Birds. 81 



by wires that are sharp on one end and thrusted through the bird's 

 legs, body, breast, and neck, and others going through the wings 

 and body. Small birds are likewise well preserved in brandy, 

 rack, or rum ; and when arrived at their place of destination 

 they must be washed and sweetened in fresh water for several 

 times, and lastly dipped in the preparing liquor, the plumage 

 laid in order, the attitude given to the bird by wires, and then 

 dried. Care must be taken to kill the birds with shot 

 proportioned to their size, and at a reasonable distance, that the 

 specimen may not be mangled and torn. Young birds which 

 have not yet moulted must not be taken ; but old birds in full 

 feather, and, if possible, a specimen of each sex j for the sexes 

 often vary very much in size, feather, and colour. The nests of 

 birds and their eggs would likewise contribute towards perfecting 

 the history of this branch in zoology." 



The " liquor " was thus composed : " An ounce of Sal Am- 

 moniac, dissolved in a quart of water, in which afterwards 

 two ounces of corrosive sublimate Mercury must be put, or four 

 ounces of Arsenic may be boiled in two quarts or two quarts and 

 a half of water, till all or the greater part of it be dissolved, and 

 the liquor may serve for the same purpose to wash the inside of 

 the skin : then the whole cavity must be stuffed with oakhura or 

 tow, likewise imbibed with the same liquor, afterwards dried and 

 mixed with a powder of four parts of Tobacco-sand, four parts of 

 pounded black Pepper, one part of burnt Alum, and one part of 

 corrosive Sublimate or Arsenic." No wonder that specimens thus 

 treated fell to pieces in course of time, and it is doubtful whether 

 the birds of Colonel Montagu's Collection had even this amount 

 of presei'vative bestowed upon them. 



Professor Newton can remember old Montague House, as it 

 stood before the present British Museum took its place. Two of 

 our attendants, Mr. Edward Gerrard and Mr. John Saunders, 

 actually served in the time of the old building ; and in the old 

 brew-house of the estate, which stood on the west of the present 

 Museum boundary, in Great Russell Street, the coppers were 

 used by them for boiling the skeletons of seals and other large 

 mammals from the Parry, Ross, and Franklin Expeditions. 

 Mr. Saunders tells me that the painted ceilings and wall decora- 

 tions mentioned below were bought, on the demolition of the 

 original house, by the lodge-keeper, a shrewd old man named 

 Sivier, who had been butler to the celebrated Lord Lyndhurst. 

 He re-sold them, and made a good bit of money by the trans- 

 VOL. II. G 



