring, do all that is prescribed to clamped
boards and puddled clay on an English sward, might
find his calculations disturbed by the short rush of a
rogue elephant, the sudden deadly spring of a tiger, or
the oncoming of a heavy buffalo, who has at last
become convinced that only one course is open to him.
B 2
4 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
The sooner the sportsman realises that his opera-
tions with great game cannot be reduced to the
symmetry of a game of chess, the better will he be
able to best guard his own safety and create success
for himself on whatever field he may turn his attention
to. In fact, nothing can be of more value to him
in those circumstances than quick apprehensiveness,
delicate tact, strong cool courage, and exquisite skill
in the accurate use of his weapon. But underneath
all this should lie a knowledge of what experience
and investigation has taught us of how best to achieve
our end; and one important phase of this knowledge
is, how and where is it best to strike the game in a
vital part, or in such way that the animal may be
disabled. And here it must be remarked that no
amount of book instruction will equal a small amount
of experience ; therefore it is well, when the game is
killed and comes to be cut up, always to make a
sufficient special investigation as to the course of
your bullet in regard to its effect on the vital parts.
In order to make clear what is the position of these
points, some diagrams of animals representative of
species are given, and on them the points are indi-
cated. It may be said generally that the brain and
the heart are the real organs to injure with vital
effect ; but to these must be added the spinal column.
Now with different species of animals, in various cir-
cumstances, the conditions under which these parts
can be reached vary considerably. We may consider
the animals in two classes : (a) those that are dangerous,
(6) those that are not seriously dangerous. These may
again be divided into (c) animals that are in natural
condition unsuspicious, or quiescent; (d) animals in-
furiate, aggressive, charging. To speak first of the
VITAL SHOTS. 5
Felidce. The place to hit a lion, if you are quite
sure of your aim, as you may be if he is quiescent,
is undoubtedly the brain. Now with tiger as well as
lion, the brain is about the size of an apple, and small
in comparison to the bony structure; the brain-pan
is located about three or four inches to the rear of the
eye (vide diagram). The heart is also indicated, and
when the animal is broadside on, it can be pierced by
a shot behind the shoulder. When he is charging
direct towards you, the best shot to deliver is a little
to the right or left of the head, straight through the
shoulder ; by this you may perhaps pierce his heart,
or possibly fracture the spinal cord ; the bullet may
traverse the body lengthwise with paralysing effect,
or it will which is most important shatter the
shoulder-bone and prevent his deadly spring. The
rhinoceros is best killed by piercing the brain, or by
fracture of the spinal cord. The brain is surely found
in the region below the ear. The sportsman's position
in regard to the animal will determine the possibility of
6 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK
his reaching the spinal cord. The hide of the Indian
rhinoceros is harder than that of the African species,
but on the living beast is easily permeable by hardened
bullets ; still, where there is room for choice, it is best
to shoot between the folds.
In certain circumstances the charge of a Cape
buffalo or a gaur is among the most dangerous ex-
periences of the sportsman. The same general obser-
vations apply; but the neck and shoulder shot is to be
preferred. In regard to the elephant, there is a great
difference between the African and the Indian. The
skull of the first is convex in frontal form, while that
of the Asiatic variety is concave. The brain is wonder-
fully small in comparison to the bony matter by which
it is protected. The average weight of an elephant's
brain is, say, nine pounds, which is but a fraction of
the weight of the bone. The Asiatic elephant may be
well shot dead while charging, if pierced in his fore-
head; but a similar shot would not be efficacious
with the African. The brain of these creatures is
VITAL SHOTS. 7
protected by a mass of cellular bone, which cannot
well be pierced by a bullet, unless it be directed
through the orifice of the ear. If he be charging
towards you, the best shot is in the chest. The
position of heart and brain is marked in the diagram.
When an African elephant is undisturbed, his great
ear will furnish a sure direction for a deadly shot.
Aim at the central portion of the outer edge.
The hippopotamus if shot when he rises to the
surface of the water, should receive the bullet up his
nostril; that is the surest road to his brain. When
stricken the beast sinks, and it may be an hour or two
before his body rises ; the time depends greatly on the
temperature of the water. If he is shot on the shore,
his heart should be aimed at behind the shoulder,
half-way up his body in the line of his leg the
general rule. The seal should be shot in the brain,
but the locality of his brain is very deceiving. It is
8
THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
peculiarly back toward the neck, as shown in the
drawing.
For collecting some small animals and birds, shot-
guns of selected gauge, throwing appropriate shot,
that need not be particularised here, are requisite.
A more humble, but in its degree an equally useful
implement for the collector, and one which he can
employ to remarkable advantage, is the
blow-pipe. Some savage races use
this weapon for it can be made by
skill veritably a weapon with as-
tounding accuracy of aim and certainty
of effect. In taking a lesson from
them it is not necessary to misapply the means to
any purpose for which the gun is more appropriate.
But the collector will soon experience that, for many
small specimens, he can use a blow-pipe with effect
APPARATUS. 9
where he may not be able to use firearms. The imple-
ment is so simple and so easily constructed that the
price of it is inappreciable. About three feet length
of any straight metal or wooden tubing, f -inch dia-
meter, through which a pellet the size of a marble
may be thrown, will serve well, but an even longer
tube may be chosen. The pellet should be of clay or
any putty, rolled in the hand to easily pass through
the barrel without too much windage. It should
not touch the mouth, but be lightly placed just in
the orifice, by stopping which with the thumb the
tube can be conveniently carried loaded, muzzle up,
ready for the most rapid use. To propel the pellet,
the puff must be sudden and powerful. There is
a proper way of effecting this. When a practitioner
first begins to use the blow-pipe, it is a common
error to eject the breath only direct from the lungs ;
he should acquire the habit of inflating his cheeks,
so as to make a storage of wind, as it were, for each
shot ; that, added to the breath from the lungs, gives
a force that will sometimes astonish him. The hand
follows the eye in aim, and practice will often develop
unthought-of proficiency. The particular uses of the
blow-pipe are these : that its operation is silent and
does not disturb, it is effective for small and mode-
rate-sized birds not on the wing, it is easily manipu-
lated in a wood, it is easily obtainable anywhere, and
the ammunition costs nothing.
The question of traps, snares, etc., is one which
more concerns the collector or trader than the sports-
man. Many specimens can of course be collected by
these means. A man's own taste will rule him in the
adoption of them better than any precept or instruction.
There are many ingenious devices used in America,
Scandinavia, and other fields for the capture of game
10 TEE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
of all sizes, or the destruction of them rather. It will
be found, however, that the ordinary gin, of whatever
size it may be made, remains the really most efficacious
of all such contrivances. The employment of dummies
and decoys for birds, and especially for shore-birds, is
interesting and useful. Probably in all parts of the
world ingenuity can adapt this resource in degree.
As a rule gregarious birds are those most subject to
the fascination, for such it is. To give examples in our
own country wood-pigeons can be attracted thus :
Any carpenter can make the shape of a wood-pigeon in
rough; no legs need be shaped, but a stick should
project from the lower part of the breast, so that the
dummy can be fixed on the ground, or placed in a tree,
as may be required ; this figure must be painted in
colour to represent the pigeon, and the paint must be
" flatted," that is, not glossy. It is astonishing how
the wild birds will come down to their haunts when
they see this dummy there to assure them. In like
manner plovers, gulls, and similar shore-birds may be-
decoyed. The decoy-duck is made buoyant to rest on
the water, and is well known. Verisimilitude in regard
to action is a great gain sometimes with theselast-named,
and is more important than mere details of feather.
The following may be adduced as an instance of this :
I once employed a decoy to deceive some sporting
companions. They were looking for a shot in the
evening twilight, and I provided one for them by
hastily making a dab-chick of a bung, two wine-corks,,
and some wire. This rude image would float upright
when ballasted with a stone at the end of a string ; to
this string I attached a live roach, and set the whole
afloat under his guidance down the edge of some
tempting reeds. The progress and occasional plunging
APPARATUS. 11
of the fish communicated the most natural action to
the dummy, and it received the complimentary re-
cognition of many ounces of well-directed shot, until,
being well killed, the cork was secured, and not added
to the bag. This may afford a hint that can be
utilised by ingenuity where it seems to be a gain.
An useful part of the sportsman's kit is a photo-
graphic camera. This sounds alarming, as suggestive
of bulk and weight, and inconvenient dabbling with
scientific minutice, and perhaps dirty chemicals ; but,
in truth, none of those fears need be realised. The
whole apparatus can be contained in a small case
eight inches each way. The tripod-stand an im-
portant part is made to fold into a stave two feet
long, about two inches thick. The sensitive plates are
dry and prepared ready for use before leaving home ;
the inconvenience of properly using them, if there be
any inconvenience in developing the picture, is reduced
to a minimum, in no sense commensurate with the
gratification derived or the value of the work. An
animal may be photographed with its surroundings,
just as it fell ; the picture may be made a nucleus of
interesting and most instructive memoranda, of obvious
value because such details are too often forgotten, or
the impression made by them effaced, just in proportion
as we move from the spot. Photographic pictures of
living ferce naturae, in their native jungle or forest,
have indeed been thus taken, and hundreds of sea-
birds on the wing wheeling over an Indian headland,
have been reproduced with the most accurate repre-
sentation of individual birds, so that when magnified
the picture presents the perfect specimen for our con-
templation our more leisurely examination in fact
than if we had witnessed them in their flight. These
12 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
are enormous advantages to gain if they be rightly
estimated and used. The dry plates, in favourable
circumstances, require only a second's exposure for a
picture. They need not even be developed on the spot,
if inconvenient; the undeveloped negative will keep
good for months. The most portable plates are those
four inches by three inches ; they are sufficiently large
for most useful purposes, though of course larger plates
for larger pictures can be carried. It is all important
that the camera and apparatus should be good, the
tripod true and firm.
The knives or other implements should be as few
and simple as is consistent with meeting the real need
efficiently; a tiger can be perfectly skinned by a
skilful hand with a shoemaker's knife, price threepence-
halfpenny. It is highly important that some prepara-
tion should be made for efficient and accurate record
of scientific data, concerning natural features that
are [evanescent, such as colour of the eye, of a bird's
bill and legs, etc. ; but it is not too much to say that
the whole of such apparatus may, by well considered
ingenuity, be carried in the compass of a case whose
capacity is measured in a few inches. It must be
borne in mind before all things, that the value of any
object secured and preserved depends on the com-
pleteness with which all its natural features are saved,
as well as the condition in which they are kept. This
is true in degree for whatever purpose the object be
designed, but it is essential in regard to specimens for
the illustration of natural history.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS FOR THE
COLLECTOR.
DIRECTLY a specimen is secured inspect the eye, and
make a concise memorandum of its colour and any
peculiarity of its appearance. A similar note should
be taken of any colour on the bills, legs, etc., of birds
(the brilliancy of which may fade), and particular note
should be preserved of eyelids, the colour of them, if
they have colour ; and the same may be said of wattles
and all such features of naked skin, because most
frequently when these parts dry, the colours not only
fade, but change sometimes absolutely ; and the
taxidermist at home may be led to a wrong conclu-
sion. Never omit, and never defer the making of
these memoranda, or instant decision on the necessity
for it.
It is better that specimens of all warm-blooded
creatures should be cold before they are operated on.
In dealing with birds care should be taken, directly
they are shot, that the plumage be not broken, or
injured by putting many of them together in a bag ;
and that the blood from one fresh specimen does not
injure another. Instantly plug up with cotton wool the
throat, nostrils, and all shot holes. Rare examples can
14 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
be isolated in a cone of paper, or otherwise, as soon as
they are secured. It is often a scientific gain to save
at least the sternum or breastbone, with the caracoids,
tlbefurcula (merry-thought), and scapula of birds, and
the skull when the skin is not saved.
Pay particular and unvarying attention to the
ticketing of specimens.
Tickets of convenient, durable material should be
provided. Note thereon : Date ; a number ; where
killed; native name; scientific names; sex; habitat;
habits observed, as to the eye, etc. ; and peculiarities
of colour. Any other peculiarities, or facts noticed.
To sex a bird, examine the inner regions of the loins,
and if male mark it <$ , and if female thus ? .
This question of ticketing, and the preparation
of the ticket is all important. There is little, if any
doubt, that the brilliant colours on a fresh, healthy
specimen, at the moment it falls, are always deteriorated,
sometimes altered, under treatment by any preserva-
tive. Therefore, when the "colours" are noted, if
possible, the collector should always put on his ticket
a blot of water-colour pigment as near as may be, to
reproduce the brightness and quality of the tint. This
may need some ingenuity, but will be found not
COLLECTING. 15
difficult ; a few cakes of water-colour and a brush take
little space; the gain by this record will be great.
The sexing is of much consequence ; to determine it,
where necessary, involves a slight dissection, when
the appearances will be found as on page 14.
Corresponding tickets to those on the skins, etc.,
should be attached firmly to skulls, horns, bones, etc.,
and saved so that exact identification may be easy and
certain.
Be as forethoughtful as possible in all operations ;
and be careful that no blood or grease, or juices from
the offal, injure the feathers or fur.
It is generally far better to attend to the preserving
of your own specimens, than to trust to native agents
or servants; if you are compelled to trust to them
at all, never sanction the use of lime in the materials
they employ, even as a small constituent. Some natural
substances (berries, etc.), used by natives, will change
colour on specimens ; the yellow ground of a leopard
skin may be thus changed to reddish brown, etc.
PROCESSES OF PRESERVATION.
IN regard to the preservation for after treatment
of the skins of great game, it would be easy here to
quote many recipes of approved efficiency, and, in
given circumstances, not open to doubt. But, for the
particular conditions of the explorer, the simplest pro-
cess that is safe and good is the best. I think that
the materials carried may be reduced to two, viz. a
quantity of dry powdered alum and a supply of spirits
of turpentine. How these should be applied I shall
presently explain.
For the treatment of bird-skins a supply of arsenical
soap should be carried. It can be compounded of the
following ingredients :
Camphor 5 ozs.
"White Arsenic, in powder ... 2 Ibs.
Yellow Soap 2 Ibs.
Lime, in powder ... ... ... 4 ozs.
Melfc the soap completely by heat in a small quantity of water,
and add the lime ; then remove it from the fire and stir in
the arsenic; next add the camphor, previously rubbed to
powder with a little spirits of wine, and mix the whole
thoroughly, till it has the consistence of paste. Preserve it
in carefully closed glazed vessels, labelled " Poison." To use
it, mix the quantity required with cold water to the consistence
of clear soup, and apply it with a brush to the inside of the
skins.
There are two methods of preserving animals, or
the skins of animals, on the spot where they are
collected till they can be transmitted for definite
treatment by skilled practitioners at home: viz. (1) by
means of preservative applications, so that natural
decay and the ravages of insects, etc., may be pre-
PRESERVATION. 17
vented ; (2) by immersion and packing of specimens,
on proper[principles, in spirit, or in pickle. Convenience
and obvious desirability will rule the adoption of either
plan, and the application of it to particular specimens.
Animals taken whole can be dissected ; and examples
of absolutely new species, or specimens of rare occur-
rence, may, at discretion, be transmitted thus with
many advantages. Generally pickle, or brine, preserves
natural colours of specimens better than spirit.
PRESERVATIVES ON THE FIELD. The skins of all mam-
malia, of fish, and of reptiles can be efficiently preserved
for transmission home, by the simple dry alum process;
but the skins of birds should be treated with arsenical
soap. These resources, simple as they are, will be found
sufficient, and they have this distinct advantage, that in
the ultimate treatment of the specimen for permanent
keeping, there are fewer difficulties to be surmounted by
the skilled naturalist or the curer of skins. When salt,
for instance, is used, or the lime of native Indian dressers
(the most destructive in the world), or the vegetable
curing of the Australian skins, there is often more
trouble to take out of the pelt the deleterious sub-
stance, so that the process of decay may be stopped,
than the specimen is worth. The skins of birds must
not be treated with alum, or they become fatally brittle;
the arsenical soap has a contrary effect, and softens the
skin. All specimens or examples of either genus must
be protected from the ravages of insects ; and to do
this the simplest means is the copious and judicious
application of spirit of turpentine ; but this must not
be applied to birds, because it dissolves the grease that
is more or less found in every bird-skin, and thus
the metallic colours of plumage become permanently
robbed of their brilliancy, and birds of white plumage
18 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK
are soiled by a yellowish stain. Where, however, there
are no metallic colours to be preserved, the advantage
of turpentine as a preservative may be gained, if it be
applied lightly and with skill to the surface of the
feathers, and not poured over the skin, as we might do
with the skin of a mammal. The best way is to apply
it with a saturated pad of cotton wool.
THE ALUM PROCESS. The material to be employed is
powdered burnt alum. When the skin of a mammal has
been removed, the very first thing to do, without loss of
time, is to {t flesh it," which means to carefully clean
the pelt of all superfluous flesh or fat. This having been
done, spread the skin hair downwards and peg it out
flat, unless you have a frame or other better mechanical
means of stretching it. Of course of small animals
in some portions of which the bone is retained for
instance the leg the skin must not be pegged
out ; and indeed where means exist of avoiding it, do
not " peg out >} at all, as the skin is always somewhat
injured by that process, and sometimes is irreparably
torn, therefore avoid such injuries if you can. The
fact of drying induces shrinkage; so arrange your
skin that as it shrinks it cannot wrinkle into folds, for
in those, if anywhere, the ravages of insects will lie.
In cold climates, perhaps, pegging and stretching may
be avoided altogether. The skin having been spread
out flat with the pelt uppermost, proceed to rub in the
alum. This should be done with the hand carefully to
cover every portion, and the supply of alum should not
be stinted. It must be particularly applied to the lips,
ears, feet, and other fleshy parts that have been pre-
pared in skinning to receive the preservative (see p. 30).
The whole pelt having been treated thus by hand,
sprinkle it with the alum till it is regularly and well
covered. The skin should be left thus until it is
PRESERVATION. 19
dry, and it will be found that the astringent alum
will dry it with rapidity. But during this time
it is most necessary to watch it well, so that if there
appear a tendency in any part of it to " taint," which
would cause the hair to "slip" or come off, the
preservative may be instantly applied on the hair side
as well as the pelt wherever requisite. When the skin
is dry it must be conveniently folded, hair side inwards,
for packing, that is if it be of large game and requires
folding. First turn the hair side up and pour turpentine
freely over it till the skin is thoroughly anointed.
Note that with long-haired animals the turpentine
reach the roots of the hair ; sprinkle the pelt side ; but
it is not necessary to anoint that so fully as the fur. It
is well, when convenient, to put some dry material in
the folds to prevent contact between the inside of the
skin and the fur ; and, as occasion may serve, the skin
should be unfolded and inspected, and more turpentine
or preservative applied to parts if necessary. In the
process just described the astringent alum is applied to
preserve the skin, and the turpentine to protect it
against insects. The ravages of these pests in a hot
climate, such as India, are indescribably vexatious, and
must be carefully guarded against. The principal of
all the marauders is a beetle about a quarter of an inch
long, of a dark dirty colour with a transverse band of
dull yellow; he does not often fly, being generally
more busily engaged on carefully collected skins ; but
he can fly. His common name and his scientific name
are " The Bacon Beetle;" or Dermestes Ladratus ; but as
c 2
20 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
he is so veritable an enemy it is best not to rely on his
cognomen, but on instant recognition for immediate ex-
termination, therefore his portrait life-size is given on
page 19. Now this insect does not like any spirit; but
the one spirit he really dreads as fatal to his constitu-
tion is turpentine. In the colder climates benzine and
similar spirits are sometimes used and with efficacy, but
these evaporate more rapidly in warmer temperature,
and turpentine, if only because of its less rapid evapo-
ration, is at all times to be preferred. I have sometimes
unpacked trophies to discover the hair entirely removed
from the pelt by the exertions of the Dermestes ; and in
like manner I have received skulls in London that have
been imperfectly cleaned of flesh, from which I have
shaken hundreds upon hundreds of fattened lively
specimens. I gave them the turpentine they should
have had in India. Sometimes they will recover
activity after the milder influence of benzine. The
alum process is quite sufficient for Pachydermata.
PICKLE. Another process that is frequently most
convenient on shipboard, or, according to the con-
ditions, is that of "pickling." The skin having been
removed from the carcase and cleaned, instead of being
laid out for drying, should be thickly covered over the
flesh side with powdered alum, the lips, eyelids, feet,
etc., being particularly treated; then it should be
folded in a convenient form, and thus be immersed
in a barrel of brine, or what is technically called
"liquor" in fact, parts of alum and salt dissolved
in water, in the proportion of 6 Ibs. of alum and
3 Ibs. of salt, sea salt if possible. Dissolve both in
a small quantity of hot water sufficient to make a
gallon, and let the liquid cool before the specimen is
immersed. The skin must be sweet and fresh at the
PRESERVATION. 21
time of placing it in pickle, or the operation will not
succeed. The vessel must be kept closed. A number
of skins may be placed in the same barrel, which is then
ready, when quite filled, and closed, for storing, or for
transit. If thought more convenient to make the
package lighter for travelling, the skins can, when
they have been thoroughly pickled for a few days, be
taken out, spread open and dried, then repacked. This,
however, is an operation requiring obviously great
judgment, as if it be imperfectly carried out the
consequence may be ruinous.
A conspicuous exemplification of the advantages in
this process of brine-pickling, was afforded by the
great elephant trophy brought from South Africa by
H. R. H. the Duke of Edinburgh. In this case the
system was adopted in manner following : The entire
skin of the mighty beast was preserved. The animal
was undoubtedly one of the largest examples ever
brought to this country of the African species. His
height at the withers was 10 ft. ; from tip of trunk to
tip of tail, 23 ft. 5 in. ; girth, 16 ft. 6 in. ; from top of
head to end of trunk, 11 ft. 3 in. ; circumference of
head, 10 ft. ; from ear to ear, 9 ft. ; length of ear, 4 ft.
6 in. The skull and tusks weighed more than 3 cwt. ;
the skin of the head when taken from pickle, weighed
3 cwt. 6 Ibs. The weight of the whole skin when taken
from pickle, was 20 cwt. 7 Ibs. The weight of the
entire elephant in the flesh was 4 tons 8 cwt. 4 Ibs.
On the field the skin, having been duly prepared, was
folded in this wise : the flanks with skin of legs and
feet were folded inwards, each half-way, so that the
inner surfaces or flesh side were outwards ; then the
skin of the head was in like manner turned back, the
trunk being disposed of longitudinally down the centre
22
THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
between the edges of the flanks ; and the tail end with
nether extremities was similarly folded back to meet
the trunk. The whole skin was then rolled as tightly
as possible round the head, and carefully tied at both
ends of the bale. In this condition it was placed in a
great barrel which was then completely filled with
liquor, and properly coopered for transmission to this
country. On arrival in London, when the head of the
barrel was removed, the perfect success of this mode
of transport was at once apparent. There was no
unpleasant odour. On taking out the mass and
unfolding the skin, it was noticeable that every part
of the surfaces had been properly acted on, and there
PRESERVATION. 23
was not a single tainted fold. At that time it had
been upwards of a year in the barrel. The old pickle
was removed, the skin was refolded and restored to the
barrel with a supply of fresh liquor, and the cask was
re-coopered. In this manner the skin was preserved for
upwards of three years more, until the decision as to
how this great trophy should be treated was arrived
at. The magnificent head was mounted, and is now
in Clarence House; the feet (which supply an index
of his size) were utilised for ornamental purposes,
while the hide was cut up and converted to use; a
considerable portion being made into walking sticks,
that formed appropriate mementoes.
The skulls of large mammalia are always removed
from the skins. It is important for the proper preser-
vation of the skulls of Felidce, that they should be
protected from injury to, or loss of, the teeth. This is
best done as follows : When the skull has been boiled
(not too much or it loosens the sutures) or soaked, and
properly cleaned, and the teeth painted with wash
about half-an-inch thick, it should be tied up in a
calico bag and placed in a separate compartment of
the packing-case designed for it. Stuffing should
moreover be put into each compartment to prevent
the specimen from being shaken, and so injured. The
wash for teeth mentioned above can be well made of
wax; as the tooth dries it often splits up, the bony
structure as well as the enamel ; wax tends to prevent
this action.
It should be mentioned in case of need, that many
strong mineral and vegetable astringents can be used
with more or less success besides arsenic, alum, and
salt ; such as saltpetre, powdered green vitriol, or
sulphate of iron, corrosive sublimate, etc. It is also
24 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
maintained that white arsenic applied in dry powder,
or mixed with spirits of wine to the consistency
of treacle, and put on with a brush, is the best
preservative of all. Of vegetable substances, gum
kino, oak bark, willow bark, catechu, powdered
nutgalls, or any such material rich in tannin, are
available; and strong spices or strong tobacco
powdered will keep off insects. A largo skin, in
default of anything better, may be plentifully dressed
on the inside with wood ashes. The virtue of wood
ashes really consists in their detergent properties ; for,
containing as they do a large proportion of potash,
the fat is thereby converted into soap, and sometimes
in this condition is immediately brought away by the
hand, or the scraper, and as a preservative, excepting
under difficult conditions, the effect is cleanly and
good. Remember that there is a difference in ashes,
depending on the wood employed. Oak is one of the
best.
FISH. The proper preservation of fish is un-
doubtedly a matter of some difficulty. Naturalists are
perhaps not generally aware of how few examples of
foreign fish reach this country in a condition that
admits of effective after treatment, or how special a
branch of the art it is to set them up effectively and
well. The ordinary processes are : (1) to plunge and
bottle them in spirits ; and we all know the effect of
that on the evanescent colouring, as well as on the
natural contour of the specimens ; (2) when they are
skinned (see p. 46), to apply alum to those parts
where the flesh cannot be perfectly removed, so that
it may be dried, and to apply arsenical soap on the
inside, for preservation of the skin.
KEPTILES. The skins of crocodiles, alligators, and
PRESERVATION. 25
the larger reptiles having been removed (see p. 46),
must be manipulated as follows : Clean them of all
flesh as perfectly as you can ; this, however, cannot be
done very completely about the head, or the feet of a
large example, and to those parts alum must be
applied in plenty to dry up the flesh as well as may
be. The roof of the mouth can be cleaned, arid the
tongue must come away. With smaller specimens
that can be skinned over the skull to the lips, a similar
application must be made where it seems necessary.
To the inner parfc of the skins some arsenical soap, or
wood ashes may be put ; but, really, the preservatives
are not nearly so necessary as in the case of warm-
blooded mammals. Indeed turpentine that will pro-
tect them from insects will afford nearly all the
protection they need. The skin can be rolled or
folded for transmission. With snakes, the skin dried
flat can be rolled from the tail like a ribbon, the belly
side inwards on account of the scales. Small speci-
mens of any species will go in spirits. Carbolic is a
useful agent in cleansing all reptiles.
IMMERSION IN SPIRIT. Something must be specially
said about this mode of preservation, for there is
absolute necessity that it should be properly carried
out, or nearly all the advantage of the resource is
neutralised. Either fish or reptiles, or even birds, that
may be sent home in spirits, should be treated in this
way : First provide a tub, or other convenient vessel,
full of the spirit, wherein the specimens can be put as
a preliminary measure, so that the mucus, water, etc.,
may be drawn out of them. Before placing them in
this a moderate incision should be made, with as little
disturbance as possible, in the belly, so that the
spirit may permeate all parts. Keep the specimens
26 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
in this spirit from a week to ten days, then transfer
them to fresh spirit, and let them remain in that for
about two weeks more, before finally you. remove
them to the vessel or vessels of spirit in which they
are to be packed for the remainder of the journey.
Reptiles, being less watery than fish, generally require
only one change. The first tub of spirit may be used
for more than one set of animals, but will of course
decrease in strength by the addition of the water
drawn from them ; the second spirit should be
stronger; the third quite strong enough to be readily
inflammable. They will then be safe for more than
six months, and can be sent home. Proof spirit,
diluted about one-half with water, is perhaps the best
to use, but rum or gin serves well. The specimens
can be packed for transmission in great numbers thus:
Wrap each fish or reptile in a piece of linen or cotton
rag, and arrange them to rest closely in an appropriate
vessel that can be then filled completely with spirit.
A wooden packing-case, well lined with tin, that can
be hermetically soldered up when quite full of the liquid,
serves well. Of insects, beetles can be transmitted
in spirit.
INSECTS. The majority of insects having been pro-
perly stored as directed (see p. 48), require little more
than a supply of camphor, or cyanide of potassium, to
protect them from decay. Mites sometimes appear in
them as an evidence of taint, and then the best means
for destroying the intruders is benzine. But some very
large moths, butterflies, and beetles require a different
treatment. In such cases the body must be opened by
a longitudinal section on that side not intended to
be displayed, and as much matter must be removed as
can be got away without ' impairing the specimen.
SKINNING AND PREPARATION.
27
The cavity thus created should be filled with corrosive
sublimate in a dry powdered condition, and the incision
must be neatly and skilfully closed over it.
SKINNING AND PREPARATION.
THE apparatus necessary for the skinning of animals
is really very simple, and I strongly advise that it
VI
should be kept to the simplest proportions. It is the
skill with which the knife is wielded that is more im-
portant than the best of knives. A shoemaker's knife,
a small saw, a pair of pliers, and perhaps a pair of
cutting pincers, are all that are required for operating
on the most important game. Some small implements
for small specimens being added, this is all the kit
that need be carried. To understand the principle of
the thing, and to adapt that principle in practice with
ingenuity and judgment to the particular conditions
that present themselves, is the true learning ; and to
28 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK
cumber the mind with numberless minute memoranda
of other travellers' experiences in emergencies that
may never be our lot, is an useless task. Enrich the
recollection with all that experience brings to bear on
the subject in deductions, to illustrate or to inform,
but not to copy simply of necessity. The best
operator is he who does what is right to carry out his
purpose, carefully, on true principles, according to the
means at his command, and the advantages of sur-
rounding conditions ; he who simply copies what others
have done in given circumstances, forgets, probably,
the conditions under which they succeeded, and that
the conditions are not necessarily the same in his case.
Let a man be master of the occasion and his position
will be good, even if it is different from any that has
gone before. Now what has to be done is simply
this, and the remark applies equally to large or small
game, mammalia, birds, reptiles, or -fishes. A beast
having been slain, or a specimen secured, we have to
remove the skin, preserving the exterior natural
features, as completely as possible ; then the skin cut
as little as may be because it would otherwise decom-
pose under the influence of climate, etc., such decay
must be averted by the application of preservatives,
and when it is packed so that it is protected, the
trophy may be sent home. But the preservative and
precautions necessary in an Indian or African climate,
may be modified in North America, and in highlands
or lowlands, in forests or exposed positions. There is,
in fact, no preservative, or book recipe, or tale of other
persons' experience, that can compare in value to
quick true judgment, and cultivated common sense.
I shall describe in as much detail as appears necessary
the skinning and preparation of one animal represen-
SKINNING AND PREPARATION. 29
tative of each class ; and my reader must trust himself
to adapt the practice by the light of his own judgment
to the specimens, large or small, with which he may
have to deal; and he will soon find his practice surpass
in usefulness the most compendious (and cumbersome)
book of recipes and directions.
LARGE GAME. When the great game is secured,
and is ready for the operation, first turn the animal on
its back, and, stretching apart the fore and hind legs,
proceed to remove the skin. In all cases where the
skin is wanted entire, this is best done by making an
incision from the corner of the mouth, through the
medial line of the belly to the extremity of the tail ;
but in doing this cut only just through the skin, and
be careful not unnecessarily to injure the carcase, or
especially the intestines; next make lateral incisions
in order to strip the limbs ; for the forelegs from the
edge of the central incision through the armpit, along
the inner side of the limbs, the line of incision inclin-
ing slightly to the outer portion, in order that the
seam may be less perceptible when the perfect specimen
is mounted. A like process through the groin is
necessary for the hind legs. These incisions thus
made leave the skin in form of tongue-pieces over the
breast. First apply the knife to these points, and
detach the skin round to the spine and along the tail.
In doing so it is necessary to clear the limbs, and great
care must be taken to leave intact the natural features
of the foot. The last metacarpal and metatarsal bones
may be left in the skin, whether with the smaller
specimens of Felidcc or Cervidce ; but in the big animals
it is better to remove them altogether. Now turn over
the carcase, and draw back the whole skin over the
head, exercising particular care in separating the ears
30 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
and the eyes from the skull. Similar care must be
taken as to the lips, for if the rim of the eyelids be
severed by the scalpel the injury spreads in a remark-
able manner, often so badly as to render the damage
seriously conspicuous. The ears should be parted from
the skull close to the bone, or the lower structure of
them will present too large an aperture. The lips
must be cut off close to the gums. Having thus
taken off the skin, it must be cleared of all superfluous
fat and flesh and all the fat and flesh is superfluous.
The cartilaginous portion of the ear must be turned
through. The lip must be treated thus : Pass the
knife betweeen the mucous lining and the outer skin all
round the mouth, so as to admit of the preservative
penetrating this thick portion of the specimen com-
pletely. The eyelids and the feet must each be
treated in a similar manner for the same reason.
Be careful that the claws or hoofs are well kept.
A fruitful source of trouble to the sportsman in
Ceylon, India, Africa, etc., is the proper treatment of
an Elephant's foot. This feature is a recognised trophy,
as well as the head, because it is a gauge of the size
of the specimen, and because in ordinary circum-
stances the skin of this mighty beast is so difficult of
transport, and although it can be converted by skill
into innumerable articles of domestic utility, the value
of it in private hands is not always appreciated. It
is different with the foot, excepting that it is particu-
larly adaptable for conversion into useful articles,
without impairing its natural history significance.
The foot should be severed at least eighteen inches
from the ground that is to say, the skin should be
severed. Cut the skin down the back of the foot
right across the sole to the toe ; a second cut must be
SKINNING AND PREPARATION. 31
made across the sole so as to form a cross with the
first, but these incisions must not be carried so far
that they would be visible when the foot is imposed on
the ground. Now separate the skin from the flesh,
and bring the casing of the foot away in one piece.
Clean it carefully, and apply powdered alum both in-
side and outside, then place it to dry in the shade,
taking good care that the skin does not fold, and is in
all parts accessible to the air. It is not absolutely
necessary that the skin dry in natural shape, but it is
important that the foot be protected from insects, and
to this end, when the specimen is quite dry, saturate
it as far as possible with turpentine. Rhinoceros and
Hippopotamus can be treated in the same way.
Something must be specially said as to the head.
It frequently happens that it is desired to save the
head for preservation as a trophy, while the other
part of the skin is either abandoned or saved for a
rug. Heads with antlers or horns are prepared for
preservation either in the naked bone or to be set up
to imitate living nature. For this last, care must be
exercised to take the skin of the whole neck. Make
the incision up the back of the neck, over the head
between the ears until the horns are reached ; if they
are wide apart cut between them right and left, carrying
the incision right round the burr of each horn. In
separating the skin from the burr the knife should be
used neatly with a plunging action of the point, so that
not a particle of hair or skin be sacrificed at this part.
He is a bad workman who leaves a morsel of the skin
attached to the bone. In clearing the scalp be very
careful not to let the knife injure the skin ; the knife
must be deftly used. But there are other features
with which this skill is more important still to wit,
32 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK
the eyes, the nostrils, and the ears. The delicate skin
round the eye is nearly hairless ; it must not on any
account be torn or jagged. In a head the eyes and
the nose are the most prominent parts, first claiming
notice. In treating the nostrils and upper lip operate
from inside the mouth ; sever the lip neatly high up
the gum, over the teeth ; and in like manner detach
the lip below. The skin will present in these portions
a particular thickness, into which, from the inside, a
neat midway incision must be carried all along, so that
the preservative may penetrate and be carefully rubbed
into the cut to the end that these parts may be saved
properly. The alum process is best; but if more con-
venient the skins may be preserved in pickle (see p. 20).
Clean the skin well of all fat and flesh ; rub in the
alum, but not on the outside of the nose, and hang up
the skin to dry. If there should appear any likelihood
of the short hair round the eyes and nostrils slipping,
apply some alum judiciously there. Be sure to save
the lower jaw. When the head is of Wapiti, and is to
be set up thus, it may be a matter of great convenience
to pack the horns, and to do that the skull, to which
they are attached, may be sawn in two, longitudinally,
by which much space maybe gained. But if the trophy
is to be mounted in the naked bone, this severance is
quite inadmissible, and it should in no case be adopted
with smaller heads, which are, in fact, almost destroyed
by it, the skull is thereby weakened, and at the end of
the journey broken to pieces. Such a state of things
necessitates great extra labour and expense even if the
injury can ever be repaired. Some North American
trophies recently received have come in a deplorable
condition from this sort of injury, by which neither
convenience nor economy can have been secured. For
SKINNING AND PEEPAEATION. 33
preservation in the bone, the flesh may be roughly
taken off, and the skull be cleaned by boiling, by
maceration in a stream, or by burying it for a proper
time in an ant-hill. But be sure and keep the
specimen from dogs or other animals. In regard to
the ears, when the skin is off, and you have separated
the cartilage close to the bone, trim it neatly with the
scissors of all that is not wanted inside, but do not take
too much, or an unsightly hole may appear when the
head comes to be mounted. Next insert the thumb
and finger from the inside so as to separate the inner
from the outer skin, forming, as it were, a flat bag;
do not carry this separation too near the edges. Into
the division preservative must be carefully put. It is
my practice to fill the space with composition, which
keeps the ear for ever the proper size and shape. The
old way of sewing a piece of card on the outside is not
good, it allows the skin to shrivel and shrink, and its
natural beauty is seldom or never to be restored. Some
horns (as Ovis Ammori) have "bearers," or a bony core,
from which the horns may be detached and packed
separately ; in this instance the skull should be kept,
and so much of the bearers as seems superfluous may
be removed.
SMALL MAMMALIA. These can be preserved for
dissection and preparation, when necessary, in spirit ;
or, as described in the cases of large skins, in liquor.
When they are treated thus, incision must be carefully
made in the trunk, and the intestines, with as much
blood, mucus, etc., as possible removed ; the liquid will
then penetrate, and the carcase should be soaked in
spirit or liquor for some time, in order that the juices
of the body may be drawn out into it, and then the
specimen should be removed into fresh spirit, strong
34 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
enough, to light with a match, and so packed. The
receptacle should be quite full.
In preparing the skin the following course should
be adopted : the skull and the bones of the legs are to
be left in the skins. The animal being placed on its
back, make incision from the sternum (breast-bone) to
the root of the tail, next separate the skin from the
carcase, so far as can be conveniently reached, and sever
the limbs from the body at the shoulders and thighs.
Each limb can then be drawn out as a glove might
be turned inside out but the bone must not be
separated at its junction with the toe, or the skin of
the foot or leg be in any way injured. Now remove
the muscles from the bone. This can best be done by
cutting the tendons near the toes, and carefully drawing
the whole mass away at one operation. It must come
in one piece, not piecemeal. The bone will now be
clean. Clean the skin of the limb, and at the same
time the other parts of the skin of all superfluous flesh
and fatty matter. Dress the inside with arsenical
soap, and apply freely powdered alum all over it, but
particularly to the fleshy parts, as the eyes, nose, lips,
feet, etc. Then replace the bones in the limbs, having
previously, if possible, bound them with tow, or similar
material, so as to replace the muscle that has been
removed. Place a portion of stuffing in the skin
of the head and trunk, and suspend the specimen
to dry.
The tail must be treated in this way : sever the
vertebrae from the trunk close up to the body, leaving
the tail in its sheath. Turn back the skin until enough
of the tail protrudes to fasten securely with a string,
that can be attached to a hook, or tree, or other firm
SKINNING AND PREPARATION. 35
holding. Then with a cleft stick, or the handle of
your pliers, pull the skin sheath down toward the tip,
and the vertebrce will come away whole, wrinkling the
skin to the end. Shake powdered alum into the
cavity, or, if preferred, insert arsenical paste on a
stick.
SKELETONS. When it is. desired to save the skeleton
of an animal, the procedure should be this : Having
removed the skin, cut the fleshy parts away ; this
need not be done too closely, neither is it necessary
nor desirable in the operation to separate the joints.
The bony frame, or its portions, should next be placed
where they can be covered by water, the object
being first to extract all blood, therefore it is well,
as occasion requires, to pour off and renew the water,
until it comes away comparatively clear. The next
operation is to leave the skeleton in the liquid till the
soft portions putrefy, and so leave the bone clean.
The large bones that contain marrow must be
perforated at either end, where the holes will be
least observed, and returned to the water. They
will come clean in due course like the others. The
complete operation of this putrefying will occupy
several months, but is expedited by a warm temperature.
When the decay of the fleshy matter is complete, the
bones must be cleaned by hand, and should then be
immersed for a few (say 6) hours in a weak solution
of lime-water. The bones are by this time quite
separated, and it is all-important to care that not one,
even the smallest, be missing; the loss of one little
portion vitiates the usefulness of all a skeleton incom-
plete in any part is of no value. The bones must next
be bleached by the simple action of the atmosphere in
D 2
36 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
the shade. If the operator be abroad the bones may
then be packed for transmission; if he be where
skilled assistance can be obtained, they are fit for
articulation.
BIRDS. Having seen that the cotton plugging of
the throat, nostrils, and the shot-holes is safe, the first
operation is to break the wing-bones (humeri) close to
the body. If the bird be a large specimen, the most
convenient and effectual way to do this is to hold the
bird pendent by his wing against the edge of a table
or board, so that the bone may be fractured by the
sharp blow of a stick, with as little rough treatment as
may be. But the doing this skilfully is indeed the
gist of the whole work ; there is a proper way of doing
it. The wing must be held by the upper feathers,
pressed flat by all the fingers against the palm, so that
the manipulation do not crush, or even seriously dis-
turb the lay of the fibre. The blow with the stick
must be a firm quick stroke of sufficient strength to
complete the fracture, not simply to bruise the flesh,
or so rough as in breaking the bone to unduly mangle
it. The firmness of the board or table-edge is a great
element in the neatness of this operation. The action
of the hand will best be seen on the accompanying
illustration.
This is the method for treating large birds. In
the case of small specimens that is anything less in
size than a blackbird the same bone may be well
broken by the thumb and finger, or at most by the
forceps. The wing-bone being thus broken, place the
bird on his back, the head toward you, in order that
your knife may, what is technically called, " go with
the grain of the feather." By this I mean that the
point of the knife should be deftly inserted under the
skin just at the end of the breast-bone ; raise the skin
SKINNING AND PREPARATION.
37
till it bags, then press the knife forward in one clean
continuous incision down to the vent, so that the skin
be separately severed, but the flesh remain uninjured.
Amateurs are constantly inclined to make their first
incision from too high or too low a point; and the
38 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK
mistake of injuring the stomach in any part is another
danger that besets them. The opening thus made in
the skin should be no larger than is necessary for the
withdrawal of the body. For this purpose only is it
made. Indeed with birds that have breasts of
specially beautiful plumage and short feathers, as well
as with divers, and aquatic birds, it is often desirable
to make the incision under the wing. The great object
is to get the body out of the skin in the cleanliest
fashion, and so that none of the internal grease or juices
soil the plumage. The overwhelming advantage then
of a neat operation, so that the body remain practically
unbroken, will be apparent at once. Sometimes it
may be desirable to take the body out through the
back, when the incision is made in the same manner
as it would be on the breast. In fact the features to
be specially preserved will rule the operator's choice in
this respect. I, however, now suppose that the cut is
made from the breast-bone as seen in the illustration.
SKINNING AND PREPARATION.
39
Now put down the knife, and use the hands only,
for the fingers are the best instruments. Insert the
fingers under the skin on one side, and clear the skin
from the flesh in all accessible parts. That done,
insert below the skin a sufficient quantity of dry
plaster of Paris, or such other similar material as,
wanting plaster of Paris, you may be compelled to use
to absorb such blood or other moisture as may at
the moment be present. Treat the corresponding side
in like manner. Next proceed to force out the leg.
In order to do this, hold the leg firmly above the
joint, and force the thigh through the aperture, at the
same time carefully drawing off the skin ; insert the
point of the scissors below the flesh next the bone, and
40 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
move tliem skilfully up between the bone and muscle,
until, by raising the right hand a little, the scissors can
be made to nip the bone transversely just against the
joint ; cut the bone through and you can then thrust
it out naked from the flesh, and with the scissors cut
the tendons next the tarsus, and the whole muscle of
the thigh will come away in one piece, leaving the
bone clean. This bone
must be cut near the
femur joint, leaving
the head of the bone
which is useless with
the flesh attached to
the thigh and body.
The bone, when thus freed, should appear as above.
Having treated both legs thus, skin up to the root of the
tail, but in severing the vertebrce leave the whole trian-
gular projection in which the feathers are imbedded
SKINNING AND PREPARATION,
41
for after treatment. It is a common error to cut this
portion too low down, and much trouble results. Now
turn the bird
chest down-
ward in order
to skin the
back. This is
operation
requiring
more care than that
front, because
the thin skin has to
carry larger quills,
and they are rela-
tively more difficult
to manipulate. The
specimen is now
lying breast down-
ward on the table,
the head towards
you. The whole
skin of the tail can
be drawn over the
back, where the
skin can be cleared
by the blunt side of the scalpel, and the body will
thus be freed down to the wings. Here free the
body by cutting the flesh through with the scissors at
42 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
the point of fracture of the humerus, and thereupon
free the whole body from the skin until only the neck
remains to be severed, as shown in the illustration.
The next step is one requiring judgment and
dexterity. The head must be got away. With ducks,
geese, and similar birds, the head is too large to come
through the neck-skin, and, in such cases, an opening
must be neatly made from the back of the head, about
two inches down the neck, of sufficient size to
admit of the skull being removed for cleaning.
Through this orifice force the skull, skinning it
carefully until past the eyes, and in doing this pay
particular attention not to work any injury to the-
edges of the eyes, or to the ears ; these last should not
be rudely touched by the knife. Cut away the back
part of the skull, with neck, tongue, and palate.
Remove the brains and the eyes. The whole skin is
then in a condition to be cleaned and prepared. The
first thing to do now is to take away all fat and flesh,
and make your skin as cleanly as you can ; then dress
the inside with arsenical soap. Bind some tow round
the leg-bones where the muscle was, and restore them
to their proper position. Put some cotton-wool in
place of the eyes, and, having forced some of the
arsenical soap into the skull, return it to its place. In
SKINNING AND PREPARATION.
43
the case of the large birds the specimen figured in our
illustrations is a goose the wing must be treated thus:
Open the skin from the outside along the bones as
shown below, removing the muscle, without disturbing
the hold of the feathers on the bone ; the quills here
join the bone. It is important to bear this in mind,
for if a serious error be made here the wing will be
shapeless. Small birds can be treated from the inside.
It is not desirable to use powdered alum to bird-skins t
as it tends to make them brittle. The specimen should
then be filled out by stuffing to the natural size, and a
band of paper placed round it in order to keep the
wings and other parts in proper position till dry.
During the whole operation, wood dust, or other dry
powder should be freely employed to absorb blood and
grease, so that the plumage may be kept clean.
When the skin of a specimen has been taken off in
manner set forth above, there is a proceeding which it
is important to observe, that is called technically
44 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
"making the skin." This is in reality a part of the
operation of skinning, indeed that part of it which
consists in finishing the work in a workmanlike manner.
While the skin is fresh and supple it must be so dis-
posed that as it dries it may take proper form rather
than distortion, and much after-trouble will be saved.
The skin, as it is inside out, must be cleaned this is
indispensable and the arsenical soap properly applied.
Directly that is done, it is well to sprinkle the surface
of the soap with some dry powder say plaster of
Paris, so that in handling the adhesiveness of the
paste may not be inconvenient. It will be noticed that
the skin between the wings, when raised from the
bony structure, exhibits among the quills certain bare
places. Now these would be most unsightly if they
appeared prominent on the finished specimen. The
tendency of the hollow skin, at this part especially, is
to be too large, and it is better for after-operations
that the skin should rather be contracted that expanded
to anything approaching looseness. In setting up the
bird, it is far easier to stretch the skin, if required,
than to contract it ; and now is the time to catch up
and stow away any seemingly superfluous folds. These
are most conspicuous on the back. To get rid of
them, tie the wing-bones inside with a thread that
shall lie across the back, and draw the wings together
as near as in judgment they may best represent the
position in life. This will enable the feathers to cover
in the naked skin, that would otherwise appear, and
will give solidity, so to speak, to the plumage at this
part. This is little present trouble, but is the saving
of infinite trouble in the future, and is of great con-
sequence for the beauty of the bird. Having done
this, turn the plumage out, but be careful in doing so
SKINNING AND PREPARATION. 45
not to fracture the skin of the neck. Use the scissor-
forceps to fill in the neck with cut tow ; fill in the
body ; smooth the feathers into proper position, and
your whole bird into proper shape. Place a paper
band round the wings, that they may set in good
position. Small birds can conveniently be slipped into
a cone of paper.
It may sometimes fall to the lot of the traveller to
secure an albatross, and at the same time he may
not always know what to do best with his unwieldy
and not very rare specimen. If he does not care to
preserve it whole, he may well be reminded that there
are some parts of it which may be profitably saved.
The long tubular wing-bones are prized for pipe-
stems, to which they can be adapted well ; the great
web-feet will make beautiful tobacco pouches when
properly prepared, or a curious small work-bag for a
lady can be formed of the same trophies. The wing-
bones must be carefully cleaned : a good way is to
open the orifice at each end, and boil them ; or they
can be macerated in water. The foot should be
treated thus : sever the bone above the knee ; cut the
skin down the back of the shank and heel ; insert the
thumb and finger you must not use any sharp
instrument so as to separate the web on both sides
from the bony structure of the toes ; do this down to
the outer talons, and so that the toes can be drawn
out of the web-pouch now formed; sever the talons
from the bones on the inside with the scissors, leaving
the talons attached outside ; clean the skin neatly,
and dress it well with arsenical paste ; fill the pouch
with wool, or tow, or sawdust, to keep it in shape.
Of course the utilisation of parts of birds and animals
in this way is mainly a question of inventiveness and
46 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
ingenuity, for many natural features may be adapted
to the most useful and ornamental purposes, while at
the same time they retain the character of trophies.
The leg-bones of the Flamingo are long and have
an elegant curve they will form admirable pipe-
stems ; the teeth of animals can be adapted orna-
mentally in many ways ; the talons of a tiger, or the
hoof of an antelope, or the tusk of a boar, may, as
well as antlers and more pretentious features, be
employed for adornment or use; and there is just
this advantage, that they may in some circumstances
be saved, when the whole trophy has to be abandoned.
Birds can be kept in spirit, and this mode is
particularly useful for the preservation of young birds
in the down, very small specimens, etc.
REPTILES AND FISH. As a general rule large speci-
mens are skinned and preserved in similar manner to
birds, although with reptiles alum may be used, espe-
cially on the thicker portions of the skin ; but small
specimens are kept in spirit. It must rest with the
traveller himself to determine which course is best for
saving the particular example he has secured. When a
fish is skinned whole, he must be laid out carefully on
a board, and the incision must be made not down the
belly but along the centre of the least important side,
from gill to tail. The object is to remove the body
from the skin, with the least possible disturbance of
the scales, etc. The skin can be manipulated neatly
from each side of the incision. When, in this opera-
tion, you come to the base of fins, cut the obstruction
inside the skin with the scissors, but with judgment,
so as not to sever them too closely, that they may not
be unsettled. Cut in like manner the vertebrce next
the base of the head, and next the extremity of tho
SKINNING AND PREPARATION. 47
tail ; then, if need be, cut them also in the middle so
that the flesh may be taken away in two pieces ; but
this is a matter of convenience, and must be made to
subserve the all-important point of not disturbing,
bending, or otherwise injuring the skin, for the scales
that constitute the characteristic beauty to be pre-
served are very fragile and easily detached, and to
break or detach them is fatal to the value of the
specimen. Clean the head as well as you can, and
then paint the whole interior surface of the skin with
arsenical paste and apply the same preservative to the
head, into the cavities of which cotton wool may be
pushed. The body should be filled with dry sawdust
up to its natural shape ; next draw the edges of the
orifice together with neat stitches. The fins and tail
must then be treated. These, while wet and pliant,
must be set out in natural form on pieces of card, so
that they may dry as they are intended to be displayed.
The specimen can now be put on one side to dry.
This process, however, rather presupposes the
opportunity for quiet treatment at home. When the
naturalist is on the field, shorter means may be used.
The skin being removed and dressed with arsenical
soap, may be left to dry in convenient form. The
skins can then be packed together, and it will be
found useful to pack with them some light stiff
48 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
material like thin wood, dried rushes, etc., that dis-
posed longitudinally will prevent the possibility of the
brittle skins being bent accidentally.
The smaller fish and reptiles, when preserved in
spirit, should be saved in form as uninjured as possible.
Carefully preserve the natural appearance of the
creature so far as may be ; and it is very important
that on a label (of tinfoil or paper) attached to the
specimen itself, or to the receptacle wherein it is
placed, should be noted a sufficient description of it
made at the moment it is fresh before you, especially
of colours and appearances and features which may
disappear or be altered by the spirit, unless the species
be quite well known and these details are manifestly
unnecessary. Be particular as to the locality in which
the specimen has been captured.
INSECTS. The ingenuity displayed by the collector
in capturing and storing insects is often a personal
quality, and the methods that may be adopted are
almost infinite. The general methods most approved
are all that can be referred to here. Butterflies,
moths, and some other species, whose beauty is in
their colouring and is very fragile to the touch, must
be treated for storage and preservation in a different
INSECTS. 49
way from beetles and insects of similar class. In fact,
all excepting the first named may be preserved in
spirit so soon as captured for after treatment, and
they need not be injured by the process. For
permanent display in the cabinet, all insects must
be properly set out the Lepidoptera with distended
wings, and the Coleopterous insects in suitable posi-
tion. They should be killed the instant they are
captured, to prevent injury resulting from efforts to
escape. A gauze net is generally used. When a
butterfly is got into it, the collector watches his oppor-
tunity while the insect is still in the gauze, and so
soon as it closes its wings he lightly and sufficiently
pinches its thorax between his thumb and finger. The
butterfly falls from the net dead and uninjured. The
specimen must not be handled excepting to pick him
up by the legs, holding which the wings may be slightly
blown apart and a proper pin pushed through the
body, so that the specimen with closed wings may
at once be stored in the collecting box, or if the
creature be not quite dead the pin can be inserted on
the under part of the cork in the cyanide bottle, and
the specimen kept there till dead. Butterflies should
be stored thus with folded wings, until they are re-
quired to be set out for the cabinet. When the col-
lector reaches home, he can store the contents of his
pocket box, by putting each specimen in a small
triangular envelope of paper, outside which a note
may be made. Hundreds can be stored in small space.
Moths, on account of their greater rotundity, must
not be treated in exactly the same manner by pinching.
They are not frequently captured in the gauze, and
are best killed in the cyanide bottle, or by the applica-
tion of a little prussic acid. They are conveniently
50 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
taken home in separate pill-boxes. Beetles, etc., may
as a rule be well preserved in spirit, which kills them
forthwith ; or they can be killed in the cyanide bottle.
When the time arrives for arranging insects for the
cabinet, the Butterflies can be relaxed by placing them
for a time on wetted sand, or exposing them to steam.
The wings, legs, etc., can then easily be set out by
the aid of small pieces of card on pins (see figs. E, F).
Beetles, etc., should be set out while they are wet when
taken from the spirit (see p. 26 as to preservatives).
In England, and on the Continent of Europe, many
entomologists now study the exotic species, which they
can obtain from friends or correspondents residing
abroad, either in the ovum or egg state, or in the
chrysalis or pupa state. Most people know that from
the eggs (ova) of Butterflies and Moths come out
caterpillars or larvce. These larvae, moult several
times, and after each moult, in some species, there is
a remarkable change in the colour of the larva. The
larvffi of many species of Lepidoptera go into the
ground to change into the pupa state, and sometimes
they form a shell in the ground ; some turn into pupce
INSECTS. 51
in leaves, others on the ground in a sort of web. The
pupce of Butterflies are most often found on grasses,
twigs of shrubs, or on trees ; others on walls or
fences.
The pupce of many species of Bombyces are in-
closed in cocoons most often found on trunks, and
especially on branches of trees. Some of these cocoons
are remarkable by their size and the beauty of their
silk. When the leaves of the trees have fallen, these
cocoons are easily seen hanging from the branches.
E
In some species of Lepidoptera, the imagines (perfect
insects), male and female, are very much alike, but the
body of the <$ is larger than that of the ? . The
Moths of the male Bombyces have antennce (horns)
very much more pectinated than those of the female ;
the body of the latter also is generally much larger.
Persons wishing to rear the larvae, should keep the
Moths in cages, in order that the eggs may be secured.
With respect to the rearing of the larvce of large
Bombyces, the following plan may be adopted, till the
second or third stage. Use large bell-glasses, with a
E2
52 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
few holes in the dome, or glasses open at the top,
which in this case must be covered with gauze. Place
these glasses on saucers full of sand covered with a
piece of paper. Through the paper stick into the
sand some branches of the food plants proper to each
species. Place the young larvce on these. Under bell-
glasses, which, of course, must be placed in the shade,
no water is required to keep the little branches fresh,
and the young larvce, which are apt to wander till the
first or second moult, cannot escape. When the larvce
are large, it is best to rear them on large branches
plunged in water, and without the glass covering.
This refers to the rearing of the large silk-producing
Bombyces, and of all those forming some sort of
cocoon. When the larvce have to bury themselves to
change into pupce, it is of course necessary to rear
them in a box, containing a few inches of mould.
This method should always be adopted when the habit
of the larvce is not known. Breeding cages, which,
as a rule, should always be large, must have their sides
of perforated zinc to give air. Cages ought to open
by the middle, like two boxes open on one side, and
placed one over the other, and fastened by hinges.
When pupce have to be sent to England from very
distant countries, especially if they have to cross the
tropics, they can be conveniently transmitted in small
strong boxes by sample post ; each box not to exceed
eight ounces, and to be registered, but place the stamp
where the stamping will do no harm. The pupce
should be sent as soon as they are formed ; and if
underground pupce they should be placed in soft damp
moss. The boxes should also have a few holes in the
sides to admit air.
If boxes containing pupce or ova of Lepidoptera
SETTING-UP. 53
could be placed in the ice-house on board ship, which
would retard considerably the emergence of the Butter-
flies or Moths and the hatching of the eggs, valuable
species could be sent from very distant countries.
Salmon ova were thus safely forwarded from England
to Australia and Tasmania.
ARTISTIC SETTING-UP OF TROPHIES.
IN order to reproduce the life-like form of any animal
by the employment of its preserved natural features,
not only technical skill, but knowledge and artistic
feeling are necessary to the production of a worthy
work. Formerly, the process aptly termed "stuffing"
was employed. The results were seldom or never of
more that a relative value, especially in regard to the
mammalia. The fact was too often ignored that the
use of astringents, necessary to preserve a skin, in-
variably distort it, that this distortion differs even in
several parts of the same skin, by reason of the
varying thickness or even the condition of health in
which the animal was killed ; for instance, the skin of
a fat animal is liable to undue expansion, that of a
poor beast, to peculiar contraction ; and mere stuffing
can give only an untrue representation of the living
creature. It is therefore incumbent upon the operator,
firstly, to make himself thoroughly acquainted with
the habits of the animal in a state of nature ; and
next to choose some incident of the creature's living
existence which he desires his specimen to illustrate.
This will enable him to arrive at his design. He must
then make himself acquainted not only with the bony
but the muscular structure of the animal, by which
54 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
knowledge he can, if he have the proper technical and
artistic skill, produce a model, whereon he can properly
place the skin and other natural features of the speci-
men, so as to make as perfect a representation as
practicable of the living animal, in form and detail,
and of the creature's living habits in his design.
This is the only course whereby noble trophies can be
made to have more value than a paper description of
them would possess. On the individual skill, know-
ledge, and taste of the artist depends the real value
of the work, in the same way as that of the sculptor,
or painter, is in degree to be estimated.
A typical animal to illustrate the propositions laid
down above is the Tiger, because of his various and
picturesque habits, his magnificent proportions, and
great beauty. I shall, therefore, describe the setting-
up of a specimen of this feline in detail. But here a
qualifying observation must be made. No book de-
scription can adequately convey all that should be
known. To learn what is necessary the personal in-
struction of a good teacher, and the smallest modicum
of experience, is worth more than any printed course
of instruction, however ostensibly complete. We will,
then, suppose that a perfect skin, in good condition,
has been procured. Let us select the simplest action
of the creature, viz., his stealthy walk through a
grassy jungle, which is his habitat, when his peculiar
expression is that of constant caution, whether he be
in retreat, or advancing, with the snarl of ready offence
which is habitual with him. This is the design. As
digitigrade quadrupeds, the cats walk on their toes,
and the claws then being retractile are concealed. The
left hind leg and the right fore leg, or vice versa, are
used together in progression. There is a difference in
SETTING-UPLARGE GAME. 55
the pose of the ear to express alertness, caution, or
anger. In the first case the ear is erected ; the ear is
partially depressed when the beast is only cautious,
but in anger, or incipient anger and alarm, the ear is
levelled with the skin of the head. We will choose
the semi-depression. The mouth should be partially
open, showing the teeth and tongue, but the lip not
raised, the expression being that of slightly panting.
In order to produce this design, first study the skin
and form a judgment of its natural dimensions, as to
height, bulk, etc. A distinct preparation of the skin
is necessary as a preliminary to this. It must be what
is technically called " shaved " or " fleshed." This
process consists in first softening the raw skin which
is most often native-dressed with lime by sponging
the flesh plentifully with liquor. The skin is then
placed on a rounded beam conveniently, and what is
termed the " pelt " the enderma, in fact is removed,
by scraping and shaving, with a currier's knife, the
edge of which is turned peculiarly for the purpose.
This, in reducing the substance of the skin, renders it
elastic and better adapted for use on the model, which
must be now constructed. The head, with the lips,
eyes, and burrs of the ears, as well as the feet, must
be carefully shaved with an ordinary knife, skilfully
manipulated. Now fold over the skin with the hair
outwards, so that the limbs accord with the intended
position ; measure the points and make the best esti-
mate possible under the conditions as to bulk, etc. The
limbs should be folded and the whole arranged as nearly
as may be to give the outline of the animal.
In making the model first deal with the trunk.
Two H-inch boards, 11 inches wide, of proper length,
should be glued, and what carpenters term " do walled"
56
THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
together by the edges. Place the skin as folded to
represent the animal flat on this board, and from it
draw thereon the outline of the trunk. Cut the board
to this outline to the inside of it, so that room be
allowed for the modelling of the muscles on this
framework. Get four sufficient iron rods f-inch is
the medium gauge for the legs, one for the tail, and
two to support the head. Bore a hole through the
board where the scapula or blade-bone would come.
Through this pass the rod till about 15 inches are on
the other side, then bend this portion sharp round at
right angles, to be fastened by staples firmly along
the board in the direction of the hind quarter. At
about 3 inches from the board bend the rod again,
and incline it forward at such an angle as represents
the natural position of the scapula; then bend the
rod back again for the humerus, and once more
forward for the ulna and radius, then shortly for the
carpal and metacarpal bones. This is the extent of
the rod, which must now be taken through a wooden
stand and fastened under it. It will be seen that this
SETTING-UP LARGE GAME. 57
iron, which must be repeated exactly on the other
side, is intended to take the place of the absent bones,
and that it must stand away from the board just such
distance as the original bones would have occupied.
The hind legs should be treated in similar manner
(see diagram). The iron for the tail must be appro-
priately bent, and attached to the board in position;
as also the two irons to support the skull, which must
now be attached.
The next operation is to carve in soft wood the
bones and muscles of the limbs, keeping them small
enough to be finally covered with clay. I use a par-
ticular substance of my own invention for this model-
ling, and it dries as hard as marble without any
shrinkage ; it is never brittle. The first group, " The
Combat," that I was able to produce by this means,
was exhibited in the International Exhibition (1871),
in Division III. (Scientific Inventions and New Dis-
coveries.) The wood, representing bones, should be
made in pieces, much as a lay figure is made. The
pieces then being sawn through the centre longitudi-
nally, a hollow space should be cut down them, not
only to lighten them, but that they may be riveted
together over the iron, so that the rod occupies the
place, as it were, of marrow in the bone.
The trunk must be built up so as to be light and
hollow, but with an appropriate surface to receive the
clay. Behind the shoulder, midway, and next the
thigh, should be fixed, on either side of the central
board, segments of 1-inch board, of proportion suffi-
cient to give the required bulk, and to secure the
contour of the ribs, etc. A nearly circular board
must be shaped to distend the neck. Across the
edges of these boards coarse, strong convas must be
68 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
neatly tacked, small laths being inserted at proper
places to prevent the canvas sinking. The rod which
is to support the tail must be covered with tow,
neatly bound on to the required form, and then in like
manner sewn up in the canvas. The same material
must also be extended over the skull, whereon the
fleshy excrescences must be represented cleverly by
tow. We have thus a complete light framework
covered with strong canvas, excepting the limbs. On
all necessary places over the whole framework a sur-
face of modelling clay is to be worked. The ribs and
prominent muscles of the trunk, the muscular develop-
ment of the shoulders and haunches, the joints and
extremities, must Jail be carefully modelled on. Ordi-
nary modelling clay is used ; and when the model is
finished, and nearly dry, paper should be pasted over
the clay to prevent it from breaking away. A good
method is to perfectly steep brown paper in a pailful
of hot paste. The softened paper can be put in small
pieces over the clay, and readily adheres.
The model is now completed and made ready to
receive the natural features of the animal. First
of all the eyes must be carefully adjusted in the most
natural manner ; the claws must be next inserted in
position. It remains to place the skin. This must
be again damped with liquor till quite soft, and in this
state it must be carefully arranged on the model.
First manipulate the head, paying particular attention
to adjust the lips, eyelids, and ears properly, so that
the required expression may be secured. It is ad-
visable now to tack together the edges of the skin in
certain places, as under the throat; the four joints
under the armpits, and at the groin, midway under the
belly, at intervals along the tail and the limbs. Adjust
SETTING-UPHEAD TROPHIES. 59
the soft skin to the inequalities of the model, using a
" piercer " and the thumb. The seams must be care-
fully and neatly sewed up. A delicate and important
operation remains. The skin should fit perfectly all
the indentations of the model. In order to attain this,
the skin, when worked wet into the recess, should be
secured there wherever necessary by drawing pins,
which must not be withdrawn until the model is per-
fectly dry. Then, the pins being removed, the fur
can be cleansed in the usual way, viz. : rub with the
hands very fine mahogany dust all over the coat ; then
beat it with a fine cane and finish with a brush. The
tongue, which is modelled in clay, and tinted, should
now be placed in the mouth, where the tinting can be
finished. At the same time, the lips, eyes, and nose
can be tinted and finished. The pigment used should
be the finest tube oil colour. It is best before
painting to cover the mucous surfaces with hot wax,
which promotes the naturalness of the appearance
most materially. The whiskers which may have come
from the skin should be carefully replaced.
Accept it as a golden rule never to cut the sJcln.
The method described above is given on the pre-
supposition that the skin is one as ordinarily received
from India, cared by native practitioners. But in
cases where the skeleton of a beast is preserved, and is
available, much of the work may be saved by utilising
the bones, especially for the limbs ; and in any case
they furnish the true proportions of the animal, which
are so difficult for the inexperienced operator to arrive
at without them.
The mounting of Head Trophies is best achieved in
the following manner : If the head has been received
in pickle, the skin should be thoroughly cleansed in
60 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
fresh cold water, and should directly afterwards be
shaved on the flesh side, as directed in the case of the
tiger skin. Whether it be the head of a Tiger, a
Stag, or a Bison, the process is the same. A proper
estimate must be taken of the length of neck. What
is called a neck-board must be prepared accordingly ;
that is a framework to which the skull is to be
attached, and whereon the skin of the neck can be
distended properly. This board is a flat piece of inch
deal, 11 inches wide, cut to the shape of the neck, as
the central board is shaped for the trunk of the tiger.
The construction is on the same plan, the form being
modelled in like manner. This neck-board is fixed to
a heart-shaped back-board, by means of which it can
be hung against a wall. The skull and horns having
been firmly fixed on the artificial neck, the skin should
be placed on the model and carefully adjusted. In well
prepared trophies the seam should be up the nape of
the neck, and the throat be intact. The nostrils, lips,
and eyelids of the Stag, or Bison, should be moulded
with artistic feeling and particular care, and clay
should be injected between the mucous and outer
skin of the lips, nostrils, and eyelids, so as to give
them the rotund, fleshy appearance they have in
life. It is better to insert the eye in its orbit before
the skin is drawn on. The ears must be manipulated
into shape while they are drying, and when the speci-
men is dry it can be cleaned in the usual manner.
Of small mammals the Squirrel will probably serve
best as an example, and in this instance I shall pre-
sume that the skin has just been removed from the
animal in a fresh condition, according to the method
fully described on page 32. It is always an advantage
to set up a skin while it is fresh. Prepare a body wire
SETTING-UPSMALL MAMMALS. 61
about 12 inches long, and of the thickness of ordinary
whipcord; cover this with tow to the size of the
carcase that has been removed, and bind the tow
neatly with hemp ; in fact, shaping the tow as nearly
as possible to represent the form of the squirrel. For
a sitting position, bend the wire so that the artificial
body have the necessary arch of the back. The end
of the wire next the tail must be turned and concealed
in the body. Certain stitches through with a long
needle will assist materially in shaping the form and
strengthening the frame. A wire covered with the
requisite quantity of tow will form the tail. Four
wires, each about 8 inches long, will be required for
the limbs. Pass these wires severally through the
fleshy pad of the extremities, and bind the bones to
the wire with cotton, taking care to leave about 2 inches
of wire beyond the humerus and femur, so that they
may be passed into the frame of the body and clinched.
Next fill out each limb by carefully binding tow in
proper proportion round the bone. Never exceed the
natural size. The bones having been returned to the
skin and the limbs completed, the upper end of the
body wire should be cut so as to protrude only 1 inch
and then should be inserted in the skull, the whole
skin meanwhile being turned over the skull. A stitch
driven through from eye to eye will fasten the head
securely to the artificial neck. Small portions of tow
must be inserted where the flesh has been taken from
the skull, which can then be returned and the skin
drawn into its position. The limb wires can now be
inserted in the body and clinched. The skin having
been properly drawn over, the parts cau be neatly
sewed up, the limbs bent to their natural position, and
the wires of the feet passed through a stand so as to
62
THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
be secure. It will be found advisable to manipulate
the skin with the <e piercer " and thumb, in order
neatly to adjust it, and finish the specimen to taste.
The eyes should next be inserted by adhesive glue paste.
The fur should not be cleaned till the skin is quite dry.
Reptiles may be treated in precisely the same
manner.
Birds, when the skin has been properly removed
and dressed, as directed on pages 36-45, should be set
up in manner following. For example, a Pheasant, say
freshly skinned, should have a similar body wire to
that employed for the Squirrel, but proportionately
stouter to sustain the extra weight. The leg wires
should be half as stout again as the body wire, and
should be inserted at the back of the tarsus where the
tendon runs. The fleshy part of the thigh must be
made up in the same manner as directed in the case of
the Squirrel, while the body and neck is to be formed
on the body wire (see fig. A) in precisely the same
way. In the illustration, fig. A is the body wire;
SETTING-UPBIRDS. 63
fig. B is the same dressed neatly with tow bound with
thread to the size of the bird's body ; similar wire must
be appropriately dressed for a long-necked bird. With
most birds the neck is almost hidden by the feathers ;
but some species have necks (like the Heron) requiring
special treatment. With the last named the substance
is formed on the wire. With the first mentioned but
little stuffing is needed, and that can be loosely in-
serted before the wire, which may be pushed through
it. One end of this body wire is thrust up the neck
and right through the skull, so that it appear right
through the top ; while the other end is made to pro-
trude from the other extremity to support the tail.
The leg wires must be inserted through the sole of the
foot and under the skin up the back of the leg where
the tendon was, until the pointed wire is worked be-
tween the thumb and finger to equal position with
the thigh-bone ; push this bone with the wire through,,
bind both with the requisite tow, and draw them back
into the skin of the thigh, then continue working the
wire on, until it has progressed enough to pierce right
through the tow on the body wire. The leg wires
must cross, and where they cross in the body they
must be firmly twisted together with the pliers, so that
the junction is covered by the tow. Much depends
on the firmness of this fastening. Next insert such
wool as may seem necessary to fill out the breast, and
sew the skin neatly up. Dress the feathers smooth
and bend your bird into shape, next wire him on to
his perch, or other stand, and so you gain use of both
hands. Place a short wire through the quills of the
tail to spread the feathers. Set the wings into posi-
tion with wires, and insert a pin wire into the back,
another into the breast; then, by means of these,
64 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
lightly baste the specimen with cotton so that the
feathers may dry in proper position. The symmetry
and natural pose of the specimen should be a matter
of most careful study. No amount of technical skill,
or of imaginative power, will in the least compensate
truly for the knowledge of nature. To have seen the
bird healthy in his natural habitat, and to be able
to reproduce his natural behaviour and appearance, is
an inestimable advantage. We cannot all of us com-
mand that ; but we can do the next best thing, rely
on the information communicated by others who have.
My late father, when travelling with Audubon, accu-
mulated an inestimably valuable store of such informa-
tion; for it was the invariable practice t of that great
naturalist directly a specimen was secured, and before
any treatment of it, to have a sketch made of it, in the
carefully observed natural position of life, with record
of all colours and contiguous, or surrounding, natural
features. Nothing is worse than to give a pretended
character to a specimen, or to mount it with details
that are anachronisms such as to put ferns and
grasses with birds who never existed where such
ferns or grasses grew; or, to put seaweeds with
creatures who do not frequent the ocean or sea-shore.
The true sportsman-naturalist should esteem the record
of an animal's pose or habits in life as important as
any other record, so that when the specimen comes to
skilled treatment, the naturalness of it may be a
feature that enhances its value in every way. The
line of form in many animals is not given by the skin,
but by the fur, or feathers, as the case may be. He
spoils a restored specimen who destroys this character
by too much smoothing. By the eye and erection
SETTING-UP BIRDS. 65
of the fur, the expression of anger is given. Some
birds have the power of erecting their feathers, their
crests, or position of their plumage, in token of
passion, or for purposes of cleaning their plumes, as
when a Pelican emerges from the water; and all
character is destroyed by the misapplication of neat-
ness, by too much tying down of feathers, or purpose-
less stroking of the fur. A test of proper treatment
is the setting-up of the neck. Too frequently the
neck is quite distorted by the stuffing, and elongated
out of all proportion in the finish. The carriage of
the head in nature is of paramount expression. When
a bird is dead the muscles of the neck become flaccid,
and the neck seems to be longer. This tendency is
often aggravated by unskilful treatment of the skin,
and destructive disproportion may result. It is a fault
to guard against, and an arrangement to be carefully
achieved. For instance, a Duck, sitting on the water,
shows but little length of neck ; sometimes, when at
rest, hardly any ; but the same bird in flight shows a
long neck. Some knowledge of drawing and of
modelling, seems to me to be essential to artistic
setting-up of animals; and the best of specimens,
inartistically mounted, are relatively worthless.
All the wire used for these operations should be
annealed iron wire.
The dried skins of foreign birds must be softened
and thoroughly relaxed before being manipulated for
setting up. This is best effected by placing the speci-
men in a closed box, on wetted white sand, covered
by paper, so that the evaporation may penetrate it.
The duration of this process must be determined by
the size of the bird ; one night is sufficient for small
GG THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
skins. The necessary stretching of the shoulders and
other folded parts must be effected carefully, so as to
assimilate the specimen to a green skin.
The grouping and " fitting-up," as the ornamenta-
tion is technically called, of specimens is an important
point, and one the careful attention to which greatly
enhances their value even in a museum, where such
work is not ordinarily employed. Such addition to
the naturalness of the subject of ten affords opportunity
of, by little things, illustrating the habits and habitat
of the animals. To take a pheasant, for example :
Having set up the specimen, if it is intended to cover
it by a glass case, a few natural ferns, suitable to the
habitat of the bird, should be dried, and the faded
colour restored, where necessary, by tinting with oil
pigment. Grasses should be treated in the same way.
The surface of the structure on which the bird is
mounted or, in other words, the ground should be
formed of calico, tacked with taste over a wooden
framework to assume the required forms. It should
then be covered with small pieces of brown paper that
have been well soaked and softened in a mixture of
glue and whiting. A few loose stones and portions of
sand will readily adhere to this surface, and give the
required reality of appearance. But it is necessary
that these should not be applied until the surface is
sufficiently hardened to receive them without being
injured. An old root, pieces of lichen, and similar
features can be introduced according to taste, so that
they be accurately employed. The whole production
must be painted with care, wherever painting may
be necessary, so as to reproduce naturalness in the
greatest perfection.
It is essential that the plumage of birds should be
CASTING FISH. 67
quite clean and as perfect as possible before tlie speci-
men is mounted. The best way of removing blood
stains or other impurities from feathers is as follows :
Dissolve a piece of pure pipeclay, about the size of a
walnut, in a short pint of warm water, then with a
portion of fine flannel steeped in this liquid, and
soaped thoroughly with best yellow soap, saturate and
rub the feather the right way; having done this
sufficiently, immerse the feather, or the bird-skin, in
clear cold water till it is cleansed, then roll it in a
dry cloth, which, when duly pressed, will absorb the
water. Having done this, hold the specimen within
the heat of a fire, all the while beating it briskly and
lightly with the folded end of a clean towel. In the
case of detached feathers, they can be waved rapidly,
-or swung round at the end of a string, before the fire.
Under this process plumage will resume its perfect
order. This is by far the most effective as well as
simplest operation of the kind, surpassing the employ-
ment of spirit and plaster of Paris, salts of sorrel, blue
water, etc.
A method of treating fish trophies must be men-
tioned here as being frequently more convenient, in
certain circumstances, than the skinning of them, and
at the same time sufficiently efficacious for the purpose.
This is to cast the specimen in plaster of Paris ; and,
whether we care to complete the cast with imitative
colouring, or simply to preserve it in white, accuracy
of form is at least obtained. A mould must be made.
Most fish are more or less covered with a transparent
:slime, which, for purposes of casting, would obscure
the small indications of form, such as scales, etc. This
coating must be got away. To effect this, lightly
sponge the specimen with dilute vitriol, which will
p 2
68 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
have the effect of changing the slime into an opaque
film, which can be removed almost like a skin. The
fish must then be carefully posed in position, on its
side, and all those portions underneath the specimen
where the plaster would penetrate should be filled in
with clay; this, indeed, should form a bed for the fish,
whose fins should be displayed on the surface by being
impressed into it by means of the thumb. The plaster
must be carefully prepared : put some water in a
vessel and lightly shake the plaster, with the fingers,
into it not pour the water on to the plaster. The
first batch should be very limpid, but little thicker
than milk; it thickens rapidly as it stands. Pour this
limpid plaster over the specimen skilfully, so that
each portion be well covered, and all the interstices
filled with a first film of white. Directly this is set, put
on a second coating of thicker plaster, and so on till
the mould is thick enough; shape it at last roughly
with the fingers. When dry, or rather quite hard,
turn the mould over, pick out the clay, take out
the fish, and the mould will be fit for use. This
is what is called a " waste" mould, and the reason
will be readily seen. The cast is produced by sub-
stituting plaster in place of the fish, thus : First
dip the mould, if space admit of it, into clear cold
water, so that the inner surface become thoroughly
saturated ; or, if the mould be too large to immerse it,
wash the inside lightly over with sufficient clay-water,
that is, water coloured with modelling clay ; the object
being by saturation to prevent all absorption on the
inner surfaces. If the mould have been preserved till
it is dry, an application of boiled oil will have the same
effect. The plaster to be inserted must be skilfully
mixed, at first quite limpid, and this must be washed
SKIN DRESSING. 69
into the mould so as to fill all interstices, without any
bladders or bubbles appearing as this first coating sets.
A second coating strengthens the first, and so on;
but there is no occasion to make the object solid,
although the walls of the cast must be in all places of
sufficient thickness. When the plaster is well set hard,
the next process is to chip away the mould from the
cast, and the mould is therefore called " waste." This
requires skill in the application of sufficient, but not
too much strength. It is a convenient resource to
put a little tint into the plaster of the mould so that
it may be clearly distinguishable from the cast when
we come to chip it away. The cast when cleared should
present all details of the specimen perfectly. When
a number of copies of the cast is required it is neces-
sary to make a " piece-mould " a much more complex
operation. It is a mould that is made on the object,
in pieces that fit perfectly together and can be re-
moved one by one from the cast, and replaced in posi-
tion for each cast. It is necessary to make such a
mould on a cast, because the yielding nature of the
fish would bring about a distortion of parts in a piece-
mould; therefore a waste-mould must be employed in
the first operation. The piece-mould exercises the
skill of the operator and his judgment. No explanation
of the process could teach it so readily as the examina-
tion of the thing itself, and an old piece-mould can
easily be obtained in London, or similar cities, and this
resource of casting is not likely to be employed where
such a thing is not obtainable.
SKIN DRESSING. It is a standing difficulty with
many sportsmen how best to prepare the skins of
animals, so as to make of them the supple and beauti-
ful leather that leaves the hands of the professional
70 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
farrier; and thus to make the skins available for wearing-
apparel, rngs, etc., worked according to taste. The
right way to proceed is the following : Let us suppose
the subject to be the dried skin of an Indian Leopard.
The skin must first be sponged on the flesh side with
"liquor" till it is softened, and then it must bo
properly " shaved." It must then be partially dried.
When in this condition the skin should be folded with
the hair inwards, and the edges should be fastened
together with stitches at intervals of about 12 inches.
The object of this is, that the operator may subject
the flesh side to the action of grease. For a Leopard,
about 3 Ibs. of lard will be required ; this is the proper
grease : butter turns rancid in the skin, and therefore
must not be used. The usual mode is to put the skin
into a clean tub with the grease, and to tread or knead
it with the naked feet, till the action and the natural
heat have caused the fat sufficiently and equally to
penetrate the fibre of the pelt. The skin may then
be laid open and "shaved" a little thinner on the
flesh side. The next operation is to clean the fur.
To do this, place the skin on a bench with the hair
uppermost, and cover it well with fine mahogany dust
procured from a veneer mill. Rub this powder with
the hand well into the fur, so that it absorb all the
grease, and at the same time it will cleanse the coat ;
and after the skin has been sharply beaten with light
canes until the dust has all been removed, the natural
brilliancy of the specimen will be restored. A process
perhaps more convenient to many persons, but not so.
effectual, is to rub the grease in with the hand.
HUNTING FIELDS OF THE WORLD.
FOLLOWING are memoranda concerning some of the
principal regions of the world which can be resorted
to for big game, and where natural historical trophies
of interest and value may be collected with advantage,
while noble sport is pursued. It must, however, be
borne in mind, that in almost every sparsely peopled
country, and in many untrodden districts and islands
not alluded to here, the study of natural history can
be followed by collecting examples, or even specimens
of new species and varieties, with absorbing interest
and to the aggrandisement of science. The range of
such fields is almost inexhaustible : and it includes
countries, the fauna and other natural productions of
which are imperfectly known to European naturalists,
because (as may be said of the Chinese empire), they
have been hitherto almost unvisited by them in a
scientific sense. No attempt is made to give anything
like a complete list of the animals to be found in any
particular resort, but simply to supply some informa-
tion of those most likely to be encountered, which may
serve as an indication to the enterprising hunter.
SCANDINAVIA AND THE NORTH. The accessibility of
these grounds from England, the general healthiness
72 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
of the climate, and certain conveniences of transit,
etc., which can be commanded, recommend them. In
Denmark Proper there are none of the larger or
important carnivora. Sweden and Norway, however,
which occupy the peninsula, in their great mountains
and forests afford retreat for several animals of in-
terest, as well as for numberless game and raptorial
birds. There are many water-fowl. In fact, this is a
breeding ground for hosts of the European birds, who
migrate thence, and are familiar elsewhere at certain
seasons. The fishing, both freshwater and marine, is
very good, especially for salmon. Many of the best
salmon rivers in Norway are now leased to English
sportsmen. Snow covers the ground during seven
months of the year, and this gives a peculiar character
to much of the sport. Formerly the predatory animals
were very numerous and destructive; they are plentiful
still, but are now confined principally to the northern
forests and the mountains.* The inhabitants of in-
fested districts protect their cattle by general hunts
or battues, and by many ingenious systems of snaring.
The Brown Bear (Ursus Arctos), the largest and most
formidable of the Scandinavian carnivora, is seldom
encountered save in Dalecarlia and the northern parts
of the peninsula. This animal grows till he is twenty
years old, and is sometimes found of great size and
strength, weighing four or five hundredweight.
Wolves are to be found in plenty; the Glutton, or
Wolverine (Ursus gulo, Linn.), can be got in the forests
* A Swedish Government return shows that in 1827, throughout
thirty-four provinces, there were killed by beasts of prey, 35,548
head of horses, horned cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, etc., belonging to
farmers ; and the estimated loss from this cause was in that year
15,000.
HUNTING FIELDS. 73
of Dalecarlia, and more plentifully among the Lapland
Alps farther north. Badgers. Foxes can be met with
all over Scandinavia the red, the black occasionally,
and the Arctic white, mostly in the extreme north.
There are, besides, Lynx, Marten, Weasel, Polecat,
Ermine, Otter, etc. The noblest of the animals is
probably the Elk, the largest of the Cervidce ; but,
although protected, they are getting rare. In the
province of Scania they were once numerous, but have
now quite disappeared from there. The Reindeer is
in like manner becoming scarcer, save in a domesti-
cated condition ; but these noble creatures may be
still found wild in the Dalecarlian and Koelen
mountains. There are also Red Deer and Roebuck.
Of raptorial birds, the Golden Eagle will be found; and
in Sweden only (and even there it has become scarce),
the Great Bustard (Otis tarda, Linn.), the largest of
European Aves. It used at one time to be common in
Scania. It is sometimes, however, seen in Denmark.
The Great Horned Owl (Strix bubo), and at the extreme
north, in Lapland, the large Owl (Strix Lapponica),
are to be found, as well as the Snowy Owl (Strix
nyclea). The game birds are fine and plentiful. This
is the head-quarters of the grouse genus. First
among these is the Capercali, or Capercailzie (Tetrao
Urogallus), the largest of the European Gallince. He
is to be found in all the woods; in fact, wherever
the pine tree flourishes, but best in the hilly dis-
tricts. Those of the south weigh sometimes 16 Ibs.
or more; those captured in the north not so much.
Blackcock (Tetrao perdrix, Linn.) are more numerous
than the Capercali. Hazel-grouse (Tetrao Bonasia,
Linn.) are abundant in the woods and on the hills of
the northern parts. Ripas, both of the valley and
74 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
mountain species; the Dal Ripa (Tetrao lagopus, Linn.) r
mostly in the northern wooded districts and on the
islands; and the Alpine Ripa (Lagopus Alpina) by
some considered identical with the Scottish Ptarmigan
which is mostly found on the Alpine ranges and on
the Norwegian islands ; it haunts stone and shingle.
The common Partridge (Perdix cincra) is not very
plentiful. The Quail (Perdix coturnix) is to be met
with, but not numerously ; it is migratory and rare,
especially in Sweden ; there are a few in Norway.
The Woodcock (Scolopax, rusticula, Linn.) is scarce,
and getting scarcer ; these birds, however, are to be
met in considerable numbers, sometimes on the
western coasts at spring and fall ; there are also-
Snipe, etc. Aquatic birds are wondrously plentiful on
all the lakes and rivers. Fine shooting of this descrip-
tion is to be had in almost any part of Sweden or
Norway ; but the best is probably at Nordholm.
Sport is good, too, on the Skargard, or belt of islands.
Of the swimmers, the principal are Swan, Goose,
Goosander, Merganser, Mallard, Teal, Golden Eye,
Tufted Duck, Widgeon, Long-tailed Hareld (Harelda
glacialis), Black-throated Diver, Red-throated Diver,
Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Black Tern,,
and Caspian Tern, etc. The scarce Steller's Western
Duck (Anas dispar) may be encountered, and should
be carefully looked for as a prize. Eider Duck is
found on the western coasts.
IN THE ARCTIC SEA. Proceeding farther north,
remarkable sport is to be obtained amid the ice of the
Arctic Sea, by Spitzbergen, near Deeva Bay and
among the Thousand Islands, commencing in July.
Walrus or Sea Horse, and several species of the
valuable fur-bearing as well as common hair seals will
HUNTING FIELDS. 75-
be met with. They must be harpooned as well as
shot ; they are seldom killed by the gun unless they
are hit in the brain, which is at the back of what
appears as their head. Polar Bears (Thalarctos mari-
timus) may be encountered here. Polar Foxes and
Reindeer can be collected on shore. The Bears are
often of prodigious size and strength, sometimes, say,
8 ft. in length, 4 ft. 6 in. high at shoulder, and
weighing 1200 Ibs. or more. Many large cetaceans are
in the sea ; and sea-fowl are numerous.
RUSSIA. Most of the species of animals and birds
inhabiting Sweden and Norway will be found in
northern Russia and Siberia; indeed, it may be said
that in some part or other of this vast empire all, or
nearly all the wild creatures native to Europe may be
found. Besides the great Brown Bear (Ursus Arctos)?
another, the Siberian Bear (Ursus collaris), is to be
met with ; the Musk Ox (Ovibos Moschatus) in the
high latitudes ; and in the forest of Bialowicza, in
Lithuania, to the eastward of the Baltic, the mighty
Aurochs (Bison pn'scu.s), the ancient European Bison
of the Pliocene period. This last named wild bull,
one of the noblest of animals, more than 6 ft. high
at the shoulders, is very rarely to be got at, and is
rapidly becoming extinct. It is closely protected and
preserved for the private sport of the Czar and the
Imperial family. It exists also in certain districts of
Moldavia and Wallachia, and is found sparsely in some
parts of the Caucasus. There are plenty of Wolf,.
Fox, Lynx, Otter, Sable, and other fur-beai'ing animals.
Of birds, there are several species of Eagles and other
Haptores not met with in Sweden and Norway.
THE MEDITERRANEAN AND ADRIATIC. Particularly
for those who possess yachting advantages, the Medi-
76 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
terranean coasts and islands, as well as Dalmatia and
Albania on the Adriatic, offer pleasant opportunities
of sport, especially in regard to birds. Of mammals,
the most notable is the Moufflon Sheep (Ovis musimon) ,
to be had in the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and (not
so numerously) in Cyprus. The species in Sardinia
is most esteemed by some hunters, as the ewes there
are generally horned. In Corsica are plenty of wild
Hogs, Stags, etc. ; but in Greece and Turkey, as well
as on the islands, there are many other mammalia of
ordinary species. On the African coast, the Bush
Goat or Barbary Deer (Cervus Barbarus) can be
collected. Albania is a principal resort. The birds,
especially waders and swimmers, are plentiful there
and in many other parts. Some of the most noticeable
are the following : The Balearic Crane (Balearica
pavonina), getting scarce ; Rosy Flamingo (Phoeni-
copterus ruber, Linn.); Purple Waterhen; plenty of
Snipe, Heron, Bittern, and other waders ; Audouin's
G-ull, mostly about Corsica and Sicily ; White-eyed
Gull, among the Grecian Islands ; Slender-billed Gull
(Larus tenuirostris) , especially on the African coasts;
the Black-headed Gull is to be found in these seas,
and especially in the marshes of Albania and Dalmatia,
where it breeds. The Great Black-headed Gull, from
the Caspian and Red Seas, is seen occasionally about
the Ionian Islands ; the Algerian Cinereous Shear-
water (Puffinus cincreus, Cuv.). Sometimes, but rarely,
and in hard weather, the Snow Goose comes from
Northern Asia and America; and the Blue-winged
Goose and the Little White-fronted Goose are found
in Greece. The rare Marbled Duck can be got in
Sardinia, and near Tunis in January and February;
and it has been seen in the Ionian Islands. There
HUNTING FIELDS. 77
are plenty of Cormorants. The White and the
Dalmatian Pelicans can be found all about Greece
and the Ionian Islands, on the borders of lakes
and rivers and in the swampy parts. There are
many fine species of the Falconidce to be collected.
Francolin Partridge (Tetrao francolinus, Linn.) are to
be had in the Grecian Archipelago, Turkey, Sicily,
Malta, etc. ; and the Perdix rufa. The Greek Partridge
is getting scarce. The perching-birds are not greatly
dissimilar to the other European species ; but among
them may be pointed out the Hoopoe, the Boiler, the
Golden Oriole, and the Bee-eater.
ASIA. The continent of Asia, of all divisions of
the globe, produces the most highly-developed forms
of the mammalia : nearly all of the higher animals are
to be met with there ; some are exclusively to be
found there. In the southern countries especially,
and in the islands of the Great Archipelago, toward
Australia, are some of the most remarkable hunting
grounds in the world.
INDIA. This is perhaps the best field ; and, because
of the conditions of the British occupation, grand sport
can be had with seasonable convenience. Hunting is
an acknowledged resource, and means are attainable
in most places for pursuing it with success. In
Northern India the Himalayas divide Tibet from the
great plain of the Ganges. This range, because of
its very extent and the vastness of its features, is still
imperfectly explored. By reason of its position and
the great altitude of its mountains, it presents different
conditions of climate, with vegetation and fauna varying
in the most interesting ratio. Indeed, a double fauna
may be traced in these regions, namely, that which is
common to certain divisions of the mountains, and to
78 THE BPORTSMAN'B HANDBOOK
Tibet and Northern Asia ; and that which is common
to these hills, and the hilly regions of Assam and
Burmah, which are to the south of the eastern extremity
of this chain. Thus the variety of the game is most
remarkable, and each climatic zone has its characteristic
creatures. The mountains generally, and those districts
of the Gangetic Plains contiguous, furnish a grand
series of fine birds, and almost all the other animals
most prized by the sportsman in India, or perhaps in
the world. In the extreme north-west (Cashmere)
can be collected the Gigantic Sheep (Ovis Ammon), the
Burrell (Ovis Nahura), the Oorial (Ovis cydoceros),
the Ovis Vignei, the Ibex (Capra Silirica), Markhor
(C. megaceros), four varieties, Tibetan Antelope (Kemas
Hodgsonii), Indian Antelope (A. Bezoartica), and some
of smaller species. Of Cervidce, the grand Burra-
sing (Cervus Cashmiriensis) or Cashmere Stag, a very
fine species, frequenting the Saul Forests. The great
Shou Stag, a species larger than the Burra-sing, and
approaching the Wapiti in stature and magnificence of
antlers, is a fine trophy that will well repay the hunter.
But few specimens of this stag have as yet reached
England. The little Musk Deer (Mosckus moschiferus),
etc. The Yak (Bos grunniens) may be got here, and
also at the other extremity of the chain in Bhootan.
Kyang, Wolf, Wild Dog, Lynx, Snow Bear, and Snow
Leopard are found here. At the foot of the hills, and
generally skirting the plain of the Ganges at this ex-
tremity, is a belt of swampy and densely-wooded
country in some places only three, in others fifty miles
wide, called the Terai, or marsh. This abounds with
numberless animals. Kumaon, the wonderful hill
district on the western edge of Nepaul, is nearly all
forest and Terai. Tigers are very numerous, Leopards,
HUNTING FIELDS. 79
many Bears, Spotted Deer (Axis Maculata], etc. Wild
Elephants are plentiful, especially in the rainy season,
and near where the land is cultivated. The Nepaulese
dominion, which lies along the Himalaya range, has
the Terai between it and the plains of Oude and
Behar. Almost parallel to this belt, but a few miles
further over the frontier, runs the great forest of
Nepaul. It is generally only about ten miles wide.
Therein are to be found plenty of Elephant, Rhinoceros
(R. Indicus), and Tiger. Thar (Capricornis Bubalina),
is a native of Nepaul, and is especially plentiful in the
eastern regions of that territory ; and only in the cold
upper regions the Goral (Nemorhedus Goral) should be
collected. The Terai, throughout its whole extent, is
the ground for numberless Elephant, Rhinoceros, Tiger,
Leopard, Panther, Cheetah or Hunting Leopard (Felis
jubata), Bear, Lynx, Hyaena, Sambur (Rusa Aristotelis),
Barasingha (Rucervus Duvaucellii), Muntjak (C. vagi-
nalis), Four-horned Deer, Spotted Hog Deer (Axis
maculata), etc. The Himalayas furnish the most
superb examples of the Pheasant group, among which
is the grandest of all, the Monal or Impeyana ; a
splendid bird of this species, the Lophophorus L'huysi,
should be looked for on the northern slopes ; the
Horned, the Cheer, the Snow, Kaleege, Cocklass, etc.
Of other Gallince, there are many species of Partridges,
the Black Partridge, Chickor, etc., and Pea Fowl, as
well as an immense succession of perching-birds.
Among the Pavonince, or Pea Fowl, the Polyplectron,
often called the Argus Pheasant, which is peculiar to
Indo-Chinese countries and Malayana, may be found
here. But the true Argus (Argus giganteus) is to be
got only in the Malay Archipelago. Of Raptores, the
Golden Eagle (A. cliryscetos), though rare in India, can
80 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
be collected on the Himalayas ; and the A. imperialis
is also found. The great Condor, often measures more
than 13 feet from tip to tip of wings. The Houbara,
Bustard (Otis hubara), the great Brown Vulture (F.
Nonachus), the Tawny Vulture (Gyps fulvus}, the
Bearded Vulture (G. barbatus), and others, as well as
many Falconidce. At the north-eastern extremity of
India, in Assam, the country is mountainous, but
watered by the Brahmapootra and numberless tributary
streams. The forests are among the best grounds for
Elephant, and large herds are to be encountered there,
affording grand hunting. Not only in the forests, but
in the gigantic grass jungle which is peculiar to
Eastern Bengal, and extends to Assam, Tiger, Bear,
Buffalo, Hogs, Fox, and Jackal, are to be had in
plenty. Among the fine Phasianidce to be got in
Assam, are the Lophophorus Sclateri, which has been
found on the Khasya hills, and the Ceriornis Blythii>
both rare. In Burmah are many tracts still absolutely
wild, almost untouched by man, and therein roam
Elephant, Tiger, Rhinoceros, Leopard, and other,
mostly smaller, carnivora : but no canine animals
Jackals, Hygenas, Wolves, Foxes, etc., which are
curiously absent from this and the countries of tropical
Asia lying east of Bengal. The Long-Billed Brown
Vulture (Gyps Indicus) is very plentiful in Burmah ;.
but the Peacock (Pavo cristatus], so common through-
out all India, is not found either in Burmah or Assam.
The Sunderbunds, or marshy deltas of the Ganges
below Calcutta, are a number of low islands covered
by a rank growth of wood and apparently irredeemable
jungle. The cover is full of great game, Tiger, many
Buffalo (Bos Arnee), bearing the greatest horns of the
Bos genus, Ehinoceros, Deer, Hogs, etc. Alligators-
HUNTING FIELDS. 81
are numerous. Throughout Bengal most of the
animals that abound in the Terai are to be collected,
and the favourite grounds are to be easily found. The
Gervidce are plentiful, and of large size. In the
Sunderbunds the Barasingha (RttcervusDuvaucellii) and
Hog Deer (Axis maculata) are very numerous, and
along the whole course of the Ganges ; a great variety
of animals can be got on the banks of this wonderful
stream. In the west of India, to the north and east
of the Gulf of Cutch, is the Runn of Cutch, alternately
a sandy saline desert, with numerous shallow lakes, or
a vast lake-like marsh. Upon the banks, and in the
small islands of the Runn, the Onager, or Wild Ass,
exists in great numbers ; there are many Apes, Porcu-
pines, and birds in vast flocks. The Lion is now
almost confined to the extreme north-western districts.
The Peninsula of Guzerat is the most notable ground ;
but isolated specimens have, even in late years, been
collected where once the noble game was plentiful,
farther to the east in the Central Indian districts. In the
wastes and jungles of Hurreeanah, and on the wooded
plains along the Bhardar and Sombermuttee rivers, to
the borders of Cutch, Lion may be found. They were
undoubtedly very numerous there sixty or seventy years
ago. The Peninsula of Guzerat, or Kattywar, as the
whole province is named, is covered with undulations
of no great height, but of wonderful ruggedness, and
made almost inaccessible by forest and jungle. In
the ravines and caverns of these tracts great game is
harboured, Lion, Tiger, Leopard, Cheetah, Wolf,
Hysena, Deer, Antelope, Hogs, etc. Nylgai (Portax
Tragocamelus) roam in large herds over the northern
parts. But the climate in these districts is often
deadly to strangers, particularly after the autumnal
82 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
monsoon. The Flamingo, Argala, or Adjutant Bird,
Sarus, or Gigantic Crane, and many aquatic birds can
be collected.
Central India is a fine ground. The hilly country,
or Satpura Highlands, may be said to range across tho
Peninsula from near Calcutta to Bombay, lying between
those provinces designated as Northern India, and
those of the Deccan or Southern country. This truly
central position is, as it were, a border land between
Northern and Southern India. At one period the
Lion, as well as the Elephant, was common in these
districts ; but now the first-named may, for all hunting
purposes, be pronounced extinct there, although an
isolated example was met in the Sagar district not
many years ago. The Elephant is now found only in
the extreme eastern part of this region. Buffalo (Bos
Arnee), which once was plentiful, has retreated from all
save the eastern parts. They are found in the Mandla
highlands during the rains, but they retire thence
to the jungles south and west when the tame cattle
are brought up to graze. They roam, however, in tb.e
great Saul forests that clothe the vast plains lying
below Amarkantak to the north and east. They are
not found west of Jubbelpoor and Nagpoor in these
districts. In these eastern forests wild Elephants
may be encountered, and this is the westernmost range
here of this mighty creature. The number of them
has, however, greatly decreased since the Government
drove these forests systematically in 1865-67. Ta
the north and east of Laafargarh extends the Elephant
country, where also may be found Tiger, Panther,
Sambur, Black Bear, and Red Lynx (F. caraval),
Spotted Deer, Red Deer, etc. Generally in the more
westerly parts of the district are to be found Tiger
HUNTING FIELDS. 83
more numerous at Doni and Betul than in Mandla
Cheetah or Hunting Leopard (F.jubata), Panther, Bear
(Ursus labiatus), Wolf, Jackal, Boars on the plains.
Barasingha (Rucervus Duvaucellii) may be met with in
the patches of Saul forest, but it is not very plentiful
there. Spotted Deer (Axis maculata) along the wooded
banks of streams, Barking Deer, Sasin, sometimes called
"Black Buck" (Antilope Bezoartica), but they have not
so fine antlers as those in North-Western India ; Indian
Gazelle (G. Bennettii], Nylgai, Four-horned Antelope
(Tetracerus quadricornis) , commonly called "jungle
sheep." Sambur is sure to be found in those localities
where the Gaur is to be encountered. This last-named
fine animal is one of the most characteristic and im-
portant, in a sporting sense, of Central India. He is
called by sportsmen the " Indian Bison/' and he frequents
the hills, as the Buffalo loves the plains and swamps.
Gaur is numerous on the Mahadeo Hills, but he retires
before the advance of men and tame cattle civilisa-
tion, in fact. Crocodiles (Crocodilus biporcatus), the
Magar of Upper India, can be shot in the Nerbudda
river. Tiger shooting proper commences in April,
but March is good. Daring October and November,
migratory wild fowl arrive and swarm on the rivers,
pools, and tanks. Several sorts of Teal, including
the Blue-winged Teal (Querquedula crecca), Duck,
Widgeon, etc., and Geese. Many Waders, including
the Coolen or Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo],
and the Sarus Crane (Grus Antigone). Gray Quail,
Painted Partridge, Jungle Cock, and Pea Fowl, afford
good sport of its kind. The grand Imperial Eagle
(rare in the South), the Florican Bustard, several
species of Vulture, Hawk, and Owl. Blue Jay, Red
Flycatcher, Mango Bird, Snake Bird, etc.
o 2
84 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
Southern India, viz., all that portion of the great
peninsula below the 20th parallel, contains some of the
finest grounds for big game, and, at the same time,
some of the most convenient and healthy stations
which the sportsman can make his head- quarters. On
the eastern side, in the jungle on the deltas of
the Mahanuddy, are many Tiger, Leopard, Buffalo,
Crocodile, etc. Leopard is particularly plentiful in the
forests of Cuttack, in Orissa. On the Deccan grounds,
Tiger, Sloth-Bear (Ursus labiatus), Cheetah, Sarnbur,
Nylgai, Spotted Deer, etc., and Hogs are numerous.
Near the table-land of Mysore, on the wooded slopes
of the valley through which the Moyar river runs,
Elephant may be found, Tiger, Leopard, etc. On the
Sheveroy Hills, in the Carnatic, Gaur may be got, as
well as Tiger, Panther, Bear, Hyaena, Sambur, Spotted
Deer ( Axis maculata), Nylgai, and other Antelope. The
Neilgherries, or Blue Mountains, furnish some of the most
delightful stations in the world, and from. Coimbatore,
or Ootacamund (which last is the principal), some of
the best hunting may be easily reached. The Wynaad
jungle is a fine field. Therein may be met Elephant,
Gaur, Tiger, Leopard, Cheetah, Panther, Hyaena, Wolf,
Sambur, Spotted Deer (Axis maculata), Muntjak, and
other Gervidce ; Neilgherry Ibex, a distinct species on
the hills, afford fine sport ; and the sportsman can get
Partridge, Quail, Snipe, Woodcock, and Spur fowl in
plenty. On the Annamullay Hills, and among the
ravines at their base, great game is to be met,
especially in the forest and jungle there, where
Elephant can be had. All the immense forest south
of the Neilgherries, extending over the Annamullay
range along the Western Ghauts, is a very fine ground
of glorious extent, and not yet over-hunted; therein
HUNTING FIELDS. 85
are many Elephant, many Gaur, Tiger, and Panther ;
Bears are most numerous. All these southern regions
are indeed rich in ferae, naturce. Of Aves, the Spotted
Eagle (Aquila ncevia) should be collected, and the
Tawny Eagle (A. fulvescens), especially in the Deccan.
Malabar and the Neilgherries have several species of
birds unknown in other parts of India, and the same,
although in a much less degree, may be said of the
Carnatic and Central Provinces.
CEYLON. Elephant (ElepTias Sumatranus) is the
most important of the indigenous fauna, and exists in
considerable numbers all over the island, excepting
the populous parts. His favourite resort is the
mountain tops ; there are, however, not so many now
as formerly. The species is almost always compara-
tively tuskless. Buffalo abound in all parts of the
island, but most in the solitudes of the Northern and
Eastern provinces. Gaur is said still to exist in some
districts, but if so it is very rare. Sambur, often
called Ceylon Elk (RusaAristoteUs),on the mountains ;
Spotted Deer (Axis maculata) and Muntjak (C.
vaginalis), in the forests of the interior, are the
principal Gervidce. Of Carnivora, Bear (Ursus labiatus)
are in the thick woods of the low, dry district on the
northern and south-eastern coast ; Leopard (not
Cheetah, as they are sometimes erroneously called),
and a rare variety, quite black (Felis melas), can be
got; Mongoos (Hephestes vitticollis) is comparatively
common; Palm Cat (Paradoxus typus), Genette
(Viverra Indica). Only one example of Edentata,
the Pengolin (Manis pentadactyld) , or Scaly Ant-
eater, is found. There are four species of Wanderoo
Monkeys : some which inhabit the lowland woods ;
and others, the largest of which is the Presbytes
86 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
Ursinus, are met only on the mountain zone. The
rare Presbytes Thersitcs may be sought for, and a
white variety may sometimes be captured. Cheiroptera
are very numerous; the most curious of them is the
Rousette (Pteropus Edwardsii), commonly called the
Flying Fox. The birds are numerous and interesting.
There are remarkable Cetaceans in the sea, among
which is the Dugong (Halicore dugong).
INDIAN OR MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. This is a wondrous
region, full of natural historical wealth, and probably,
in many respects, less known to science than any
other part of the world. The islands are of vast
importance. Borneo is more than twice as large as all
Great Britain. New Guinea is larger than Borneo.
Sumatra is as large as our whole home empire; and
there are numbers of other islands, like Java, as
extensive as Ireland or Jamaica. The great islands,
Sumatra, Borneo, and Java were probably at one
period part of the Asiatic Continent, and in them the
animals and other natural productions are, many of
them, of the Asiatic forms some of identical species.
In like manner New Guinea was, doubtless, connected
with Australia, and we find there the Australian forms,
both of animal and vegetable. On the Malayan
peninsula Elephant, Rhinoceros, and Tiger may be
got, and a few of the last-named game on the island
of Singapore. On the mainland some of the birds are
of great beauty. The true Argus Pheasant (Argus
giganteus) is in the thickest forests : it is very shy and
wary, and runs among the trees so swiftly and quietly
that it is very difficult to collect. It is generally
snared. The beautiful Eastern Trogons may be
obtained here, and should be looked for in the
deepest woods ; the Blue-Billed Gaper (Cymlirhyncus
HUNTING FIELDS. 87
macrorliyncus), the Green Gaper, Green Barbets
(Megalcema versicolor), and other rich birds should be
carefully preserved when captured. In the three
great islands already named, Sumatra, Borneo, and
Java, although the Asiatic forms prevail, there are
several distinctive races. The Mias,* or Orang-utan
(Simia Satyrus), is found only in Sumatra and Borneo.
Another species (Simia Morio), a little smaller, is only
found in the same islands; the large Siamang only
in Sumatra and Malacca. These great Simiadce are
peculiar to these regions.
SUMATRA. The Mias, or Orang-utan, the Siamang,
and Simia Moria, mostly in the low swampy forests.
Elephant (getting scarce), Rhinoceros (R. Sumatrensis,
two-horned) ; R. Javanus (one-horned) is said also
to be in the woods; Tapir (T. Malay anus) ; Tiger;
the Black variety of Leopard (F. melas) ; Balu Leopard
(L. Sumatrensis} ; the rare Leopard (F. macrocelis},
sometimes called the Clouded Tiger, having markings
which partake of both characters ; the Flat-headed
Lynx (F. Planiceps) and Golden Tiger Cat (F. aurata)
are among the principal Carnivora ; the Black Ox of
Sumatra (Bos Banting], somewhat resembling the
Gaur. Of Cervidce, the Banjoe, or Black Stag (Cervus
Hippelaphus] , Samboe (Rusa equinus), and Spotted
Deer (Axis maculata} will be found; and Antelope
(Capricornis Sumatrensis} in the hill forests. Sun-
Bear (U. Malay anus} ; Squirrels are very abundant
and curious; Argus, and some Ocellated Pheasants;
Fire-backed Pheasants (Euphocamus ignitus} ; Bronze
Cock (Gallus ceneus}, and Gallus giganteus. There are
* Mr. Wallace records the following dimensions of a large old
Mias killed by him : height, 4 ft. 2 in. ; arms, from tip to tip of
.fingers, 7 ft. 9in. ; face, 13 in. wide ; girth of body, 3 ft. 7i in.
88 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
no Pea Fowl on this island, although it is nearest to
the mainland. There are numerous smaller birds of
great beauty and value.
BORNEO. Mias and Simla Morio and the Long-
nosed Monkey (8. nasalis), which last is found only on
this island ; Elephant, Rhinoceros. Black Leopards
can be often met with. Golden Tiger Cat, Flat-headed
Lynx, Sun-Bear (U. Malay anus), and a second species
(II. Euryspilus) ; the Sumatran Ox (Bos Banting) ;
Samboe Deer (Rusa equinus), Spotted Deer (Axis
maculata). Great Argus, and several pheasants.
JAVA. Rhinoceros (R. Javanus), a distinct species.
Tiger, Leopard (L. Javanensis), the Black variety (F.
melas), and Bear (U. Malay anus), are the most im-
portant Garnivora. Banjoe, or Black Stag (G. Hippe-
laphus), Spotted Deer (Axis maculata), Muntjak (G.
vaginalis), Wild Bull (Bos Banting). The birds and
insects of Java are especially beautiful and various.
The Peacock, not found in Sumatra or Borneo, re-
appears in Java; the species is distinct from the
Indian. The Horn-bill (Buceros lunatus) ; Gallus
giganteus ; Jungle Cock (G. BanJciva) in plenty ; the
rare Green Jungle Fowl (G. furcatus). The Yellow and
Green Trogons (Harpactes Reinwardti) ; the superbly
splendid little Flycatcher (Pericrocotus miniatus) ;
Black and Crimson Oriole (Analcipus sanguinolentus) ;
all these last-named are rare, and are among the most
notable to be found only in this island, and probably
only in the western parts of it. The Great Crowned
Pigeon (Lophyrus coronatus) is easily to be met with
in this and other islands, but abundantly in New
Guinea ; so is the remarkable Geophilus Nicobaricus.
NEW GUINEA AND NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS. The
forms of both animal and vegetable life on the islands
HUNTING FIELDS. 89
in this division of the Archipelago are mostly of
Australian character. But the principal glory of the
region in a zoological sense is the possession of a
purely distinctive race of Aves, the Birds of Paradise.
These are all of great value and transcendent beauty,
simply forming one of the most beautiful groups in
the world. For a long period all that was reported of
their habitat was very trifling, and intermixed with
mere fable : though much more is known now, our
information is comparatively scanty, and there is no
region of the globe so little understood, and yet
so calculated to well requite scientific exploration.
Mr. A. R. Wallace who, a few years since, visited the
islands for the purpose of investigating the Paradises,
has recorded the best and latest information concerning
their range and particular habitat, and the following
is quoted from his words ("Proc. Zool. Soc.," 1863,
p. 166): "The Aru islands contain Paradisea apoda
and P. regia ; and we have no positive knowledge of
P. apoda being found anywhere else; Mysol has P.
papuana, P. regia, and P. magnified ; Waigiou, P. rubra
only. Salwatty, though so close to New Guinea, has
no restricted Paradiscc, but possesses P. regia, P. mag-
nifica, Epimachus albus, and Sericulus aureus. The
island of Jobie, and the Mysory islands beyond it,
certainly contain true Paradisce, but what species
beyond P. papuana is unknown. The coast districts
of the northern part of New Guinea contain P. papuana
and P. regia pretty generally distributed, while P. mag-
nifica, P. alba, and Sericulus aureus are scarce and
local. Lastly, the central mountains of the northern
peninsula are alone inhabited by Lophorina superba,
Parotia sexsetacea, Astrapia nigra, Epimachus magnus,
and Craspedophora magnifica ; and here also probably
90 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
exist the unique Diphyllodes Wilsoni and Paradigalla
caninculata." The birds frequent the deepest woods
and trackless wilds. The indescribably beautiful
Hoopoe, Promerops (Epimachus magnus), can be got
on the coasts of New Guinea, and should be carefully
collected and preserved.
AUSTRALIA. It is the head-quarters of the Mar-
supiata and of the Parrot tribe. The species of
Marsupiata are distributed in greatest numbers in
Western Australia and New South Wales; next in
South Australia and Van Diemen's Land. In North
Australia the species are neither so large nor so
numerous. The Great Kangaroo (Nacropus giganteus)
is to be got in each division but the north ; but another
species of nearly equal size (M. antilopinas) is to be
got there. The Great Eock Kangaroo, or Black
Wallaroo (M. robustus], is found on the mountain
ranges in the interior of New South Wales only. The
Red Buck (M. rufus), also of the largest size, is found
in many parts of the interior of Australia, but
particularly New South Wales, where also another
large species, the M. Parryi, abounds. Several species
of Opossum and other smaller creatures can be collected.
The very curious Duck-billed Platypus (Ornithorhyncus
paradoxus) and the Porcupine Ant Eater (Echidna
Hystrix] should be carefully preserved. The largest
of the Australian Carnivora is the Tasmanian Wolf, or
Zebra Opossum (Thylacinus cynocephalus] , found now
only in the highest mountainous parts of Van Diemen's
Land. Of Birds the largest is the Emu (Dromaius Nov.
HolL), mostly in the south. The Lyre Bird (Mcenura
superba) is found principally in the forests of the Blue
Mountains, but also on the other mountain ranges
generally of New South Wales. The curious Kivi-Kivi
HUNTING FIELDS. 91
{Apteryx Australia) on all the islands of New Zealand,
but most at the southern end of the middle island.
An almost infinite variety of Parrots and Pigeons can
be collected, as well as many aquatic birds. The
Laughing Kingfisher (Dacelo giyantea), the Satin
Bower Bird (PtilonorJiyncus holosericeus) , should be
looked for, as also the Great Bustard (Otis Australis).
AFRICA. This vast continent is the habitat of
countless great quadrupeds, and altogether of a pro-
fusion of animal life that is perhaps unequalled on the
globe. Vast regions of it are still unexplored, and
there is ample verge for enterprise. The number of
mammals is most remarkable, and of those peculiar to
this continent the proportion is great. This is the
true home of the Lion. The large Pachyderms are
most numerous here ; and the great Antelope tribe has
its head-quarters in this division. Among the Quad-
rumana are the Gorilla and the Chimpanzee. In
alluding, for the sake of convenience, to Northern,
Southern, Eastern, or Western Africa, it should be
borne in mind that, comparatively speaking, the great
districts or natural divisions on the coasts are all that
can be referred to with certainty; beyond all these, in the
interior, lie fields for the hunter, where discovery of
great natural facts may be pursued, while extraordinary
sport is obtained.
In Southern Africa, and the countries contiguous
to and above Cape Colony to either coast, may be
found two varieties of Lion (F. Leo), one yellow and
another brown, this last the fiercest. They are never
met on the hills, but frequent the plains where there
is rank grass, or where low bushes grow near water,
and on the banks of rivers. Panther (F. Pardus),
Leopard (L. Serval), the Lynx (F. caracal), usually
92 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
where Lions frequent, and the Booted Lynx (F.
caligata), Tiger Cat (F. Serval), Hyaenas, the Striped
(H. striata) (but his true habitat is Northern and
Central Africa) and Spotted (R. maculatd), and the
Brown (R. rwfa). Elephant (E. Africanus), having-
the finest tusks of any species. Rhinoceros, three
varieties may be encountered, mostly in the remoter
districts, viz., R. Africanus, two horns of unequal
length; R. Keitloa, two horns much longer and of
unequal length; R. Simus, one long and one short
horn. Hippopotamus, Buffalo (Bubalus Gaffer), Giraffe
(Oamelopardalis Giraffa), north of the Orange river;
Quagga (Asinus Quagga), and Peetsi Zebra , (A.
Burchellii), on the plains, especially north of the
Orange river; the true Zebra (A. Zebra), on the
mountains. Antelopes are most numerous. On
the plains : Hartebeest (A. Caama), commonest ;
Springbok (A. Euchore), in immense numbers ; Pallah
(JEpyceros melampus), Grysbok (Oalotragus melanotis),
Bleekbok (Scopophorus Ourebi), particularly in the
eastern parts; Gemsbok (Oryx Gazella), and the
remarkable White Oryx (0. Leucoryx), Blauwbok
(JEgoceros leucophceus) , and other maned variety of
this species, the A. barbata ; Waterbuck (Kobus-
ellipsiprymnus), 4 feet at shoulder; Steinbok (Calo-
tragus campestris), where it is stony, and on hills ;
Eland (Orcus cauna), largest of all, 5 feet at
shoulder ; Rietbok (Electrogus arundinaceus) , near
watercourses ; Lechee (A. Lechee), on banks of the
Zouga. In the woods : Duykerbok (Gephalopus
Grimmia), Bushbok (0. Burchellii), north of Orange
river; Rhoodebok (0. Natalensis), and the beautiful
Koodoo (Strepsiceros Kudu), near rivers. Addax (A.
nasomaculatus), on sandy tracts of the interior ; and
HUNTING FIELDS. 93
the remarkable Antelope, Korus Sing- Sing, should be
sought for. Gnu (Connochetes gnu] and Brindled Gnu
{G. Gorgon), on the plains north of Orange river;
never south of Black river. Aard-Vark, or African
Ant Eater (Orycteropus Capensis), and the Aard-Wolf
(Proteles Lalandii), an animal interesting to zoologists
from its place in nature's economy, can be got in the
neighbourhood of Algoa Bay.
Many of the birds are very notable, among which
may be particularised : Ostrich ; Kori Bustard (Otis
Kori), the largest of the genus, upwards of five feet
high, very fine game, found especially in the countries
on fche banks of the Orange river; another, Otis
Denhami, always where Gazelles are ; and the African
Bustard (Otis ccerulescens) . The gigantic Stork
(Ciconia Marabou). Flamingo (Phcenicopterus ruber),
multitudes in the neighbourhood of Walvisch Bay;
and the small species (P. parvus) on the lakes;
Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo), Secretary Bird
(Gypogeranus Serpentarius), the superbly beautiful
Promerops erythrorhyncus, and Golden Cuckoo ; Bee-
eater (Merops apiaster), Roller (Coracius garrula), in
deep forests ; Sun-birds, etc.
Western Africa yields the Gorilla (Troglodytes
Gorilla), the Chimpanzee (T. niger), and two other
great anthropoid Apes (T. Aubryi), and the rare one
described by Du Chaillu, called by him T. Koolo-
Kamba, as well as T. calvus, all of which are valuable.
They are found in the most remote woods of the
Gaboon district. The very handsome King Monkey,
sometimes called Full-bottom, on account of its extra-
ordinary wig-like hair (Colobuspolycomus), and several
other species of Colobi can be got near Sierra Leone.
The Lion of Senegal is a distinct species, of yellower
94, THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
colour than its congeners, but the mano is mostly
inferior. Panther (F. Pardus), Leopard, two species
(F. Leopardus and F. neglecta), Striped Hyjena (H.
atriata), Lynx (F. caracal and F. caligata), Hippo-
potamus. Of Antelopes: the Mohr (Gazella Mohr),
Kevel (<?.rtyi/ron), Red-crowned Bushbok (Ceplialopus
coronatus), the White-backed (G. sylvicultrix) , the Bay
(0. badius), the Black-striped (C. Ogilbii), the Black
(C. niger), the White Oryx (Oryx Leucoryx), Korrigum
(Damalis Senegalensis), and the Doria, or Gilded
Antelope (Doria Zebra), a perfect specimen of which
is rare in England, and should be sought for.
Of Birds in these countries : the Pheasant-like
Touracos, the beautiful Corythaix Sencgalensis, C.
erythrolophus, a superb species, Chizoeris varicgata,.
and the magnificent Musophaga violacea, can be
found frequenting the highest trees about the Gold
Coast. The Spur-winged Plover (Philomachus spinosus)
should be sought for, and its habits, of which little is
known, recorded ; Gigantic Stork (Ciconia Marabou),
Flamingo, Demoiselle Crane, Crowned Crane (Balearica
pavonina) ; Jabiru, a large wader, about the lakes and
marshes ; Great Kingfisher (Ispida yigantca), Secretary
Bird, Roller, Sun-birds, etc.
In the Northern countries of Africa will be found :
Lion, a distinct variety, with deep yellowish-brown
coat and grand mane; Leopard, Lynx, F. caracal,
F. caligata, and F. chaus the last-named most fre-
quently about marshes and bogs; Striped Hyaena
(H. striata), Wolf, Jackal; Gazelle (G. Dorcas), Addax
(A. nasomaculatus), plentifully; Bekker-el-Wash, or
Wild Ox, as the Arabs call him (Alcephalus Bubalis),
to the borders of Sahara ; in Barbary, the Bush Goat,,
or Barbary Deer (Cervus Barbarus), the only member
HUNTING FIELDS. 95
of the Cervidce on this continent. Among the birds
are Flamingo, Demoiselle Crane, Crowned Crane,.
Roller, etc. Several Vultures, the Griffon (V. fulvus),
V. Kolbii, Neophron percnopterus , and other of the
Raptores.
Eastern Africa: Hippopotamus, in the Nile;
Elephant, in Abyssinia, where also, on the hills, Mohr
(Qazella Sommeringii), Andra (G. rnficollis), G. Dorcas,
G. Isabella, Oryx (0. Leucoryx), and the remarkable
Antelope (Hippotragus Bakeri} discovered (1868) by
Sir Samuel Baker, are principal quadrupeds. The
Ibis, Spur- winged Plover, many Storks, including
Ciconia Marabou. Flamingo, in Egypt.
AMERICA. The New World continent possesses
several animals which afford grand sport for the
hunter, but altogether the forms of animal life are
not so highly developed as those of the ancient great
divisions of the world. The birds, however, of Central
and South America are more beautiful and resplendent
with gorgeous plumage, as well as more various, than
are those of any other countries. The ornithology of
North America is also remarkable and valuable.
In North America, the Bison, or, as it is termed,
Buffalo (Bison Americanus) , ranges on the prairies of
the North-west, but at present is seldom seen east of
the Mississippi or south of the St. Lawrence, on this
the most inhabited side of the continent. The dis-
tricts of the Saskatchewan, and thence southward
of the upper course of the Missouri, as low as Texas
and Mexico, support immense herds. There are two
varieties recognised by local hunters of the Red River
districts, viz., that of the great plains, which generally
avoids the woods, and that much scarcer, which frequents
the woods ; this last is only found north of the Saskat-
96 THE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
chewan and on the flanks of the Rocky Mountains.
Great Slave Lake is the northern limit of these grand
animals. Elk, or Moose (Alces Malchis), the largest of
the Cervidce, in the Canadian forests, Caribou (Rein-
deer), Wapiti (Cervus Oanadensis), 4% feet at shoulder,
can be got in the woods skirting the Saskatchewan
plains. A smaller variety in herds on the plains of
California and upper parts of the Missouri ; American
Deer (Cariacus Virginianus), most numerous on the
Pacific coasts ; Mexican ~Deer(C.Mexicanus) , White-tailed
Deer (C. leucurus), Cariacou Deer (0. nemoralis), shores
of Texas and Mexico ; Black-tailed Deer (C. Lewisii),
California; Mule Deer (C. macrotis), eastern slope
Rocky Mountains. Grizzly Bear (Ursus ferox), Black
Bear (U. Americanus), Polar Bear (Thalarctos mart-
timus), in the Northern Sea. Puma (Felis concolor),
which takes the place of the Lion in the New World,
can be met in the Southern States below New York.
There are two varieties, and sometimes a black ex-
ample is met with. Lynx (F. Canadensis), in the
woody districts of Canada. Many of the smaller fur-
bearing animals, among which is the large Otter
(Lutra Canadensis)) peculiar to the northern districts,
and the Opossum (Didelphys Virginiana). The Water
Fowl are innumerable and fine, of numberless species.
Red Flamingo (PJuenicopterus Chilensis) in the warmer
parts, but the colour is not so good as that of the
European species. Among the Eaptores will be found
Bald Buzzard (Pandion Halicetus) , the Sea Eagle
(H. leucocephalus), the symbol of the United States,
in every part of which it may be encountered, and
the Golden Eagle. The Harpy Eagle (Harpyia des-
tructor) must be sought in the thick forests of Mexico.
The fine ivory-billed Woodpecker (Picus principalis)
HUNTING FIELDS. 97
can be got in Mexico and some of the Southern States,
but never north of Virginia. In Mexico and Guate-
mala may be collected the Trogons, perhaps the most
superb of all birds. They are never found on open
places or inhabited tracts, but are of solitary habits,
frequenting the deepest woods. Trogon resplendens,
the most splendid in colour and of finest form, should
be sought for ; T. Mexicanus, of exquisite and varied
colouring, is in the north of Mexico ; there are other
species of almost equal beauty. The Wild Turkey
(Meleagris Gallopavo) is plentiful in the North-Western
States, and ranges to the Isthmus of Darien ; another
species of singular beauty, M. ocellata, may be got in
Honduras. The Galeated Curassow (Ourax Pauxi)
and the Crested Curassow (Crax Alector) may be col-
lected in Mexico.
South America is not very rich in great game, but
has overwhelming interest for the naturalist. Of
Carnivora, the principal are Puma (F. concolor), as far
south as Paraguay, in Chili, and generally throughout
Brazil the Gray variety is never got north of the
Isthmus ; Jaguar (F. On$a) is found generally about
this half of the continent, but most numerously in
Pai'aguay and the Brazils. There is a handsome black
variety of this Cat to be met with frequently. Three
species of Ocelot can be collected in Paraguay, and
probably in Peru, viz., F. pardalis, the Gray (F.
armillata), and the Painted (Leopardus pictus). The
Chati (F. mitus], Pampas Cat (F. Pajeros), and several
others of similar species, as far south as Patagonia.
Otter (Lutra Braziliensis) , is plentiful in the lakes and
rivers of Paraguay. Llamas are in Columbia, Peru,
Chili, on the Cordilleras of the Andes, but recently
reduced in numbers ; they are also in Paraguay, but
H
98 TEE SPORTSMAN'S HANDBOOK.
more rare. Tapir (Tapirus^Americanus), all over South
America, but never north of Darien. Of Cervidce :
The Guazupuco (Blastocerus paludosus) and Mazame
(B. campestris), northern Patagonia ; Tarush (Furcifer
antisiensis), mountains of Bolivia ; Guemul (F. Hua-
mel), on eastern coast; Cariacou (Cariacus nemoralis),
Guiana; the beautiful little Gauzu-viva (Coassus
nemorivagus), Brazil; the Cuguacu-ete (Coassus
rufus), large herds in the marshy woods ; several
species of Brocket in Brazil and Chili. The birds
are wonderfully varied and beautiful. The American
Ostrich (Rhea Americana) is numerous on the plains
of La Plata, as is also the smaller species (R. Dar-
winii). Several fine Saptores : Condor of the Andes
(Sarcoramphus Gryplius), one of the largest of the
Vulturidce, mostly in Peru and Chili ; Caracara Eagle
(Polyborus Braziliensis), on the coasts of Venezuela
and Brazil, most abundant in the south and east of
Brazil, and in Paraguay. Harpy Eagle, in Caracas,
Guiana; Brazilian Eagle (Horphmis Urubitinga),
Asturina cinerea, and numerous other Falconidce in
Guiana and Brazil. The naked-cheeked species are
confined to the southern parts of the continent. Eed
Flamingo, Peru, Chili, coasts of Brazil, and Guiana ; the
great Stork-like Jabiru (Mycteria Americana) will be
found generally on the marshes and round lakes ; while
about similar places in Brazil and Guiana those curious
fine birds, the Horned Screamer (Palamedea cornuta)
and the Chaja (Chauna Chavaria) may be met with,
the last named in Paraguay, and La Plata as well;
the ariama (Palamedea cristata), a bird of retiring
habits, frequents the mountain plains of Brazil, and is
found in Paraguay, but is scarcer there. Of Cracidw,
the Crested Curassow (Crax Alector), and the Guan
HUNTING FIELDS. 99
(Penelope cristata), are in Brazil and Guiana ; the
Ortalida Motmot, a pheasant-like bird, and the Hoazin
(Opisthocamus cristatus), and others, in Guiana; the
Red-knobbed Curassow (Grax Yarrellii), in Peru.
Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Picus principalis), in Brazil.
The beautiful Cock of the Rock (Rupicolla aurantia),
now becoming rare, in Guiana, especially about the
river Oyapock ; another of this species, the E. Peru-
viana, is in Peru. The Great Toucan (Ramphastos
Toco), in the wooded districts of the river Plata and
Guiana; others, R. Cuvieri, Ptvroglossus Humboldtii>
and the Black-banded Toucan (P. pluridnctus) , about
the banks of the Amazon. Several species of the
exquisite Piprina, and other magnificent Chatterers,
or Fruit-eaters, are in Brazil and Guiana. These last-
named countries, with Peru and Chili, and the Tropical
regions generally, are the home of the incomparable
Trochilidce, or Humming Birds, which are found mostly
about the marshy deltas and the banks of the rivers.
Thousands of gorgeous Macaws, and various species
of Psittacara, or Parakeets, inhabit the warm districts
of the Andes, the Brazils, and Guiana.
INDEX.
A.
Albatross, Trophies of, 45.
Alum Process, 18.
Anatomy, for Vital Shots, 4.
Antelope, 78, 81, 83, 84, 87, 92, 94.
Antlers, Packing of, 32.
Apparatus, 2, 27.
Arms, 2.
Arsenical Soap, 16.
Aurochs, 75.
Axis Deer, 79, 81, 85, 87, 88.
B.
Bacon Beetle, 19.
Barasingha, 79, 81, 83.
Barking Deer, 83.
Banjoe Stag, 87, 88.
Bear, 72, 75, 78, 80, 82, 85, 87, 88,
96.
Birds of Paradise, 89.
Birds : Collecting, 8, 9 ; decoys
and dummies, 10; sexing, 14;
preservative for skins, 16; pro-
tection of skins from insects,
17 ; skinning, 36-43 ; making
the ekin, 43; keeping in spirit,
46.
Bison priscus, 75.
Bison, 83, 95.
Black Buck, 83.
Blow-pipe, an implement for col-
lecting, 8.
Buffalo: Vital Shots, 6; Hunting
Fields, 80, 82, 84, 85, 92.
Burra-Sing, 78.
Burrell, 78.
C.
Camera, Photographic : part of
sportsman's kit, 11.
Cape Buffalo : Vital Shots, 6.
Casting Fish, 67.
Cervidw, Skinning, 29 : Head Tro-
phies, 31.
Cervidm, American, 96, 98.
Cheetah, 79, 81, 83, 84.
Collecting : Arms and Apparatus,
2-12; importance of record
and ticketing, 12-15; general
observations, 13.
Curing by natives, 15.
D.
Decoys, 10.
Dermestes Ladratus, 19.
Dummies, 10.
E.
Elephant : Difference of Indian
and African, 6 ; Vital Shots, 6 ;
the Duke of Edinburgh's, 21 ;
folding an elephant's skin, 21 ;
skinning his foot, 30; Hunting
Fields, 79, 80, 82, 84, 88, 92, 95.
Elk, 73, 96.
Felidce: Vital Shots, 5; skulls, 23;
skinning and preparation, 29.
Fish : preservation of, 24 ; im-
mersion in spirits, 25 ; packing,
25 ; skinning, 46 ; dressing with
preservative, 47.
102
INDEX.
G.
Gaur : Vital Shots, 6 ; Hunting
Fields, 83-85.
Gnu, 93.
Goats, 78, 79.
Goral, 79.
Gorilla, 93.
Guns, 2.
H.
Head Trophies : skinning and
preparation, 81; with horns, 32;
in the bone, 33 ; setting up and
mounting, 59.
Hippopotamus : Vital Shots, 7, 8 ;
Hunting Fields, 92, 94, 95.
Hunting Fields, 71 ; Scandinavia
and the North, 71 ; Arctic Sea,
74; Russia, 75; Mediterranean
and Adriatic, 75 ; India, 77-85 ;
Ceylon, 85 ; Sumatra, 87 ;
Borneo, 88; Java, 88; New
Guinea and neighbouring is-
lands, 88; Australia, 90;
Southern Africa, 91 ; Western
Africa, 93 ; Northern Africa,
94 ; Eastern Africa, 95 ; North
America, 95; South America,
97.
Ibex, 78, 84.
Insects : protection against, 17 ;
destructive, 19 ; preservatives
for, 26 ; preparation of, 26 ;
collecting and storing, 48-53.
Jaguar, 97.
J.
K.
Knives and Implements, 12, 27.
L.
Leather dressing, 69.
Leopard, 78-81, 84, 85, 87, 88, 91,
94
Lime, use of, in curing, 15, 17.
Lion : Vital Shots, 5 ; Hunting
Fields, 81, 82, 91, 93, 94.
M.
Markhor, 78.
Mias, 87, 88.
Missiles, 3, 8.
Moufflon Sheep, 76.
Musk Ox, 75.
N.
Nylgai, 81, 83, 84.
0.
Onager, 81.
Oorial, 78.
Orang-Utan, 87.
Outs Ammon, 78.
Ovis Vignei, 78.
Ox, Black Sumatran, 87, 88.
Ox, Wild African, 94.
P.
Panther, 79, 82-85, 91, 94.
Pegging out, 18.
Photographic Pictures of living
F&TCB Naturce, 11 ; important
for memoranda, 11.
Pickle or Liquor : how to make, 20.
Preservation, processes of, 16; on
the Field, 17; for birds, 16;
for mammalia, fish, and reptiles,
17-24 ; deleterious treatment,
17 ; protection from insects, 17,
20; arsenical soap, 16; Alum
Process, 18; pickle, 20; other
resources, 24; immersion in
spirits, 25 ; for insects, 26.
Puma, 96, 97.
Quagga, 92.
Q.
II.
Red Deer, 73, 82.
Reindeer, 73, 96.
INDEX.
103
Reptiles, preservation, 24 ; in
spirits, 25; skinning and pre-
paration, 46.
Rhinoceros :Vital Shots, 6; Hunting
Fields, 79, 80, 86-88, 92.
Eoebuck, 73.
Salt, use of, in curing, 17.
Samboe Deer, 87, 88.
Sambur, 79, 82-85.
Seal : Vital Shots, his brain, 7, 8.
Setting np, 53 ; of large animals
a Tiger, 54-59; of head tro-
phies, 59; of small mammals
a Squirrel, 60-62 ; reptiles, 62 ;
birds, 62-66.
Sexing birds, 14, 15.
Sheep, great, 76, 78.
Shon-Stag, 78.
Siamang, 87.
Skeletons, preparation, 35.
Skin dressing, 69.
Skinning and preparation : imple-
ments, 27 ; of large game, 29 ;
of an elephant's foot, 30; of
head trophies, 1 ; small mam-
malia, 33 ; birds, 38-43 ; making
the skin, 43 ; parts to save, 45 ;
birds in spirit, 47 ; reptiles and
fish, 47 ; insects, preparation, 48.
Skulls, proper preservation, 23, 33.
Slipping of hair, 19.
-Snakes : preservation and packing,
25.
Snares, 9.
Snnderbunds, the, SO.
T.
Tapir, 87, 98.
Terai, the, 78.
Thar, 79.
Tiger : Vital Shots, 5 ; preserva-
tion of skulls, 23 ; skinning, 29 ;
preparation, 30-32 ; setting up,
54-59 ; skin dressing, 69 ; Hunt-
ing Fields, 78-88.
Traps and Snares, 9.
Trophies : Artistic setting-up, 53
67; setting up a Tiger, 54-59;
heads, 59.
Turpentine, use of, against in-
sects, 16-19, 25, 31 ; not for all
bird-skins, 17, 18.
W.
Walrus, 75.
Wapiti, 96.
Wolf, 72, 75, 78, 81, 83, 84, 94.
Wolverine, 72.
Yak, 78.
Zebra, 92.
X,T.
Z.
CHAELES DICKEHS AWD BVAITS, CBTSTAL PALACE PBBSS.
APPENDIX
RELATING TO APPARATUS, ETC.
CONTENTS.
Jtrmantent : PAGE
E. F. P. Boss, St. James's Street, London ii
COGSWELL & HARRISON, New Bond Street, London . . ii
J. D. DOUGALL, 59, St. James's Street, London, and Glasgow ii
ALEXANDER HENRY, 12, South Street, Edinburgh, and Pall
Mall, London ......... iii
MOORE GREY, 43, Old Bond Street, London iv
JOHN RIGBY & Co., 24, Suffolk Street, Dublin iv
S. W. SILVER & Co., 67, Cornhill, London v
JAMES WOODWARD & SONS, 64, St. James's Street, London vi
(Sporting (Equipment :
T. W. WATSON, 4, Pall Mall, London vii
ROWLAND WARD & Co., 166, Piccadilly, London . viii, ix, x
MURRAY & HEATH, 69, Jermyn Street, London . xi
NORIE & WILSON, 157, Leadenhall Street, London . . xi
Ross & Co., 164, New Bond Street, London xi
ALFRED YOUNG, 1 743, Oxford Street, London . . xii
ROWLAND WARD & Co., 166, Piccadilly, London . . xii
armament.
E. F. P. BOSS,
JUfte
73, ST. JAMES'S STREET, LONDON.
COGSWELL & HARRISON'S
SPECIALITIES.
The " Victor " Hammerless Gun. The Best and Safest made, being proo
against any accidental discharge.
The "Victor" and other systems of "Express" Rifles. Single and
Double. .360, .400, .450, .500, and .577 bores.
The Collector's Walking Stick Gun. Barrel bored out of solid. Very
Simple Action. Price 408.
" Rook Rifles." Detailed List on application.
142, NEW BOND STREET, W.,
223 and 224, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.
J. D. DOUCALL,
59, ST. JAMES'S STEEET, LONDON,
AND
23, GOEDON STEEET, GLASGOW,
ctflamifarturcti the Original J0ts})th Jiifks,
On which the late Captain Forsyth based his experience.
By producing only the best quality of Guns and Rifles, and applying
important improvements, these weapons stand in the highest estimation
of the sporting world in India, America, and at home. The shot guns
are unequalled from the superiority of Dougall's "Express" Choke-
boring.
Maker to Their Royal Highnesses the PRINCE of WALES
and the DUKE of EDINBURGH.
BUSINESS ESTABLISHED A.D. 1760.
gtraamrttt
ALEXANDER HENRY.
BY SPECIAL ^ .^ -^ APPOINTMENT TO
THEIR ROYAL flSSflSrar' HIGHNESSES
The PRINCE of WALES and *& e %S'*& The DUKE of EDINBURGH
ALEXANDER HENRY,
GUN & RIFLE MANUFACTURER,
12, SOUTH SAINT ANDEEW STEEET, EDINBUEGH;
And 118, PALL MALL, LONDON, s.w.
(FIRST FLOOR Two DOORS EAST FROM UNITED SERVICE CLUB),
Inventor and Patentee of the Rifle Barrel and Ammunition adopted by
the British Government ; and of the Rifle and Ammunition adopted by the
Government of New South Wales.
SOLE MANUFACTURER OF
HENRY'S PATENT BREECH-LOADING
"EXPRESS" RIFLES,
Single and Double Barrelled, of .360, .400, .450, .500, and .577 gauge, regulated
with medium or extra heavy charges as may be desired.
HENRY'S LARGE BORE BREECH-LOADING
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From 16 up to 4 bore, for Conical or Spherical Shells or Solid Bullets.
Hammerless and other Guns with all the most recent improvements.
Compound Guns, i.e. with one Rifle and one Shot barrel.
PUNT AND DUCK GUNS.
Collectors' Guns, and Rifles and Guns suitable for Sporting or
Collecting purposes in all parts of the world.
Price Lists Post Free on application.
VIENNA EXHIBITION 1873, GRAND MEDAL FOR PROGRESS.
PHILADELPHIA 1876, TWO MEDALS, DIPLOMAS, &c., for "very best
material and workmanship combined with moderation in prices," and for
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SOUTH AFRICA 1877, DIPLOMA OF HONOUR AND GOLD MEDAL.
PARIS 1878, SILVER MEDAL.
fttwament
WM. MOORE & GREY,
GUN MAKERS, 43, OLD BOND STREET, LONDON, W.,
In addition to their well-known
BEST GUNS and PATENT EXPRESS RIFLES,
Have a Large Stock of the most improved
BREECH-LOADING GUNS,
With and without External Hammers, with all improvements, at prices to suit
all purchasers.
Every variety of New and Second-hand Guns, Rifles, and Pistols.
W. M. & G. are the Sole Makers of the New Patent Breech-loading Punt Gun
and the celebrated Long-range Shot Cartridges for Wild-Fowl, &c., and the Original
Makers of the '^lo-bore Collector's Gun (so useful for small birds), with their
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Cartridges Loaded to suit all purposes, frcm the Lowest Prices.
JOHN RICBY & CO.
EXPRESS RIFLES.
Celebrated for Killing Power, Accuracy, Exact Sighting, & Durability.
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HAMMERLESS DOUBLE GUNS.
RIGBY'S Patent Vertical Grip and Safety Bolting. Improved Steel
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ALL SPORTING NECESSARIES SUPPLIED.
PRICK LISTS, &c., on application to
JOHN RIGBY & CO.,
24, SUFFOLK STREET, DUBLIN,
72, ST. JAMES'S STREET, LONDON, S.W.
Etmattmtt
S. W. SILVER & CO.
One Sporting Arm for both Large and Small Game.
The attention of Hunter- Sportsmen and other Travellers who desire to take the
least possible quantity and weight of equipment is directed to the advantages of the
" TRANSVAAL," the COMPACTNESS and PORTABILITY of which are among its pro-
minent features.
THE PATENT "TRANSVAAL,"
Gun and Rifle combined,
Is a short and light, but powerful sporting arm, with Martini breech action for rapid
firing, and has the NEW PATENT BARREL DETACHMENT, by means of
which INTERCHANGEABLE Barrels are adapted to take Snider, Martini-Henry, '577
Express, and No. 12 Rifle Ammunition, for big game ; and Shot Barrels of 20, 16, or
12 bore, for birds and ordinary sport. The Shot Barrels may be Choke-bored, or
Cylinder for Ball or Shot. One Mould casts Hollow or Solid Bullets.
By the Barrel Detach-
ment, which is adapted
without adding a single
piece to the rifle, the parts
of the works which re-
quire oiling ariH cleaning,
as well as the barrel it-
self, are exposed to view ;
whilst the length of the
arm is considerably re-
duced for packing.
The "TRANSVAAL" is
fitted with SILVER'S
PATENT HEEL PLATE
which neutralises the re-
coil, and admits of the
weapon being made un-
usually light, the extra
weight of metal generally
THE "TRANSVAAL,"
With Interchangeable Shot Barrel, forming Gun and
Rifle combined.
put into heavy shooting
guns to counteract the re-
coil being dispensed with.
Thus the "TRANSVAAL"
is very handy for use on
horseback, for which pur-
pose the "TRANSVAAL"
BUCKET has been speci-
ally designed. The weapon
is also readily convertible
into a small-bore rifle for
shooting deer and small
With Patent Detachment, showing Barrel separated game, using revolver am-
from Stock, and facilities for cleaning. munition.
A very considerable number of " TRANSVAAL " Rifles are in use in various parts of
the world, and have received the unqualified approval of many well-known hunters.
"It isasplendid little weapon. "T. SAMSON,
late Sergt.-Major Coldstream Guards.
" The Shot Barrel is a great point, as people,
hunting as they do on horseback many miles from
their waggons, frequently require a shot barrel
to shoot tor food. When big game cannot be had
Guineafowl, ducks, pheasants, partridges, &c.,
are generally procurable." C. K. , Major.
Weight of Rifle, 7lb.; length of barrel, 27 in.; case when packed, 2 ft. 5 in. long.
PRICES : " TRANSVAAL," with Martini or Snider Barrels and Safety Bolt,
3 IDS. ; ditto with '450 Express Barrel, 10 ; with '577 Express or No. 12 Rifle
Barrels, tz izs. Interchangeable 12, 16, or 20 Shot Barrels, 6os. each. Converting
Chambers to fit Martini Barrel and taking Revolver Cartridge, 55. each.
FULL PARTICULARS ON APPLICATION TO
S. W. SILVER & CO., Sun Court, 67, CornMll, London, E.C.
" I am very pleased with the 'Transvaal 'I pur-
chased from you." T. WILLIAMS, Liverpool
" I have pleasure in informing you that your
Transvaal' gives me entire satisfaction, and is
very accurate." J. C , London.
" I killed a pigeon with the Transvaal ' shot
gun an extraordinary distance off; one of the
longest shots I ever saw." R. PARAMORE.
Armament.
"THE AUTOMATIC"
Patent Hammerless Safety Gun,
FOR WHICH A PRIZE MEDAL WAS AWARDED AT
THE PARIS EXHIBITION.
JAMES WOODWARD & SONS have great confidence in recommending
this Gun, as it is made with the old form of gun lock, which is so
very essential in a Hammerless Gun. Also the Patent Self-acting
Safety Bolt, which simultaneously locks both hammers and triggers on
opening the Gun.
For Prices and full particulars apply to
JAMES WOODWARD & SONS,
fepre** fen mtb flifle JHanufactor*,
64, ST. JAMES'S STREET.
MAKUTAOTOKY-l, BLUE BALL YAKD, LONDON.
Sporting
T. W. WATSON,
4, PALL MALL, LONDON.
GUNS AND RIFLES
OF EVERY KIND AND CALIBRE
At very Moderate Prices.
far (Dffenxe -&
KNIVES AND INSTRUMENTS
For Cutting, Flaying, and Preserving.
INSTRUMENTS OF ALL KINDS
FOR TRAVEL AND SURVEY.
BINOCULAR FIELD GLASSES & TELESCOPES.
Microscopes for Minute Research.
SETS OF PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS
For recording the Country and its Products.
Watsons National Breechloaders
ABE THE BEST GUNS MADE FOE ALL -BOUND SHOOTING.
Price 12 10s.
T, "W\ "W-A-TSOUST,
4> PALL MALL, LONDON,
Illustrated Catalogues on application.
viii Sporting
ROWLAND WARD & CO.
BY APPOINTMENT TO
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, to H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh,
and to the Courts of Europe.
ROWLAND WARD & CO.,
JJntctiral J}atxintU0t0,
166, PICCADILLY, LONDON.
CANADIAN CANOES.
Five sizes of these Canoes are always kept in stock, but other sizes
can at all times be obtained from the Canadian Works, where particular
adaptations can be carried out. These exquisitely constructed craft are
a result of the most extended and unfettered practical experience of the
Trapper's and Sportsman's needs in SHOOTING, FISHING, and
TRAVELLING with the least expenditure of effort. The Canoes are
varnished and copper fastened, built of the finest native Basswood ;
light in weight, they can easily be carried past Locks and awkward
parts ; capacious and trustworthy ; of minimum draught, admitting of
the greatest economy of individual power for loco-
motion on the waters.
ROWLAND WAKD & CO,, 166, Piccadilly, London,
Sporting lEgutpment
IX
ROWLAND WARD & CO.
CANADIAN CANOES (continued).
PARTICULARLY SUITABLE FOR
AQUATIC SHOOTING on Rivers, Lakes, Meres, and Inland Waters
FISHING, and for EXPLORATION.
DECOYS and DUMMIES of imperishable material and various make : as
Wood-pigeon, Rooks, Grouse, Shore-birds, Guljs, Ducks, &c., &c., kept in stock.
Any others devised to order, 155. each. Stock-birds, 125. 6d. each.
KOWLAND WAED & CO,, 166, Piccadilly, London.
L
Sporting
ROWLAND WARD * CO.
BV APPOINTMENT TO
<aTht Urine* of Sanks, to $.21. $. ^hc gukc xrf
Orojnbnrgh, anfc to tht Courts of (Europe
ROWLAND WARD & CO.,
Practical Naturalists,
166, PICCADILLY, LONDON.
INSTRUMENTS AND APPARATUS
SKINNING AND PRESERVATION OF TROPHIES
SETTING-UP OF SPECIMENS.
1 r he Travelling Naturalist's Vade-Mecum,
A COMPACT CASE CONTAIN ING-
ARSENICAL PASTE ALUM
INSTRUMENT CASE COMMON KNIVES
BRUSHES NEEDLES
AND ALL REQUISITES.
The Instrument Case for Birds contains all the instruments depicted on page
27 of this book, and they can be had in the case or singly.
Arsenical Soap in Zinc Canisters, js. bd.per lb., always ready.
MR. ROWLAND WARD will be happy to advise personally as to the
PRESERVATION and UTILISATION of Trophies, and will make rough
sketches, if need be, and give suggestions as to the SETTING-UP of
Specimens.
NOTICE. MR. HENRY WARD, of Vere Street (senior member of the
family), having recently died, and MR. EDWIN WARD, of Wigmore Street,
having retired from business, our MR. ROWLAND WARD is the only
member of the long unrivalled and experienced WARD Family now left in
the profession. The advantages of the study and skill, matured by long
experience, which they have accumulated, can now only be obtained from
the remaining member of the family, at our New Galleries, 166, Piccadilly.
ROWLAND WARD & CO.
Sporting
MURRAY & HEATH.
THE
Portable photographic
FOR TRAVELLERS AND SPORTSMEN.
NO KNOWLEDGE OF PHOTOGRAPHY REQUISITE.
SOLE MANUFACTURERS '.
MURRAY & HEATH, Opticians, &c,, to Her Majesty,
69, JERMYN STREET, LONDON, S.W.
NORIE & WILSON.
To Sportsmen and Travellers.
NORIE & WILSON,
157, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON,
Have a large selection of their
CELEBRATED 63/- FIELD GLASSES,
THE BEST AND STRONGEST MADE;
Also Telescopes and Pocket Compasses,
SUITABLE FOR THE SPORTSMAN OR TRAVELLER.
Travellers also supplied with SEXTANTS, ARTIFICIAL HORI-
ZONS, and all INSTRUMENTS suitable for EXPLORATION and
SURVEYING, &c.,
AND INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN IF REQUIRED.
Illustrated Catalogues Post Free.
ROSS & CO.
Ross's Celebrated Telescopes
POWERFUL FI N ELD GLASSES,
Microscopes and Apparatus,
, Cameras, <&c. l^rabdUrs' nifits.
ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUES FREE ON APPLICATION.
BOSS & 00,, 164, New Bond Street, London, W.
ESTABLISHED 1830.
xi
ALFRED YOUNG,
THE GOLDEN PERCH,
174n, Oxford Street, London, W.
JHanufarturer of Jfishing ftote mib Cackle
OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.
The Angler's Handbook and Catalogue of Prices, with Eighty
Illustrations of Rods, Flies, Baits, Tackle, and much valuable pisca-
torial information, sent post free on application.
ROWLAND WARD & CO.
JUtifictal Jflies far Jftshmg.
BIRDS of plumage suitable for the devising of all Artificial Flies
(but not separate feathers) kept always in stock.
MOUNTING FISH.
The new method of mounting specimens of Fish, practised by Mr.
ROWLAND WARD, presents the example as though suspended naturally
in water. No background, or support to the Fish, is obtruded.
FISH FOR PRESERVATION.
In forwarding a Fish to be preserved, the specimen should be placed
on a board, fully the length of the fish, and then be carefully packed in
a basket with plenty of rushes or grass, not previously wetted, so as to
make the parcel compact, and that the Fish may not be shaken about
or be injured by pressure.
MEMO. The Teeth of Fish and their Scales, especially those of
large foreign varieties, can be mounted well into very pretty ornaments
for personal wearing.
ROWLAND WARD & CO., 166, PICCADILLY, LONDON.
University of California
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