Klem—The History of Science in St. Louis. 99 
who travelled under his protection as far as the Snake 
river. Townsend was a well known Phliadelphia phy- 
sician and naturalist, who had long been anxious to ex- 
plore the far western country in the interests of science. 
Hearing from his friend, Nuttall, that he was preparing 
to join an expedition across the continent, Townsend 
made arrangements to accompany him, and obtained 
from the American Philosophical Society and the Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia a commission to 
search for birds on their behalf. 
Arriving at St. Louis on the evening of March 24, 1834, 
they started on their tour on the 29th. At Florissant 
they observed great numbers of the brown or sandhill 
crane (Grus canadensis) flying above them; some flocks 
were so high as to be entirely beyond their vision, al- 
though they could distinctly hear their harsh and grat- 
ing cries. They had seen several flocks of the same 
cranes while ascending the Mississippi several days be- 
fore. At St. Charles they saw quite a number of birds, 
among them the large pileated woodpecker ( Picus 
pileatus.) On March 31st they observed large flocks of 
wild pigeons and thousands of golden plovers, the ground 
being often literally covered with them for acres. The 
prairie hen or pinnated grouse was also represented in 
large numbers. The two scientists joined Wyeth at 
Booneville, Mo., covering the distance from St. Louis to 
that point on foot. 
About 1836 J. N. Nicollet,1® a distinguished French 
astronomer and geographer, came to this country on a 
18 Report intended to illustrate a map of the hydrographical basin 
of the Upper Mississippi river made by J. N. Nicollet, while in the 
employ under the Bureau of Topographical engineers, Feb. 16. 1841. 
1843. 
Rogers, H. D. Jean N. Nicollet. Amer. Jour. Sci. and Arts. L 47: 
139. 1844, 
Sibley, H. H. Memoir of Jean N. Nicollet. Minn. Hist. Coll. 1: 
183-195. 1850-56. 
Frémont, J.C. Memoirs of my life. 1: 30-72. 1887. 
Winchell, N. H. Jean N. Nicollet. Amer. Geol. 8: 343-352. 1891. 
