Bryan, Buffalo Bill Cody, Frederic Remington, and the Florodora girls. Instead of using a regular guestbook, Davenport would have his guests sign the clapboard siding of his home to commemorate their visits. Davenport bred various animals. "I was born with a love of horses and for all animals that do not hurt anything ... I feel happiest when I am with these birds and animals," he said, "I am a part of them without anything to explain." His understanding of the dynamics of purebred animal breeding was that deviation from the original, useful type led to degeneration of a breed. While best known as a horse breeder, he also raised pheasants—including exotic varieties from the Himalayas—and other breeds of birds. By 1905 he started a pheasant farm on his property in Morris Plains, gathering the birds he had kept on the west coast, and buying others from overseas using the profits from his first published book of cartoons. As of 1908 he owned the largest private collection of pheasants and wild waterfowl in America. At various times, his menagerie also contained angora goats, Persian fat-tailed sheep, Sicilian donkeys, and Chinese ducks. Three times, he built up collections of cockfighting roosters, once selling them to finance his start the first time he lived and worked in San Francisco. In addition to his interest in horses and birds, Davenport was also fond of dogs, notably a bull terrier named Duff, obtained as a puppy. Davenport taught Duff to do tricks and profited by loaning the dog to perform in vaudeville acts. In 1908, Davenport involved himself in a controversy over the breeding of show-quality dogs, stating that he thought breeding solely for show purposes was creating an animal that was of inferior quality. He targeted certain popular breeders of purebred collies as producing animals that had less intelligence, were of poor temperament, and lacked utility. He pointedly named famous breeders whom he felt were making particularly poor decisions. The Davenport marriage did not last; Daisy did not share many of her husband's interests and intensely disliked Silverton. In 1909 they separated, and the parting was acrimonious. Homer initially returned to New York to live, but soon suffered a breakdown; he spent months recuperating in a resort hotel in San Diego, California, at the expense of his friend, sporting goods mogul Albert Spalding. Though he deeded his two properties over to Daisy, she