Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

Object/Artifact

The Union Club of British Columbia

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), 1896

Plaque: Common Snipe Mounted by L.E. Hope Taxidermist 21 Victoria Road, Penrith, England 1896. Restored by Wayne Siebert of Victoria Taxidermy Ltd. Victoria B.C. Canada 1988.

Name/Title

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago)

Entry/Object ID

2001.01.20

Description

Taxidermy - Full specimen mount of bird This bird, a Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World - Europe, Northern Africa and Asia. In North America, it breeds from Alaska to Newfoundland south to the mid-United States preferring marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows. As a migratory bird, it winters from northern South America to British Columbia, the northern Gulf of Mexico states and Virginia.

Context

The early members of the Union Club of British Columbia enjoyed the scenic splendours and the many opportunities for sports fishing and big game hunting across the province. Over time, the Club became noted for its outstanding collection of mounted taxidermy items. Of note, in 1910 the Club loaned its collection to the Dominion Government for international exhibition in Vienna (details unknown). It appears that the mounted Wolf Eel (2001.01.100) may be the only survivor of the original early 20th century collection. For further detail - see Susan Mayse, "The Union Club of British Columbia - Our First 125 Years" (Victoria, B.C.: The Union Club of British Columbia, 2004):59, and Paul L. Bissley, "Early and Late Victorians: A History of the Union Club of British Columbia" (Sidney, B.C.: Review Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., 1969). Both publications are available in the UCBC Library.

Made/Created

Artist Information

Artist

Linnaeus Eden Hope (1864-1944)

Role

Taxidermist

Date made

1896

Time Period

19th Century

Notes

Stuffed and mounted Common Snipe in half-globe glass and mahogany wood case in natural rock setting with dried grasses/flowers. Faces left. TAXIDERMIST BIOGRAPHY (partial) "...a young taxidermist by the name of Linnaeus Eden Hope, himself the son of a professional taxidermist based in Penrith, was contracted to prepare material for display. By 1901 it was clear that there was sufficient work to keep Hope fully employed and he became a full time corporation employee [Carlisle Corporation Museum, established 1893, and now the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery]. Initially he was taken on as an Assistant Curator and Taxidermist, later becoming Curator and eventually Director of the Museum, Art Gallery and Library. One of the first things Hope did at the museum was to set up the Natural History Record Bureau...the recording area evolved over time until it became what in effect was modern-day Cumbria". See Web Links - Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre Occasional Pub: No.5, Issue 1 (1922):1-2. HOPE'S OBITUARIES (identified but not viewed) - Anon., (1944), Cumberland News, (10th June, Issue 6,974), p.6, col.3, Obituary Mr Linnaeus E. Hope. [probably written by F.H.Day] - F.H.Day, (1944), North Western Naturalist, 19 (3),180-182, Obituary: Linnaeus Eden Hope (1864-1944). See Web Links - Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre Occasional Pub: No.3B, Issue 1 (2020):4. RESTORATION TAXIDERMIST (identified but not viewed) Article reference to Wayne Siebert as a boy taxidermist in The Chilliwack Progress (BC), (Friday, October 23, 1959) p. 1, and as a speaker as a taxidermist at the Chilliwack Naturalists' Club some 24 years later in The Chilliwack Progress (BC), (Wednesday, September 14, 1983), p 34.

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Case

Diameter

35.6 cm

Acquisition

Notes

Legacy Collection - detail unknown Plaque: Common Snipe Mounted by L.E. Hope Taxidermist 21 Victoria Road, Penrith, England 1896. Restored by Wayne Siebert of Victoria Taxidermy Ltd. Victoria B.C. Canada 1988.

Web Links and URLs

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology - Common Snipe, Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre Occasional Pub: No.5, Issue 1 October 2020 TRANSCRIPTS OF THE ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE NATURAL HISTORY RECORD BUREAU, CARLISLE, 1902-1912 by R. M. Sellers and S. Hewitt, 2022, Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre Occasional Pub. No.3B, Issue 1 (2020) 1 Bibliography of ornithology in Cumbria, Part B: 1900-1949 by R.M. Sellers A.F. Armsby and D. Shackleton, 2020