Taxidermy Birds of Australasia: a Victorian cased display by Robert Clarke of Snettisham, Kings Lynn, circa 1900, including a very rare male and female pair of extinct New Zealand Huia birds (Heteralocha acutirostris), the full mount adults perched on a branched faux tree stump along with other antipodean species; a rose crowned fruit dove (Ptilinopus regina), Regent bower bird (Sericulus chrysocephalus), noisy pitta (Pitta versicolor), nightjar and magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca), amongst dried foliage, set on a soil textured rocky outcrop of grassy tufts, enclosed within an ebonised display case with painted taped frame, makers label, 83cm x 79.5cm x 34cm

Note: already rare before the Europeans arrived to Australasia, the Huia are a sacred bird to the Maori, prized for its plumes which were used as symbols of status and rank (taonga) and also in trade negotiations. The habitat of the bird was confined to the southern half of the North Island (Aotearoa) with the last recorded sighting said to have been in 1907. The fashion for wearing huai feathers in European society, including tail feathers as hat adornments and for the English aristocracy to have examples of the already rare birds in their collections (the Rothschilds being one prominent owner) prompted a decline in population, despite attempts in the late 19th century to prevent the hunting of the birds. As at the date of this catalogue the Huia tail feathers hold the record for being the most expensive bird feathers ever sold at auction. Examples of full birds are highly prized by museums and zoological collections as one of the best examples of extreme divergence between male and female beaks within the same species.