Jan., 191 2. Annual Report of the Director. 133 



flowers, etc. — to be made for them has delayed the work. Two of 

 them are now practically finished and the work of final installation 

 will soon be under way. The principal birds to be shown in these 

 groups are the Loon (now on exhibition), the Great Blue Heron, the 

 Whooping and Sandhill cranes, and the Golden Eagle. The group of 

 American Antelopes or Prongbucks was completed early in the year. 

 It consists of five animals, mounted by Taxidermist Friesser, in a 

 setting representing the arid elevated region of northern Mexico, with 

 reproductions or actual specimens of cacti, agaves, ocotillos, and other 

 desert plants, and a large background painted by Mr. Corwin. This 

 is the first flat background to be used for large groups, and it seems 

 very successful especially, for a group of this size (9 x 14), having a 

 large single plate-glass front and skilfully adapted foreground, produ- 

 cing an effect of distance and atmosphere that is most realistic. A 

 group of grizzly bears of the same size and with a similar background 

 is practically completed and will be finally installed early in 191 2, now 

 being delayed only by the necessity of subjecting some of the accessories 

 to a long drying process. A large habitat Beaver group is well under 

 way and seems likely to prove one of the most attractive groups. 

 The specimens, houses, etc., were secured by permission of Mr. Cyrus 

 H. McCormick on his preserve near Champion, Michigan. The group 

 should be finished early in the coming year. A background has been 

 painted for a large group of the Olympic or Roosevelt Elk, and the 

 specimens are in hand to be used for it. The preparation of a group 

 of Alaska Moose, which was planned, has been deferred until specimens 

 can be obtained, those intended for use having proved unsatisfactory. 

 A case of small mammals prepared by Taxidennist Pray was placed 

 on exhibition early in the year, being the first of its kind among the 

 exhibits. It includes representatives of four species so arranged that 

 each has its characteristic environment shown without any unnatural 

 or artificial division of the case. In this group, although no painted 

 background is employed, a fine effect is produced by the use of bright- 

 coloured leaves and attractively arranged foliage in the centre of the 

 case serving as a background for all four groups. The species shown 

 are the White-footed Mouse, the Jumping Mouse, the Meadow Mouse, 

 and the Short-tailed Shrew. The serial or systematic exhibition of 

 birds has been largely reinstalled in new cases fitted with longitudinal 

 central screens painted dull black and carrying plate-glass shelves 

 on which the birds on conventional perches are arranged in linear 

 series according to relationship. Some twenty birds were mounted 

 and added to this exhibition collection during the past year and others 

 are now in the hands of the taxidermists. Some eight hundred new 



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