WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 



Now it appears that the model of the Dodo was thought 

 so much of by the scientific world that they allowed it to 

 go down to the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, and there it 

 was destroyed in the great fire of 1866 and lost for ever. 



It will be seen from the foregoing notes that at a very 

 early age my father evinced a great delight in all matters 

 connected with Natural History. In those early days 

 of his career scientific men as well as collectors of rare 

 birds, and especially of rare birds' eggs, made his house 

 a resort, and the reputation of his extraordinary skill 

 in the art of taxidermy became so widely spread that he 

 was obliged to remove into larger premises about the 

 latter part of the year 1846. It is probable that there 

 are few, if any, of those early zoologists and collectors 

 still living who remember that he removed his business to 

 a large house in Great College Street, Camden Town. In 

 his new home his circle of admirers increased, many of 

 whom were the founders of the Zoological Society of 

 London, and then it was that his first business connections 

 with that Society commenced. 



It was in that house he worked not only for the Zoologi- 

 cal Society, but for nearly all the scientific men of the age, 

 and established museums. He was also honoured with 

 commands from her Majesty the Queen, and H.R.H. the 

 Prince Consort. He there prepared all his exhibits for 

 the 1851 Exhibition, among which, by permission of her 

 Majesty, several of the Queen's specimens— referred to 

 above in his reminiscences — which are believed to be now 

 at Windsor Castle. 



After the close of the Exhibition of 1851 the Crystal 

 Palace Company was formed, and my father in his notes 

 says : — " this led to my appointment as Naturalist to the 

 Company in 1852." In the November, a few months after 

 his taking up the post at the Palace, he was cast down 



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