DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. d 



1843: "It is hard work, this studying foreign birds — short, 

 technical descriptions, half the time in bad Latin, or at least 

 written by one who could not find Latin for half the colors; and 

 then again nearly all our books are old, when the writers 

 scarcely took into consideration the possibility of other species 

 being discovered similar to the one they so pithily characterize. 

 But I intend to go on as far as I can, and would rather not stop 

 until I know all the birds in the Academy. It will be a work 

 of years, however, solitary and alone as I labor, under disad- 

 vantages too — want of leisure and perplexities of business. It 

 would do very well was there no arrangement to be made for 

 insuring the supply of bread and butter — a negotiation which 

 doth most marvellously encroach upon one's time and inten- 

 tions." 



Just how far Cassin would have been able to pursue his 

 studies is somewhat doubtful, had not Dr. Thos. B. Wilson, 

 afterward president of the Academy, and one of its greatest 

 patrons, become interested in developing the department of 

 Ornithology. From 1846-1850 Dr. Wilson, by purchase abroad 

 and at home, brought together a collection of some 25,000 birds, 

 at that time the largest in the world, while he jirocured for the 

 library practically everything that was to be had bearing upon 

 the science of ornithology. With the exceptional opportunities 

 thvas offered, it is not surprising that Cassin made rapid strides 

 and soon became one of the leading systematic ornithologists of 

 the world. His correspondence shows, however, that just at 

 the time that his opportunities were greatest, his business, 

 through previous neglect, demanded his utmost attention, and 

 consequently for months at a time he held aloof from the 

 museum, where the attractions were too great for him. He 

 likewise suffered several attacks of arsenical poisoning from too 

 constant association with the specimens, which also hindered 

 him materially. Later he was fortunately again able to devote 

 most of his time to his favorite pursuit, and before his death, 

 on January 10, 1869, had described no less than 194 new 

 species of birds. Cassin was exceedingly careful in his work; 

 he studied for many years before venturing to publish at all, 

 and afterward only proposed new names where all efforts to 



