Taxidermy: A Late Victorian Cased Black Grouse & Cased Possible Extinct Heath Hen or Prairie...
Taxidermy: A Late Victorian Cased Black Grouse & Cased Possible Extinct Heath Hen or Prairie Chicken & Snipe, a full mount adult Black Grouse cock bird, by B. Greenwell, Bird & Animal preserver, Alston, stood amidst a natural moorland setting of heather, ferns and fauna, set against a wash painted interior, enclosed within a period single-glass display case, 50.5cm by 19.5cm by 47.5cm, together with a cased possible ExtinctHeath Hen or Prairie Chicken, a full mount adult bird stood upon moss covered groundwork, a full mount Common Snipe behind with head raised, set against a pale blue sky painted interior, enclosed within a period single-glass display case with gilded slip, 37.5cm by 17cm by 37cm, The Heath Hen was a distinctive subspecies of the greater Prairie Chicken, a large North American bird in the grouse family that became extinct in 1932. It is sometimes considered a separate species, without data to confirm we can only speculate that this particular bird could be a Heath Hen, similarities between the species makes true identification very difficult.