250 PEACTICAL TAXIDEEMY. 



rally of quite a different stamp. This struck me most for- 

 cibly with regard to that of Madrid, which I visited some years 

 ago. The vertebrate specimens were old and wretchedly mounted, 

 the lepidoptera nowhere ; but the recently acquired animals- 

 were splendidly rendered. The youthful and painstaking ama- 

 teur will, no doubt, however, do as I did when a boy 

 — viz., pitch upon some professional taxidermist, to whose 

 window he will repair at all available opportunities to learn his- 

 style, now and then venturing on some small purchase (usually 

 a pair of eyes), to gain admittance to the glories within, and 

 have speech with the great man himself. Exploring in this 

 manner, I have had occasion to thank many of the leading' 

 London taxidermists for little "tips" ungrudgingly given. 



A few hints may suffice to help the reader. The most 

 important canon is : Do not mix your orders of birds ; that is to 

 say, abstain from surrounding a hawk tearing its prey, with 

 various birds in all attitudes, placidly ignoring the ex- 

 istence of their enemy. A scene of this kind irresistibly 

 reminds me of the stage " aside," when the villain of the piece 

 audibly proclaims vengeance against the unconscious hero but 

 two yards away on his right or left. Birds not of the same 

 kind, and from different parts of the world, are often cased 

 together, but this is open to criticism, unless you avowedly wish 

 to illustrate the whole order for purposes of reference, as in the 

 instance of, say, the ColwnibcB (pigeons). Pairs of birds are the 

 most effective, if the idea of the surroundings is nicely carried 

 out. (See page 256.) 



I have seen one or two very funny effects in the " Black 

 Country." In one example, a scarlet ibis, mounted in a case on? 

 a broken piece of highly gorgeous china gaselier ; in another, two 

 puppies facing each other on velvet, a piece of rock salt in the 

 middle, on which stood a lapwing, surrounded by foreign birds 

 in all attitudes. Need I warn the reader against such flights of 

 fancy and works of art ? 



It is, I would remark, quite impossible to give directions 



■white-throats, together with their nest and young, surrounded by a modelled bramble-bush 

 in blossom ; and with our swallows in section of a cow-house— neither of which groups 

 have yet been attempted tor the national collection, I am trembhng with apprehension, 

 however, that ere Ion;,' Mr. Sharpe and his "merry men "—one of them, a lierman, tha- 

 cleverest bird-mounter I ever saw— will leave us in the lurch. Nevertheless, healthy emu- 

 lation of the best t'eatiu-es ox our national collection will do us no harm. 



