254 PEACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



in Ms sick diamber), tliey are, perliaps, the most successful. 

 The addition of miniature furniture to assist the delusion is 

 permissible ; but, after all, these caricatures are not artistic 

 taxidermy, and they are only allowable now and then as a 

 relaxation. 



Perhaps that which most exercises the skill and judgment of 

 the taxidermic artist is reproducing large groups of some 

 of Landseer's pictures, such as, " The Combat " (two stags 

 fighting) ; the " Stag at Bay," and others in connection with 

 hunting. Lion and tiger fighting over prey ; two tigers fighting 

 for possession of a deer ; head and paws of lion or tiger peeping 

 over a rock ; tiger crouching for a spring on some feeding animal ; 

 lion and zebra ; panther or jaguar crouching on an overhanging 

 tree-trunk ; leopard killed by a gemsbok antelope ; polar bear 

 killing seal on ice ; lynx creeping over snow upon grouse ; 

 wolf leaping with fore-legs in air on receiving his death-shot; 

 fox in " full cry ; " fox just missing a pheasant or duck by only 

 securing the tail feathers ; two foxes fighting ; fox and playing 

 cubs; fox and trapped rabbit (after Ansdell); "Heads and 

 Tails," fox coming over bank as rabbit disappears ; dogs and 

 puppies ; cats and kittens (see Landseer's, Ansdell's, Oouldery's, 

 and Frank Paton's pictures for treatment of these) ; otters 

 and young; otters with fish (see Landseer's and Rolfe's pic- 

 tures for these); otters diving after fish, both seen in mid- 

 water, are some of the studies which have been, or can be, 

 executed. 



Among birds, eagles and falcons at rest or in action are 

 the most capable of artistic treatment, such as " The Eagle's 

 Throne " (after Wolf) ; lammergeyer carrying off lamb ; 

 hawks fighting over a small bird, allowing the latter to escape ; 

 peregrine falcon striking a bittern ; eagle and wild cat ; sea-eagle 

 and gulls; osprey and fish. In connection with the last, 

 one of the very best things I ever saw done with these specimens 

 was in the Fisheries Exhibition, 1883, a piece of work — a study it 

 might be called — executed by a German residing in London. 

 It represented an osprey tugging a fish from some sea rocks. 

 Both fish and bird were excellently rendered; the latter, with 

 wings expanded, had gripped the fish with both feet, and had 

 raised it in the air some distance off the rocks ; the fish was, how- 



