APPENDIX. 31 



by former travelers, Ord rightly credits Lewis and Clark with the first 

 detailed account of this interesting animal. 



Pages 309, 310. 

 "Another Animal of the Ovis Genus." 



Though given under the name of Sheep, Lewis and Clark's description 

 of the Mountain Goat is unmistakable. Many years, however, elapsed 

 ere the true affinities of this animaf, in contradistinction with those of 

 the Mountain Sheep, were made known. The name "White Buffaloe" 

 is peculiarly applicable to this species, from the striking resemblance of 

 the configuration of the neck and shoulders to that of the Bison. As 

 Prof. Dyche (Camp Fires of a Naturalist, Edwords) has shown, this 

 character is due to the great length and fixity of the spinous processes 

 of the inlerscapular vertebrae and the low poise of the neck, which com- 

 bine to prevent the animal from raising its nose much above a horizontal 

 position even when on the alert. 



Pages 313, 314. 

 "Ornithology." 



Ord may be said to stand among his cotemporaries as preeminently the 

 Patriot Naturalist, and his frequent allusions to the injustice done Amer- 

 ican Zoology by the dogmatic ignorance of such "foreigners" as Buffon 

 show the amount of prejudice and misrepresentation which he felt it his 

 peculiar mission to withstand and refute. Natural Science in America 

 to-day, notably in the realm of Ornithology, has splendidly vindicated 

 the cause in which Wilson was the inspired pioneer. From him Ord 

 probably drew the original inspiration, adding thereto a strong loyalty 

 to his native America which it was impossible for Wilson to feel. It was 

 this impulse more than any other which induced the modest patron and 

 biographer of Alexander Wilson to risk an irksome notoriety by editing 

 and completing the American Ornithology. 



The beautiful tribute paid by Ord in this and succeeding pages of 

 the Zoology to the genius of a Scottish emigrant shows his patriotism to 

 have been thoroughly republican, free of self-interest or jealousy, and 

 that the attainment of truth was its highest ambition. 



Page 315. 

 CLASS AVES. 



As in his list of the Mammalia, Ord's table of North American Birds 

 is evidently copied in the main from Turton's Linnaeus, edition of 1806. 

 All the species there accredited to North America (inclusive of Mexico) 

 are entered in the list and to these the author has added the new species 

 described by Wilson, eliminating some however, which he was convinced 

 were synonyms of names already on his list. In addition to this are a 

 few new species proposed by Mr. Ord himself, and with two exceptions, 



