AN EARLY COLORADO NATURALIST — 
DENIS GALE 
By Junius HENDERSON 
In a state as young as Colorado, where the study of natural history 
is in a sense in its infancy, one who began his work upon any portion of the 
flora or fauna twenty-four years ago may well be considered a pioneer 
naturalist. This is particularly true if his special line of work is one 
scarcely touched by others. It is doubtful if anyone has spent more time 
in the study of the life-histories of our mountain birds than did Denis 
Gale, and but few have done any notable work in this line. His work in 
Colorado began in 1883, and although it only continued for eleven years, 
yet he spent so large a portion of each year in the field that he was able 
to accomplish much. Therefore he may well be called an early Colorado 
naturalist and a pioneer in odlogical investigations—not a mere collector 
of eggs, but a close and earnest student of nesting habits, food habits, 
migration, etc. 
Mr. Gale was born in London on August 10, 1828, came to America 
in about 1833, living first in Quebec, then in Albany, then in Philadelphia, 
and finally in Denver, where he passed away on February 26, 1905, in 
his seventy-seventh year. A natural love for birds was quickened by 
travels amid logging camps near Quebec while but a boy. The beauty of 
the birds and their songs must have appealed with peculiar force to his 
naturally artistic temperament. He learned to love the solitude of the 
forest, and the desire to get out into undisturbed nature continued with 
him to the end, leading him often to the almost unbroken silence of our 
mountain slopes above timber line. 
In Albany and Philadelphia he followed the career of a dealer in and 
teacher of art and acquired some distinction in that line of work, having 
twice at least had charge of important art exhibits. In 1881 he acquired 
mining interests at Gold Hill, Boulder County, Colorado, and spent a 
large part of each year there, but continued to call Philadelphia his 
home until 1892, when he moved to Denver with his family. 
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