6 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



the U. S. Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, in charge of 

 Clarence King, U. S. Geologist. The purpose of this expedition was to 

 explore, and ascertain the resources of the country adjacent to the route 

 of the projected but then unbuilt Pacific Railroad. A little while later I 

 was asked by Major Powell to join his expedition to explore the Grand 

 Canyon of the Colorado River, but, of course, could not accept the invi- 

 tation. 



"I remained in Washington for about a week, studying the bird collec- 

 tion of the Smithsonian Institution, in order to familiarize myself with the 

 western species, then proceeded to New York City (alone), when I joined 

 the party and embarked, May 10th, on board the steamer Henry Chauncy 

 for Aspinwall (now Colon), Panama; crossed the Isthmus by rail, and 

 at Panama embarked on the steamer 'Constitution' for San Francisco, 

 when, after a very brief stay, we proceeded, by steamboat, to Sacramento. 

 Here our 'outfit' was assembled, and on July 4 (1869) our party started 

 on horseback for the deserts of the interior, via Donner Lake Pass in the 

 Sierra Nevada. During the field work of the expedition we traversed the 

 country from Sacramento, California, to the Uintah Mountains in Utah, 

 on horseback, besides making numerous side trips ; indeed, even when camps 

 of several weeks' duration were established, almost daily excursions were 

 made into the adjacent mountains. The winter of 1867-68 was spent in 

 Carson City, Nevada, that of 1868-69 in Washington, the trip from Salt 

 Lake City to Green River Station, Wyoming, then the western terminus 

 of the Union Pacific P^ailroad, being by stagecoach. Returning in May, 

 1869, by rail, to Ogden, Utah, thence to Salt Lake City on horseback, we 

 spent the summer of that year in Salt Lake City and the neighboring 

 Wahsatch Mountains, and eastward into the Uintah range. 



"It may be of interest to say that previous to this long trip by rail, 

 ocean steamer, and on horseback, the writer had never been more than 

 eighty miles from home, had never seen a railroad train, and, of course, 

 had never been inside a car!" 



The story of the expedition was published under the title, "Report of 

 Geological Explorations of the Fortieth Parallel," and in Volume IV, Part 

 III, Ornithology, Pages 309-313, the itinerary of Mr. Ridgeway's winter 

 field work while connected with .that expedition is given. 



With the return from the Western field began Mr. Ridgway's career 

 as an author. The period from 1870 to 1915, inclusive, was passed mostly 

 in Washington, at first preparing a report on the ornithology of the For- 

 tieth Parallel Expedition and in assisting Professor Baird in the prepara- 

 tion of "A History of North American Birds" (3 vols., published in 1874), 

 and "The Water Birds of North America" (2 vols., published in 1884) ; 

 later as Curator of the Division of Birds, U. S. National Museum, in 

 connection with which office more than 500 monographs and special papers 

 and seven volumes of "The Birds of North and Middle America" were 

 written and published. Separate works, prepared during the author's own 

 time, during this period, are: "Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists and 

 Compendium of Useful Knowledge for Ornithologists" (1886); "A 

 Manual of North American Birds" (1887) ; "Ornithology of Illinois" 

 (Vol. I, 1889, Vol. II, 1895) ; and "Color Standards and Color Nomen- 

 clature" (1913). 



