yS MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Nuttall spent the next four or five years in Philadelphia, working at the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, in close association with his friend Dr. Pickering, 

 on the rich collections obtained during his trip across the continent and to the 

 Sandwich Islands. This expedition furnished some fresh matter for the second 

 edition of the ' Land Birds ' besides a great amount of novel botanical material. 

 In 1840 he published in the 'Transactions of the American Philosophical Soci- 

 ety ' an important memoir entitled : ' Descriptions of new Species and Genera 

 of Plants in the natural Order of the Compositre, collected in a Tour across the 

 Continent to the Pacific, a Residence in Oregon, and a Visit to the Sandwich 

 Islands and Upper California, during the Years 1834 and 1835.' This paper 

 was quickly followed by another giving a ' Description and Notices of new 

 or rare Plants in the natural Orders Lobeliaceee, Campanulaceae, Vaccinieae, 

 Ericaceae, collected in a Journey over the Continent of North America, and dur- 

 ing a Visit to the Sandwich Islands, and Upper California.' Soon afterwards 

 he wrote an appendi.x to Michaux's ' Sylva,' which, however, was not published 

 until several years later. 



In 1842 Nuttall returned to England, where he spent the remainder of his 

 life on an estate in the neighborhood of Liverpool, which had been left to him by 

 an uncle. He devoted himself to farming and to the cultivation of various kinds 

 of plants, especially rhododendrons. In the autumn of 1847 he visited America 

 for the last time, remaining at Philadelphia five or six months, and doing some 

 further botanical work. His death took place in England on September 10, 

 1859. 



Mr. Durand gives the following interesting description of Nuttall's personal 

 appearance and characteristics : > " He was a remarkable-looking man : his 

 head was very large, bald, and bore the marks of a vigorous intellect ; his fore- 

 head expansive, but his features diminutive, with a small nose, thin lips, and 

 round chin, and with gray eyes under fleshy eyebrows. His complexion was 

 fair, and sometimes very pale from hard labor and want of exercise. His height 

 was above the middle ; his person stout, with a slight stoop ; and his walk pecul- 

 iar and mincing, resembling that of an Indian. 



"Nuttall was naturally shy and reserved in his manners in general society, 

 but not so with those who knew him well. If silent or perhaps morose in the 

 presence of those for whom he felt a sort of antipathy, yet, when with congenial 

 companions, he was affable and courteous, communicative and agreeable. From 

 long solitary-study, the cast of his mind was contemplative and abstracted ; but 

 when doubts and difficulties were solved, he was apparently light and buoyant. 



1 E. Durand, Biographical Notice of tl\e late Thomas Nuttall, Proceedings of the American 

 Philosophical Society, VII, i860, 306-307. 



