DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 5 



the town. This I did at the request of his brother, who thought 

 it would be well if some white man were there to look after him, 

 80 that he should not be neglected, and I for my part was glad 

 to be there, so that we could work together at ornithology. 

 Besides I had two thoroughbred horses, which were well trained 

 and used to firing, for I always fired from the saddle when out 

 shooting, so I could and did take Heermann out with ine, and 

 being quite sound from the waist upwards, he was all right 

 when once in the saddle. Heermann had a small collection of 

 birds in his rooms at San Antonio, and he and I collected to- 

 gether, and I kept my birds there also. 



" Heermann's lameness increased quickly, and during the 

 latter part of my stay in Texas it was so bad that he could 

 scarcely walk far, and stumbled terribly, so at last to avoid a 

 fall we used, when he rode with me, to strap his legs to the 

 saddle. I never dared to take Heermann far out, or where there 

 was any chance of danger, and he generally went out only when 

 I was on a collecting trip within a dozen miles of the town. 

 When I could get away we would go out to the rancho and col- 

 lect there for a day or two. Heermann never married, and told 

 me he never had any idea of ' committing matrimony.' 



" I left San Antonio in August, 1864, and returned to Europe. 

 Later I had a letter from Dr. Heermann's brother stating that 

 during his absence from the house the doctor would go out alone, 

 taking his gun to obtain some specimens of birds, and was found 

 one day, dead, having evidently stumbled and fallen, and his 

 gun going off had killed him." This was on September 2, 1865. 



Dr. Heermann was one of those pioneers to whom we owe a 

 great deal in the development of our knowledge of western birds. 

 A man who was willing to put up with all kinds of hardship 

 and danger with no other reward than the discovery of new 

 birds or additions to our knowledge of others. He also pos- 

 sessed the ability not only to prepare his specimens well but to 

 preserve them during the exigencies of travel and bring them 

 safely home. 



It is plain to see through all his writings that his main in- 

 terest was in nests and eggs, and in one of his Pacific Railroad 

 reports the term " Oology " occurs possibly for the first time in 



