Editing William Beebe (section)

===The pheasant expedition===

In December 1909, businessman and philanthropist [[Anthony R. Kuser]] proposed to the zoo that Beebe be allowed to go on a voyage around the world to document the world's [[pheasant]]s, which would be financed by Kuser.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|pp=131–133}}</ref> Hornaday strongly objected to this proposal, describing Kuser as an "evil genius" who was attempting to steal Beebe away from his duties at the zoo.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bridges|1974|pp=298–300}}</ref> However, the zoo ultimately decided in Kuser's favor, partly because the scientific papers produced by Beebe's trip to Guiana had been beneficial to the zoo's reputation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=133}}</ref> Hornaday appointed [[Crandall]] as the zoo's acting curator of birds, giving him the duty of caring for its birds in Beebe's absence.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bridges|1974|pp=301–302}}</ref> Beebe and Blair left for their expedition accompanied by [[Robert Bruce Horsfall]], whose job would be to provide illustrations of the birds for the book that would hopefully result from this expedition.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=137}}</ref>

[[Image: Beebe Pheasant Expedition Map.png|thumb|275px|left|A map of the route taken by William Beebe during his pheasant expedition]]After crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the [[RMS Lusitania]] to London, where they gathered the supplies they would need for their expedition, Beebe and his team traveled across the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt, through the [[Suez Canal]], and across the Indian Ocean to [[Ceylon]], where they began their task of documenting the native wildfowl.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|pp=135–137}}</ref> From Ceylon they traveled to [[Calcutta]], with the goal of capturing the species of pheasants which live only in the [[Himalayas]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=143}}</ref> By this point Beebe was beginning to conflict with Horsfall, who was unaccustomed to such expeditions.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|pp=142–143}}</ref> After Beebe had finished his documentation in the eastern part of the range, Horsfall refused to accompany Beebe in the western part of the range, causing Beebe to leave him in the town of Jorepokhri and continue his work in the Western Himalayas without him.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=150}}</ref> Horsfall rejoined them in Calcutta, from which they sailed to [[Indonesia]].<ref name="Gould 2004 p. 154">{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=154}}</ref> The next ship took them to [[Singapore]], where Beebe established a base of operations for the next stage of his expedition.<ref name="Welker 1975 p. 24">{{Harvnb|Welker|1975|p=24}}</ref>

The expedition's next destination was [[Sarawak]], on the island of [[Borneo]].<ref name="Gould 2004 p. 154"/> By the time they left Sarawak, the conflict between Beebe and Horsfall had grown to such a degree that Beebe decided Horsfall was endangering the expedition and must be sent home. In response to Beebe's dismissal, Horsfall retorted that he had been ill-treated by Beebe from the beginning of the expedition and that his subsequent actions had been for the express purpose of revenge.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|pp=157–158}}</ref> Continuing without Horsfall, Beebe and Blair traveled to [[History of Jakarta|Batavia]] in [[Java]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=158}}</ref> to the island of [[Madura]] just to the north, and to [[Belitung]] between Borneo and [[Sumatra]].<ref name="Welker 1975 p. 24"/>

Finished in Java, Beebe and his crew sailed north from Singapore to [[Kuala Lumpur]] to begin exploring [[Malay Peninsula|Malaya]].<ref name=" Welker 1975 p. 24"/> After Malaya, the next portion of their expedition took them to [[Burma]], where they arrived in [[Rangoon]] and traveled by rail to [[Myitkyina]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Welker|1975|p=25}}</ref> In Burma Beebe succumbed temporarily to a bout of [[Depression (mood)|depression]], and it was several days before he was able to resume working or continue the expedition.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=165}}</ref> He attributed his recovery to the pile of [[penny dreadful]] novels he discovered in his bungalow at Pungatong, which he then read constantly for the next few days.<ref>{{Harvnb|Watson|2011}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|pp=165–166}}</ref>

[[Image:BeebeJapanPheasant.png|thumb|right|William Beebe with a Japanese long-tailed fowl ([[red junglefowl]])]]The last portion of Beebe's journey took him to China, from which they made an unplanned visit to Japan to escape a riot as well as a surge of [[bubonic plague]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=170}}</ref> When the plague and riots had subsided, Beebe returned to China to document the local pheasant species, then made a second visit to Japan to study pheasants kept in the Imperial Preserves there. In Japan, Beebe was given two [[Crane (bird)|cranes]] by the Imperial Household in exchange for a pair of [[swan]]s, which were unknown in Japan.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=171}}</ref>

His expedition was completed after a total of 17 months, Beebe and Blair crossed the Pacific to [[San Francisco]], then crossed the United States to return to their home in New York. Their expedition had obtained live or stuffed specimens of nearly all the pheasants he had sought, and also produced extensive notes about their behavior.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|pp=171–173}}</ref> Some of these pheasants, such as [[Impeyan pheasant|Sclater's impeyan]] or Himalayan monal, had never before been seen in the wild by Americans or Europeans.<ref>{{Harvnb|Welker|1975|pp=25–26}}</ref> Beebe's observations of [[sexual dimorphism]] in pheasants during this expedition led him to become the first biologist to correctly understand the mechanism by which this aspect of [[sexual selection]] operates.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=168}}</ref> based on his observations he also proposed a new evolutionary model of pheasant ancestry, involving a period of rapid diversification followed by more typical and gradual changes. Although [[Punctuated equilibrium|this evolutionary model]] is now taken for granted, in William Beebe's time it was a novel idea.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=177}}</ref>

In January 1913, Blair left Beebe for [[Reno]] intending to divorce him, since at this time in history it was easier to obtain a divorce in Reno than in most other areas of the United States. The divorce was granted on August 29, 1913, after Blair had spent the minimum requirement of six months as a resident in Reno.<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|pp=180–181}}</ref> Obtaining a divorce in Reno required a person to demonstrate that their spouse had committed either adultery or extreme cruelty; Blair's complaint accused Beebe of the latter,<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=181}}</ref> claiming that during the pheasant expedition he had threatened to commit suicide by "throwing himself in the river, shooting himself through the roof of the mouth with a revolver, and by cutting his throat with a razor."<ref name=" Welker 1975 p. 27">{{Harvnb|Welker|1975|p=27}}</ref> Beebe made very little effort to contest the divorce and did not appear in court to offer any testimony.<ref name=" Matsen 2005 p. 28"/><ref name=" Welker 1975 p. 27"/> Although newspapers at the time reported Blair's accusations uncritically, with headlines such as "Naturalist was cruel",<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|pp=182–183}}</ref> modern biographers consider it more likely that Blair resorted to hyperbole to make a divorce case.<ref name=" Matsen 2005 p. 28"/> A week after her divorce from Beebe, Blair was remarried to their next-door neighbor Robin Niles, suggesting that the true reason for the divorce may have been [[cuckoldry]].<ref name="Gould 2004 p. 184">{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=184}}</ref> On the other hand, some biographers have suggested that Beebe suffered a nervous breakdown during the expedition and that he may have contributed his own part to Blair's alienation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Welker|1975|pp=28–29}}</ref>

Blair's departure came as a shock to Beebe, and he was severely depressed for more than a year afterward.<ref name=" Gould 2004 p. 184"/> Despite her assistance during the pheasant expedition, Beebe excised any mention of her from the [[monograph]] he was preparing based on the data gathered during it.<ref name="Matsen 2005 p. 29">{{Harvnb|Matsen|2005|p=29}}</ref>

By the end of 1914, Beebe's pheasant monograph was essentially complete in the manuscript. While the text was written by Beebe, the illustrations were provided by several artists: Robert Bruce Horsfall, who had accompanied Beebe on the expedition, painted the environmental scenes for the illustrations' backgrounds, while the pheasants themselves were painted by other artists including [[George Edward Lodge]], [[Charles R. Knight]], and [[Louis Agassiz Fuertes]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Welker|1975|pp=39–41}}</ref> Due to the elaborate nature of the book's color artwork, no American publisher was considered capable of reproducing it. The publisher which Beebe chose for his work was George Witherby and Sons of London, as a result of their success publishing the artwork of [[John James Audubon]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Gould|2004|p=185}}</ref> The reproduction of the illustrations themselves was to be handled by several companies in [[Germany]] and [[Austria]]. Reproductions of the illustrations were in the process of being printed when [[World War I]] began, holding up the completion of the project for the next four years.<ref>{{Harvnb|Welker|1975|p=39}}</ref>