A Key to Florida Birds (Herbert Stoddard's copy)

An association copy: A bound manuscript copy of Stevenson'sA Key to Florida Birds with Herbert L. Stoddard's ownership signature at the top of the front cover. With the stamps "Presented to the Tall Timbers Research Station by" "Herbert L. Stoddard, Sr.," lower on the cover, as well as the station's library stamp. A scarce book with no other copies available as of this writing, and Stoddard's signature is scarce as well outside of his major work The Bobwhite Quail. The preface begins "It has gradually become apparent that there is a need for a key dealing exclusively with the birds of Florida. . . . The present attempt is in no sense a field key, but is rather intended as a means of establishing the identify of museum skins or freshly killed birds." It finishes: "Reports of error and weaknesses in this key are earnestly solicited from all sources in the hope that revisions may be made to strengthen it. Certainly it is not considered final in its present form." Presumably Stoddard received this copy for his comment. In the finished and expanded version published the following year, Stoddard is thanked in the preface. That 1960 publication is itself scarce, but we have seen a copy. In addition to the key, it includes species descriptions, extending the publication's length. Stevenson was described in memoriam as "the senior authority on Florida birds" and his monumental work wasFlorida Bird Life, which he worked on for 12 years and was published shortly after his death; on the very same day he heard it was going to be published, he suffered a heart attack at the Tall Timbers Research Station where he was a research fellow in his retirement. For more on Stevenson and the making of Florida Bird Life, we recommend this excellentarticle fromThe Tampa Bay Times. Herbert L. Stoddard was the co-founder of the Tall Timbers Research Station in Leon, Florida, and an important pioneer of wildlife management. While Aldo Leopold is often cited as the founder or father figure of wildlife management, Leopold himself pointed to Stoddard, writing "Herbert Stoddard, in Georgia, started the first management of wildlife based on research." The two were good friends. Stoddard was a high school dropout who apprenticed himself to a taxidermist, began to work in a museum, and eventually took to the field. He is known for his studies of bobwhite, the importance of fire to longleaf pine habitat, and bird mortality due to radio towers and what it revealsabout migration patterns. Quarto, tapebound in glossy, textured blue-gray wraps. 67 pages printed only on the verso. Ex-library with a title and call number taped to spine, a barcode a top of first page which holds the preface, and a library pocket on the verso of the final page, as well as a few other scattered brief library notations. Very good with some mild gradated sunning to wrap edges and and a light bump and some resulting creasing to the lower corner. Also a little loss to tape at both ends of spine. A rare find uniting two giants of Florida ornithology and further compelling in light of Stevenson's death at Tall Timbers while a research fellow.…