How to See the British Museum in Four Visits by W. Blanchard Jerrold
page 30 of 221 (13%)
page 30 of 221 (13%)
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This order is divided into four distinct families--the Pigeons, the Curassows, the Pheasants, and the Grouse and Partridge tribe. Of these families the museum contains a fine and complete collection. The beauty of the pheasant family--its varieties ranging from the gaudy splendour of the peacock to the more modest beauty of the common hen--are here fully represented. In the first case (84) of Scraping Birds, are grouped the Asiatic, African, and Australian tree pigeons, which inhabit the woods, and live on berries and various kinds of seeds. The collection includes the Javan black-capped pigeon, and the parrot and aromatic pigeons of India. The two next cases (85, 86) are filled with the true pigeons and turtles of various parts of the world, in all their varieties--the Indian nutmeg pigeon, and the Australian antarctic pigeon. The next case is devoted to the common European turtle and the North American migratory pigeon. The next case is filled with the varieties of the ground Dove, among which the visitor should notice the ground turtle, the West Indian partridge pigeon, the great crowned pigeon of the Indian Isles, and the bronze-winged pigeon of Australia. Leaving the pigeons behind, the visitor's attention is next called to the two cases of Curassows (89, 90), the poultry peculiar to South America. They feed on fruit, worms, and insects; and live in small flocks. The curassows are followed by the varieties of the pheasant tribe, grouped in thirteen cases (91-103). The three first cases are given up to the splendid East Indian Pheasants known to Europeans generally, as peacocks. They were brought to the west and valued for the beauty of their plumage many centuries before the Christian era, and no doubt helped to inflame the imagination of the Mediterranean merchants who dreamt of the untold wealth of the Indies. The specimens of these |
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