24 8 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



man has allowed the preamble of the immortal 

 Declaration of Independence to apply to his unde- 

 veloped brothers of the wilderness; and the only 

 zoological collection, with the possible exception of 

 the Garden of Eden, where animals have been in- 

 trusted with self government. 



It is astonishing what a remarkable difference 

 there is in appearance between the healthy animals 

 and the old-fashioned stuffed museum specimens of 

 the same creatures. Indeed, so great is the dis- 

 parity, that it is by no means easy to identify many 

 of the living birds or mammals from a previous 

 study of mounted specimens. 



The healthy bodies of the citizens of the Wild 

 Animal Republic, unlike many museum specimens, 

 are not stretched out of all semblance to nature. 

 No odor of camphor or other drugs emanates from 

 them, and no printed labels give you their names 

 in a language as dead as the stuffed specimens. But 

 with 



GOOD, RED BLOOD COURSING THROUGH THEIR 

 VEINS 



the agile citizens of the Park are a surprise and a 

 pleasure to all lovers of nature. It is only fair to 

 the new school of taxidermists to say that the fore- 

 going was written before the modern artistic man- 

 ner of mounting animals and birds, such as may be 

 seen at the Natural History museum in Central 

 Park, was. in vogue. 



