MANUAL OF TAXIDERMY
A Complete Guide
IN COLLECTING AND PRESERVING
BIRDS AND MAMMALS
BY C. J. MAYNARD
ILLUSTRATED
BOSTON
S. E. CASSINO AND COMPANY
1883
Copyright,
BY S. E. CASSINO & CO.
1883.
ELECTROTYPED.
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
No. 4 Pearl Street.
INTRODUCTION.
Twenty-five or thirty years ago amateur collectorsof birds were rare; in fact, excepting in theimmediate vicinity of large cities, individuals whospent their leisure time in gathering birds for thesole purpose of study, were so seldom met withthat, when one did occur, his occupation was sounusual as to excite the comments of his neighbors,and he became famous for miles around ashighly eccentric. Such a man was regarded asharmless, but as just a little “cracked,” and thelower classes gazed at him with open-mouthedwonder as he pursued his avocations; while themore educated of his fellows regarded him with akind of placid contempt. I am speaking now ofthe days when the ornithology of America was, soto speak, in obscurity; for the brilliant meteor-lightof the Wilsonian and Audubonian period hadpassed, and the great public quickly forgot thatthe birds and their ways had ever been first in the[Pg iv]minds of any one. To be sure, men like Cassin,Lawrence, Baird, and Bryant were constantlywriting of birds, but they did it in a quiet, scientificway, which did not reach the general public.Possibly the political troubles in which our countrywas involved had something to do with the greatornithological depression which fell upon the popularmind. Strange as it may appear, however, fora period of thirty years after the completion ofAudubon’s great work, not a general popular workof any kind was written on birds in America. Thenappeared Samuels’ “Birds of New England,” publishedin 1867, a work which apparently did muchtoward turning the popular tide in favor of ornithologicalstudy, for from that time we can perceivea general awakening. Not only did the newspapersand magazines teem with articles on birds, butin the five succeeding years we find three importantworks on American ornithology announced asabout to appear: Baird, Brewer, and Ridgeway’s“History of American Birds,” of which three volumeshave appeared, published in 1874; Maynard’s“Birds of Florida,” issued in parts, but afterwardsmerged into the “Birds of Eastern NorthAmerica,” completed in 1882, and Coues’ “Key,”published in 1872. Other works quickly followed,[Pg v]for now the popular ornithological tide was settingstrongly towards the flood, and it has ever sincebeen rushing on and gathering recruits as it goes,until the tidal wave of popular favor for ornithologicalpursuits has reached from shore to shoreacross our great continent; and where there wereonce only a few solitary devotees to this grandscience, we can number thousands, and still theycome; so that high-water mark is not yet reached,while to all appearances this tidal-wave will agitatethe coming generation more strongly than it doesthe present.
Of all the vast numbers interested in t