DOI issue:
No. 11 (February, 1894)
DOI article:Miller, Fred: Taxidermy as an art
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17189#0174
Taxidermy as an Art
admit of any outlay in artificial leaves and other in the design of the arrangement of the specimens
details; for Taxidermy, as carried out in the cases in and their surroundings. Birds, for instance,
the Natural History Museum, is necessarily very should be doing something, and the selection of
costly. Amateurs, however, who practise the art, the incident will bring out the taste and ingenuity
can do so much for themselves that the actual of the stuffer. In all good collections, besides
expenditure for such things need not be very the parent birds, the nest also is shown, either with
large; especially if the wax or imitation leaves eggs or nestlings, this greatly enhances the in-
and flowers are home-made. It is best that terest and value of the case. How well such a
the stuffer, more especially if he be an amateur, group can be managed is seen in the Jays and
should select the simplest possible arrange- Long-eared Owls, drawings of which I have made
ment so that elaborate artificial accessories are from specimens included in the Natural History
not necessary. A winter scene is very effective Museum, South Kensington. In groups, to arrange
and more easily managed than a summer subject, one or more in the act of flying gives a sense of
as one may see by cases in the Booth Museum movement which relieves the deadness that one is
! Jm
A GROUP OF YOUNG SAND MARTINS. BOOTH MUSEUM, BRIGHTON
at Brighton; and autumnal ones, or those when apt to feel in museums. At South Kensington the
the trees are leafless, are less hard to reproduce flying birds are frequently suspended from the top
than those in which much foliage is introduced, of the case by a thread, with what excellent effect
Shore birds and waders again are readily fixed can be seen in the case of " Red Shanks," and in
up and at the same time very effective, as the case the one I have drawn of " Black-headed Gulls."
of terns in the Natural History Museum at South The grouping of a number of birds, as in the case
Kensington show. It is not well to overcrowd a of " Sand Martins," from Booth's Museum, requires
case with artificial accessories, for Taxidermy, like considerable taste and skill, and deserves as much
all the arts, has its limitations which ought to be praise when successfully accomplished as the com-
frankly accepted; to attempt to overstep them is, position of a picture. Rocks can be more easily
but to draw attention to one's shortcomings, imitated and managed than foliage, and as these
Simplicity in setting and dressing should be the form the appropriate background to numbers of
watchword. English birds, such as the waders, the choice of
A good deal of art in the best cases is displayed subject should always be influenced by the ease of
162
admit of any outlay in artificial leaves and other in the design of the arrangement of the specimens
details; for Taxidermy, as carried out in the cases in and their surroundings. Birds, for instance,
the Natural History Museum, is necessarily very should be doing something, and the selection of
costly. Amateurs, however, who practise the art, the incident will bring out the taste and ingenuity
can do so much for themselves that the actual of the stuffer. In all good collections, besides
expenditure for such things need not be very the parent birds, the nest also is shown, either with
large; especially if the wax or imitation leaves eggs or nestlings, this greatly enhances the in-
and flowers are home-made. It is best that terest and value of the case. How well such a
the stuffer, more especially if he be an amateur, group can be managed is seen in the Jays and
should select the simplest possible arrange- Long-eared Owls, drawings of which I have made
ment so that elaborate artificial accessories are from specimens included in the Natural History
not necessary. A winter scene is very effective Museum, South Kensington. In groups, to arrange
and more easily managed than a summer subject, one or more in the act of flying gives a sense of
as one may see by cases in the Booth Museum movement which relieves the deadness that one is
! Jm
A GROUP OF YOUNG SAND MARTINS. BOOTH MUSEUM, BRIGHTON
at Brighton; and autumnal ones, or those when apt to feel in museums. At South Kensington the
the trees are leafless, are less hard to reproduce flying birds are frequently suspended from the top
than those in which much foliage is introduced, of the case by a thread, with what excellent effect
Shore birds and waders again are readily fixed can be seen in the case of " Red Shanks," and in
up and at the same time very effective, as the case the one I have drawn of " Black-headed Gulls."
of terns in the Natural History Museum at South The grouping of a number of birds, as in the case
Kensington show. It is not well to overcrowd a of " Sand Martins," from Booth's Museum, requires
case with artificial accessories, for Taxidermy, like considerable taste and skill, and deserves as much
all the arts, has its limitations which ought to be praise when successfully accomplished as the com-
frankly accepted; to attempt to overstep them is, position of a picture. Rocks can be more easily
but to draw attention to one's shortcomings, imitated and managed than foliage, and as these
Simplicity in setting and dressing should be the form the appropriate background to numbers of
watchword. English birds, such as the waders, the choice of
A good deal of art in the best cases is displayed subject should always be influenced by the ease of
162