BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



was very funny. An old barber who attended to Sir Henry 

 Ellis, then Governor of the British Museum, undertook to in- 

 troduce me to Sir Henry, who then and there introduced me to 

 Dr. J. E. Gray (?) or his predecessor. 



" I became acquainted with Dr. J. E. Gray, Mr. G. Gray, Dr. 

 Mantell, Prof. Owen, the Dean of Westminster, the Bishop of 

 Oxford, Sir Charles Lyell, Charles Darwin, Prof. Huxley, P. 

 Fuller, Yarrell, Ogilby, Grould, Blyth, and Sir Joseph Paxton. 

 These were the names of a few of those that I have worked with, 

 or worked for, and most of them acknowledged my assistance. 



" I have already described my early introduction to the 

 menagerie at Exeter 'Change, and how, during my boyhood, I 

 saw from time to time birds that had died in the menagerie, 

 which were given to me on my expressing a desire to preserve 

 their skins and feathers. I gradually became an expert in 

 skinning and preparing these creatures, and in the course of 

 time I succeeded in mounting, or, as it is commonly called, 

 stuffing, various specimens. My fondness for this art induced 

 me to commence to obtain a livelihood at it, in which I succeeded 

 beyond my expectations. In the Exhibition of 1851 I was 

 fortunate enough to be awarded the first prize for my specimens 

 of taxidermy which I exhibited, viz. : — Eagle under glass shade, 

 diver under glass shade (the property of her Majesty the 

 Queen), snowy owl, Mandarin duck, Japanese teal, pair of 

 Impeyan pheasants, sleeping ourang-utang, sun bittern, musk 

 deer, cockatoo, foxes ; carved giraffe ; two bronze medals from 

 the Zoological Society ; model of dodo ; dog and deer ; crowned 

 pigeons ; leopard and wolf." 



RESTORATION OF THE DODO. 



The earliest record which I can find respecting the 

 restoration of the Dodo by my father, is contained in 

 a letter to H. E. Strickland, which I copy : — 



"16a, Great College Street, Camden Town, 



" September 25, 1848. 



" Sir, — I beg respectfully to inform you that I have just 

 completed what appears to me a perfect restoration of the 

 long-lost Dodo, and am anxious that you should be the first 

 person to see it. I shall feel much obliged if you will have 



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