[Gutenberg 46066] • Manual of Taxidermy / A Complete Guide in Collecting and Preserving Birds and Mammals

Manual of Taxidermy - A Complete Guide in Collecting and Preserving Birds and Mammals by Charles Johnson Maynard

Twenty-five or thirty years ago amateur collectors of birds were rare; in fact, excepting in the immediate vicinity of large cities, individuals who spent their leisure time in gathering birds for the sole purpose of study, were so seldom met with that, when one did occur, his occupation was so unusual as to excite the comments of his neighbors, and he became famous for miles around as highly eccentric. Such a man was regarded as harmless, but as just a little “cracked,” and the lower classes gazed at him with open-mouthed wonder as he pursued his avocations; while the more educated of his fellows regarded him with a kind of placid contempt. I am speaking now of the days when the ornithology of America was, so to speak, in obscurity; for the brilliant meteor-light of the Wilsonian and Audubonian period had passed, and the great public quickly forgot that the birds and their ways had ever been first in the minds of any one. To be sure, men like Cassin, Lawrence, Baird, and Bryant were constantly writing of birds, but they did it in a quiet, scientific way, which did not reach the general public. Possibly the political troubles in which our country was involved had something to do with the great ornithological depression which fell upon the popular mind. Strange as it may appear, however, for a period of thirty years after the completion of Audubon’s great work, not a general popular work of any kind was written on birds in America. Then appeared Samuels’ “Birds of New England,” published in 1867, a work which apparently did much toward turning the popular tide in favor of ornithological study, for from that time we can perceive a general awakening. Not only did the newspapers and magazines teem with articles on birds, but in the five succeeding years we find three important works on American ornithology announced as about to appear: Baird, Brewer, and Ridgeway’s “History of American Birds,” of which three volumes have appeared, published in 1874; Maynard’s “Birds of Florida,” issued in parts, but afterwards merged into the “Birds of Eastern North America,” completed in 1882, and Coues’ “Key,” published in 1872. Other works quickly followed, for now the popular ornithological tide was setting strongly towards the flood, and it has ever since been rushing on and gathering recruits as it goes, until the tidal wave of popular favor for ornithological pursuits has reached from shore to shore across our great continent; and where there were once only a few solitary devotees to this grand science, we can number thousands, and still they come; so that high-water mark is not yet reached, while to all appearances this tidal-wave will agitate the coming generation more strongly than it does the present.

Of all the vast numbers interested in the study of bird life, there are few who do not gather specimens. Years ago, in the beginning of the study, when the solitary naturalist had no one to sympathize with him in his pursuits, birds’ skins were usually made in what we would now consider a shocking manner. Within the last fifteen years, however, since ornithologists have become more numerous, and the opportunities of comparison of workmanship in preserving specimens has been facilitated, great improvements are seen. Slovenly prepared collections are now far from desirable; in fact, even rare specimens lose much of their value when poorly made up. When there are enough experienced collectors in one locality to compare notes as to the various improvements each has made in skin-making and mounting birds, one aids the other; but there is always a multitude of beginners who live in isolated localities and who do not number experienced collectors among their friends, and who consequently