Records show that the great bustards at the museum were donated by:
- Female bustard, 1871, Mr E Leywood
- Male bustard, 1871, Mr Glysman-Pinckney
- Male bustard, 1916, Mr Newall
- Male bustard, 1919, Mr Erlysman Pinching
The museum has a range of other taxidermy specimens, but they are no longer displayed.
Taxidermy is the art of preparing, stuffing, and mounting the skins of animals. It has been practised since ancient Egyptian times, but the craze for making the specimens look as lifelike as possible took off in Victorian times, after London’s Great Exhibition, 1851.