238 TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING. 



wliat you want. Do not be too lavish in the use of accessory 

 material. Remember that enough is as good as a feast, and too 

 much is good for nothing. There are two principles, either 

 one of which can govern you in your selection of accessory 

 material. One is to select a given spot of ground of precisely 

 the same area as the section you propose to use as the ground- 

 work of your group, and reproduce only such materials as are 

 found on that particular square of mother earth. This is the 

 idea which has been strictly followed in the preparation of the 

 groups of birds in the American Museum of Natural History 

 by Mr. Richardson. I hold to a different principle. I believe 

 that it is best to select from a given locality such material as 

 will best represent an ideal section of the country to be repre- 

 sented as the habitat of the group. Of course, it is necessary 

 to exercise care not to bring together too great an assortment 

 of materials. By acting on this principle we secure a limited 

 selection of the most common and familiar species of plants in 

 a given locality, and at the same time have the advantage of 

 arranging them for the best artistic effect on the ground which 

 has been prepared to accommodate the group according to the 

 design. With small groups, in which a nest or burrow is to be 

 represented, it is an easy and simple matter to reproduce the 

 exact situation in which the home of the animal was situated. 

 In the preparation of large groups this is a practicable impos- 

 sibility. 



SPECIAL EXHIBITION GROUPS. To this class properly belongs 

 such subjects as Verreaux's "Arab Courier attacked by Lions ; " 

 Edwin Ward's " Lion and Tiger Struggle ; " and the two 

 groups, " Lions Fighting " and " Horseman attacked by Ti- 

 gers," prepared by John Wallace, of New York. Such groups 

 are bold in design, theatrical in effect, and each one is sup- 

 posed to represent a tour deforce on the part of the originator. 

 They are valuable for great expositions, for show-windows, 

 fairs, crystal palaces, and the like. For such purposes the 

 more startling they are, the better. Animals are usually 

 chosen which will admit of a representation of vigorous action. 

 The most favorite theme is large animals in combat. Pie who 

 has the boldness to introduce the human form divine in such a 

 composition will oftener than otherwise have occasion to wish 



