A FISH STUFFER AT WORK. One Thousand Fish a Year.

Otago Witness, Issue 2202, 14 May 1896, Page 50

A FISH STUFFER AT WORK. One Thousand Fish a Year.

Those to whom the word "taxidermy"" recalls visions of dt-jtcttd-looking. motheaten gtuffed birds, or shiny, shrunken fishes, would be surprised to ccc the wonders which a skilled stuffer can work with a dead animal. "It takes a long time to learn," said a fish and bird expert to the writer. " I began to ■tudy stuffing at 11, and I've been in the business 45 years. "It takes me about tbree minutes now to skin a bird the ?ize of a thrush, and perhaps an hour to mount it. Tow is the stuffing I me j there's nothing else so eott and pliable. Wires ran up to the neck of the bird into the bead, under the wing-;, and inside the legs. Difficult 1 Well, yes, until you've learnt it. "It takes some time to model the animal, whatever it. is, into shape, and a' man must know what a bird or a fish really looks like to succeed. Very few do know. "There's nothing more difficult to do than A fish. I make a specially of fish-stuffing, and T get, on an average, about 1000 fish to Btuff every year. 1 "The finest trout I ever bad sent me came from the Lake of Geneva. It weighed 401b. A 20-pounder is the biggest British trout I have operated on ; it was sent by the Earl of Graven. "Anglers seem' especially proud of big pike, and one whioh I stuffed last year will take some beating. It turned the ecalc at 371b; Plenty 30 pounderß come from Ireland, though. A perch weighing sJlb reached me once, and I don't expeot to see a bigger one than that. "It is more difficult to mount a minnow Bin long than eve"n a 3Ulb jack, for small fishes have tender skins, and require careful handling. No fish can be really finished and dried under six weeks, but birds don't take Bo long. We never put wires in fish. "The biggest salmon I hare stuffed was a B6pounder froJh the Dee. " Once a gentleman sent me a whole collection of fi«h from Montenegro, preserved in spirits, and I stuffed them all. A great many fish reach me from Australia and New Zealand. • , ♦• Birds are a different matter. They are not so difficult to stuff as even the tougheßt fish. I get a great many rare birds ; in fact, half tbe rarities of England coma to me. That black-and-white blackbird Is fairly scarce ; Lord Pirbright sent it up. There ia & hoopoe from Kent which is worth a large Bum of money. ' "Of all English birds the duck tribe is the most trying to a stuffer. The amount of crease they oarry is maddening, and they take - longer to prepare than an; otber hind. 1 don't use much poison for preserving, but a little Breenioal soap is often necessary. "" "Birds can be shot in" any part of the world, skinned, ,and brought home to be stuffed. A4ittle preparation to relax the skin, and the bird is as easy to stuff as if it bad just been shot. " I have to varnißh all my fish specimens, or they would soon fade. Fish often have to be touched up with paint here and tuero, * unless they are very well marked. "A penknife, if it iB sharp, is all I need to Bkin a bird, and a little wool to keep the-skin dry. " Snakes are very troublesome, and they leldom turn out well. Ido not get many Bent in, but on one occasion I received two boa-const ricf or? aud a pjthon in one week. " Of all the customers with whom I have to deal, 1 fear moat the ' elderly maiden lady ' and her cat. Wfaen, after much weeping, Bhe sorrowfully leaves the defunct pussy — or perhaps it is a lapdog — to be duly preserved , in a gilded glass cane, I am on pins and needles until the job Is finished. However well I may turn out the lost f avonrite, the owner always finds fault, and tearfully declares that thf result is not a bit like ' dear Poppet.' O ■■ era of dogs are always very Eastldioue, but even the old lady with a deCeased parrot is more considerate than tbe bereaved owner of a oat." — Answera.