﻿274 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



mounting of specimens, or setting them up in the atti- 

 tudes of life, is a branch of Taxidermy not absolutely 

 essential to our present purpose ; since, if the student 

 is acquainted with the art of preserving the skin of a 

 bird, that will be sufficient to answer every scientific 

 purpose. Our limits, indeed, for treating this part of 

 our subject are so confined, that we deemed it preferable 

 to treat one branch of the art of preserving thoroughly, 

 than to say a little upon both. 



(227.) We shall now pass on to the different modes 

 of preserving birds in cabinets, or otherwise, after they 

 have been prepared. #It was formerly the custom among 

 our collectors to have each species in a wooden case by 

 itself, with a glass in front ; the whole rendered air- 

 tight : in this manner all the birds in the Leverian 

 Museum were arranged, the cases being piled up so as 

 to cover the sides of the apartments. The inconve- 

 niences of this mode are obvious, for the specimens 

 could only be examined through the glass ; and by 

 having only one species in each case, a great deal of 

 space was sacrificed. To this succeeded the fashion of 

 grouping the birds upon branches, fastened into large 

 cases, on the back and sides of which were painted 

 landscapes, &c. : this was introduced, we believe, by 

 Bullock, whose whole collection was displayed in this 

 manner. This plan is certainly better adapted than the 

 first for producing effect, by the contrast of colours and 

 the variation of attitude ; so that, for those persons who 

 merely possess a few splendid specimens for show, this 

 is, perhaps, the best way of displaying them to advan- 

 tage. For all useful or scientific purposes, however, it 

 is much worse than the last : the feet cannot be accu- 

 rately seen, from the comparative obscurity in which 

 very many of the birds must be thrown ; and, as only 

 the glass front of the case can be removed, all attempts 

 either to accurately examine, or measure, or draw, or 

 describe specimens thus disposed, will not only be im- 

 perfect, but in many instances impossible.* This bar- 



* It is only doing justice to the authors of the " Descriptive Catalogue 

 of Australian Birds in the Linneean Society's Collection," to state that 



