1956 Moss Pictorial Map of Wildlife and Game in the United States

This is a 1956 Ira Moss pictorial map of wildlife and game native to the United States. The map depicts the region from Canada to Mexico and from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Bright, colorful, and highly detailed, fifty-five different mammal species and sixty-eight different bird species are illustrated. Each species is numbered and corresponds with an index located in a cartouche in the lower-left corner. The mammals are listed in black and divided into four categories: big game, small game, animal predators, and small mammals. The birds are listed in red text and divided into five categories: upland game birds, shore birds, winged predators, geese and brant, and ducks. Each of the listed species appears on the map several times, and each illustration is numbered for easy identification.

Large illustrations of deer, elk, black bear, bighorn sheep, bison, moose, and pronghorn antelope are the most striking, while smaller illustrations of the birds and other animals populate the areas not occupied by the larger illustrations. Boxed inset maps along each of the four borders depict the ranges of each of the species on the map, with map, an illustration of the mammal or bird, the name of the species, and the number that it corresponds to. For the birds, some differentiation is created through shading to indicate their wintering and nesting areas.

167 national forests are also indicated, with sketches of green pine trees marking the location of each national forest. An index of the national forests is situated in the cartouche in the lower left corner and grid coordinates for each forest are provided. Rivers, lakes, cities, and state capitals are also labeled throughout. The whole is surrounded by a charming border made up of small sketches of birds in flight.

This map was designed by Ira Moss and copyrighted by Shorewood Press, Inc. in 1956.