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West Haven, Conn. For a time he engaged in farming, but later deter- 

 mined upon the study of medicine and matriculated at the University of 

 Pennsylvania, graduating in 1847. He then became assistant resident phy- 

 sician at the Philadelphia Hospital, a post which he held for a year or 

 more, when he resigned to become Surgeon and Naturalist to the U. S. 

 Topographical Engineer Corps on the survey of the boundary between 

 the Creek and Gherokee Indian nations. 



From early life he had been enthusiastically interested in natural his- 

 tory, especially ornithology, and had visited the Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences. Here he became intimate with Thomas Nuttall, the botanist and 

 ornithologist, J. K. Townsend, Drs. George Leib, Samuel G. Morton, 

 Robert Bridges, Paul Goddard, Joseph Carson, Elwyn and Zantzinger, 

 and other active members of the Society. On his farm he continued his 

 study ofe ornithology, and under the instruction of Dr. Leib became skil- 

 ful in the art of taxidermy, which was then an important part of the orni- 

 thologist's equipment. With these strong tastes it is not surprising that 

 he preferred positions in which he could combine his love of nature with 

 the sterner duties of the medical profession. Therefore, when Col. J. J. 

 Abert, the chief of the Topographical Engineers, applied to Dr. Morton 

 to recommend a doctor and naturalist, Woodhouse was only too anxious 

 for the appointment. He reported in Washington in April, 1849, and 

 reached Fort Gibson, where the expedition under Lieutenant Sitgreaves 

 was to rendezvous, on June 6. The country traversed by the Survey was 

 an unexplored section of the Indian Territorv, and his collections were 

 consequently of much importance to science. In the followingyear, under 

 Lieutenant Woodruff, the survey was completed. 



In 1851, Jigain under Lieutenant Sitgreaves, Dr. Woodhouse was a mem- 

 ber of the Zuni River Expedition, traveling from San Antonio, Texas, 

 via El Paso to Santa F6, and then west to the Zuni, which was followed 

 to its junction with the Little Colorado, thence across the San Francisco 

 Mountains and down the Colorado River to Yuma, reaching San Francisco 

 early in 1852. 



Much of the country was virgin soil to the naturalist, and Dr. Wood- 

 house secured many specimens, though he was seriously handicapped in 

 his collecting by a rattlesnake bite which he received at the pueblo of 

 Zuni. This hindrance to his natural history researches was, however, of 

 importance from a medical standpoint, and he made a careful study of the 

 effects of the bite and the result of his treatment. 



At the close of this expedition, in 1852, Dr. Woodhouse returned to Phil- 

 adelphia and prepared a report upon all the collections of birds and mam- 

 mals obtained by him in the Southwest, and this treatise forms one of the 

 most valuable pioneer contributions to the ornithology and mammalogy 

 of our western States and Territories. Six new quadrupeds were described 

 and named, and an equal number of novelties were discovered among the 

 birds, while many other of Dr. Woodhouse's specimens proved later on 

 to belong to undescribed forms. Some of these, such as the Woodhouse's- 

 Jay {AJ>kelocoma xvoodhousei) have been named in his honor. 



