She Jtow ilaitmilist : 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 21. MARCH 20th, 1880. Vol. 1. 



-PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY." 



INTRODUCTION. 



AMONG our promises in No. 10 was 

 one that we should give a series 

 of instructions how to skin, preserve, 

 and mount birds, and as Mr. Montagu 

 Browne has sent us his book for review 

 wre can " kill two birds with one stone," 

 —review Mr. Browne's " Practical 

 Taxidermy," and fulfil our own promise. 

 : Nearly all persons are fond of stuffed 

 birds, and if it was not for the sup- 

 posed "secrets of the art" few houses 

 vould be without one or more cases. 

 Jany working men hi various parts of 

 he country have their houses hung 

 omid with cases of stuffed birds, the 

 ~ork of long years of patient labour, 

 nd praiseworthy industry. While you 

 hall go to perhaps the next house and 

 ou will find that the man there has 

 pent his leisure, and no doubt much 

 lore than his leisure, in intemperance 

 nd idleness, and has nothing to look 

 ack to but a misspent life, and at 

 resent a broken-down constitution, 

 I nd a place he calls home, but almost 

 )o wretched to be known by that 

 appy name. Home he has none, true 

 appiness is unknown to him, and his 



life is but one great mistake. While 

 on the other hand look at the man 

 that spends his leisure in a pursuit 

 "which brings no alloy," his greatest 

 object in life, his greatest happiness 

 and pleasure, is to go out into the 

 woods and fields, and see nature in her 

 every- day dress, the more he sees the 

 more he loves and admires, the scenes 

 appear grander every time he visits 

 them, he has no time to think of sloth- 

 fulness ; beer and its associations 

 have no attractions for him; he returns 

 home, after every ramble, a better and 

 a happier man, his health is streng- 

 thened, and his life is lengthened, he 

 has a strong arm and a clear head, 

 ready to meet his next day's work, and 

 there is no anxious heart at home 

 fearing that he should give a call on 

 his way, and stay too long. The 

 study of Natural History abounds hi 

 paths where young people may find 

 profitable employment, and where the 

 temptations to step from the path of 

 virtue are reduced to the smallest pos- 

 sible minimum, and the art of stuffing 

 birds, is one of the most attractive of 

 these paths. Anyone who wishes to 

 become a successful birdstuffer must 

 I not neglect to go and observe the birds 



