The mounting of birds and the small animals of the field and forest is
an art which is possessed by few people, yet which is not difficult and
which especially appeals to the lover of nature. It is an art which
it is well worth while popularizing, for it can be made the vehicle
for the expression of a great deal of beauty, while preserving and
making use, in the interests of scientific study, of materials which
otherwise would be irretrievably lost. There has been need for some
time of an authoritative work on the subject, something which would
enable the amateur to mount birds and animals and which would be full
and complete as to the information it conveyed. This want has been met
by Mr. John Rowley, the chief of the Department of Taxidermy in the
American Museum of Natural History, who has written a convenient volume
of something over two hundred pages on "The Art of Taxidermy," which
has just been published by the Appletons. In the foreword with which
the author introduces the book he says that the name "taxidermy" was
formerly applied to the trade of most inartistically upholstering a
skin, but that of late years it has made wonderful strides.