166 THE CONDOR Vol. XX 



nardino. In 1884 we spent five months in southeastern Arizona again, collect- 

 ing birds, including a trip across Sonora to the Gulf of California. 



In 1887 we moved to the mountains east of San Diego, the nearest post of- 

 fice being known as Ballena. In 1889 a new post office was established at 

 Santa Ysabel which was more convenient for me. In 1892 a post office, called 

 Witch Creek, was established on the farm next mine. Skins made by me from 

 birds taken in the neighborhood of my home were labeled by these different 

 locality names accordingly. 



In 1891 I accompanied the Death Valley Expedition as one of the collect- 

 ors, and for several years I did intermittent work for the Biological Survey. 

 In the fall of 1897 I moved to San Diego, where my home has since been. In 

 January, 1898, my first wife died and the following August I married Miss 

 Kate Brown. No children were the offspring of either marriage. 



Up to 1885 I had worked exclusively on birds, but that year, at Dr. Merri- 

 am's suggestion, I added mammals, and since that date I have perhaps spent 

 more time on mammals than on birds. I began to feel the need of a book on 

 California mammals, and, as no one else cared to undertake it, in 1893 I de- 

 cided to try to publish an account of the mammals of California, though I did 

 not feel well equipped for the job. I engaged W. J. Fenn to make some draw- 

 ings for illustrations and began getting together what data I could. In March, 

 1906, I arranged with the Southern California Printing Company of Los Ange- 

 les to print and bind 1000 copies of "California Mammals". They had just 

 begun work on it when the San Francisco earthquake occurred. The fire de- 

 stroyed the printing establishments of San Francisco, with the result that a 

 large amount of printing orders was transferred to Los Angeles. In a few 

 days the printers wrote me that I had better come there and help. I found 

 them crowded with work and my job had to be linotyped and printed a form at 

 a time, as it could be worked in. I had no experience as a proof reader but 

 had to do it, and a poor job I made of it. It took us two months to finish the 

 job. I may as well say here for the benefit of others that publishing books 

 of this class does not pay. My receipts on account of "California Mammals" 

 are now over twelve hundred dollars behind the expenses incurred. If I had 

 let established publishers publish the book on the best terms offered I would 

 have been much worse off. 



Perhaps some persons have wondered at the cover title "West Coast Na- 

 ture Series". My friend W. G. Wright had just published "West Coast But- 

 terflies", and we were considering trying to get out a series of nature books 

 covering other classes and this was in furtherance of some such plan. Most of 

 che edition of "West Coast Butterflies" was burned in the San Francisco fire, 

 and this loss, with the failure of my book to pay expenses broke up the scheme. 



In the spring of 1907 Mrs. Stephens and I formed part of Miss Alexander's 

 party in Alaska. This work was in a very different region from that which I 

 was accustomed to, and we found it very interesting. We returned home in 

 October. In the spring of 1910 I accompanied Dr. Grinnell on the Colorado 

 River expedition of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Since then I have not 

 done much field work, leaving that for younger men, though I chafe sometimes 

 at being tied to indoor work and often plan to get out again. I haven't given 

 up the hope of doing more field work. Although I am in my seventieth year 

 I am in good health and able to do a lot of hard work yet. 



Frank Stephens. 

 San Diego, California, May 26, 1918. 



