Display case of 203 species of hummingbirds, c 1857–76, mixed media, source: Museum Victoria, photographed by Ben Healley, image copyright Museum Victoria 2013.
Frederick McCoy bought in excess of 5000 birds from John Gould in England between 1857 and 1876 for his National Museum. In 1849 Gould had begun A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of Humming-birds for which he had been collecting samples. Gould did not see his first live bird until 1857.