Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting / A Complete Handbook for the Amateur Taxidermist, Collector, Osteologist, Museum-Builder, Sportsman, and Traveller

by William T. Hornaday; W. J. Holland

Although it may be the reverse of modest in me to say so, I cannot help believing that the production of that group marked the beginning of an era in the progress of museum taxidermy in the United States. The price placed upon this group ($2,000) prevented its immediate sale; but in a short time another group of orang utans, similar in composition but of a very different design, was ordered by Mr. Robert Colgate, of New York, for the American Museum of Natural History, and prepared by the writer at Professor Ward's establishment. This group represented the orang at home—a perfectly peaceful scene in the top of a Bornean forest. It included five orang utans, of various sizes and ages, feeding on durions, sleeping in a nest, climbing, sitting, and swinging. This group was also very well received by the public. As in the case of the first production, the accessories were all carefully worked out. The price paid for this group was $1,500.

In the year 1880, when the Society of American Taxidermists was organized in Rochester, N.Y., for the development of the art of taxidermy, the museum-group idea was much discussed by its founders at Ward's Natural Science Establishment. Mr. Frederic S. Webster determined to make a further test of public sentiment by the production of a large group of birds, designed especially for a place in some scientific museum. With most praiseworthy enterprise he accordingly prepared, at his own expense, and with great care and skill, a group of three flamingoes of the largest size. Two of the birds were represented as standing at the edge of a shallow lagoon, and the third was sitting on its nest of mud. The water of the lagoon was successfully represented, as also were certain aquatic plants by artificial productions of the finest kinds. At the first exhibition of the Society, which was held in Rochester, in 1880, this group, and also the first group of orang utans, "A Battle in the Tree-tops," was exhibited. To the group of orang utans was awarded the specialty medal, offered "for the best piece in the entire exhibition;" but to the surprise of everyone, save the judges themselves, and to the consternation and chagrin of the founders of the Society, the group of flamingoes was entirely ignored, and the medal offered for the second best piece in the entire exhibition was awarded to a solitary wood-duck, mounted by Mr. Webster, and figured herewith (Fig. 58).

[a]Fig. 58.]—Mr. Webster's Prize Wood-Duck.

The failure of the flamingo group to receive any recognition caused deep disappointment to all those who had watched its production with so much interest and hopeful anticipation. It had been fondly hoped that it might prove to be the predecessor of a long series of bird groups of the most varied and interesting character.

The judges of this exhibition were men of high scientific attainments, and their honesty of purpose in making their awards could not be questioned for a moment. On being mildly taken to task for their failure to appreciate the group of flamingoes, the judges maintained that such groups were not suitable for scientific museums, as was the evident intention in its preparation. Arguments to the contrary were of no avail, and the believers in such groups were obliged for the time being to hang their harps on the willows. It is a pleasure to record the fact that, although the time had not then arrived, subsequent events have proved that the idea of the group-makers was a good one; and, although the production of groups did not come to pass precisely as was then anticipated, time has wrought its perfect work, and groups are now the order of the day.

In 1882 the writer was appointed chief taxidermist of the National Museum. In the year following, the first group of orang utans, "The Fight in the Tree-tops," was purchased of Professor Ward by that institution, and after being partly reconstructed was placed on exhibition in the Hall of Mammals, where it now is. Since it left his establishment, Professor Ward has been pleased to call it "the king of groups."

The group idea was frequently advanced by the writer to the directors of the National Museum, but the time for its practical adoption on a liberal scale did not arrive until 1886. It is true that in 1884 Professor Goode had six groups of ducks prepared by Mr. Webster, and six bird groups of the same size prepared by Mr. Marshall at the Museum; but with the completion of these the mounting of bird groups there came to an end. The condition of the regular exhibition series of mounted mammals demanded several years' uninterrupted work before any attention could be devoted to such exceptional work as the preparation of groups either large or small. Finally, in the year 1886, the auspicious moment arrived. The collecting by the writer of a very large series of specimens of the American bison resulted in his receiving permission to prepare a large mounted group after his own design. To his intense gratification he was given carte blanche as to time and expense, and no limit was placed on the size of the group, the character or extent of the accessories, or the cost of the case to contain all. The experiment was to be regarded as a crucial test of the group idea as adapted to the purposes of scientific museums.

While the group of buffaloes was still in course of preparation, the writer prepared, as a "feeler," a very simple group, consisting of three coyotes, a large male and female and one young specimen. The attitudes and grouping was simplicity itself, and the ground was nothing but gravelly sod, bearing a few stunted bunches of bad-lands grass. In order that familiarity might not breed contempt, this group was kept carefully secluded from the observation of the Assistant Director until it was finished and in its case in the mammal hall of the museum. Its character was about as follows: A young specimen—a puppy about four weeks old—was playfully endeavoring to pull the jawbone of an antelope out of its mother's mouth. Standing a trifle behind these two stood the father of the family, a really noble specimen of the species, if by any stretch of the imagination a coyote—the king of sneaks—can be considered noble. His head was held high in the air, and he was undoubtedly looking afar off, as if watching for the coming of the man with a gun. (See Plate XVIII.)

This little group was heartily approved, and the question of groups in the National Museum was settled forever before the production of the buffalo group was fully accomplished. The idea as a whole was pronounced not only satisfactory, but exceedingly desirable, and orders were given that groups of all the more important American mammals should be designed and produced as rapidly as practicable. Work was immediately commenced on several other groups, and by the time the group of buffaloes was completed and ready for exhibition, which occurred in March, 1888, three other groups were ready to be displayed at the same time, viz., of antelopes, prairie-dogs, and opossums.