[Illustration: HEAD OF ROYAL BENGAL TIGER. MOUNTED BY THE AUTHOR.]
TAXIDERMY
AND
ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING
_A COMPLETE HANDBOOK FOR THE AMATEUR TAXIDERMIST,
COLLECTOR, OSTEOLOGIST, MUSEUM-BUILDER,
SPORTSMAN, AND TRAVELLER_
BY
WILLIAM. T. HORNADAY
_For eight years Chief Taxidermist of the U.S. National Museum; for
seven years Zoological Collector and Taxidermist for Ward's Natural
Science Establishment; late Superintendent of the National Zoological
Park; author of "Two Years in the Jungle," etc._
WITH CHAPTERS ON
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS
BY W.J. HOLLAND, PH.D., D.D.
_Chancellor Western University of Pennsylvania; President of the
Academy of Science and Art of Pittsburg, and the Iron City
Microscopical Society; Life Member of the Ent. Soc. of France; Fellow
of the Ent. Soc. of London, etc._
ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES BRADFORD HUDSON
AND OTHER ARTISTS
24 plates and 85 Text Illustrations
_FOURTH EDITION_
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1894
COPYRIGHT, 1891 BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY
NEW YORK
To
G. BROWN GOODE, LL D.
WHOSE LIBERAL POLICY HAS DONE SO MUCH
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF AMERICAN TAXIDERMY
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED AS AN EXPRESSION
OF APPRECIATION OF HIS VALUABLE PUBLIC SERVICES IN THE
ORGANIZATION, DIRECTION, AND DEVELOPMENT OF
THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
AND ALSO OF
SINCERE PERSONAL REGARD
PREFACE.
In these heydays of popular zoology, when eager young naturalists are
coming to the front in crowds, and fine new scientific museums are starting
up on every hand, there is small need to apologize for the appearance of a
work designed expressly for the naturalist and museum-builder. Had justice
been done, some one would have written this book ten years ago.
The rapid and alarming destruction of all forms of wild animal life which
is now going on furiously throughout the entire world, renders it
imperatively necessary for those who would build up great zoological
collections to be up and doing before any more of the leading species are
exterminated. It is already too late to collect wild specimens of the
American bison, Californian elephant seal, West Indian seal, great auk, and
Labrador duck. Very soon it will also be too late to collect walrus,
manatee, fur seal, prong-horn antelope, elk, moose, mountain sheep, and
mountain goat. All along the Atlantic coast and in Florida the ducks are
being exterminated for the metropolitan markets, and the gulls, terns,
herons, egrets, ibises, and spoonbills are being slaughtered wholesale for
the equally bloodthirsty goddess of Fashion. If the naturalist would gather
representatives of all these forms for perpetual preservation, and future
study, he must set about it at once.
This work is offered as my contribution to the science of zoology and the
work of the museum-builder. It is entirely "an affair of the heart," and my
only desire in regard to it is that it may be the means of materially
increasing the world's store of well-selected and well-preserved examples
of the beautiful and interesting animal forms that now inhabit the earth
and its waters. The sight of a particularly fine animal, either alive or
dead, excites within me feelings of admiration that often amount to genuine
affection; and the study and preservation of such forms has for sixteen
years been my chief delight.
In these pages I have sought to give, in clear language, the detailed
information which I have found deplorably lacking in all "manuals" on this
subject that I have ever seen, save one, in French, published many years
ago, and which, while very tiresome to write out, are precisely what the
practical worker wants. I hold a permanent grudge against those who have
written before me on the subjects here treated of, because of what they did
_not_ write. The average book on taxidermy contains four times too much
"padding," and not one quarter enough practical information. "If this be
treason, make the most of it."
The students of entomology are indebted to Dr. Holland for his admirable
chapters on Insects, and I leave them to make their own acknowledgments. My
own very sincere thanks are hereby tendered him for his valuable
contribution to this work, thereby making it complete. I am also under
obligations to Mr. Charles Bradford Hudson, the accomplished artist, whose
skill has done so much to explain and embellish the text. The spirit and
interest with which he entered into his share of the work very materially
lightened and encouraged my own tardy labors.
My thanks are also due to my valued friend, Mr. Frederic A. Lucas, of the
Department of Comparative Anatomy, National Museum, and one of the founders
of the Society of American Taxidermists, for advice and assistance in the
preparation of the illustrations relating to work on skeletons. Mr. W.
Harvey Brown, Naturalist of the U.S. Eclipse Expedition to Africa, kindly
wrote for me nearly all of the chapter on "Mounting Disarticulated
Skeletons;" Messrs. William Palmer and John W. Hendley, of the National
Museum, also rendered me valuable services; for all of which I gladly
record here an expression of my thanks and appreciation.
Having already retired from taxidermy forever, this is positively my "last
appearance" in this field.
W.T.H.
BUFFALO, N.Y.
CONTENTS.
Part 1.
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
THE WORKER, AND THE WORK TO BE DONE, 1-7
CHAPTER II.
OUTFITS, AND HINTS ON HUNTING, 8-19
CHAPTER III.
HOW TO SELECT AND STUDY FRESH SPECIMENS, 20-23
CHAPTER IV.
TREATMENT OF THE SKINS OF SMALL MAMMALS, 24-36
CHAPTER V.
COLLECTING AND PRESERVING THE SKINS OF LARGE MAMMALS, 37-45
CHAPTER VI.
COLLECTING SKINS OF SMALL BIRDS, 46-57
CHAPTER VII.
COLLECTING SKINS OF LARGE BIRDS, 58-63
CHAPTER VIII.
COLLECTING REPTILES, 66-70
CHAPTER IX.
COLLECTING FISHES, 71-79
CHAPTER X.
COLLECTING MARINE INVERTEBRATES, 80-89
CHAPTER XI.
COLLECTING BIRDS' EGGS AND NESTS, 90-97
Part 2.
TAXIDERMY.