APPENDIX. 601 



The Peacock in the Crystal Palace. 

 To the Editor of the Illustrated London News. 

 "'Tis out, my lord, in every one of its dimensions." 



Sir, Leaving the head and all its ailments to a consultation of 

 doctors deeply versed in modern taxidermy, I proceed to examine 

 the neck and breast, so true in their proportions when the bird was 

 living so altered now in death. Their once charming hue no 

 longer meets the eye. Their feathers lie in sad confusion, and 

 forcibly condemn the hand that has placed them in such a dis- 

 tressing irregularity. 



Had the reverend operator been aware that skin is thickest where 

 the feathers grow, and thinnest where there are none, he might have 

 prevented the ugliness which he has stamped upon these ill-con- 

 ditioned parts. 



By the practice of internal modelling, he would easily have gained 

 his end. But such has been his perverseness in pursuing the old 

 illusive path, that he seems never once, even by mere chance, to 

 have deviated into the right road. 



The thighs are sickly objects, and are in neglected plumage. One 

 is smaller than the other, as though it were labouring under an 

 attack of long protracted rheumatism, whilst gross mismangement 

 at the knees is painfully apparent. 



The shoulders, too, are twisted out of symmetry ; and the 

 feathers on the rump, for want of daily attention to them, have 

 been allowed to dry down flat upon the skin, flat as a shrovetide 

 pancake ; and this, too, in the immediate vicinity of an elevated 

 tail! 



Craving a small corner in the next Illustrated News for a short 

 concluding paper. I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient and 

 humble servant, 



CHARLES WATERTON. 



SCARBRO', October 25, 1851. 



