William Henry Hudson - Birds and Man

Years ago, in a chapter concerning eyes in a book of Patagonianmemories, I spoke of the unpleasant sensations produced in me by thesight of stuffed birds. Not bird skins in the drawers of a cabinet, itwill be understood, these being indispensable to the ornithologist, andvery useful to the larger class of persons who without beingornithologists yet take an intelligent interest in birds. Theunpleasantness was at the sight of skins stuffed with wool and set up ontheir legs in imitation of the living bird, sometimes (oh, mockery!) intheir "natural surroundings." These "surroundings" are as a ruleconstructed or composed of a few handfuls of earth to form the floor ofthe glass casesand, rock, clay, chalk, or gravel; whatever thematerial may be it invariably has, like all "matter out of place," agrimy and depressing appearance. On the floor are planted grasses,sedges, and miniature bushes, made of tin or zinc and then dipped in abucket of green paint. In the chapter referred to it was said, "When theeye closes in death, the bird, except to the naturalist, becomes a merebundle of dead feathers; crystal globes may be put into the emptysockets, and a bold life-imitating attitude given to the stuffedspecimen, but the vitreous orbs shoot forth no life-like glances: the'passion and the life whose fountains are within' have vanished, and thebest work of the taxidermist, who has given a life to his bastard art,produces in the mind only sensations of irritation and disgust."

That, in the last clause, was wrongly writ. It should have been mymind, and the minds of those who, knowing living birds intimately as Ido, have the same feeling about them.

This, then, being my feeling about stuffed birds, set up in their"natural surroundings," I very naturally avoid the places where they areexhibited. At Brighton, for instance, on many occasions when I havevisited and stayed in that town, there was no inclination to see theBooth Collection, which is supposed to be an ideal collection of Britishbirds; and we know it was the life-work of a zealous ornithologist whowas also a wealthy man, and who spared no pains to make it perfect ofits kind. About eighteen months ago I passed a night in the house of afriend close to the Dyke Road, and next morning, having a couple ofhours to get rid of, I strolled into the museum. It was painfullydisappointing, for though no actual pleasure had been expected, thedistress experienced was more than I had bargained for. It happened thata short time before, I had been watching the living Dartford warbler, ata time when the sight of this small elusive creature is loveliest, fornot only was the bird in his brightest feathers, but his surroundingswere then most perfect

The whin was frankincense and flame.

His appearance, as I saw him then and on many other occasions inthe furze-flowering season, is fully described in a chapter inthis book; but on this particular occasion while watching my birdI saw it in a new and unexpected aspect, and in my surprise anddelight I exclaimed mentally, "Now I have seen the furze wren athis very best!"

It was perhaps a very rare thingone of those effects of light onplumage which we are accustomed to see in birds that have glossedmetallic feathers, and, more rarely, in other kinds. Thus theturtle-dove when flying from the spectator with a strongsunlight on its upper plumage, sometimes at a distance of two tothree hundred yards, appears of a shining whiteness.

I had been watching the birds for a couple of hours, sitting quitestill on a tuft of heather among the furze-bushes, and atintervals they came to me, impelled by curiosity and solicitude,their nests being near, but, ever restless, they would neverremain more than a few seconds at a time in sight. The prettiestand the boldest was a male, and it was this bird that in the endflew to a bush within twelve yards of where I sat, and perching ona spray about on a level with my eyes exhibited himself to me inhis characteristic manner, the long tail raised, crest erect,crimson eye sparkling, and throat puffed out with his littlescolding notes. But his colour was no longer that of the furzewren: seen at a distance the upper plumage always appearsslaty-black; near at hand it is of a deep slaty-brown; now it wasdark, sprinkled or frosted over with a delicate greyish-white, thewhite of oxidised silver; and this rare and beautiful appearancecontinued for a space of about twenty seconds; but no sooner didhe flit to another spray than it vanished, and he was oncemore the slaty-brown little bird with a chestnut-red breast.

It is unlikely that I shall ever again see the furze wren in thisaspect, with a curious splendour wrought by the sunlight in thedark but semi-translucent delicate feathers of his mantle; but itsimage is in the mind, and, with a thousand others equallybeautiful, remains to me a permanent possession.

As I went in to see the famous Booth Collection, a thought of thebird I have just described came into my mind; and glancing roundthe big long room with shelves crowded with stuffed birds, likethe crowded shelves of a shop, to see where the Dartford warblerswere, I went straight to the case and saw a group of them fastenedto a furze-bush, the specimens twisted by the stuffer into avariety of attitudesancient, dusty, dead little birds, painful tolook ata libel on nature and an insult to a man's intelligence.

It was a relief to go from this case to the others, which were notof the same degree of badness, but all, like the furze wrens, werein their natural surroundingsthe pebbles, bit of turf, paintedleaves, and what not, and, finally, a view of the wide worldbeyond, the green earth and the blue sky, all painted onthe little square of deal or canvas which formed the back of theglass case.

Listening to the talk of other visitors who were making the roundof the room, I heard many sincere expressions of admiration: theywere really pleased and thought it all very wonderful. That is, infact, the common feeling which most persons express in suchplaces, and, assuming that it is sincere, the obvious explanationis that they know no better. They have never properly seenanything in nature, but have looked always with mind and the innervision preoccupied with other and familiar thingsindoor scenesand objects, and scenes described in books. If they had everlooked at wild birds properlythat is to say, emotionallytheimages of such sights would have remained in their minds; and,with such a standard for comparison, these dreary remnants of deadthings set before them as restorations and as semblances of lifewould have only produced a profoundly depressing effect.

We hear of the educational value of such exhibitions, and it may beconceded that they might be made useful to young students of zoology,by distributing the specimens over a large area, arranged in scatteredgroups so as to give a rough idea of the relationship existing amongits members, and of all together to other neighbouring groups, and toothers still further removed. The one advantage of such a plan to theyoung student would be, that it would help him to get rid of the falsenotion, which classification studied in books invariably produces,that nature marshals her species in a line or row, or her genera in achain. But no such plan is ever attempted, probably because it wouldonly be for the benefit of about one person in five hundred visitors,and the expense would be too great.