EXPLANATION OF PLATE XVI.
Contributions of Ornamental Taxidermy from the New York Exhibition of the Society of American Taxidermists to the U.S. National Museum.
| Fig. | ||
| 1. | "Coming to the Point" | By W.T. Hornaday. |
| Special Medal at Third Exhibition of S.A. | ||
| T.; also medal at Cincinnati Exposition, | ||
| 1884. | ||
| 2. | "An Interrupted Dinner" | By Frederic A. Lucas. |
| Diploma of Honor at First Exhibition. | ||
| 3. | Head of Caribou | By W.J. Critchley. |
| (Presented by Professor Henry A. Ward.) | ||
| 4. | Peacock Screen | By Thos. W. Fraine. |
| 5. | "Wounded Heron" | By F.S. Webster. |
| Second Specialty Medal, Third Exhibition, | ||
| S.A.T. | ||
| 6. | Dead Gull | By Edwin A. Capen. |
| 7. | Frightened Owl | By John Wallace. |
| Special Medal, Third Exhibition. | ||
| 8. | Bald Eagle | By John Wallace. |
| 9. | Fox Squirrel | By P.W. Aldrich. |
| 10. | Humming-Bird Group | By Mr. and Mrs. |
| Geo. H. Hedley. | ||
| 11. | Group of Gray Squirrels | By Joseph Palmer. |
| 12. | Group of Ducks | By William Palmer. |
| 13. | Grotesque Group of Frogs | By J.F.D. Bailly. |
| 14. | Frogs Skating | By J.F.D. Bailly. |
| 15. | Snowy Heron | By Thomas Rowland. |
| 16. | Portrait of Jules Verreaux | By J.F.D. Bailly. |
PLATE XVI.
[a]Ornamental]
[a]TAXIDERMY.]
Table Groups.—Very fine specimens are often furnished with cases having glass on all sides, including the top, permitting inspection from all points. Of course every group of this kind requires a small table for its base. The most striking table group I have ever seen is one that was prepared by Mr. F.A. Lucas, entitled "An Interrupted Dinner," and represented by Fig. 2, Plate XVI. A red-tailed hawk has just killed a ruffed grouse, and has scarcely begun his meal when a goshawk swoops down upon him with outstretched talons to seize the quarry. The hawk has turned upon his back, shielding his prey with one wing, and with beak and talons "at full cock" is ready to receive his assailant, who hovers in mid-air immediately above him. The goshawk is supported on an invisible brass standard, which enters his body by way of the tail, and the illusion is perfect.
[a]Fig. 57.]—Wall-case of Birds, by Frederic A. Lucas.
Mr. Frederic S. Webster has in his Washington studio a table-case single specimen which is in every sense a masterpiece. It is very nearly a replica, but with a heron of a larger species, of his prize piece, "The Wounded Heron," represented in Plate XVI., Fig. 5. A snowy heron lies on its back (on a black velvet panel), its breast pierced by a gilt arrow, which the wounded bird has seized with its right foot, and is endeavoring to withdraw. The subject is a difficult one, and its treatment in every detail is masterly.
Dead-Game Panels.—Game birds of all kinds—particularly the handsomest ducks, geese, grouse, woodcock, and snipe—made to represent bunches of dead game, are very popular as dining-room ornaments, and during the last ten years the taxidermists of this country have produced thousands of them, many of great beauty. In regard to their proper make-up I will offer a few suggestions.