68 Deane, Letters of J. J. Audubon and S. F. Baird. [jan 



exceedingly gratified by the kind terms I found myself mentioned 

 throughout the book, more so than I deserve. Be assured that 

 no effort of mine however humble shall be spared to assist in the 

 perfecting a labor so stupendous and important as that in which 

 you are engaged. Would that I could be of more substantial 

 help by sending half a dozen subscribers, I may do so yet, who 

 knows. I found it impossible to get for you a copy of the Berlin 

 transactions containing the elucidations of Hernandez. 1 By the 

 by the volume must be in the Library of the Lyceum, as if I remem- 

 ber aright, it was there I first saw it? If the book remain still 

 unprocurable, I would advise you to import the volume, or the 

 Physical part of the volume. Wiley and Putnam or Radde could 

 do this in six or eight weeks at an expense of not more than about 

 2.00. I do not remember now whether the vol. was printed in 

 1827 or whether it contained the proceedings for 1827. In the 

 latter case it could have been printed a year or two later. I have 

 been looking over the Texan birds and find the curved bill Thrush- 

 like bird, and the small spotted woodpecker undescribed, unless 

 it may be in a paper by Cabot on Yucatan birds. It is very dif- 

 ferent from the bird described by Gambel as Picus Nuttalli 2 from 

 California. I hope to get at them systematically in a few days 

 and see what I can discover about them. I found the other day a 

 dead specimen of a large shrew which seemed referable to Sorex 

 DeKayi. 3 I put it in spirits at your service. I have been making 

 various skeletons & getting various books for the purpose of study- 

 ing out the comparative anatomy of our animals. Anything that 

 I may do or learn about American Quadrupeds will be at your 

 service. All your queries respecting animals in your letter of the 

 26th shall be carefully attended to. I send you some extracts I 

 made from the "Zoology of the Sulpher" 4 a copy of which belong- 

 ing to Dr. Wilson 5 I found at the Academy. There are plates of 



1 Francisco Hernandez, a Spanish physician and naturalist, born Toledo, Spain, 

 1530, died Madrid, Spain, Jan. 28, 1587. 



2 Dryobates mdtallii. 



3 Blarina brevicauda Say. 



4 'The Zoology of H. M. S. Sulphur,' under Capt. Sir Edward Belcher, during the 

 years 1836-42. London, 1844. 



5 Thomas Bellerby Wils'on, one of the founders of the Philadelphia Academy, of 

 Natural Sciences in 1812. He presented the Academy with 12,000 books and 

 pamphlets, and with his brother Edward, 26,000 specimens of birds. Born Jan. 17, 

 1807, died March 15, 1865. 



