Aware of my obsession with all things avian, a good friend allowed me access to Cal State East Bay's taxidermy collection. Many of their songbird specimens are ravaged by time and infestation, but there are a few intact, sketchable specimens like this seagull, in an especially life-like posture.
Then there's the Common Raven, never more, in a much less animated pose.
David Sedaris, humorist, author and frequent contributor to PRI's This American Life and The New Yorker magazine relates his experience buying a Valentine's Day gift at a London taxidermy shop -- my kinda guy. (see link below)
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/22/understanding-owls?currentPage=all
