ined 
July, 1919 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 171 
FIRST SPECIMEN OF BAIRD’S SANDPIPER COLLECTED IN THE EAST 
Meantime my own collection of local birds was growing apace, and it was 
about this time (August 27, 1870) that I took a specimen of Baird’s Sandpiper 
on Long Island, Boston Harbor, the first ever known to occur east of the Mis- 
sissippi. This specimen proved something of a puzzle to Brewster and myself, 
and eventually led us to the Agassiz Museum and to J. A. Allen, then Curator 
of its bird and mammal collection. He very soon verified our identification, 
and we speedily came to know him very well. If I mistake not he was then at 
work on his ‘‘Mammals and Birds of East Florida’’, an epoch-making book, 
which appeared in the following April. Subsequently, at the request of Dr. 
Coues, I sent the sandpiper to Washington for examination, and in this way, 
perhaps, became known, by name at least, to Professor Baird, Dr. Coues, and 
Mr. Ridgway. ; 
ACQUAINTANCE WITH DOCTOR T. M. BREWER 
It must have been about this time, too, that I became acquainted with Doc- 
tor Brewer, then well-known in Boston as a publisher and book dealer. Though 
possessing a somewhat peppery disposition, he was a most kind and courteous 
gentleman, and was particularly fond of young people, and ever ready to lend 
a helping hand or speak a word of cheer to the aspiring young ornithologist. 
He came to my house to see some of my treasures, particularly a set of Sharp- 
tailed finch’s eggs taken in Cambridge on the Charles River marshes, and more 
than once invited Brewster and myself to his house where we examined with 
pleasure his large collection of eggs. This he willed to the Agassiz Museum. 
It was somewhat later than this—I do not recall the exact year—that 
through him I was offered the position, then vacant, of Secretary of the Bos- 
ion Society of Natural History. This I declined, not liking the confinement oi 
an indoor position. 
In my mind Dr. Brewer was the living link connecting Audubon with our 
own times, and he often spoke of the pioneer ornithologist and of his acquaint- 
ance with him. Dr. Brewer knew Professor Baird intimately, and it was, per- 
haps, largely through him that I became known in Washington as a ‘‘ promising 
young bird collector’’. Later, when I became attached to the Wheeler Survey, 
he always called at my office when visiting Washington and examined with 
creat interest my bird and egg collections from the west. He died in 1880. 
(To be continued) 
FROM FIELD AND STUDY 
Correction of Impression.—I have found that at least one person regards the last 
paragraph of my “Trinomials and Current Practice’? Communication in the last Conpor 
(xx1, 1919, p. 92), in which I deplore the attitude of certain “quasi-ornithologists’, as em- 
bodying my personal opinion of Mr. P. A. Taverner. As one has thought this, others un- 
doubtedly will; but such a possibility never entered my head. I have the greatest re- 
spect for Mr. Taverner as a man and as an ornithologist, and would not dream of trying 
to belittle him. I added the last paragraph merely to condense two of my ideas into one 
communication, and meant exactly what I tried to imply—that I have no patience with 
those who give all their time and attention to eggs, butterflies or big-game hunting, and 
yet indulge in a mighty outburst of lamentation whenever a new bird is described.—A. B. 
Howe LL, Covina, California, April 21, 1919. 
Notes on Some Catalina Island Birds.—On reviewing Mr. A. B. Howell’s paper, 
“Birds of the Islands off the Coast of Southern California”, in connection with observa- 
