This is a question aimed more at the "natural history museum types" out there...though no doubt everyone would have an opinion on the subject. Given the crisis regarding the decline of songbird populations across the Western Hemisphere, can anyone address how their museums are modifying or addressing the issue in relation to their collecting policies? This topic is certainly applicable to the collection of other animals and natural objects (shells, etc.) At our museum, the issue of collecting live animals (and the use of taxidermy in general) is becoming more and more thorny. We have not done this in quite some time, I think partly because we are paralyzed on this issue. Truthfully, we lack very little in our collection that we would need to acquire anything else, but occasionally it does come up. And we do have existing taxidermy displays in the museum which need maintenance. I personally do not like the idea of collecting animals for use in displays, regardless of its purpose, but am also at a loss for substitutions. Artificial specimens would be preferable in the "ethical arena", but they are prohibitively expensive, difficult to acquire and are (inexplicably) usually disappointing to visitors ("You mean it's not a real bird?") It's like fossil casts vs. the real fossil -the cast is somehow invalidated immediately in people's minds, even though it's an almost exact copy. I am interested to hear how other museums are approaching this. Thanks! William J. Bevil Exhibits Manager Fernbank Museum of Natural History 404.929.6343 404.370.8087 (fax) [log in to unmask] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).