The Artistic Grouping of Stuffed Birds. 93 



perfect specimens were, without doubt, unduly ex- 

 travagant, as we are given to understand that the 

 late Mr. Booth often killed a score or more of birds 

 of the same species, from which to select four or so 

 of the best to furnish specimens for his case. 



The grouping and setting up of the shore birds 

 are especially beautiful, and of these we might 

 mention a case of Sanderlings as worthy of special 

 notice. Four or five birds are grouped in various 

 and most natural attitudes along a piece of sandy 

 beach, from which the sea has evidently just receded, 

 leaving a line of dark wet sand, contrasting with 

 the white dry sand above high-water mark. The 

 subject is simple, but the effect is charming. The 

 cases of land birds in this museum are not, we 

 think, so happy, and perhaps the reason for this 

 may be found in the fact that the late Mr. Booth 

 would use no natural material in the cases, imagining 

 that it would decay in course of time. He deter- 

 mined to make everything as lasting as possible, 

 and accordingly all the trunks and boughs of trees 

 were made of papier mdche, the result being, in the 

 majority of instances, an artificial appearance, 

 especially noticeable in the case containing the 

 Green Woodpeckers. 



The cases in the Natural History Museum at 

 South Kensington afford an ample proof of the 



