The TO^HO 8AT0HAUST: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 97. SEPTEMBER 17th, 1881. Vol. 2. 



CASES FOR STUFFED 

 BIRDS. 



IN looking over museums and private 

 collections of Stuffed Birds, we 

 have often been struck with the want 

 of system, especially in the make and 

 arrangement of the cases, and this is 

 still more apparent when a number of 

 cases, belonging to different persons, 

 are brought together for the purpose of 

 forming an exhibition. When a bird 

 collector procures a finished case of 

 birds, and finds that it does not arrange 

 with his own, he is often put to great 

 trouble in order to take perhaps half-an- 

 inch from the top of the case, when 

 otherwise the case may be fitted up 

 quite to his liking. How much better 

 does a collection look when the cases 

 are made to certain standard sizes, and 

 one genus of birds arranged in a row 

 side by side. 



The Rev, F. 0. Morris, in the old 

 " Naturalist," gave a list of British 

 Birds, with the size of case adapted to 

 each species, but we would not go to 

 to that extent, because a person who 

 required the nest say, would want a 

 larger case than if he wanted the birds 

 only. What we would suggest, and the 

 plan we adopt for our own collection, is 



this : To have certain heights and cer- 

 tain lengths for the cases ; and if these 

 sizes could be adopted by Taxidermists 

 generally, collectors of British Birds 

 would be saved some inconvenience. 



The smallest case in our collection is 

 Bin. by Sin. This is just sufficient for 

 a single warbler or other small bird — 

 a rare species of which we happen to 

 have only a single specimen. 



The next size is 8in. high and 12in. 

 Ions:. This size we use for all the war- 



o 



biers, tits, and small perching birds, 

 but ground birds such as wagtails, larks, 

 sandpipers, Sec, require the case two 

 inches longer. 



The next size is lOin. by lOin. which 

 is sufficient for single birds of the Shrike 

 size, while lOin. by 12in. is enough for 

 a pair. Thus raising two inches at a 

 time, both in height and length, and in 

 piling a room full of cases, the advan- 

 tage of this will soon be seen. For 

 instance, two 8in. cases, put one on the 

 top of the other, will arrange along with 

 cases 16in. high, without making breach 

 or gap. 



We would advise our young readers, 

 who are just beginning to form collec- 

 tions of British Birds, never to put two 

 species in the same case, unless you 



