409 
ON THE PRESERVATION OF MAMMALIA. 
jects of their profession with honour to them- 
selves and advantage to their country. Would 
any person expect to arrive at eminence as a 
sculptor if he were unacquainted with the 
established preliminaries of his art, namely, 
drawing and anatomy? The thing is so 
self-evident, that I am only surprised it has 
not long ago been acted upon. Upwards of 
twelve years have elapsed since I pointed out 
these facts to the Professor of Natural His- 
tory in the University of Edinburgh, but 
things continue as they were before that time. 
Although these observations apply with 
their full force to the preservation of the 
Mammalia, or Quadrupeds, they are equally 
applicable to Birds and Fishes. It is quite 
true, that defects in ill -stuffed birds are not 
80 obvious as in quadrupeds, because the 
feathers assist in a great measure to conceal 
such deformities ; and in Sshes, imperfections 
are also less observable, owing to the smooth 
and unmarked appearance of their external 
surface, from the circumstance of their bones 
being principally small towards their outside, 
and the larger bones being deeply concealed 
under the muscles. 
I am happy to find that the ingenious Mr. 
Waterton agrees with me on this important 
subject. “Were you,” says he, “ to pay as 
much attentiou to birds as the sculptor does 
to the human frame, you would immediately 
see, on entering a museum, that the spe- 
cimens are not well done. 
“ This remark will not be thought severe, 
w'hen you reflect, that that which was once 
alive, has probably been stretched, stuffed, 
stiffened, and wired, by the hand of a common 
clown. Consider, likewise, how the i lu- 
mage must have been disordered 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 iied within it. was accustomeil to be 
touched by nothing rougher than the dew of 
heaven, and the pure and gentle breath of 
air. 
“ In dissecting, three thin'jjs are necessary 
to insure success, viz., a penknife, a hand not 
coarse or clumsy, and practice- The first 
will furnish you with the means and the se- 
cond will enable you to dissect, and the third 
will cause you to dissect well. These may 
be called the mere mechanical requisites. 
“ In stuffing you require cotton, a needle 
and thread, a little stick the size of a com- 
mon knitting needle, glass -eyes, a solution of 
corrosive sublimate, and any kind of a com- 
mon temporary box to hold the specimen. 
These also may go under the denomination of 
the former. But if you wish to excel in the 
art, if you wish to be in Ornithology, what 
Angelo was in sculpture, you must apply to 
profound study and your own genius to assist 
you. And these may be called the scientific 
requisites. 
•* You must have a complete knowledge of 
Ornithological anatomy. You must pay close 
attention to the form and attitude of the bird, 
and 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 Prome- 
thean boldness, and bring down fire and 
animation as it were into your preserved 
specimen. 
“ Repair to the haunts of birds on plains 
and mountains, forests, swamps, and lakes, 
and give up your time to examine the economy 
of the different orders of birds. 
“ Then you will place your Eagle, in at- 
titude commanding, the same as Nelson 
stood in, in the day of battle, on the Victory’s 
quarter deck. Your Pie will seem crafty, 
and just ready to take flight, as though fear- 
ful of being surprised in some mischievous 
plunder. Your Sparrow will retain its wont- 
ed pertness, by means of placing his tail a 
little elevated, and giving a moderate arch to 
the neck. Your Vulture will show his slu;?- 
gish habits by having his body nearly parallel 
to the earth ; his wings somewhat drooping, 
and their extremities under the tail instead 
of above it, — expressive of ignoble indo- 
lence. 
“ Your Dove will be in airless, fearless in- 
nocence. looking mildly at you, with its neck 
not too much stretched, as if uneasy in its 
situation, or drawn too close into the should- 
ers, like one wishing to avoid discovery ; but 
in mo derate . perpendicular lengths, support- 
ing the head horizontally, which will set off 
the breast to the best advantage.”'* 
To the traveller who wanders in search of 
knowledge, but without the means of con- 
veying skins of quadrupeds or birds, we would 
say a word or two. When he has killed and 
examined an animal or bird, which apuears 
new to him, after having noted down all its 
characters, he ought to attempt a drawiiig of 
the object, as the next best substitute for the 
skin. 
The indefatigable Wilson, whose unbound- 
ed zeal led him to explore the mighty wilds of 
America, in search of information regarding 
the feathered tribes, but who, without either 
money or patronage, could not transport their 
skin.3 across these nearly boundless wilder- 
nesses, was compelled to adopt these, the 
only means he ha 1, and to delineate their 
for. us and features, in their native colours, 
as fiithfully as he could, as records at least 
of their existence. 
Audubon adopted this method. He pinned 
the bird to a tree in some natural position, 
held out by wires, &c., then made a drawing 
while the animal was yet warm. By this 
means he could imitate those beautiful tints 
which are alone to be found in living nature ; 
and the forms being still those of the real 
subject, were likely to surpass those of stuffed 
specimens. 
* Wanderings iu South America, &c. by 
Charles Waterton, Esq , a work that cannot 
be too highly commended, from the many 
remarkable incidents contained in it, and the 
highly poetic and zealous warmth of its dic- 
tion. 
