of the British Museum runs the entire length of the building. It is
divided into five compartments, and its space is devoted to the
display of Birds, Shells, and a few Paintings. The birds exhibited in
this gallery fill no less than one hundred and sixty-six wall-cases;
and the shells which are distributed throughout the central space
occupy fifty large tables: the lesser tables which are placed here and
there near the birds, being devoted to the display of birds' eggs. The
pictures are hung above the wall-cases. This general glance at the
arrangement of the gallery, will prevent the visitor from falling into
the error of distracting his attention from one order of zoological
development to another at frequent intervals. Already he has examined
the various species of animal life which rank in the highest
class--the mammalia. Before him now, are ranged vast numbers of the
second class of animal life; and he will do well to pay these some
attention, and to get definite impressions regarding them, before he
turns to the other attractions which the museum offers. Before
proceeding to examine the first order of birds which are in the first
eastern room, the visitor should glance at the historical portraits
suspended above the cases. Among them he will find a Mary Queen of
Scots, by Cornelius Jansen; a Cromwell, presented by the Protector to
Colonel Rich of the parliamentary forces, by whose great-grandson it
was bequeathed to the trustees of the museum; William Duke of
Cumberland by Morier; Zucchero's Queen Elizabeth; Sir Peter Lely's
Charles the Second; and the Queen of George the Second by Jarvis.
Having sufficiently examined these works, the visitor should at once
begin his inspection of the Raptores or