Overview

For the first time, this volume presents Vernon Bailey's correspondences and field notes spanning the majority of his life and career, collected and annotated by David J. Schmidly. Born in 1864 and raised on a Minnesota farm, Vernon Bailey became the first person to conduct extensive biological surveys of Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Oregon. He was one of the founding members of the American Society of Mammalogists and pioneered the humane treatment of animals during fieldwork, developing and patenting traps designed to limit injuries or unnecessary stress. From an early age, Bailey developed an affinity for animals, observing their behaviors and eventually collecting specimens for closer study. He developed his own traps for catching mammals, birds, and reptiles and taught himself taxidermy from a book. When he was twenty-one, Bailey began sending samples of the animals he preserved to C. H. Merriam, the chief of the newly created Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy of the USDA, later renamed the Bureau of Biological Survey and now the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Merriam was so impressed with Baily's work that he hired him, appointed him special field agent, and promptly sent him to the “inner frontiers” of the western and southwestern United States, despite the fact that Bailey had no formal training in biology. During his long career, Bailey kept detailed field notes, chronicling his travels and wildlife observations. These writings provide fascinating insight into not only people's relationships with and efforts to understand wildlife but also the ways the country was rapidly growing and changing at the beginning of the twentieth century.

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9781623496791

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Reviews

David J. Schmidly was president of three major universities, but his real love is mammals of Texas, the Southwest, and Mexico. In this fascinating volume, Schmidly has dug into the past and brought to life one of the great naturalists of the American West, Vernon Bailey. Personal letters detail the interactions of Bailey with C. Hart Merriam, the father of mammalogy, who trained Bailey to become a government collector and travel the West. This book provides a real feel for what it was like to grow up on the frontier in America in the 1870s, become a major natural historian, and eventually explore the mammals and birds of much of America. --Michael A. Mares, author of A Desert Calling: Life in a Forbidding Landscape --Michael A. Mares . . . an outstanding biography of Vernon Bailey--a key figure from the early days of the US Biological Survey. . . . a genuine and comprehensive view of Bailey's life and career, beginning with family origins and early days as a trapper, and progressing to his budding relationship with C. Hart Merriam. Bailey's entrance into the world of scientific biology resulted in numerous expeditions into remote regions of the western United States and Mexico . . . vividly portrayed so that they provide a dramatic element to the story. Vernon Bailey: Writings of a Field Naturalist on the Frontier o?ers a veritable literary feast for readers who admire the natural world, the North American frontier, and the exploits of the dauntless field biologists who devoted their lives to describing it for science. --David W. Marshall, author of Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West--David W. Marshall

. . . an outstanding biography of Vernon Bailey--a key figure from the early days of the US Biological Survey. . . . a genuine and comprehensive view of Bailey's life and career, beginning with family origins and early days as a trapper, and progressing to his budding relationship with C. Hart Merriam. Bailey's entrance into the world of scientific biology resulted in numerous expeditions into remote regions of the western United States and Mexico . . . vividly portrayed so that they provide a dramatic element to the story. Vernon Bailey: Writings of a Field Naturalist on the Frontier o?ers a veritable literary feast for readers who admire the natural world, the North American frontier, and the exploits of the dauntless field biologists who devoted their lives to describing it for science. --David W. Marshall, author of Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West--David W. Marshall David J. Schmidly was president of three major universities, but his real love is mammals of Texas, the Southwest, and Mexico. In this fascinating volume, Schmidly has dug into the past and brought to life one of the great naturalists of the American West, Vernon Bailey. Personal letters detail the interactions of Bailey with C. Hart Merriam, the father of mammalogy, who trained Bailey to become a government collector and travel the West. This book provides a real feel for what it was like to grow up on the frontier in America in the 1870s, become a major natural historian, and eventually explore the mammals and birds of much of America. --Michael A. Mares, author of A Desert Calling: Life in a Forbidding Landscape --Michael A. Mares

Author Information

David J. Schmidly is a prominent mammalogist and the author of nine books on the natural history of mammals, including Bats of Texas. He was formerly the president of the University of New Mexico, Oklahoma State University, and Texas Tech University. He lives in Albuquerque.

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