SCIENTIFIC TAXIDERMY FOR MUSEUMS. 379 



copying' of nature through the far-reaching works of Dr. Elliott Cones, 

 who has said, in his Key to North American Birds: 



Faultless mounting [of birds] is an art really difficult, acquired by few; theaver- 

 age work done in this line shows something of caricature, ludicrous or repulsive, as 

 the ease maybe. To copy nature faithfully by taxidermy requires not only long 

 and close study, but an artistic sense; and this last is a rare gift. Unless you have 

 at least the germs of the faculty in your composition, your taxidermical success will 

 be incommensurate with the time and trouble you bestow. My own taxidermical 

 ait is of a low order, decidedly not above average. Although I have mounted a 

 great many birds that would compare very favorably with ordinary museum work, 

 few of them have entirely answered my ideas. A live bird is to me such a beautiful 

 object that the slightest taxidermical tlaw in the effort to represent it is painfully 

 offensive. Perhaps this makes me place the standard of excellence too high im- 

 practical purposes (p. 40, 2d ed., 1884). 



Powerful impulses of the best kind have often been instilled into the 

 art through the patronage and guidance of those who have at different 

 times in their careers been either directors of, or curators in. our larger 

 museums. I speak especially in this country of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution and the National Museum. 



Through the wise and ever-operative influence of our great Nestor of 

 all the sciences zoological, Prof. Spencer F. Baird, he so directed the 

 management of those institutions when under his administration that 

 their workshops came to be the great drill ground for many of the most 

 deserving who possessed the evidences of success in skillfully preserv- 

 ing all manner of objects illustrative of the various classes of the animal 

 kingdom. 



What has been the outcome of much of his wisdom we hope to por- 

 tray, however faintly, in the following pages. Most ably has Prof. 

 Baird's influence been fostered and furthered by the succeeding efforts 

 along similar lines of those who are his successors in the administration 

 of the Museum and who at the present time are doing so much to give 

 actual shape and form to what before was simply in outline and crude 

 beginnings. Where such influence tells the best is in th e directing of 

 the skilled efforts of the taxidermic artist in those cases where the lat- 

 ter, through lack of opportunity, fails to possess therequisite knowledge 

 of the forms and habits of many of the world's rarer animals. Indeed, 

 frequently some of the best group pieces of mounted mammals, birds, 

 and others, have resulted from the combined knowledge and skill of the 

 capable zoologist on the one hand and the trained taxidermist upon the 

 other. Not a few of such groups are to be found in the collections of 

 the Government museums. 



Very often it will be seen, then, in thefuture, I think, that hue, realistic 

 groups of mounted animals will be produced that will be composites; 

 in other words, will be the resultant of the combined labors of the 

 biologist, the taxidermist, the modeler, and the designer and artist. 

 Rarely will all these prerequisites be found in one man, though occasion- 

 ally undoubtedly it will be so; then the museum which can claim his 

 services will be very fortunate. 



