152 F. M. Chapman : 



which,, so far as is possible within Museum walls, shall 

 represent the bird in Nature, or, in other words, the living 

 bird in its haunts: I refer here not only to groups with 

 natural accessories of branch, leaf, and blossom representing 

 the nesting- habits of a single species, but more particularly 

 to those which aim to portray some more striking scene in 

 bird-life where vast numbers of birds of one or more species 

 together form what has become known as a " bird colony." 



In reproducing such groups on a large scale, it is possible 

 to use a painted background so effectively that at a short dis- 

 tance one cannot readily distinguish where the group proper 

 ends and the background begins. Not only is the beauty 

 and realism of the group thereby greatly enhanced, but the 

 introduction of birds into the painting makes it possible to 

 represent Nature in a way which would be impracticable if 

 one employed mounted birds alone. 



In this manner we have, among other subjects, represented 

 in the American Museum, a nesting colony of a thousand or 

 more Flamingoes, of which only twenty-nine are mounted birds, 

 while the others are painted, many of them approximately 

 life-size. 



The possibility of this kind of exhibit descending to the 

 level of mere theatric scene-painting, or the chromo effects 

 of the commercial taxidermists' lurid backgrounds is appre- 

 ciated ; it is urged, therefore, that such backgrounds be 

 prepared only by competent artists, both as regards birds and 

 landscape, that they represent an actual scene, not a fanciful 

 one, and that they be not employed when the group is so 

 small that a proper panoramic effect cannot be secured and 

 the unpleasant productions of the taxidermist are too closely 

 approached. 



Groups of this nature are doubtless not only the most 

 satisfactory means of representing bird-life, but the back- 

 grounds themselves, painted from Nature, adequately portray 

 a definite locality, and are in themselves highly educational. 



It should also be remembered that where such backgrounds 

 contain the work of prominent bird artists they possess a 

 peculiar value which time enhances. Consider, for example, 

 the interest which would be attached to such a painting by 



