vintar: apparently the first bird field guide was written by a woman who was rallying against the fa
vintar:apparently the first bird field guide was written by a woman who was rallying against the fashion of turning birds into hats. she tried lobbying against the practice, she tried writing angry newspaper articles about it, she tried holding informative classes about why people should like live birds instead, but no dice! no-one cared that someone hated what they liked, no matter how many letters to the editor she wroteso instead she wrote a funny little book that people could carry around with them, encouraging them to look at the birds that lived around the area and describing them not in dry textbook terms but instead as flashy young men and somber old grumps and sweet little housewives working hard to feed their children, something entertaining and fun to read that turned birds into interesting little feathery people worthy of sympathy instead of just a resourceit worked and her effort in changing the public’s opinions on birds was credited as part of the reason why the practice was eventually outlawedthis is the most ruthlessly perfect execution of more flies with honey than vinegar i’ve seen, i’m so impressedFlorence Merriam Bailey was one of the pioneers of the early Audubon Society and of wildlife conservation in America (that law she helped pass? only four years after finishing college. wow.), and spent her career doing extensive fieldwork to classify and observe previously unstudied western birds. She published this field guide- her first of many- at age 26. what a badass. -- source link