Last spring Heather took me into the Natural History Museum to see one single object in the taxidermy birds gallery, the hummingbird case. She chose this one artifact because we didn't have much time to spend. Unfortunately, on this trip, I again didn't have enough time. We ran in, shot the case, and ran out.
This large cabinet houses hundreds of hummingbirds, of all varieties, grouped by their colouring from sapphire to ruby and emerald-breasted. At a distance it looks like a 200 year old herbarium, but the foliage on this tree shape is formed by the stiffly, yet incredibly beautiful, posed birds and their nests. I imagine this collection, some speculate it once belonged to William Bullock, being the envy of every English man practicing naturalism during the Romantic Era.
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