222 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



and a really handsome painted background (by Mary E. "W. 

 Jeffrey) has given more pleasure than anything else the writer 

 ever produced. The case is only ten inches deep, but the ap- 

 parent distance is about a mile, and the autumn scene is very 

 acceptable to the public, sportsmen especially. 



As yet the museums will have no painted backgrounds. Ten 

 years ago they would have 110 groups, and no birds with 

 painted legs and beaks. They have all come to the two latter, 

 and they will all come to painted backgrounds also, in due 

 time, and it will be a good thing for them when they do. If I 

 am ever at the head of a museum, it shall have groups with 

 painted backgrounds galore, and there will be imitators thereof 

 in plenty. There is in this direction a vast field which has 

 hardly been touched, and when it is onco developed the world 

 will be the gainer. Museum managers the world over are too 

 conservative by half. Some of them will get out of the ruts 

 they are in by following others ; some will not get out until 

 they are dragged Out, and a few others will never get out at 

 all. 



Twenty-five years hence the zoological museums of this coun- 

 try will be as attractive and pleasing as the picture galleries, 

 and they will teach ten times as many object-lessons as they 

 do now. To-day the average museum is as lifeless as a diction- 

 ary ; but the museum of the future will be life itself. 



In Plate XVI. are shown three other examples of wall-cases, of 

 different kinds. Fig. 10 is a group of humming-birds, with choice 

 accessories, under a hemispherical glass shade, surrounded by a 

 black velvet mat, and set in a rich gold frame. This exceed- 

 ingly artistic arrangement is designed either to stand on an 

 easel or hang on the wall, and is the work of Mr. and Mrs. 

 George H. Hedley. No. 11 represents a group of gray squir- 

 rels in a rustic case made of papier-mache, with glass front, 

 top, and sides, and natural accessories, the work of Mr. Joseph 

 Palmer, of the National Museum. No. 12 represents a group 

 of south southerly ducks at the edge of a marsh, in a square 

 case with closed back, and painted background. This was pre- 

 pared by Mr. William Palmer. In Fig. 57 appears a represen- 

 tation of a very pretty wall-case, by Mr. F. A. Lucas. This 

 was one of a series of four companion cases representing the 



