Fishes
If mammals and birds have been badly used by the "stuffer," surely the fishes can bitterly complain of the indignities piled upon them by an attempt to resuscitate them by taxidermic processes, for no known processes of taxidermy, which necessitate the removal of cartilage and its substitution by a foreign material, can ever reproduce the gelatinous appearance which certain parts of fishes present. Supposing any fish be skinned as recommended in most books, what is done with the "face"? Literally nothing, for there are certain parts which resist any tools, however cunningly fashioned, in their attempts to coax out the flesh, and the cleverest taxidermist, who fancies he succeeds, never awakens to the fact that, outside the head and other parts, great shrinkage and shrivelling of the tegument result upon drying, and therefore a stuffed fish is the most unnatural thing in the whole range of taxidermy, even if done in what is called splendid style. Such ،، splendour" means a nicely varnished and very plump body, with shrivelled bases to the fins, and wrinkles all over the skull.
Wax superimposed is only a partial success, and if fishermen would be content with the actual form of their capture, correct in every particular, and with the finest markings shown upon the scales as in nature, and not "hanker" after the actual skin, with all its HEADLESS MODEL (BY THE DIRECT PAPER PROCESS) OF AN OSTRICH. manifest imperfections and absurdities, there would be no taxidermic piscine mummies. The remedy for all this is casting from the actual subject as soon after capture as may be, which faithfully reproduces the exact form.
Really, taxidermy is powerless to represent fishes correctly, and the only method to secure exactitude is to make a model in plaster or other media, and reproduce from that. In the first place a casting box should be provided, and this is quite simple in its construction, being merely four pieces of wood of any suitable lengths, two of which are not quite so wide as the others, the [TAXIDERMY widest being slotted sufficiently at one end to allow the two narrower pieces to slide through them. By placing the wider pieces parallel to each other, slots downwards and at the contrary extremities, and then inserting an end of one of the narrower pieces in each slot, with the other end touching the inner face of one of the wider pieces, a square is formed, the size of which can be diminished or increased at will by merely sliding the narrower pieces through, and along the faces of, the wider ones.
There are three prominent methods of making moulds in plaster, i.e., direct casting, waste moulds, and piece moulds.
Probably the best method of casting fishes in plaster is the following:- Keep the specimen in a hardening solution for a short time and afterwards well wash it. If flat, lay it on a slab of slate or glass; if not, on a board slightly larger than itself.
Put pieces of half-inch board underneath the dorsal, lower ventral, anal and caudal fins as a means of support, but not under the uppermost pectoral and ventral ones.
If any gaps occur between the ends of the pieces of wood, or where the sides of the fish do not quite touch the wood, fill up with putty. If the boards are too thin to hold up the fins to their ordinary height, elevate them with putty or by means of a second board of suitable thickness.
It is obvious that boards used in preference to glass, cardboard, or slate-admit of the specimens being pinned to them, to prevent their being floated up by the plaster. The pins used must be cut off quite close to the fins, in order that there may be no difficulty in removing them when the specimen is turned over, and all boards must be wetted or oiled and the fish kept dampwith water, or glycerin and water, put on with a soft brush-and clean, by taking off all dirt and putty.
If the pectoral or ventral fins are to lie flat on the fish when finished, they must be made to do so now; if to be raised, they must be held up, until set in the position decided on.
At this stage, build either wooden or zinc walls, stop up all cracks with putty, damp the fish, and pour in the plaster carefully.
When it is dry, take away the walls, the boards, and the putty, and turn the parts of the mould containing the fish upside down.
If the work has been done satisfactorily, the under half of the fish can now be seen, and should be gently brushed and wetted.
The remainder is still in the mould, on the surface of which, now visible, keys should be cut, and, most important of all, it must be oiled.
Again build up the walls, fill up the cracks with putty, and pour on plaster. In about TAXIDERMY] a quarter of an hour, by gentle persuasion, the halves will come away from one another, and the fish can be taken out of its shellcare being required that the fins be not torn by the pins. If the fins were raised, they must be protected from injury by supporting the mould on pieces of wood. To make a cast of the pectoral and ventral fins, wash the fish, and replace it on the board with another board under the fins.
I.
THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.393 In drying the mould, take care that it does not remain so long before the fire as to make it too brittle or too much like chalk, and, when dry, paint it over once or twice with colza-oil. Many clever modellers think water preferable to oil with which to dress the mould, but oil at least obviates the difficulty of distinguishing mould from model when the edges are being trimmed.
A modification of "waste-mould" casting is to colour the plaster to be used for the first coat, and pour it very thinly over the specimen and let it set. Cover it with oil or soft soap and then pour on a thin coat of uncoloured plaster, oil and coat again, 2A. 2. 2B. 3A. 4. 4A. 3. 5. 5A.
FIG. 1. Represents a model, by the "direct paper process," of the FIG. 2. That of the back. FIGS. 2A AND 2B. -Those of the sides. sternum.
FIGS. 3 AND 3A. -Those of the halves of the neck.
FIGS. 4, 4A, 5, AND 5A. Those of the legs.
All are untrimmed, excepting 4 and 5A. The moulds, being merely intaglios of the models, are not figured. Surround it with a little wall of putty and pour on plaster as usual.
Sometimes it is only necessary to make a cast of one side of the fins, on the side which is to be shown, but it is usual to take moulds of both sides, and of both sides of each right and left paired fin.
If the skeleton be not required, and the fish be not lent solely for the purpose of casting, the above operation is unnecessary, and the following is preferable: Remove the ventral and pectoral fins after a cast has been taken, and put them by the side of the fish, which is set for casting, the result being that both surfaces of the fins will be seen on the same block as the fish; this is a capital safeguard against loss or error. until of a thickness that will prevent the breaking of the mould when the specimen is removed. Remember how many layers we were used, or introduce a different colour each time, soap or oil the mould, pour plaster into it, let it set, and then commence to take away with a hammer, chisel, or with modelling-tools-the plaster layers one by one. When the last one is arrived at be very careful in removing it; this done, the whole object reveals itself.
Where either a fish, snake, or lizard is concerned, the edges of the mould should reach beyond the specimen to be cast to provide a tablet on which the model should rest, and this should be flattened and smoothed by suitable tools. 66 On the other hand, casting from a large specimen by means of piece-moulds is a much more difficult operation; and the subject, be it mammal, bird, or fish, must be carefully studied and looked over, with a view to undercuts." These are certain portions that, when cast upon, would not "relieve" or come away without the breakage of the mould; this method has been sufficiently explained in the article upon the casting of the body of the ostrich, and is rarely required for the reproduction of BROWN OWL AND YOUNG, MOUNTED WITH PICTORIAL ACCESSORIES, EXECUTED IN CARTON-PIERRE. fishes, save the very largest. With reptiles, however, it is different; they have limbs which do not readily relieve as do their analogues in fishes, and with them, and with many of the higher invertebrates, piececasting must be resorted to, unless, indeed, they are sufficiently small to be covered with a glue, gutta-percha, or wax mould.
Mounting Natural Objects. The ordinary "mounting" is merely a sanded board, or a perch of wood. Extraordinary "mounting" is when the object is mounted with modelled "rockwork" or finely and correctly-modelled foliage and flowers.
Supposing a large wall-case be needed to hold animals in different attitudes, make a false bottom and join to it some upright boards which will be of the heights suitable to the rockwork. Old cardboard, in fact anything of paper sufficiently strong, can [TAXIDERMY no be bent into rough shapes suitable to the design decided on, and nailed on to the board, and brown paper should be glued all over the cardboard. To form rounded edges, make them up by roughly gluing on pieces of crumpled paper, or by laying on pieces of cardboard, and cover with glued or pasted paper. When finished, wrinkles should be shown-fill them in, if any, with pasted or glued wadding-and the whole should be glued and sanded. An artist with artist with a fertile imagination may create a rock with some success, but it is best to go to nature for inspiration, and to take a rock of any size and make an absolute copy therefrom, and the result should be, not a weak and erroneous imitation, but a reproduction which should deceive even a geologist. a Oil the natural object well, and use for the base that side of the stone which is the least important. Paste tough brown paper over one side of the stone, thus transferring from the stone to the first layer of paper all its characteristics. Follow this only by a sufficient number of layers to prevent the paper from collapsing when dry, removing the stone when the model is dry or nearly SO. A better method, which reproduces all detail, is to cast the rocks in plaster of Paris, and, if too large to cast in one piece, piece-casting" is resorted to. When the mould is dry and oiled and the pieces are attached to one another, paste the paper inside the model; if necessary, the paper may be thickened considerably, for the finest markings are on the surface in this case, and not within the model as in the previous “ process.
If the original rock, from which models or copies were taken, have a sandy or rough surface, then glue and sand must be used to represent it faithfully, and the colouring may be accomplished by using tints of common powder-colours thinned with turpentine or linseed-oil. All finishing touches must be aided, if possible, by the rock itself as a guide.
If the rocks are smooth, they must be brushed over with a special preparation made by one part of each of powdered whiting and plaster of Paris, mixed with sufficient thin flour-paste and water to make it into a paint.
A white under-ground invariably adds lustre and purity of colouring, and, should the whiting develop small cracks, this may sometimes aid the general effect. If the stones themselves present a smooth surface, instead of whiting use dry flake-white mixed with turpentine, and, when dry, rub down with sand-paper till smooth; if it is inclined to crack, leave out the plaster altogether.
In reproducing rockwork the student TEAL] should be careful not to cast from the inner and newly-broken faces of rocks to represent a weatherworn cliff face, nor to use plaster tablets, to be laboriously joined together, when the much lighter and more easily worked paper does so much better. 66 66 a Artificial trees are ordinarily made by wrapping tow around wire until some kind of twig is fashioned; this, to make it more life-like," is sanded or has sawdust glued upon it, and is coloured, sometimes brilliant red, often a no less brilliant green, and results in a fancy conception utterly unlike anything in the botanical world.
Sometimes a cylinder of paper is made, from which sprout excrescences intended to do duty for limbs; when, however-as is usually the case-the tree" does not measure more than a few inches in height, the absurdity is manifest, and the safer method is to take nature for a guide, and carefully copy from the tree or branch itself, making the foundation with cardboard or stiff paper, reproducing the "bark" by means of tissue-paper, and copying the colouring from the actual object. The only true representation, however, is that made in paper from a plaster of Paris mouldusually in several pieces-which is unmistakably correct in shape, and may be made correct in colour by any one possessing the requisite knowledge.
Natural trunks and branches of trees must be rigorously excluded from cases as insects eventually appear, especially in birch trees, and are very destructive foes.
They may be detected by the yellowish dust they make when boring through the wood.
Mosses, used as accessories in cases, must be carefully dried, the dirt taken out of them, and they must be put into a bath of turpentine, to kill the larvæ of insects.
Sphagnum or bog moss, and beautiful lichens, of almost every colour, can be used advantageously for this purpose. Grasses, such as the sheep's fescue, several of the brome-grasses, the wall and sea barleys, and many other stiff kinds, dry without much shrinkage, and take colour well.
The colouring must be applied discreetly, and must be thinned with turpentine, and, if varnish be used, it must also be thinned, to give the grasses a silky appearance, but not a shiny surface.
Other grasses and reeds may be used, but bulrushes and sedges are of no value, and are distinctly out of place except in very large cases, and then they must be modelled in the art fabric used for flowers and foliage, the methods of which cannot, however, be described here for want of space, but are to be found fully detailed in the work previously mentioned.
No dried leaves, except as such, are permissible in cases; the fronds of fern (bracken) dry beautifully, and may with skill be made to look very well, if colour, as distinguished from paint, be discreetly used. Seaweeds are a hideous failure, unless cast from the original and modelled by other processes; some of the corallines are permissible, and some sea-shells may be used, if the common error of making razorshells adhere to rock, and such-like absurdities, be eschewed. "Groups," such as those in certain modern museums, are the outcome of all taxidermic knowledge aided largely by the art of modelling - whether applied to the forms of the animals, or of their accessories, or both and their value, like that of a picture, depends upon a just conception and faithful delineation of form, colour, balance of light and shade, and composition. If these principles be properly taught and insisted upon, a great and glorious future awaits the art of taxidermy and its trained exponents.
MONTAGU BROWNE. [The illustrations in this article are from copyright photographs by the author.] TEAL. Although one of the smallest ducks that fly, weighing no more than a partridge, the teal (Querquedula crecca) is one of the most attractive of wildfowl to sportsmen, not merely on account of the beautiful colours of the male bird, but because of the sporting shots it affords, and its excellence for the table.
Teal are generally easier to get at than ducks, and as they require but a slight blow to bring them down, it matters little what size of shot is used. Instead of rising head to wind like other wildfowl, they have an odd way of springing up vertically from the surface of the water, no matter what their position may be when discovered, and, the shooter not aiming high enough, the charge of shot often passes harmlessly below them.
Haunts and Habits. - Quiet rushy pools which lie at a distance from any road, turf holes on a peat bog, and sluggish shallow streams with overhanging vegetation are favourite haunts of the teal. Of shy and retired habits, it shuns the more public ponds and rivers, and avoids the neighbourhood of man's dwelling. “ On approaching the edge of a pond at a distance from a spring" of teal (as a small flock of these birds is technically termed), they may be seen silently reposing on the water. Immediately the intruder is perceived, a harsh call is heard, and they jump suddenly into the air, wheeling round and about with amazing rapidity, now looking black, now white, according as the upper or under surface of their bodies is presented to the eye. Frequently, as though intending to alight, they fall through the air with a whistling sound, recovering themselves when apparently in the water, and rising again to a height. These manœuvres are repeated until the eye is strained in following them, and the entire flock at length settles down again in silence and repose as before. At such times it requires no small amount of caution to get near enough to them for a shot.
Col. Hawker, whose practical knowledge of wildfowl has rarely been equalled, has well described the habits of the teal in his Instructions to Young Sportsmen. "If you spring a teal, he will not soar up and leave the country like a wild duck, but will most probably keep along the brook like a sharpflying woodcock, and then drop suddenly down. But you must keep your eye on the place, as he is very apt to get up again, and fly to another spot before he will quietly settle. He will frequently, too, swim down stream the moment after he drops; so that if you do not cast your eye quickly that way, instead of continuing to look for him in one spot, he will probably catch sight of you and fly up, while your attention is directed to the wrong place. If the brook in which you find him is obscured by many trees, you had better direct your follower to make a large circle, and get ahead of and watch him, in case he should slily skim away down the brook and by this means escape from you altogether."
Description of Plumage. For beauty of colouring the cock teal has scarcely an equal amongst wildfowl. The chestnut head with a patch of glossy green on each side, edged with buff; the neck, back, and flanks beautifully pencilled with black and grey; the bright green speculum on the wing, broadly bordered above and below with velvet black; and the black and buff undertail-coverts present to the eye a perfect picture of harmonising colour which defies the imitative pencil of the artist.
The hen teal, like the females of all ducks, is of the usual sombre colour, her dusky brown and grey plumage being peculiarly well adapted to her concealment during the time she is engaged in incubation.
Nesting. Although usually placed in the vicinity of water, the nest is sometimes at a considerable distance from it, and always rests upon dry ground. A hollow is generally scraped out at the foot of some overhanging bunch of heather, or tussock of dry waving grass, and lined with fine heath stalks and bents. Here eight or ten creamywhite eggs are laid, in April, and as the hen bird covers them, she plucks from her [TEAL breast and sides the soft brown down which underlies her feathers, and places it entirely round the eggs, filling up all the interstices, thus forming a warm bed for the young as soon as they leave the shell.
The old duck is very attentive to her young, leading them from the nest to the marsh, where they paddle about on the soft ground and shallow pools, snapping up flies and beetles with their tiny bills. They swim and dive well almost as soon as hatched.
Migration.—Great numbers of teal pass southward for the winter, returning in the spring on the way back to their breeding haunts. In September and October they collect in large flocks, and, being very sociable in their habits, may often be found in winter in company with wild ducks. But although they mingle together when on the water, on being disturbed the two species always separate, the teal going off in one flock, the ducks in another. During the winter months teal may be found on the coast, in company with widgeon, but they apparently prefer the neighbourhood of fresh water, especially large quiet pools well sheltered by reeds or trees, to screen them from the wind.
Teal in Decoys. -Teal are amongst the tamest of wildfowl, and are generally the earliest to come into a decoy. The decoyman, aware of their market value (for they are highly esteemed for the table), knows better than to capture the first comers. He allows them to remain undisturbed for some time, in order to attract others of their kind. This policy sometimes proves very remunerative. It is on record that at certain decoys in Essex, from 200 to 400 teal have been taken in one day. At the celebrated Ashby decoy in Lincolnshire it was not an uncommon thing to take 1,800 or 2,000 teal in the course of a season, and in the winter of 1852-53 no less than 3,279 of these little birds were thus captured.
Folkard relates that at a decoy pond at Mersea in Essex a flock of about 400 arrived, the greater number of which were taken within a few hours. The Rev.
Richard Lubbock, also, mentions an instance which occurred at a Norfolk decoy of 220 teal being taken at once.
Formerly the decoy season was from the Ist October till the Ist June: the statute Io Geo. II. cap. 32 prohibited the taking of any wildfowl "by hays, tunnels, or other nets" earlier or later under a penalty of 5s. for every bird so taken, but that statute has been repealed, and now by custom the season for working a decoy is from October to February.
It is true that a few ducks and mallards come into the decoys in July and August, TENNIS] but they are generally birds reared in the neighbourhood, and are left alone to entice others. Teal come in about the first week of September. [See DECOYS.] J. E. HARTING.
TENCH.-MEASUREMENTS, &c.-Length of head 4 to 44, of caudal fin 5, height of body 3 to 41 in the total length. Eyes -diameter 61 to 7½ times in the length of the head (but comparatively larger in the young), 21 diameters from the end of the snout, and from 2 to 21 apart. Interorbital space flat. The thickness of the head equals its length excluding the snout, while its height equals its thickness. Snout obtuse. mouth anterior, jaws anteriorly of the same length, gape wide, cleft rather shallow; the posterior extremity of the maxilla reaches to beneath the hind nostrils. Lips thick.
Teeth pharyngeal, in a single row, 4 or or 4, sometimes 4 on one side and 5 on the other. Gill-rakers-short. Fins dorsal commences above the end of the base of the ventral, and is continued almost to above the origin of the anal: all the fins are rounded.
In the males the first or even more of the ventral rays are thicker than in the female.
Scales about 18 rows between the lateralline and the base of the ventral fin. Lateral-line-at first gradually descends and above the base of the ventral is continued to the centre of the base of the caudal fin.
From the thickness of its skin it is termed the "shoe-maker" in Holland. Coloursleaden or greenish, lightest beneath; fins blackish. (Day's Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland.) TENNIS. -History of the Game. - For the tennis-player imbued with the antiquarian spirit, the early history of this ancient, beautiful, and complicated gamethe charm of which is indeed largely due to its complication-has much fascination.
But when space is limited, it is impossible adequately to investigate the "palæontology" of a game which was played in France in some form or other so far back as the thirteenth century. In the following century it was introduced into many French towns, and buildings were adapted, or constructed, for the purposes of the game. These were called tripots, and we hear of the erection early in the fifteenth century of a tripot in Paris in the Rue Grenier Saint Lazare, called Le Petit Temple, in which one Margot, a woman, used to play about 1427, with such skill that she could hold her own with all but the best players of the opposite sex. The game in which she was so proficient is spoken of as "handball," and there is other evidence to show that, up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, the hand had not been entirely superseded by the racket, as the weapon with which the ball was struck. The French names for "Tennis" and "Tennisplayer" (La Paume and Paumier respectively) also indicate that the game was, in early times, played with the palm of the hand. The popularity of the pastime was on the increase during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. During this time nearly every King of France and England played the game. Henry II. of France was the best player of all the Kings, and it is said that he might have competed for "l'eteuf d'argent," the championship of the game, with success. When the game was first introduced into England is doubtful; probably it was as early as the thirteenth century, and in Tudor and Stuart times the popularity of tennis was at its height.
Henry VIII. built the court at Hampton Court Palace, which still exists the oldest extant-in 1530, and was a keen and distinguished player, as was Charles II. About the year 1615 there were fifteen courts in London-the present number in London proper is five-and it is stated on the authority of the Dutch Ambassador that in Paris in 1657 there were "only" 114 courts! Most of these were uncovered buildings, roughly constructed. For instance, the cost of a court at Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1604 was £8 7s. 6d., and one at St. John's College £79. These courts could have had little in common with a modern well-appointed court. The cost of erecting a modern court is not less than •£2,000, and as much as £10,000 has been spent in some instances, but such a sum represents elaborate dressing-rooms and other accommodation, as well as the court itself.
In the present year the following courts exist :- England.-12 public courts.
London. Queen's Club, 2; built 1888.
Prince's Club, 2; built 1889-90.
Lord's, I; opened 1900.
Hampton Court, 1530.
Manchester, 1879-1880.
Brighton, 1836.
Leamington, 1846.
Oxford, about 1790.
Cambridge, 2; 1866 and 1890.
Private house courts. 16 courts in use or usable. 8 courts not in use.
Scotland.-2 private courts.
Ireland.-1 private court.