PREFACE. 



>TpHESE Photographs require few words of introduction, pourtraying, as they evidently do, examples of the highest 

 type of excellence which scientific and artistic Taxidermy has yet attained. When in the early part of this 

 century, Waterton wrote : — 



" Were you to pay as much attention to birds as the Sculptor does to the human frame, you would immediately 

 "see on entering a museum that the specimens are not well done .... that which was once alive has probably 

 "been stretched, stuffed, stiffened, and wired by the hands of a common clown. Consider likewise how the plumage 

 "must have been distorted by too much stretching or drying, and, perhaps, sullied or, at least, deranged by the 

 "pressure of a coarse and heavy hand — plumage which, ere life had fled within it, was accustomed to be touched 

 "by nothing rougher than the dew of heaven, and the pure and gentle breath of air;" 



or again : — 



" If you wish to be in Ornithology what Michael Angelo was in Sculpture, you must apply to profound study 

 " and your own genius to assist you. You must have a complete knowledge of Ornithology Anatomy. You must 

 " pay close attention to the form and attitude of the bird. You must know exactly the proportion each curve, 

 " or extension, or contraction, or expansion of any particular part bears to the rest of the body. In a word you 

 " must possess Promethean boldness, and bring down fire and animation, as it were, into your preserved specimen ; " 



most of his readers would look upon his words as those of an impractical enthusiast. Indeed it is only within the 

 last decade or two that many museum authorities have awakened to the fact that the " bird-stuffer," so familiar to all, 

 has had his day ; that a time has come when, if museum specimens are to possess any real educational value, they 

 must be dealt with in a manner far beyond that of mere dexterous " stuffing." Every feather must lie in its place 

 as in life ; every contour, every curve be shown as nature would give them ; no trace of manipulation be discovered 

 over the whole framework. These now are elementary requirements only ; the next step has been to get beyond 

 the interminable cases of stuffed ornithological specimens placed haphazard, each perched on a piece of wood, 

 one of a lot purchased by the hundred or the thousand. The New Taxidermist arranges each of his specimens in 

 a different manner, not contenting himself with representing it at rest, the very opposite condition to that mentally 

 associated with denizens of the air; he places his specimens in every variety of attitude assumed in life, choosing 

 as far as possible the most characteristic pose for each. There, indeed, has been a vast improvement; but a few of 

 the more skilled have not permitted themselves to rest at this point ; the Museums of South Kensington, Brighton, 

 Leicester, &c, and that of the Chester Society of Natural Science, in the Grosvenor Museum in that City, are 

 exemplars of our modern and most valuable way of dealing with feathered and other specimens in museums. The 

 bird is first arranged with anatomical correctness, and placed perching or flying, soaring or alighting, preening its 

 wings, carrying its prey, nesting, and so on ; and actually appears to be arrested instantaneously in midst of active 

 volition, cunningly devised hidden supports aiding the illusion. But, beyond this, the appearance of verisimilitude 

 to life is aided by associating with the bird all the natural accompaniments of rock, trees, grass, shingle, or other 

 objects suitable to what may have been its original habitat. It is not possible to conceive this artistic, scientific treat- 

 ment being more cleverly executed than it has been by Mr. Newstead, the Curator of the Grosvenor Museum, in the 

 specimens here reproduced by the camera. I am indebted to him entirely for the clear and concise descriptions to be 

 found in the accompanying letterpress. To render these photographic transcripts as life-like as possible, the heavy vertical 

 lines of the show-case had to be eliminated, and in every instance but one the further addition of suggestions of 

 foliage, of clouds, or of such other surroundings as would be natural to the groups has been carried out ; and thus, 

 it is hoped, as close an approach to a representation of real bird-life and its habitats as could be achieved has been 

 carried out in these Photographs of the Bird- Groups at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. 



G. WATMOUGH WEBSTER. 



The Studio, 



33, Bridge Street Row, 

 Chester. 



February, 1895. 



