THE OOLOGIST 



trade and went into his father-in-law's 

 photographic studio as assistant. This 

 was tlie period of the daguerrotype, 

 and many beautiful specimens of their 

 work in this line of art are still to be 

 found hidden away in many homes 

 throughout the town of Nazareth and 

 adjoining districts. 



The civil war being in progress at 

 this time, Mr. Kunstman was appoint- 

 ed "General Photographer for the First 

 Division of the 11th Army Corps" and 

 went South to follow the army of the 

 Potomac. Mr. Werner now took ex- 

 clusive charge of the studio at Naz- 

 areth and while his work was still in 

 the experimental stage he grew more 

 proficient from day to day Mr. Wer- 

 ner, however, could not adapt himself 

 to indoor life and work and occasional- 

 ly left the Nazareth studio to the care 

 of a helper and joined his father-in-law 

 in the war studio which was nothing 

 more than a crude hut in the open and 

 very frequently, owing to the move- 

 ments of the army, only a tent. 



After the war Mr. Werner began to 

 travel and make collections of birds 

 and animals. 1 am informed that at 

 first he used his father-in-law's store- 

 room which was vacant, and arranged 

 scenery in the show windows. These 

 represented mountains, trees, birds, 

 and other things of interest, but 

 rather unusual in their way; and be- 

 cause of this the thrifty Pennsyl- 

 vanians of the district thought Mr. 

 Werner was wasting a great deal of 

 time foolishly. When, however, he be- 

 gan grouping his birds and putting 

 them under glass cases they became 

 somewhat interested especially after 

 hearing that he was able to sell them. 



It was at this point that Mr. Wer- 

 ner's training in his father-in-law's 

 studio became of value to him, and as 

 he traveled in nearly every state and 

 territory in the United States, he 

 carried with him an artist's outfit and 



grouped and painted birds as he saw 

 them in their native environment. 

 These water color sketches bear in his 

 own handwriting the scientific names 

 of the birds represented together with 

 his signature. 



By the time he had acquired a 

 modest reputation in this line of work 

 (with little encouragement from any- 

 one except his father-in-law and wife 

 who also has acquired considerable 

 proficiency in preparing the birds for 

 grouping and mounting) the Centen- 

 nial Exhibition was held in Philadel- 

 phia (1876) and he and his father-in- 

 law decided to be among the exhibitors. 



Mr. Kunstman conceived the unique 

 idea of arranging their exhibit in imi- 

 tation of the old Pennsylvania Dutch 

 Springhouse which stood on the farm 

 where he was born, and here by some 

 ariangement water was brought to 

 lure the public visiting the Centennial. 

 The entrance to this springhouse was 

 the way by which the same public 

 caught a glimpse of the beautiful bird 

 groups and other interesting things 

 beyond. Mr. Werner received a medal 

 for the excellency of his work at this 

 exhibition. 



Dr. Frederick A Lucas, director of 

 the American Museum of Natural Hist- 

 ory New York City, in his pamphlet 

 entitled "The Story of Museum 

 Groups" states that the first group of 

 animals was mounted by William T. 

 Hornaday and placed in that Museum 

 in 1880; and that the first animal 

 group in the National Museum at 

 Washington was installed in 1887, and 

 that the first group of birds, that of 

 the American Robin was placed in the 

 American Museum of Natural History 

 of New York City in 1887. While 

 these three above-named groups are 

 not considered habitat groups in the 

 now accepted interpretation of that 

 name they did show by ground, 

 branches, etc., the immediate surround- 



