"Therefore I would caution the beginner against all impatience and disappointment at unsuccessful attempts, and urge him to press forward, continually striving to improve upon past failures, and soon, to his own astonishment, those things which at first appeared difficult and awkward, will become comparatively simple and easy. Said an old teacher to me: 'I can tell you how all these things are done, but I cannot enable you to do them; practice alone will accomplish that.'
"A person with a light and delicate touch will be most successful in this art; therefore I recommend it to the special attention of ladies. It is a continual source of pleasure, and promotive to the love of the great Nature which moves so mysteriously around us. It is true that we have seen those of coarse and vulgar minds and clumsy fingers, eminently successful; but what is more revolting to a delicate appreciation, than to see these bright creatures, so marvellously constructed by our all-wise Father, tortured into life-like attitudes by one who acts merely as an automaton, and has no sympathy with his work otherwise than to gain a livelihood? It is only the refined and the lover of nature who can thoroughly enjoy this art of reproduction. A close observer of nature, in two short hours spent in the fields and woods, will see and learn more than the unobserving and careless person in as many years.
"A careful observation of the habits and attitudes of the little songsters when free, will be of great assistance in mounting. A knowledge of drawing will also be found of service."
FROM THE FIRST EDITION.
Brown University, Providence, R. I.
Mr. Manton,—Having perused your MS. "Taxidermy Without a Teacher," I feel free to say, that its suggestions are eminently practical, and cannot fail to render such aid to the beginner as he most needs, and indeed must have from some source, at the outset of his efforts to acquire the beautiful art of preserving and mounting specimens in Natural History.
Whatever induces the young or old to turn their attention to the study of nature, is a gain to society at large, as substituting truth for fiction, and leading the mind to the contemplation of Him whose devising wisdom and sagacity are manifested in all His works. Commending highly your effort, I am yours,
With great respect,
J. W. P. Jenks.