ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 349 



insect, and that it is still as sound and bright as when it 

 was first done, it will not be thought extravagant to 

 surmise that this specimen will retain its pristine form 

 and colours for years after the hand that stuffed it has 

 mouldered into dust. 



I have shown this art to the naturalists in Brazil, 

 Cayenne, Demerara, Oroonoque, and Eome, and to the 

 royal cabinets of Turin and Florence. A severe accident 

 prevented me from communicating it to the cabinet of 

 Paris, according to my promise. A word or two more, 

 and then we will conclude. 



A little time and experience will enable you to produce 

 a finished specimen. "Mox similis volucri, mox vera 

 volucris." If your early performance should not corre- 

 spond with your expectations, do not let that cast you 

 down. Tou cannot become an adept all at once. The 

 poor hawk itself, which you have just been dissecting, 

 waited to be fledged before it durst rise on expanded 

 pinion ; and had parental aid and frequent practice ere it 

 could soar with safety and ease beyond the sight of man. 



Little more remains to be added, except that what has 

 been penned down with regard to birds may be applied, 

 in some measure, to serpents, insects, and four-footed 

 animals. 



Should you find these instructions too tedious, let the 

 wish to give you every information plead in their defence. 

 They might have been shorter : but Horace says, by 

 labouring to be brief you become obscure. 



If, by their means, you should be enabled to procure 

 specimens from foreign parts in better preservation than 

 usual, so that the naturalist may have it in his power to 

 give a more perfect description of them than has hitherto 

 been the case ; should they cause any unknown species to 

 be brought into public view, and thus add a little more to 



