Booth's technique 

Edward Booth employed George Saville, from Belgium via Cambridge, as his taxidermist, who was rumoured to been paid £25 per month, a huge sum in those days.

Booth’s technique was to shoot the specimens and probably while still in the field he would make a large, rather primitive painting of the area in which the bird had been obtained. The skinned bird along with the painting would be presented to Saville. A painting of the bird would be made and cut out, then placed on the landscape painting, moved around until the desired composition was achieved, and glued into place. Saville would mount the birds and replicate Booth's painting in the form of a display case. These cases range from two feet by three feet to six feet by six feet.

Prior to Booth’s collection, mounted birds were usually placed on simple wooden perches. Booth’s dioramas, as well as his museum, are his major legacy to the world. The idea of exhibiting the bird as well as its environment has been widely copied all over of the world, and perfected in large museums in the USA such as  The American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Institute.

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