Of all museum officers who have actively promoted the development of American taxi dermy, Prof. Spencer F. Baird and Dr. G. Brown Goode stand first. As early as 1880 they advocated the attainment of perfection in results, regardless of time or cost. It was by their consent and co-operation that the National Museum set the pace in the development of large groups of mammals, which really began in 1887 with the group of American bison. In this connection honorable mention is due Prof. Henry A. Ward, founder of Ward's Natural Science Establishment, for the far-reaching in fluence exerted by him for the improvement of taxidermic methods generally and the co operation which he extended to the Society of American Taxidermists.
With the improvements noted in museum taxidermy, equal advances have been made in the class of what is known as custom taxidermy. The number of trophy heads of large mammals that are now mounted annually in the United States cannot be less than about 1,800. About two-thirds are heads of deer and the remainder consist of moose, mountain-sheep, caribou, elk, mountain-goat, buffalo, musk-ox and bear, about in the order named. Twenty-five
years ago a finely-mounted head was a rarity, but to-day, outside of the workshops of ama teurs, a badly-mounted head is seldom seen. The standards of excellence have risen very greatly. The demands of patrons are more in telligent and good work is better compensated than heretofore.
As the world's mammals, birds and other vertebrates decrease, museums multiply, and the desire to provide fine collections becomes more earnest and insistent. Taxidermy now offers a good field for a limited number of young men of real artistic instincts who can bring to it adequate education and training and unlimited capacity for hard work.
Some important American works on taxi dermy should be enumerated: Hornaday, 'Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting' (1892); Davie, 'Methods in the Art of Taxidermy' (1894); Rowley, 'Art of Taxidermy' (1900); Reed, C. K., 'Guide to Taxidermy' (Worcester 1908).