412 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1892. 



Another worthy subject is seen in Plate xlix, Fig. 1, a proud old 

 black Sumatra cock, that comes from a line of fowls unsurpassed by 

 any in beauty or from. Mr. Wood, of the Museum, owns one or more 

 of the grandsons of the rooster here portrayed, and through the skill 

 and patience of Mr. T. W. Smillie, in charge of the photographic gallery 

 of the National Museum, I am enabled to present figures from photo- 

 graphs of this cock, taken from the live bird. 



They are valuable as models, going to show the disposition of plum 

 age, the contour of general form, its attitudes, and general appear- 

 ance. These fowls are black all over, with strong blue and green 

 reflections in every changing light. Special attention is invited to the 

 elegant manner in which the superb tail is horizontally carried and the 

 proud carriage of the bird in Plate lxi. 0*ye artists of the pen and 

 block who diligently illustrate for our thousand and one agricultural 

 periodicals all over this country, and sometimes do not quite hit in your 

 efforts the galline form divine, pray look upon these portraits before 

 getting down to your easels again, and profit thereby! 



Other remarkably fine pieces of work of this kind are seen in Plates 

 lii, liv, and lv. They are all equally good and deserving of the highest 

 compliment that I can give them, and that is they are absolutely true 

 to nature. My only regret is that they are not colored as well, for they 

 would then be still more lifelike and their real beauties greatly enhanced. 

 This factor is not so much missed in the good old light Brahma hen in 

 Plate LV, for she is largely black and white. She was presented to the 

 National Museum by Mr. Charles Griffin, of Shelter Island — with the 

 cock that goes with her they constitute a pair of fowls of great beauty. 

 (Plate liv and lv.) 



Many of the domestic pigeons have also been treated at the Museum 

 quite as artistically as have the fowls. No opportunities have been lost 

 to catch these in their every mood, and reproduce them in preserved 

 specimens of the individuals themselves. One of the prettiest subjects 

 sent on to the Chicago fair by the National Museum was a large pigeon- 

 cot covered with many varieties of our tame pigeons, both the common 

 and the rarer kinds. It was gotten up by Mr. Lucas in a manner that 

 admitted of no improvement, bearing as it did a true likeness to an 

 original. Two of the pigeons that were upon it are shown in Plate lvi 

 and lvii. When one thinks of the stiff and uncouth things that so 

 many taxidermists give us and call them pigeons, it is positively grate- 

 ful to turn to these here shown, and observe the eminently natural atti- 

 tudes in which these gentle creatures have been thrown. One of the 

 prettiest pieces of taxidermy that I have ever had the pleasure of study- 

 ing is the dozing dovecot pigeon, depicted in Plate lvi. We hope that 

 this collection, now so well advanced, will continue to grow both nu- 

 merically and in the variety ot the species. Were it possible to obtain 

 some of the steps in Mr. Darwin's numerous experiments with pigeons, 

 and all that he demonstrated thereby, and the corresponding forms and 



