FIRST PROFESSIONAL WORK 69 



this reconnaissance — because it can hardly be 

 called more — and remarks, — 



" A large number of species were doubtless overlooked, and 

 quite a number had left the region before the date of beginning 

 work. The country is particularly rich both in species and in 

 individuals of the several kinds, and is hardly to be excelled 

 in these particulars by regions bordering on the seaboard." 



After a short visit with my mother in Plain- 

 field, I went to spend the summer with my uncle, 

 Charles S. Scott, who had become the owner of the 

 old house in New Brunswick, after my grand- 

 father's death, which occurred in 1871. Here I 

 went on with my bird study and looked about for 

 new professional opportunities. The summer's 

 work was broken by two interruptions : a day at 

 the school at Penikese Island, then in its second 

 year, and a brief visit to some distant relatives in 

 the town of Princeton, New Jersey. It was my 

 first acquaintance with the latter place, with which 

 (though I did not know it at the time) I was to 

 become so familiar. I learned during my stay 

 that the trustees of Princeton College had recently 

 received a munificent gift from the Hon. John C. 

 Green for the erection of a school of science. 

 Of course a new foundation for scientific study 

 aroused my interest. I found that the building 

 was erected in part, but that it would not be 

 occupied for some time to come. The whole 

 country about Princeton struck me as particularly 



