iv 
MANUAL OF TAXIDERMY. 
minds of any one. To be sure, men like Cassin, 
Lawrence, Baird, and Bryant were constantly 
writing of birds, but they did it in a quiet, scien- 
tific way, which did not reach the general public. 
Possibly the political troubles in which our country 
was involved had something to do with the great 
ornithological depression which fell upon the pop- 
ular mind. Strange as it may appear, however, for 
a period of thirty years after the completion of 
Audubon's great work, not a general popular work 
of any kind was written on birds in America. Then 
appeared Samuels' “ Birds of New England," pub- 
lished in 1867, a work which apparently did much 
toward turning the popular tide in favor of orni- 
thological study, for from that time we can perceive 
a general awakening. Not only did the newspa- 
pers and magazines teem with articles on birds, but 
in the five succeeding years we find three impor- 
tant works on American ornithology announced as 
about to appear: Baird, Brewer, and Ridgeway's 
“ History of American Birds," of which three vol- 
umes have appeared, published in 1874; May- 
nard’s “ Birds of Florida," issued in parts, but af- 
terwards merged into the “ Birds of Eastern North 
America," completed in 1882, and Coues' “Key," 
published in 1872. Other works quickly followed, 
