Field Biologist - Tracks and Shadows: Field Biology as Art - page 33

in March 1950 the Fitches moved into a newly constructed residence on the Natural
History Reservation.
Henry immediately launched an ambitious research program, one that reflected
M.V.Z. training and subsequent field experience, by focusing on many local species
rather than a few close relatives throughout their ranges—as he had done with alligator
lizards, for example, in California. The Reservation, composed of woodland interspersed
with grassland and weedy fields, boasted three species of fish, ten species of amphibi-
ans, twenty-four species of reptiles, twenty-nine species of mammals, and 167 species
of birds. Hall was anxious to have mammals studied, so Henry concentrated on them,
but he couldn't ignore other vertebrates. Abundant and easily encountered species were
given priority, including prairie voles, eastern woodrats, Virginia opossums, five-lined
skinks, and certain birds.
Henry especially sought recaptures for data on growth, movements, home ranges,
and longevity. He divided the property into eighty areas bounded by creeks, outcrops,
roads, fences, and so forth, with names like Rat Woods and Quarry Field. Trees,
boulders, and other landmarks were sited on aerial photographs and maps, then
numbered or named as points from which captures could be referenced. Various live
traps totaled in the hundreds, and Henry invented a cylinder with funnels in each end
for snakes that is still the industry standard. 4 Rock ledges, other natural barriers, and
drift fences directed animals toward the traps, thus increasing their efficacy. He marked
birds with streamers and conventional leg bands; most herps and mammals had one
or more toes docked in a standard numbering scheme, while snakes had belly scales
clipped in unique combinations.
New discoveries, unexpected opportunities, and technical innovations drove shifts in
research during those early years. While examining the droppings of five-lined skinks
Henry came across glittering green, jewel-like objects that proved to be the chelicer-
ae, or mouthparts, of black and white jumping spiders, so despite mild arachnophobia
he undertook an extensive study of them. 5 During an investigation of reproduction in
snakes, he probed their vents with grass stems for the presence of hemipenes in males
and microscopically examined liquid from the vents of females for motile sperm. 6 Al-
though emphasis was on activity patterns, he also studied feeding ecology by palpat-
ing prey from stomachs and using reference specimens to identify dietary remnants in
scats.
Checking traps, marking animals, and recording observations under the Kansas sun
was brutally tedious. Then there were the chiggers and thunderstorms, not to mention
the wasp nests under rocks he lifted looking for reptiles—but Henry just wiped his brow,
kept an eye on the weather, and swatted insects. He accustomed himself to thirst, for-
saking a canteen for other gear, and by morning's end, drenched in sweat, he'd come
in for the gallon jar of iced tea that Virginia always had in the fridge. Body searches
for ticks were a family custom. He did office work in the afternoons, when summer heat
was unbearable. Occasional surprises broke the routine too, such as the first copper-
head lacking hourglass-shaped markings among hundreds he'd examined. During that
first decade he published several papers a year, including a thick 1958 volume on home
ranges and movements of 233 species. Six species of frogs and toads, fifteen species of
lizards and snakes, forty-one species of birds, and twenty-one species of mammals were
judged of local ecological importance based on more than ten thousand observations. 7