234 TAXIDETCMY AXD ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



Its character was about as follows : A young- specimen a puppy 

 about four weeks old was playfully endeavoring- to pull the jaw- 

 bone of an antelope out of its mother's mouth. Standing- a 

 trifle behind these two stood the father of the family, a really 

 noble specimen of the species, if by any stretch of the imagina- 

 tion a coyote the king- of sneaks can be considered noble. 

 His head was held high in the air, and he was undoubtedly look- 

 ing afar off, as if watching- for the coming- of the man with a 

 gun. (See Plate XVIII.) 



This little group was heartily approved, and the question of 

 groups in the National Museum was settled forever before the 

 production of the buffalo group was fully accomplished. The 

 idea as a whole was pronounced not only satisfactory, but ex- 

 ceedingly desirable, and orders were given that groups of all 

 the more important American mammals should be designed and 

 produced as rapidly as practicable. Work was immediately 

 commenced on several other groups, and by the time the group 

 of buffaloes was completed and ready for exhibition, which oc- 

 curred in March, 1888, three other groups were ready to be dis- 

 played at the same time, viz., of antelopes, prairie-dogs, and 

 opossums. 



The reception accorded the group of buffaloes settled all 

 doubt that might have previously existed regarding the estima- 

 tion in which such productions would be held by the public. 

 At present the only trouble which the taxidermic department 

 of the National Museum labors under is that it is unable to pro- 

 duce groups of mammals half fast enough. In March, 1890, a 

 large group of moose, of the same dimensions as the group of 

 buffaloes, was completed, and a group of musk oxen was com- 

 pleted a month later. Many other groups are in course of prep- 

 aration. 



By a curious coincidence, within three years from the time 

 the Society of American Taxidermists found its first group of 

 birds so frowned upon by museum officers, the British Museum 

 undertook the preparation of a large series of mounted groups 

 of birds, with accessories both natural and manufactured. Pre- 

 cisely in line with our idea, these groups were intended to 

 show the birds in their haunts, and, as far as possible, to show 

 their nesting habits. Naturally enough they were produced 



