The 00L6QI8T 



119 



under our observation. A classification 

 of all land and water animals, in- 

 sects, etc., and a particular descrip- 

 tion of the animal remains found i)i a 

 concrete state will be required of 

 him." It was also expected of him to 

 make a study of the customs and tra- 

 ditions of the Indian tribes, as well as 

 a study of their comparative anatomy, 

 and diseases and remedies. Mr. Say 

 was one of the founders of the Phila- 

 delphia Academy of Science, was born 

 in Philadelphia on the 27th day of 

 July, 1787, was a relative of the Bar- 

 trams, who had the Botanic Garden at 

 Kingsessing on the Schuylkill, near 

 Philadelphia. That he was an able 

 and accomplished nauralist is evident 

 from his work, and he has been called 

 the father of modern American Zoolo- 

 gy. He was the author of a work on en- 

 tomology and Dr. Elliott Coues in his 

 "Historical Preface" to the "Key to 

 North American Birds," says that he 

 was an entomologist rather than an 

 Ornithologist. As Zoologist of the 

 Long expedition he became the des- 

 criber of a number of mammals, rep- 

 tiles and invertabrates, as well as of 

 a number of birds. 



The camp at which the expedition 

 wintered was named "Engineer Can- 

 tonment." It was five miles below 

 Council Bluffs, on the west bank of 

 the Missouri. The expedition an- 

 chored there on the 19th day of Sep- 

 tember and remained till the 6th day 

 of June 1920. The scientific workers 

 thus had time to observe and collect 

 the animal life of the region and to 

 note both the fall and spring migra- 

 tion of birds. A catalog of the ani- 

 mals was made which incluaes quite a 

 long list of birds, a number of which 

 were the common but now are rare. 

 "The great emigration of geese, swans, 

 ducks and cranes commenced on the 

 22nd of February atid terminated the 

 latter end of March, 1820." The 



species described as new, which were 

 collected here, are: "Fringilla gram- 

 maca. Lark Sparrow; "Sylvia celatus," 

 Orange-crowned Warbler; "Sylvia bi- 

 fasciata," which is the "Sylvia cerulea" 

 of Wilson, described in 1810; "Limosa 

 scolopacea" Long-billed Dowitcher; 

 "Felidna pectoralis," which is the 

 "Tringa maculata" of Vieillot, des- 

 cribed in 1819. 



The "Account" does not again men- 

 tion the collection of a new species of 

 birds till the expedition is in camp 

 at the place where the South Platte 

 issues from the mountains, July 6th to 

 9th. "We observe here the obscure 

 wren, a bird more closely related to 

 the great Carolina Wren of Wilson 

 than any other we have seen." This 

 is the Rock Wren, and to it Say gave 

 the name "Treglodytes obsoleta." On 

 July 9th the expedition moved from 

 its camp on the South Platte, going 

 southward and camped at night on 

 "Defile Creek," which appears to be 

 the small stream now known as Plum 

 Creek. July 10th was Sunday and the 

 expedition remained in camp for the 

 day. At this camp was taken the 

 Land-tiled Pigeon which Say named 

 "Columba fasciata," and also the 

 Dusky Grouse, "Tetrao obscurus." At 

 the camp on "Boiling-spring creek," 

 not far from the site of Colorado 

 Springs, were taken "Fringilla psal- 

 tria," the Arkansas Gold Finch; and 

 "Fringilla frontalis" the House Finch. 

 "In the timber along the creek the 

 sparrow-hawk, mockingbird, robin, 

 red-head woodpecker, Lewis' wood- 

 pecker, dove, winter wren, towhee, 

 bunting, yellow-breasted chat, and sev- 

 eral other birds were seen." It was 

 from this camp that Dr. James with 

 two companions made the ascent of 

 what is now Pike's Pike, the first to 

 ascend the lofty mountain. 



The next camping place was on the 

 banks on the Arkansas river, wher^ 



