Essays on natural history, chiefly ornithology / By Charles Waterton, with a continuation of the autobiography of the author.

  • Waterton, Charles, 1782-1865.
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Essays on natural history, chiefly ornithology / By Charles Waterton, with a continuation of the autobiography of the author. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    The Peacock in the Crystal Palace. To the Editor of the Illustrated London News. “’Tis out, my lord, in every one of its dimensions.” Sir,—Leaving the head and all its ailments to a consultation of doctors deeply versed in modern taxidermy, I proceed to examine the neck and breast, so true in their proportions when the bird was living—so altered now in death. Their once charming hue no longer meets the eye. Their feathers lie in sad confusion, and forcibly condemn the hand that has placed them in such a dis- tressing irregularity. Had the reverend operator been aware that skin is thickest where the feathers grow, and thinnest where there are none, he might have prevented the ugliness which he has stamped upon these ill-con- ditioned parts. By the practice of internal modelling, he would easily have gained his end. But such has been his perverseness in pursuing the old illusive path, that he seems never once, even by mere chance, to have deviated into the right road. The thighs are sickly objects, and are in neglected plumage. One is smaller than the other, as though it were labouring under an attack of long protracted rheumatism, whilst gross mismangement at the knees is painfully apparent. The shoulders, too, are twisted out of symmetry; and the feathers on the rump, for want of daily attention to them, have been allowed to dry down flat upon the skin, flat as a shrovetide pancake; and this, too, in the immediate vicinity of an elevated tail! Craving a small corner in the next Illustrated News for a short concluding paper.—I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient and humble servant, Charles Waterton.