gst the water birds, then, we may
instance herons with young as making a nice group, moorhens leading
out their young on water under a mossy bank and so on; and this brings
us to the question of mounting pairs of birds, with their nests and
eggs, or nests and young.

GROUPS OF BIRDS AND YOUNG, WITH MODELLED FOLIAGE--Nothing in taxidermy
requires more correct mounting and taste, and nothing is more
charming, if properly done, than illustrating the life-history of,
say, a pair of birds with their nest and young. Take any birds you
like--sparrows or robins--and, if you know anything, you may "invest
with artistic merit" even such common specimens as these. There is a
certain fascination in young things which, I suppose, calls up all the
kindly feelings of our nature, and so it is that young birds tended by
their parents are groups which appeal the most to the finer senses,
besides being really educative if worked out properly.

I remember, quite twenty years ago, when a boy, seeing a collection of
nearly all the "British" birds, their nests and eggs, for sale, so
that the idea is not a new one, nor is that of surrounding such
groups, with proper accessories and modelled leaves and flowers, as
will shortly be exhibited to the public in the new "British" Natural
History Room at South Kensington, and as is now exhibited in the
Leicester Museum. I remember getting foliage done for me many years
ago for such groups, and I believe Mr. Shaw, of Shrewsbury, did it
long before I copied his lead. Who was the original inventor of this
system I know not, but I shrewdly suspect we have to thank French
artists for this. Let it be thoroughly understood that I do not intend
to disparage the beautiful work done for South Kensington by the
various gentlemen and artists interested, but I merely point the
adage, "Nothing new under the sun."

Of course, when I say "modelled foliage" I do not allude to stamped
leaves in various materials, sold at so much (or so little) a gross,
and used to "decorate" "boxes of birds" in the "Black Country" quite
fifty or sixty years ago, but that which has arisen on its ashes in
response to the cry for "more art," and because of the impossibility
of getting any other natural flowers than "everlasting," or any other
leaves than those of grasses and ferns (mentioned in the last
chapter), to dry for decorative, or, as we say, "fitting up" purposes.

To describe the processes involved in copying leaves and flow