The denuded breast and abdomen seen in birds during the breeding season, cannot always be depended upon as a mark of sex, as this occasionally occurs in males as well as in females.
SECTION IV.: PRESERVING SKINS.--Taxidermists for many years have made use of arsenic in some form as a preservative; and in the first edition of my "Naturalists' Guide," I recommended the use of it dry, stating that I did not think it injurious if not actually eaten. I have, however, since had abundant cause to change my opinion in this respect, and now pronounce it a dangerous poison. Not one person in fifty can handle the requisite quantity of arsenic necessary to preserve specimens, for any length of time, without feeling the effects of it. For a long time I was poisoned by it, but attributed it to the noxious gases arising from birds that had been kept too long. It is possible that the poison from arsenic with which my system was filled might have been affected by these gases, causing it to develop itself, but I do not think that the gas itself is especially injurious, as I have never been poisoned since I discontinued the use of arsenic.
When I became convinced that arsenic was injuring my health, and that of others, I began to experiment upon other substances, and after trying a quantity of various things, have succeeded in manufacturing a nearly odorless compound which has the following advantages over arsenic: It thoroughly preserves the skins of birds, mammals, reptiles, and fishes from decay, and also prevents the attacks of dermestes or anthrenus, while the feathers of birds and hair of mammals are not as liable to be attacked by moths as when the skin is preserved with arsenic. This preservative when properly applied abstracts the oil from greasy skins, thus preventing them from becoming decayed through carbonization, as nearly always occurs in ducks' skins after a few years. It is a deodorizer, all disagreeable smells leaving the skin to which it is applied; and above all it is not a poison. I used this dermal preservative, as we have named it, as an absorbent while skinning birds, especially small ones, as then the plumage is dusted with it necessarily, which insures more or less protection to the feathers from the attacks of moths.