64 LIFE OF FLOWER 



perhaps the prime object of a national museum is, 

 however, at least as important as catering to the require- 

 ments of the ordinary visitor. 



The display in systematic and serial order of the 

 external characters and internal anatomy of the leading 

 types of living and extinct animals and plants formed, 

 however, only a part of Flower's scheme of exhibits 

 for the central hall of the museum. Such specimens 

 occupied only the ' bays " or alcoves on the west and 

 east sides, and there remained the large central floor 

 space for exhibits of other descriptions. Advantage 

 was taken of this to display examples of the phenomenon 

 of seasonal colour-change in birds, accompanied in some 

 instances, as in the ruff, by the development of special 

 plumes round the neck, or elsewhere ; the two species 

 selected for illustration being the aforesaid ruff and the 

 wild duck or mallard; the latter bird, together with 

 many other members of its tribe, being remarkable on 

 account of the assumption by the males at certain 

 seasons of the year of an "eclipse" plumage, almost 

 indistinguishable from that distinctive at all times of the 

 year of the female. Other cases were devoted to 

 showing some of the more remarkable kinds of variation 

 produced from a single wild stock by domestication 

 and artificial selection ; the species exhibited for this 

 purpose being several types of the common fowl, the 

 various kinds of pigeons, and the more remarkable 

 strains of the canary. The introduction of domesticated 

 breeds, whose peculiarities are entirely, in the outset at 

 anyrate, the result of man's interference with the 

 ordinary course of Nature, is a notable feature of this 

 portion of the work of Flower, and indicates his sense of 



