[48] BIRDSOFOREGON 



Indian methods of harvesting this important food and article of trade 

 between the Indians of the neighborhood and less fortunately located 

 villagers far and wide. 



On Wednesday, April 9, 1806, is entered the last Oregon bird note, 

 made from observations on the opposite side of the river from Beacon 

 Rock, as follows: "We saw to-day some turkey-buzzards which are the 

 first we have observed on this side of the Rocky Mountains." 



DAVID DOUGLAS, 182.5-2.6 



WITH THE foregoing note Lewis and Clark pass out of the Oregon orni- 

 thological picture, and a blank remains until the visit of David Douglas 

 some twenty years later. This young botanist left England on July 15, 

 182.4, on a sailing ship bound around Cape Horn. The vessel arrived off 

 the Columbia on February 12., 18x5, but terrific gales and mountainous 

 seas forced it to lie off the mouth of the river until April 7 before finally 

 crossing the bar and anchoring under the north shore. In his Journal, 

 Douglas gives a vivid account of the weather experienced on the voyage 

 and states finally: "Here we experienced the furious hurricanes of North- 

 West America in the fullest extent a thousand times worse than Cape 

 Horn." This should be an interesting statement to Oregonians who have 

 often supposed that the South Seas storms are much more violent than 

 anything ever experienced in this country. 



Douglas actually landed on April 9, 182.5, collected at the mouth of 

 the river until the iyth, and arrived at Fort Vancouver on the 2.0th. 

 From this point as headquarters he traveled over much of Oregon and 

 Washington. Even a bare outline of his explorations is too long to be 

 included here the trips that most interest Oregonians being those of 

 June 2.0 to July 19, 182.5, when he visited the country east of the Cascades; 

 August 19 to September 5, 18x5, when he traveled up the Willamette 

 Valley to the mouth of the Santiam and returned to Vancouver; March 

 2.0 to August 30, 182.6, spent in eastern Washington, as far north as Kettle 

 Falls, and in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon; and September 2.0 to 

 November zo, 1816, when he journeyed up the Willamette and on to the 

 Umpqua. He spent both winters at Vancouver and left March 2.0, 182.7, 

 traveling up the Columbia and overland to York Factory on Hudson Bay. 



Although Douglas was primarily a botanist and devoted his efforts 

 mainly to the science of plant life, he found time to interest himself in 

 both birds and mammals. When one considers that all travel was by 

 canoe, on horseback, and on foot, it is evident that Douglas covered an 

 immense territory and accomplished a seemingly impossible amount of 

 work during his visit to our country. The many plants and numerous 

 birds and animals that bear the name of this untiring young collector are 



