GROUPS AND GROUPING. 231 



in natural attitudes (the result of elaborate life-studies in the 

 Bornean jungles), and each one told its own story of the orang 

 titan's life and habits (Plate XVII.) 



It is not too much to say that the group caught the popular 

 fancy. It was completed in September, 1879, just in time to be 

 sent to Saratoga, for exhibition before the meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, osten- 

 sibly for the purpose of illustrating a paper by the author on 

 '' The Species of Borneaii Orangs." Naturally it attracted con- 

 siderable attention, and it seemed to meet the approval of the 

 members of the Association, particularly the museum directors 

 and superintendents, who were especially interested in such 

 work. 



Although it may be the reverse of modest in me to say so, I 

 cannot help believing that the production of that group marked 

 the beginning of an era in the progress of museum taxidermy 

 in the United States. The price placed upon this group 

 ($2,000) prevented its immediate sale ; but in a short time an- 

 other group of orang utans, similar in composition but of a very 

 different design, was ordered by Mr. Robert Colgate, of New 

 York, for the American Museum of Natural History, and pre- 

 pared by the writer at Professor Ward's establishment. This 

 group represented the orang at home a perfectly peaceful 

 scene in the top of a Bornean forest. It included five orang 

 utans, of various sizes and ages, feeding on durions, sleeping in 

 a nest, climbing, sitting, and swinging. This group w r as also 

 very well received by the public. As in the case of the first 

 production, the accessories were all carefully worked out. The 

 price paid for this group was $1,500. 



In the year 1880, when the Society of American Taxidermists 

 was organ i/ed in Rochester, N. Y., for the development of the 

 art of taxidermy, the museum-group idea was much discussed 

 by its founders at Ward's Natural Science Establishment. Mr. 

 Frederic S. Webster determined to make a further test of pub 

 lie sentiment by the production of a large group of birds, de- 

 signed especially for a place in some scientific museum. With 

 most praiseworthy enterprise he accordingly prepared, at his 

 own expense, and with great care and skill, a group of three 

 flamingoes of the largest size. Two of the birds were rep re 



