6 Nicholson, Inaugural Address. 



taxidermist, Timothy Harrop. He had been a weaver 

 and was self-taught as a taxidermist. In office before the 

 appointment of the first curator, Harrop seems to have 

 been responsible for the manner in which the birds were 

 displayed. The arrangement, which differed from that in 

 every other museum of the time, and has not been followed 

 by an}' other since, was a grouping of the specimens on 

 artificial trees, each tree or separate branch being occupied 

 by the species of one genus ; each bird had a label, with 

 its generic and specific name, and its English name, with 

 the country which it inhabits. At the bottom of each tree 

 or branch the generic name was attached, so that all birds 

 of one genus could be traced. The birds could be dis- 

 played in more spirited attitudes than when placed on 

 stands, and the branches had a picturesque effect. Other 

 advantages of the method were the great economy of 

 space, and the ease with which a specimen of a species 

 hitherto unrepresented could be inserted in its proper 

 place in the classification. The boughs were of wire, 

 which could be attached to the stem wherever a new 

 branch was required. Timothy tiarrop was assisted and 

 succeeded by his son, and between them they did all the 

 taxidermy required by the Museum. Unfortunately their 

 work was not proof against neglect, and little of it now 

 remains. On one occasion the Council of the Museum 

 had to object to Timothy Harrop's economical methods, 

 for they found that he did not give his specimen two 

 eyes if the bird was intended to have one eye to the wall. 

 The character of the Museum was largely influenced 

 by the collections purchased in the early days before the 

 cost of maintaining a museum prevented the purchase of 

 specimens. Thus the Museum was always strong in its 

 collection of birds, which in 1839 was considered to be 

 little, if any, inferior to that in the British Museum. 



