Nov., 1926 JAMES HEPBURN, LITTLE KNOWN ORNITHOLOGIST 253 



It was disappointing to me to find no reference in Hepburn's notes to the specimen 

 of Rosy Finch supposed to have been taken by him at Fort Simpson, and serving as the 

 type of Leucosticte tephrocotis littoralis. Incidentally, it may be said that Fort Simp- 

 son, at sea level, is a curious place for this bird to have been found, save perhaps in 

 midwinter. I doubt if it is anything but rare there even at that season, and Hepburn 

 was at Fort Simpson in September. 



Judging from some of his written accounts of different species of birds, it may be 

 said that Hepburn possessed more than ordinary ability in describing what he had 

 observed, so that in his failure finally to publish any of the results of his studies of 

 western birds we have been deprived of what would have been a valuable and emi- 

 nently readable contribution to our knowledge of the ornithology of the Pacific coast 

 in early days. 



There may be people in England or Scotland who have knowledge of Hepburn's 

 personal career, and also of what became of his collection, but in this country, hereto- 

 fore, the attachment of his name to a species of bird and a few scattered references in 

 literature were all that saved it from oblivion. 



Dickens' story of the Haunted Man centers largely about the sentiment inscribed 

 below the painting of the founder of the institution in which the story is laid, "Lord, 

 keep my memory green." It is a sentiment that appeals to everyone; it is what we all 

 wish. That a man like Hepburn should die, leaving so little trace of the excellent 

 work he evidently was carrying on, was a most lamentable ending. For years past I 

 had wondered about this man, this "eminent English naturalist, long time resident at 

 San Francisco and Victoria", who vanished so completely, so far as American ornithol- 

 ogy is concerned, and it seemed a peculiar piece of luck, to me, that his notebooks 

 should have fallen into my hands. I feel grateful to have been the means, in some 

 measure, to aid in keeping green the memory of a man who assuredly deserves such 

 remembrance but who has been well-nigh forgotten by the bird lovers who came after 

 him. 



Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, California, March 22, 1926. 



