Of Platypus and other species

**Henry James Burrell** (1873-1945) ~ Young Platypus, ca. 1914. Glass negative | src Australian museum

**Henry James Burrell** (1873-1945) ~ Young Platypus, ca. 1914. Glass negative | src Australian museum blog

Harry J. Burrell developed an interest in natural history after he settled in Manilla, northern NSW with his wife Susan Emily Naegueli in 1901. As a naturalist, Burrell is most famous for being the first person to successfully keep platypuses in captivity. To do this he invented the ‘platypusary’, a storage tank which enabled him to both study and exhibit live platypuses. The platypusary was used for the first time in 1910 to show live platypuses at the Moore Park Zoo in Sydney. In 1922 he assisted Ellis Stanley Joseph with successfully transporting the first ever live platypus beyond Australian shores. The sole surviving platypus of the original 5 platypuses’ arduous journey died within a few weeks of being exhibited at the Bronx Zoo, New York.

**Henry James Burrell** (1873-1945) ~ Echidna rolled up. Glass negative | src Australian museum

**Henry James Burrell** (1873-1945) ~ Green snake eating a frog. Glass negative | src Australian museum

Nature photography (1939)

Cecropia (male and female) · Cecropia moths on end of stick. Acadia National Park, Maine, 22 March, 1939 | src NPG

Cecropia moth on end of stick. Acadia National Park, Maine, 22 March, 1939 | src National Park gallery

Reflection of Pemetic Mt. in Eagle lake. Acadia National Park, Maine, 5 June, 1939 | src National Park gallery

Kingfisher · Bird on stick. Acadia National Park, Maine, 18 July, 1939 | src National Parks gallery

Buttercup, close-up (five pedaled flower). Acadia National Park, Maine, 13 June, 1939 | src National Parks gallery

Icelandic Tideline

**Michael A. Smith ~** Jokulsarlon, Iceland, 2004; from Tideline | src Seagrave gallery

**Paula Chamlee ~** Cloud, Jokulsarlon, Iceland, 2006. From Tideline | src Seagrave gallery

**Paula Chamlee ~** Reydarfjordur, Iceland, 2004; from Tideline | src Seagrave gallery

Table Rock · Cave of the Winds

**George Barker** (1844-1894) ~ [Niagara Falls], ca. 1888. Albumen silver print. View of Niagara Falls taken from the base of the falls, with large boulder in foreground and footbridge in the background. | src Getty Museum Coll.

**George Barker** (1844-1894) ~ Cave of the winds, ca. 1888. Niagara Falls with walkway in the foreground. Albumen silver print. | src Library of Congress

This Image is hosted in four American museums; three of them (Library of Congress, Getty Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art) acknowledge the authorship to George Barker. According to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art [x] this photograph is Nielson’s. In their website there is a mention to the photographer’s logo on back: “H.F. Nielson, Manuf. of all kinds of / Paper & Glass Views / Niagara Falls.”

Though the commercial market for large-scale landscape views was limited in the late 19th century, a small group of talented and savvy photographers found a lucrative niche in this genre. Herman F. Nielson, who lived most of his life in Niagara, New York, specialized in majestic tourist views of Niagara Falls. Here, Nielson depicts the American Falls (Luna Falls and Bridal Veil Falls) and the Rock of Ages. This view, or a slight variant, was reproduced in a popular guidebook at the time.

“New View Manufactory,” Niagara Falls Gazette 30:16 (October 10, 1883): n.p.

quoted from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art [x]