A duel between two dormice, with moles as gravediggers.
"A Declaration of Love." Two weasels.
"A Nursery Maid." One old and four young weasels.
"Shaving a Luxury." One frog shaving another.
Apropos of the above, frogs lend themselves better to comic scenes than almost any other animal, from their ridiculous likeness, when erect on their hind legs, to mighty man. Hence advantage is often taken of this; and amongst mirth-provoking caricatures I have seen "A Steeplechase," frogs mounted on puppies as horses, some tumbling at the water-jump, others riding to win, some unhorsed, scrambling after their steeds, and so on; "The Battle of the Nile," frogs on rafts of leaves of water plants, attacking one another with small bulrushes; duel scenes; "Courtship" and "Matrimony"; "Fortiter in Re," a young frog soundly smacked (in the most approved fashion) by the irate paternal frog; the companion picture, "Suaviter in Modo," a young frog soothed by maternal affection.
Monkeys are the next best for comic scenes, but are more awkward to handle, and not half so funny, unless very carefully modelled to caricature the manners and customs of the human subject. Pourtrayed as shoemakers, acrobats, as "You dirty boy!" or, as in the Fisheries Exhibition of 1883, as "The Enthusiast" (a gouty monkey fishing in a tub placed in his sick chamber), they are, perhaps, the most successful. The addition of miniature furniture to assist the delusion is permissible; but, after all, these caricatures are not artistic taxidermy, and they are only allowable now and then as a relaxation.
Perhaps that which most exercises the skill and judgment of the taxidermic artist is reproducing large groups of some of Landseer's pictures, such as, "The Combat" (two stags fighting); the "Stag at Bay," and others in connection with hunting. Lion and tiger fighting over prey; two tigers fighting for possession of a deer; head and paws of lion or tiger peeping over a rock; tiger crouching for a spring on some feeding animal; lion and zebra; panther or jaguar crouching on an overhanging tree-trunk; leopard killed by a gemsbok antelope; polar bear killing seal on ice; lynx creeping over snow upon grouse; wolf leaping with fore-legs in air on receiving his death-shot; fox in "full cry;" fox just missing a pheasant or duck by only securing the tail feathers; two foxes fighting; fox and playing cubs; fox and trapped rabbit (after Ansdell); "Heads and Tails," fox coming over bank as rabbit disappears; dogs and puppies; cats and kittens (see Landseer's, Ansdell's, Couldery's, and Frank Paton's pictures for treatment of these); otters and young; otters with fish (see Landseer's and Rolfe's pictures for these); otters diving after fish, both seen in mid-water, are some of the studies which have been, or can be, executed.
Among birds, eagles and falcons at rest or in action are the most capable of artistic treatment, such as "The Eagle's Throne" (after Wolf); laemmergeyer carrying off lamb; hawks fighting over a small bird, allowing the latter to escape; peregrine falcon striking a bittern; eagle and wild cat; sea-eagle and gulls; osprey and fish. In connection with the last, one of the very best things I ever saw done with these specimens was in the Fisheries Exhibition, 1883, a piece of work — a study it might be called — executed by a German residing in London. It represented an osprey tugging a fish from some sea rocks.
Both fish and bird were excellently rendered; the latter, with wings expanded, had gripped the fish with both feet, and had raised it in the air some distance off the rocks; the fish was, however, entangled by a line and hook it had swallowed; and the action of the fish-hawk in attempting to tear the fish away was wonderfully fine, the feathers were raised about the head, the eye was fierce, and the sidelong waft of the wings was most natural. The study was all the more interesting from the fact that both bird and fish were poised in air without any visible means of support, the case enclosing them being of glass all around. How it was managed was easy for the professional eye to discover, but I do not think I should be doing justice to the inventor to describe the method.
Amongst the water birds, which are the next best, perhaps, for artistic treatment, come the swans, in the attitude of swimming (see Chapter XII.), ducks swimming, diving, and flying. "The Widowed Duck" — after the celebrated picture — was one of the things very nicely rendered in the "Fisheries Exhibition;" the painting of an artistic scene at the back of this case helped the effect wonderfully, as it usually does in good work. "Hooded Crows Tracking a Widgeon," and "Wounded Tern," fallen by its eggs, were two other clever groups — said to be "copyright," though how on earth such things can be copyright I do not know, especially as not one of the things exhibited could be called original; indeed, everything I saw at the "Fisheries," with the exception of the osprey mentioned above, had been done over and over again by German, French, and English artists.