BIRDS AT THEIR BEST 7 



objects, and scenes described in books. If they 

 had ever looked at wild birds properly — that is to 

 say, emotionally, the images of such sights would 

 have remained in their minds ; and, with such a 

 standard for comparison, these dreary remnants 

 of dead things set before them as restorations and 

 as semblances of life woilld have only produced 

 a profoundly depressing effect. 



We hear of the educational value of such 

 exhibitions, and it may be conceded that they 

 might be made useful to young students of 

 zoology, by distributing the specimens over a 

 large area, arranged in scattered groups so as 

 to give a rough idea of the relationship existing 

 among its members, and of all together to other 

 neighbouring groups, and to others still further 

 removed. The one advantage of such a plan 

 to the young student would be, that it would 

 help him to get rid of the false notion, which 

 classification studied in books invariably produces, 

 that nature marshals her species in a Une or row, 

 or her genera in a chain. But no such plan is ever 

 attempted, probably because it would only be for 

 the benefit of about one person in five hundred 

 visitors, and the expense would be too great. 



