164 The Smithsonian Institution 



ceived instruction in making drawings of birds ; and it was 

 to him, and perhaps still more to his own kinsman, Major 

 John LeConte, one of the early Southern naturalists, that was 

 due his determination to devote his life to natural history. 



In 1843 he translated Ehrenberg's work on the corals of 

 the Red Sea for Dana, who was then engaged upon his re- 

 port for the Wilkes exploring expedition. In 1846 he ap- 

 pears to have been occupied in the preparation of a synonymy 

 of North American birds, and to have visited Boston to con- 

 sult in the libraries of Amos Binney and the Boston Society 

 of Natural History certain books not to be found in Phila- 

 delphia. That he was already at that time a trained student 

 is shown by the fact that the material then gathered was 

 utilized by him twelve years later in his " Birds of North 

 America." 



During all this time he was engaged in organizing a 

 private cabinet of natural history, taking long excursions 

 through the mountains of Pennsylvania; in making dissec- 

 tions and preparing slides for the microscope ; and in pre- 

 serving specimens, most of which are still in existence and 

 available for scientific study in the National Museum. 



In 1841 he walked 420 miles in twenty-one days; on the 

 last day 60 miles between daylight and rest. In 1842 he 

 walked more than 2100 miles. In the course of these excur- 

 sions he visited Audubon, Haldeman, Melsheimer, and Morris, 

 in order to examine their collections. His fine physique and 

 capacity for work in after days were perhaps due in part to 

 these years of outdoor life. 



I find in his note-book a memorandum that on his birthday 

 in 1840, at the age of seventeen, his height was five feet ten 

 and a quarter inches ; a year later he measured five feet 

 eleven and three quarters inches, and weighed one hundred 

 and fifty pounds. During his long walk in the following fall 



