e long Mr. Sharpe and his
"merry men"--one of them, a German, the cleverest bird-mounter I ever
saw--will leave us in the lurch. Nevertheless, healthy emulation of
the best features of our national collection will do us no harm. ]

This struck me most forcibly with regard to that of Madrid, which I
visited some years ago. The vertebrate specimens were old and
wretchedly mounted, the lepidoptera nowhere; but the recently acquired
animals were splendidly rendered. The youthful and painstaking amateur
will, no doubt, however, do as I did when a boy--viz, pitch upon some
professional taxidermist, to whose window he will repair at all
available opportunities to learn his style, now and then venturing on
some small purchase (usually a pair of eyes), to gain admittance to
the glories within, and have speech with the great man himself.
Exploring in this manner, I have had occasion to thank many of the
leading London taxidermists for little "tips" ungrudgingly given.

A few hints may suffice to help the reader. The most important canon
is: Do not mix your orders of birds; that is to say, abstain from
surrounding a hawk tearing its prey, with various birds in all
attitudes, placidly ignoring the existence of their enemy. A scene of
this kind irresistibly reminds me of the stage "aside," when the
villain of the piece audibly proclaims vengeance against the
unconscious hero but two yards away on his right or left.

Birds not of the same kind, and from different parts of the world, are
often cased together, but this is open to criticism, unless you
avowedly wish to illustrate the whole order for purposes of reference,
as in the instance of, say, the Columbae (pigeons). Pairs of birds are
the most effective, if the idea of the surroundings is nicely carried
out.

I have seen one or two very funny effects in the "Black Country." In
one example, a scarlet ibis, mounted in a case on a broken piece of
highly gorgeous china gaselier; in another, two puppies facing each
other on velvet, a piece of rock salt in the middle, on which stood a
lapwing, surrounded by foreign birds in all attitudes. Need I warn the
reader against such flights of fancy and works of art?

It is, I would remark, quite impossible to give directions as to
attitudes, but on one point I might advise, in order to save the many
inquiries addressed to me, from time to time, upon the subject of the
straightness or otherwise of gulls' legs. The fact is--gulls, when
sta