1879II Fjlliott Coues 



of the Water Ouzel ^ remain in their way unap- 

 proached. He had, however, various eccentricities 

 which he cultivated as a means to secure attention. 

 On the walls of his den in the Survey he posted Coues' 

 large placards, two of which read as follows: dread of 



visitors 



I DREAD INTERRUPTION MORE THAN THE DEVIL. 



THE VERY FACT OF A DOOR HAS IN IT 

 A SUGGESTION TO THE INQUIRING MIND. 



In our mutual relations Coues was always a 

 valued friend and adviser, and his *'Key to North 

 American Birds" was framed on admirable lines, 

 later adopted by Jordan and Gilbert in a similar 

 work on fishes.^ Toward the end of his life he sud- 

 denly developed an incongruous interest in theos- 

 ophy, afterward abandoned as abruptly as it had 

 been adopted. Having read my satirical paper on 

 "The Spontaneous Activity of Shadows," ^ a bur- 

 lesque of the theosophical writings of D'Assier and 

 others, he one day referred to it with unqualified 

 approval. When I expressed a little surprise, he de- 

 fined his own position laconically: "Not a damned 

 theos!" 



In my early work in Ichthyology, Gill (who was. His good 

 as I have said, endlessly kind) often suggested '"^^'^^^ 

 that we publish together as "Gill and Jordan," he 

 doing the critical part and I largely the routine of 

 investigation and preparation of specimens. Coues 

 strongly advised against that arrangement, citing 



^ "The Humming-bird of the California Waterfalls." 

 ^ "A Synopsis of the Fishes of North America," 1882. 

 ' See Chapter xxiii, page 600. 



