56 THE CONDOR | Vol. XXII 
be the types of a new form (EHremophila alpestris strigata) 1 have always con- 
sidered that I got the worth of my money. 
VISIT CALIFORNIA DURING THE EIGHTIES 
Several times during the eighties I visited California in pursuit of data on 
Indian languages, with particular reference to the making of a linguistic map 
of North America, which I had planned and been put in charge of, and which, 
with the assistance of the several members of the Bureau, was completed and 
published in 1885. The work on this map proved extremely interesting and 
occupied much of my time for two or three years. 
TRIP TO COLORADO AND THE PECOS RIVER, NEW MEXICO, IN 1883 
In May, 1883, I obtained leave of absence for several months on account of 
ill health, and spent the time till the middle of July near Colorado Springs. 
Here I was joined by E. W. Nelson, also in search of health, and we made a 
fine collection of the birds of the locality. 
In June the Mountain Plover was found to be nesting in great numbers on 
the plains near us, and after some unsuccessful attempts at nest hunting, we hit 
upon an easy method of finding plovers’ nests which is, perhaps, worthy of 
record. Like many other great discoveries, it was simple enough, consisting of 
driving in a buggy over the plains, then unfenced, and at long range noting 
with a glass the plover, as they stood upright over their eggs, their wings 
slightly raised, too much bewildered by the strange apparition invading their 
homes to put into practice their usual cunning tactics. By means of this de- 
vice, in a few hours, we found all the plovers’ nests we desired and, incident- 
allv, a still greater number of nests of the Prairie Horned Lark, which inhabits 
the same waterless plains. 
On July 18, we transferred our activities to a camp on the upper Pecos 
River, New Mexico, at its junction with Willow Creek, and there J remained 
till October 28, when I set out for Nevada and California, leaving Mr. Nelson 
still in camp. This mountain locality proved very interesting from the stand- 
point of the bird student, and the collections and observations made here 
formed the basis of an article by me in 7'he Auk for October, 1885, and Janu- 
ary, 1886. 
MY COLLECTION OF BIRDS ACQUIRED BY THE BRITISH MUSEUM 
In 1885 my entire private collection of birds and eggs was acquired by the 
British Museum, where it now is. Its value had been greatly enhanced by the 
addition of the Merriam collection, made chiefly about Locust Grove, New 
York, and the Nelson collection, consisting largely of a series of the Alaskan 
birds gathered by him while at Saint Michaels. In addition to greatly strength- 
ening the British Museum series of North American birds, till then compara- 
tively weak, it enabled British Ornithologists to comprehend the significance 
of the trinomial system as applied on this side of the water. Its value abroad, 
too, was greatly enhanced by the fact that many of the species were represent- 
ed by strong series well illustrating geographic variation. While the collection 
thus became inaccessible to American ornithologists, I have always felt that its 
value to science was far greater abroad than it ever could have been here, 
where, more recently, many even larger collections have been made along sim- 
ilar lines. 
The following quotation from Sharpe’s ‘‘History of the Collections of the 
