[3] In 1886, the family moved to Sioux City, Iowa, where Darling developed an early appreciation for nature and wildlife during days spent wandering the prairie.

[5] While at Beloit he became art editor of the yearbook and began signing his work with a contraction of his last name, D'ing, a nickname that stuck.

By 1919, Darling returned a final time to Des Moines where he continued his career as a cartoonist, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1924 and again in 1943.

FDR sought political balance by putting the Hoover Republican on the committee, knowing he was an articulate advocate for wildlife management.

Darling designed the first Federal Duck Stamp that year and was appointed Director of the Bureau of Biological Survey, a forerunner of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.