Jan. 1935 Annual Report of the Director 219 



mittent change, substitution, and improvement in future years, it 

 now stands as a unit with no large gaps to be filled. The number of 

 species and subspecies included is 687, represented by 842 individual 

 specimens, and the work is mainly by Staff Taxidermist Ashley 

 Hine, who has devoted his time almost exclusively to it for more 

 than ten years. The synoptic exhibit of foreign birds on the south 

 side of Hall 21 received an important addition in a case of gallinaceous 

 birds prepared by Assistant Taxidermist John W. Moyer. On one 

 side of the screen are shown selected examples of the pheasant family, 

 and on the other are the grouse, quail, and partridges. Among 

 the pheasants are the peacock, the great argus pheasant, and rare 

 and beautiful species such as the blood pheasant, impeyan, and 

 tragopan, as well as the better-known golden pheasant, ringneck, 

 and others kept in aviaries. Among the grouse are the large caper- 

 caillie of Europe, the black cock, and other Old World game birds. 



A further interesting addition to the foreign birds was a single 

 specimen of a New Guinean cassowary which was placed in the case 

 of ostriches and their allies. It was prepared from a specimen received 

 in fresh condition from the Lincoln Park Zoo. This made it possible 

 to apply the so-called "celluloid" method to reproduction of the 

 highly colored and much carunculated head and neck so characteristic 

 of this bird. All the naked parts, including the legs and feet, were 

 reproduced by this method and attached to the body, which was 

 mounted in the usual way. The result is exceedingly lifelike and 

 doubtless is the most natural and realistic preparation of a cassowary 

 ever exhibited in a museum. The exhibit was prepared by Staff 

 Taxidermist Leon L. Walters. 



Two special exhibitions were presented during the year, both in 

 the west half of Hall 20. The first was an exhibition of 473 photo- 

 graphs illustrating results and methods in modem taxidermy. This 

 was the International Exhibition of Taxidermic Art, sponsored by 

 the technical section of the American Association of Museums. 

 The work illustrated included that of some eighty highly skilled 

 taxidermists from Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and the United 

 States, among them several members of the taxidermy staff of 

 Field Museum. The exhibition was on view from April 1 to 15. 

 Later in the year, an exhibition of paintings and photographs was 

 shown in connection with the annual meeting of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union, which was held in the Museum from October 

 22 to 25. These included the Museum's original paintings of Abys- 

 sinian birds and mammals by the late Louis A. Fuertes, and group 



