THE TWELVE-THREAD EPIMACHUS. 



147 



in ultramarine, carmine, and gold, would "pale their ineffectual fires" even before the stiff 

 and distorted form of the stuffed bird. Yet that very stuffed semblance of the living creature 

 fails egregiously in reproducing the bird as it was during life, as every one must have observed 

 who has visited a museum. 



Putting aside the inevitable shrinking and darkening of the soft parts about the head, 

 legs, and claws, which change from their natural forms into dry and shrivelled pieces of dull, 

 black parchment, the feathers always present an unsightly staring appearance ; and there is 

 no taxidermist whose hand, be it ever so skilful, can give to the stuffed creature the exquisite 



TWELVE-THREAD EPIMACHUS. Selevcidet niger. 



swell and rounding of the various parts, and that air and carriage of the body which is so 

 indicative of the character. Not only is this the case with the stuffed bird, but immediately 

 after death the plumage loses half its beauty ; for during its lifetime the bird is able, by 

 smoothing or ruffling its plumage, to give to its form a vast variety of expressions, which sink 

 in death to one listless aspect, which tells that life lias fled. The very respiration of the bird 

 keeps the feathers in continual motion, causing them to change their tints with every breath. 

 Such being the case, even with the recently slain bird or the preserved skin, it may well be 

 imagined that no artist is sufficiently skilful to delineate, no artificial color sufficiently brill- 

 iant to reproduce, and no pen sufficiently accomplished to describe, the glowing tints with 

 any degree of success, when the drawings and the descriptions are compared with the living 

 originals. 



