Oct. 38, 1893.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



359 



South, and, after leaving the prisoners at Fort SneUing, 

 they were ordered to report to General Sibley. These 

 regulars, fresh from Southern battle fields, did not relish 

 the inactivity any more than the frontiersmen did, and 

 after a skirmish, when some Indians had been captured, 

 General Sibley sent them back to Fort Snelling under 

 escort of these Minnesota soldiers, and they had been gone 

 but a day when they returned with the information that 

 the _ prisoners had all died on the road. Finally, the 

 Indians were overtaken, and brought to a stand where 

 they had to fight. My sister was re-captured; in fact, we 

 got back nearly all of the women, and gave the Sioux a 

 thorough thrashing, destroying their camp equipage; and 

 not many of them got back across the Missouri River. 

 The experience of that campaign I have never forgotten, 

 and since then I have never been back to the other side of 

 the Mississippi. I have a ranch down here on the Little 

 Missouri that I like well enough, and even during trouble- 

 some times, somehow or other, the Indians stay away 

 from me." 



If I only could tell the story as Paddock told it, it would 

 be very interesting reading. He said that he had known 

 General Ouster very well, and probably would not have 

 been there to tell the story that night, but would have 

 slept with the heroes of the gallant 7th, on the Little 

 Rosebud, had he not been detained by some special busi- 

 ness about two days behind the command, for he was to 

 have been with Custer on that expedition, and was two 

 days behind. 



After this gruesome narrative, we heard more strange 

 sounds on the mountain side, and Seib's mountain lion or 

 old she wolf (whatever it was) screaming again, sort of 

 sent cold chills up and down the spinal column of nearlv 

 every member of the party. The camp-fire was growing 

 dim, and the sparks no longer whirled high among the 

 quaking leaves, and as we had had a hard tramp and 

 were all tired out, it was not long before we slept the 

 sleep that the tired sportsman only knows how to enjoy. 



W. B. Mershon. 



TAXIDERMY AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 



BY DE. R. W. SHUFELDT. 

 (Judge of the Exhibits:) 



On Sept. 13, 1893, the writer received the appointment 

 of a judge at the World's Columbian Exposition at Chi- 

 cago, and upon reporting for duty was at first instructed 

 to examine certain coll'^ctions of mounted birds and 

 mammals that had been placed on exhibition by Brazil, 

 New South Wales, New York, Maine, Colorado, Pennsyl- 

 vania and other States and countries. This duty gave 

 me ample opportunity to study and compare a great vari- 

 ety of exhibits that represented the various methods 

 adopted by taxidermists of the present day of preserving 

 animals of all kinds and the means employed by them of 

 placing the same on exhibition for the public. 



Among the lessons afforded by this experience was fir^t 

 the fact that as a rule the finest exaniples of the art of 

 taxidermy came from institutions situated at civilized 

 centers, where science, art, literature and culture had 

 made the most progress, and where the great proportion 

 of the people were interested in the cultivation of such 

 pui suits. 



One surprise was presented in the collection sent by 

 Brazil, a country so rich in its natural resources, and 

 which always has been and stiU is one of the great para- 

 dises of the earth for naturalists to explore in every de- 

 partment of nature. 



It was represented by a miscellaneous collection of 

 mounted mammals, birds, skeletons, reptiles, fish and 

 other objects. As for the specimens themselves they 

 were as a rule species most commonly met with in any 



Fig. 1. Ghoup of Raccoons iProcyon lotor). 

 Exhibited at the World's Fair by tbe tJ. S. National Museum. 



Brazilian collection of animals, and of the most abundant 

 forms occurring in that region. There were no rarities 

 that I saw. Objectionable attempts were made in the 

 direction of the grotesque in taxidermy, as a sloth sitting 

 in a chair playing upon a violin, and similar pieces. Who- 

 ever is responsible for the taxidermy it represents, cer- 

 tainly belonged to a school, as compared with the modern 

 methods of that science, now nearly extinct, and which 

 was at its height fuUy a century ago. No regard for an- 

 atomy; no recognition of habits; no attempt to properly 

 portray natm-e. Sans this, sans that, sans everything; 

 horrible throughout. 



The taxidermy of the majority of the State coUections 

 was extremelj^ indifferent, 3ud I saw but two instances 



where conscientiously an . award could be given. One 

 was to the State of New York for a scientifically mounted 

 and labeled collection, and including quite a number of 

 very creditable pieces of taxidermy; and another to 

 Maine, rejected by me at first, but reconsidered upon 

 request, and finally given for the effort made by that State 

 to show its mammalian fauna. The taxidermy and mode 

 of exhibition were both objectionable. In the case of 

 New York, the specimens are neatly mounted upon hard- 

 wood stands, and a clear label informs the student in 

 regard to locality and name of specimen. They also 

 showed many animals now extinct in New York, as the 

 buffalo, the beaver, the elk and others. Good as it was 

 as a whole, however, we even found in that coUection a 

 number of unnaturally mounted specimens. Maine has 

 her collection of mammals, some hundred pieces in all, 

 mounted on separate stands and surrounded by a rustic 

 fence, or inclosure. A few loads of earth partially con- 

 ceal the stands and is introduced with the intention of 

 giving the animals the appearance of standing upon terra 

 firma. In this object it signally fails. I saw but a single 

 specimen in the collection that at all pleased me— it was 

 the mounted one of a fawn of the moose. It was not 

 badly done and was withal at least interesting. Professor 

 H. A. Ward, of the Natural Science Establishment, of 

 Rochester, New York, had, as usual, some magnificent 

 things in his grand collection of fossils, skeletons, motmted 

 animals and restorations. They are, with the other col- 

 lections mentioned, in the Anthropological Building. 

 New South Wales has her small collection of mounted 

 mammals in the Woman's Building. Australia, as a 

 whole, has a finer one to be found in the same place. 

 Pennsylvania has made a very striking effort to present 



But the collection of all collections of mounted animals 

 of every kind — most excellent in every particular to be 

 seen at the World's Fair, is the one sent thither by our 

 own Government from the U. S. National Museum and 

 Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D. C. This we 

 say from our own unbiassed convictions prompted by the 

 truth only in the premises, and not intending any dis- 



Fio. 3. Plaster Cast ob' a Box Tortoise (Cistudo Carolina). 

 Exhibited at the World's Fair by the V. S. National Museum. 



courtesy or disparagement to others. There is eveiy rea- 

 son for it, moreover, inasmuch as no small pecuniary out- 

 lay was entailed to make it so, but what is more to the 

 point skilled taxidermic artists performed the work under 

 the supervision of some of the best biologists and natural- 

 ists our country has thus far produced. The accessories 

 are all culled directly from the natural haunts of the 

 animals, and where art has supplemented nature the col- 

 oring has been done by the brush in the hands of an 

 expert. 



As the saying goes, that collection must be seen to be 

 appreciated. It is not only of a very considerable size, 

 much varied in nature as to the kind of animals intro- 

 duced, but represents a distinct and peculiar merit 

 throughout. 



In this article I introduce a few figures from photo- 

 graphs of different specimens in that collection, and 

 although by no means representing the best of the work, 

 they will at least serve to show the character of some of 



Fie. a. Group of Jacanas. 

 Exhibited at the World's Fair by the TJ. S. National JiMPum. 



a grand display. The makeup intends to represent the 

 side of a mountain, with trees, fallen trunks, rocks, caves 

 and other accessories in the fore and backgrounds, with a 

 running stream of real water in the valley. There are 

 nearly 300 birds and 100 mammals in the piece, with a few 

 reptiles, etc. From a taxidermist's standpoint the work 

 is by no means up to the mark, though the idea as a 

 whole is admirable had it been well executed. It was not 

 considered by me as being entitled to an award. Indeed, 

 in the consideration of giving awards to such exhibits one 

 should not be controlled by either the size of the piece, 

 the expense and effort it required on the part of the ex- 

 hibitors to bring it to the Fail-, nor even the idea it repre- 

 sents, for these all go for nothing if the workmanship is 

 markedly indifferent. A parallel case would be that of 

 an artist in oil colors who had placed himself at a great 

 expense to transport an enormous piece of canvas to the 

 Exposition, made a great outlay in material, had a fine 

 idea, but after all reproduced it upon his great sheet of 

 canvas in a manner absolutely calculated to paralyze its 

 beholder, who is only able to find in it the violation of 

 everytliing that is natural. 



Is«w the famous taxidermical exhibit in the Kansas 

 Building by L. L. Dyche, of which so much has been said 

 in the press. And in fact it has a great deal to recom- 

 mend it. The pieces are principally mammals and fairly 

 represent the mammalogy of the State of Kansas. In gen- 

 eral both the effect and taxidermy are good, the latter 

 being well above average. Moreover, the accessories or 

 natui-al surroundings are worked in with a more or less 

 pleasing effect, and from its study something can be 

 learned of the habits of many of the animals. In execu- 

 tion it represents an idea that is fast becoming to be the 

 one generally adopted by large museums and other educa- 

 tional institutions to show "regional zoology." By this I 

 mean that it is not only possible for us to accurately show 

 the nature of the country which our mounted specimens 

 mhabit, but also, in the specimens themselves, the num- 

 bers and kinds found in any particular region, as well as 

 their correct forms, and in many cases their habits. 



Great government museums, "commanding skilled art- 

 ists, and with the requisite amount of space and an ade- 

 quate appropriation of money, should now fully adopt 

 this idea and put it into execution. 



Many specimens of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and 

 so forth, are to be foimd scattered throughout the exhibits 

 of the various States of the Union, as well as in those of 

 foreign countries. Some pretty good things exist in this 

 line in the exhibit of Manitoba that have not generally 

 been seen, inasumch as the managers of the Fair'crowded 

 their very worthy collection off the grounds to a building 

 they were compelled to occupy outside. In that collec- 

 tion I noticed a very fine skeleton of the musk-ox or sheep 

 {Ovibos moschatus), well mounted and a very valuable 

 epecimen. It is from an adult male, 



the smaller groups and pieces. In a general report upon 

 this subject, which will appear some time this winter, I 

 have nearly 100 plates which will illustrate the larger 

 part of this exhibit. Those here offered do not form a 

 part of that report, but are special photographs for which 

 I have to thank Dr. G. Browne G^ode, of the National 

 Museum, they having been taken by his permission by 

 Prof. Smillie at the photographic gallery of that insti- 

 tution. 



Fig. 1 shows a pair of coons in a persimmon tree, and 

 without exception is one of the most hfe-like things of 

 the kind that I have ever seen. The fruit is so true to 

 nature, that in several insta'nces it has deceived the 

 closest of observers. The attitudes of the two animals 



Fig. 4. Plabtjjr Cast oi.- a Trigger Flsh CBalistes capHsens), 

 From the collection of the TT. S. National Museum. 



composing the group are absolutely correct' studies from 

 life, and it is unnecessary to add that the trunk up which 

 they are climbing was cut from a persimmon tree. 



The larger groups in the national exhibit are repre- 

 sented by various species of deer; mountain sheep and 

 goats, numerous carnivores, opossums, walrus, seals and 

 a perfect host of smaller mammals. 



Among the birds we find an equally superb representa- 

 tion, and the objects being smaller greater latitude is 

 allowed for surroundings and the exhibition of special 

 habits. This has been taken advantage of to the fullest 

 extent, and we find whole bevies of grouse and ptarmi- 

 gans in their native haunts; flamingoes on their nests; 

 Caxoliaa parraquets filling the hollow trunk of an old tree; 



