- 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



868 



to nature"— was steadily progressing. The splendid genius 

 of the man, suruiouuting every difficulty and discourage 

 incut of the author, had 1'ouud and claimed its own. That 

 which was always great had come to be known and named 

 as such victorious in its impetuous yet long-enduriug battle 

 with that course of the world — I mean the commonplace; 

 tl ie commonplace, with which genius never yet effected a 

 Compromise, since genius is necessarily a perpetual menace 

 lo mediocrity. Audubon and his work were one; he lived in 

 liSs work Mid in his work will live forever. When did 

 Audubon die'.' We may read, indeed, "on Thursday morn- 

 ing, Jan. 27, 1851, When a deep pallor overspread his counte- 

 nance . . . Then, though he did not speak, his eyes, 

 which had been so long nearly quenched, rekindled with 

 their former lustre and beauty; his spirit seemed to be con- 

 scious that it was approaching the Spirit-land," And yet 

 there are. those who are wont to exclaim, "a soul! a soul! 

 what is that?" Happy indeed are they who are conscious of 

 its existence in themselves, and who can see it in others, 

 every instant of time duriug their lives! 



Audubon's first publication, perhaps, was in 1826 — an ac- 

 count of the turkey buzzard, in the "Edinburgh New Philo- 

 sophical Journal," and some other minor notices came from 

 his pen. But his energies were already focused on his life 

 work, with that intense and perfect absorption of self which 

 only genius knows. The first volume of the magnificent 

 folio "plates, an hundred in number, appeared in 1827-30, in 

 five parts; the second, in 1831-34, of the same number of 

 plates; the third, in 1834-35, likewise of the same number 

 of plates; the whole series of 4 volumes, 87 parts, 435 plates 

 and 1065 figures of birds, being completed in June, 1839. 

 Meanwhile, the text of the "Birds of America," entitled 

 "Ornithological Biography," was steadily progressing, the 

 first of these royal octavo volumes appearing in 1831, the 

 fifth and last in 1839. In this latter year also appeared the 

 "Synopsis of the Birds of North America," a single handy 

 volume serving as a systematic index to the whole work. In 

 1840-44 appeared the standard octavo edition in seven vol- 

 umes, with the plates reduced to octavo size and the text re- 

 arranged systematically; with a later and better nomencla- 

 ture than that given in' the "Ornithological Biography" and 

 some other changes, including an appendix describing vari- 

 ous new species procured during the author's journey to the 

 upper Missouri in 1843. In the original elephant folios 

 there were 435 plates; with the reduction in size the number 

 was raised to 483, by the separation of various figures which 

 had previously occupied the same plate; and to these 17 new 

 ones were added, making 500 in all. The species of birds 

 treated in the Synopsis are 491 in number; those in the work, 

 as it finally left the illustrious author's hands, are 506 in 

 number, nearly all of them splendidly figured in colors. 



In estimating the influence of so grand an accomplishment 

 as this, we must not leave Audubon "alone in his glory." 

 Vivid and ardent as was his genius, matchless as he was 

 both with pen and pencil in giving life and spirit to the 

 beautiful objects he delineated with passionate love, there 

 was a strong and patient worker by his side — William Mae- 

 gillivray. the countryman of Wilson, destined to lend the 

 sturdy Scotch fiber to an Audubonian epoch. The brilliant 

 French-American naturalist was little of a "scientist." Of 

 bis work, the magical beauties of form and color and move- 

 ment are all his; his work is redolent of Nature's fragrance: 

 but Macgillivray's are the bone and sinew, the hidden ana- 

 tomical parts beneath the lovely face, the nomenclature, the 

 classification — in a word, the technicalities of the science. 

 Not that Maegillivray was only a closet-naturalist; he was a 

 naturalist in the bes't sense— in every sense — of the word, 

 and the "vital spark" is gleaming all through his works 

 upon British birds, showing his intense and loyal love of 

 Nature in all her moods. But his place in the Audubonian 

 epoch in American ornithology is as has been said. The 

 anatomical structure of American birds was first disclosed 

 in any systematic manner, and to any considerable extent, 

 by him. But only to-day, as it were, is this most important 

 department of ornithology assuming its rightful place; and 

 have we a modern Maegillivray to come? 



The sensuous beauty with which Audubon endowed the 

 object of his life was long in acquiring, with loss of no 

 comeliness, the aspect more strict and severe of a later and 

 maturer epoch. Audubon was practically accomplished in 

 1844, the year which saw his completed work; but I note no 

 special or material change in the course of events — no name 

 of assured prominence, till 1853, when a new regime, that 

 had meanwhile been insensibly established, may be consid- 

 ered to have closed the Audubonian epoch— the Audubonian 

 period thus extending through the nine years after 1844. 



While Audubon was finishing, several mentionable events 

 occurred. I have alreadv spoken of Bonaparte's "List" of 

 1838, and of.the 1840 edition of Nuttall's "Manual." Rich- 

 ardson in 1837 contributed to the Report of the Sixth Meeting 

 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 

 an elaborate and important "Report, on North American 

 Zoology" relating in due part to birds. The distinguished 

 Danish naturalist, Remnardl, wrote a special treatise on 

 Greenland Birds, 1838; W. O. Peabody one upon the birds 

 of Massachusetts, 1839. The important Zoology of Captain 

 Beechy's Voyage appeared in 1839, with the birds done by 

 N. A. Vigors. Maximilian, Prince of Wied, published his 

 "Reise in das Innere Nord- America" in 1839-41. Sixteen 

 new species of birds from Texas were described and figured 

 by J. P. Giraud in 1841, and the same author's useful "Birds 

 of Long Island" was published in 1844. This year also the 

 bird volume of DeKav's "Zoology of New York." The 

 Rev. J. Hi Linsley furnished a notable catalogue of the birds 

 of Connecticut in 1843. A name intimately associated with 

 Audubon's is that of J. C. Townsend , whose fruitful travels 

 in the West in company with Nuttall in 1834 resulted in ad- 

 ding to our fist the many new species which were published 

 by Townsend himself in 1837, and also utilized by Audubon. 

 Townsend's "Narrative" of his journey appeared in 1838; 

 and the same year saw the beginning of a great work wiiick 

 Townsend projected, an "Ornithology of the United States," 

 which, however, progressed no further than one part or 

 number, being killed by the octavo edition of Audubon. In 

 1837 I first find the. name of a friend of Audubon which 

 often appears in his work— that of Dr. Thomas Mayo 

 Brewer, who wrote on the birds of Massachusetts in this 

 year, and in 1840 brought out liis useful and convenient 

 duodecimo edition of Wilson in one volume. In 1844, Aud- 

 ubon's last effectual year, the brothers Wm. M. and S. F. 

 Baird appear, with a list of the birds of Carlisle, Pennsyl- 

 vania., having the year previously, in July, 1843, described 

 two new species' of fiy-catchers, in the first paper ever 

 written by the one who was to make the succeeding epoch; 

 and it is significant that ttie last bird in Audubon's work 

 was named "EmUriza. bairdii." 



Such were the aspects of the ornithological sky as the 



glorious Audubonian sun approached and passed the zenith; 

 still more significant were the signs of the times as that orb 

 ncared its golden western horizon. In the interval between 



1844 and 1853, Baird and Brewer continued; Cassin and 

 Lawrence appeared in various papers, and round these names 

 are grouped those of William Oambel, with new and inter- 

 esting observations in the Southwest; of George A. McCall 

 and S. W. Woodhouse in the same connection; and of Hol- 

 boll in respect of Greenland birds. The most important con- 

 tributions were the several papers published by Gambel, in 



1845 and subsequently, and Baird's Zoology of Stansbury's 

 expedition, 1852. But no period-marking, still less epoch- 

 making, work accelerates the setting of the sun of Audubon. 



The Baxrdian Epoch: 1853-18— 



(1853—1858.) 



The Cassinian Period. — While much material was accumu- 

 lating from the exploratiou of the great West, and the Baird- 

 ian period was rapidly nearing; while Brewer and Lawrence 

 were continuing their studies and writings, and many other 

 names of lesser note were contributing their several shares 

 to the whole result; the figure of John Cassin stands promi- 

 nent. Cassin was born September 6, 1813, and passed from 

 view in the Quaker City, January 10, 1869. Numerous 

 valuable papers and several* important works attest the 

 assiduity and success with which he cultivated his favorite 

 science to the end of his days. I think that his first paper 

 was the description of a new hawk, Cymindis Wilsoni, in 

 1847. Among his most important works are the Ornithology 

 of the Wilke's exploring expedition; of the Perry Japan ex- 

 pedition; and of the Gilliss Expedition to Chili. Aside from 

 his strong co-operation' with Baird iu the great work to be 

 presently noticed, Cassin's 9eal is set upon North American 

 ornithology in the beautiful work begun in 1853 and finished 

 in 1856, entitled, "Illustrations of the Birds of California," 

 etc. , forming a large octavo volume, illustrated with fifty 

 colored plates. His distinctive place in ornithology is this: 

 he was the only ornithologist this country has ever produced 

 who was as familiar with the bhds of the Old World as with 

 those of America. Enjoying the facilities of the then un- 

 rivalled collection, of the Philadelphia Academy, his mono- 

 graphical studies were pushed into almost every group 

 of birds of the world at large. He was patient and laborious 

 in the technic of his art, and full of book-learning in the 

 history of his subject; with the result, that the Cassinian 

 period, largely by the work of Cassin himself, is marked by 

 its "bookishness," by its breadth and scope in ornithology at 

 large, and by the first decided change since Audubon in the 

 aspect of the classification and nomenclature of the birds of 

 our country. The Cassinian period marks the culmination 

 of the changes that wrought the fall of the Audubonian 

 sceptre in all that relates to the technicalities of the science 

 and consequently the beginning of a new epoch. 



The peers of this period are only three — Lawrence, Brewer 

 and Baird. The former of these, already an eminent orni- 

 thologist, continued his rapidly succeeding papers and was 

 preparing his share of Baird's great work of 1858; though 

 later his attention became so closely fixed upon the birds of 

 Central and South America, that a "Lawrencian period" is 

 to be found in the history of the ornithology of those 

 countries rather than of our own. Dr. Brewer's various 

 articles appeared, and in 1857 this author so well known 

 since Audubonian times became the recognized leading 

 oologist of North America, through the publication of the 

 first part of his "North American Oology" — a work unfor- 

 tunately suspended at this point. Though thus fragmentary, 

 this quarto volume stands as the first systematic treatise, 

 published in this country exclusively devoted to oology, and 

 giving a considerable series of colored illustrations of eggs. 

 But a larger measure of the world's regard became his much 

 later, when, in 1874, appeared the great "History of North 

 American Birds," in three quarto volumes, all the bio- 

 graphical matter of which was by him; and, even as I write, 

 two more volumes are about to appear, in which he has like 

 large share. Thus closely is the name of Brewer identified 

 with the progress of the science for nearly half a century — 

 from 1837 at least, to 1884, some four years after his death, 

 which occurred January 23, 1880. He was born in Boston, 

 November 21, 1814. 



Baird published little during the Cassinian period, being 

 then intent upon the great work about to appear ; but the 

 number of workers in special fields attests the activity of the 

 times. S. W. Woodhouse published his completed observa- 

 tions upon the birds of the Southwest in an illustrated octavo 

 volume. Zadock Thompson's "Natural History of Vermont" 

 (1853) pays attention to the birds of that State. Birds of 

 Wisconsin were catalogued by P. K. Hoy; of Ohio, M. C. 

 Read and Robert Kennicot; of Illinois, by H. Pratten; of 

 Indiana, by R. Haymond; of Massachusetts, by F. W. Put- 

 nam; and various other "faunal lists" and local annotations 

 appeared, including President Jefferson's Virginian ornitho- 

 logy, three-quarters of a century out of date. Dr. T. C. 

 Henry and Dr. A, L, Heermann wrote upon birds of the 

 Southwest; Reinhardt continued observations on Greenland 

 birds; Dr. Henry Bryant published some valuable papers. 

 The since very eminent English ornithologist, Dr. P. L. 

 Sclater, appeared during this period in the present cqn 

 nection. The series of Pacific Railroad Reports, which 

 were to culminate, so far as ornithology is concerned, with 

 the famous ninth volume, were in progress ; the sixth volume, 

 containing Dr. J. S. Newberry s's valuable and interesting 

 article upon the birds of California and Oregon, was pub- 

 lished in 1857. Thus the Cassinian period, besides being- 

 marked as already said in its broader features, was notable 

 in its details for the increase in the number of active workers, 

 the extent and variety of their independent observations, and 

 the consequent accumulation of materials ready to be 

 worked into shape and system. 



(1858—18—). 



Tlw, Bairdian Period. — The ninth volume of the Pacific 

 Railroad Reports was an epoch-making work, bearing the same 

 relation to the times that the respective works of Audubon 

 and Wilson had sustained in former years. A great amount 

 of material— not all of which is more than hinted at in in the 

 foregoing paragraph— was at the service of Professor Baird. 

 In the hands of a less methodical, learned, and sagacious 

 naturalist, of one less capable of elaborating and system- 

 atizing, the result would probably have been an ordinary 

 official report upon the collections of birds secured during a 

 few" years by the naturalists of the several explorations and 

 surveys for a railroad route from the Mississippi Valley 

 to the Pacific Ocean. But having already transformed the 

 eighth volume of the Reports from such a "public document" 

 into a systematic treatise on North American Mammals, the 

 author did the same for the birds of North America, with 

 the co-operation of Cassin and Lawrence. This portly quarto 

 volume, published iu 1858. represents the most important 



and decided single step ever taken in North American orni- 

 thology in all that relates to the technicalities of the science. 

 It effected a revolution — one already imminent in con- 

 sequence of Cassin's studies — in Classification and nomencla- 

 ture, nearly all the names of our birds which had been iu 

 use in the Audubonian epoch being changed in accordance 

 with more modern usages in generic and specific determina- 

 tions. While the work contains no biographical matter- 

 nothing of the life-history of birds, it gives lucid and exact 

 diagnoses of the species and genera known at the time, with 

 copious synonymy and critical commentary. Various new 

 genera are characterized, and many new species are described. 

 The influence of the great work was immediate and wide- 

 spread, and for many years the list of names of the 738 

 species contained in the work remained a standard of uomen 

 claturc from which few desired or indeed were in position to 

 deviate. The value of the work w r as further enhanced in 

 1860 by its republication, identical in the text, bul with the 

 addition of an atlas of ] 00 colored plates. Many of these 

 plates were the same as those which had appeared in other 

 volumes of the Pacific Ihiihoad Reports, notably the sixth 

 and tenth and twelfth (the two latter volumes' having ap- 

 peared in 1859); others were those contained in the "Mexican 

 Boundary Report" which appeared under Professor Baird's 

 editorship in 1859; about half of them were new. 



I have spoken of the collaboration of Cassin and Lawrence 

 in the production of this remarkable treatise. Considering 

 it as only one of a series of reports upon the Pacific Railroad 

 Surveys, I should bring into somewhat of association the 

 names of others who contributed the ornithological portions 

 of other volumes, as the fourth, sixth, tenth and twelfth — 

 Dr. C. B. R, Kennedy, Dr. J. S. Newberry, Dr. J, G. Cooper 

 and Dr. George Suckley. Nor should it be forgotton that 

 numberless other collectors and contributors, whose speci- 

 mens are catalogued throughout the volume, brought 

 their hands to bear upon the erection of this grand monu- 

 ment. 



But what of the genius of this work ?— for I have not 

 measured my words in speaking of Wilson and Audubon. 

 Can any work be really great without that mysterious qual- 

 ity? Certainly not. This work is instinct with the genius 

 of the times that saw its birth. This work is the spirit of an 

 epoch embodied. 



But here I must pause. My little sketch is brought upon 

 the threshold of contemporaneous history — to the beginning 

 of the Bairdian period, of the close of which, as of the dura- 

 tion of the Bairdian epoch, it is not for me to speak. When 

 the splendid achievements of American ornithologists during 

 the past quarter of a century shall be seen in historical per- 

 spective; when the brilliant possibilities of our near future 

 shall have become the realizations of a past ; when the glow- 

 ing names that went before shall have fired another genera- 

 tion with a noble zeal, a lofty purpose and a generous emula- 

 tion — then perhaps, the thread here dropped may be recov- 

 ered by another hand. 



THE SPIKEHORN. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



In one of the elaborate and highly interesting papers on 

 "Deer in the Adirondacks," by Dr. Merriam, published in 

 your journal of May 8, the'subject of the spikehorn deer is 

 treated at considerable length. In the article in question, a 

 quotation is given from the "Antelope and Deer of Amer- 

 ica," by Judge Caton, whose truly exhaustive treatise I have 

 read with singular pleasure and profit. I am well aware of 

 Judge Caton s ability to give a sound, scientific and practi- 

 cal opinion upon any point connected with the morphology 

 of the genus Cervidm, and it is with much diffidence that I 

 venture to differ with such a learned and distinguished 

 specialist, in so far as the spikehorn is concerned. Judge 

 Caton holds that the spikehorn is a yearling, or only a youny 

 animal. 



In that portion of my paper on the "Deer of the Ottawa 

 Valley," published in Forest and Stream on the 27th of 

 March last, I gave a brief description of the spikehorned deer, 

 as I have found him, seen nim, known him and shot him, at 

 various times during the last forty years. The peculiarities 

 of this elegant deviation in that beautiful branch of the deer 

 family, specifically designated Genus Virginia nvs, as given in 

 the article to which I have referred, 1 believe, and know from 

 the experience of others, and my own experience and research, 

 to be substantially and literally correct. I may repeat, that the 

 spikehorned buck, as we have him here in Canada, is shorter 

 in the. legs, rounder and thicker in the body, and has a much 

 more elegantly shaped head than the buck of the generic 

 animal wdth branching horns. The venison of the spikehorn 

 is much finer and more delicious than the other. The buck 

 of the spikehorned Variety — if the term legitimately applies — 

 has usually straight, horns, from six inches to a foot long, 

 sharp-pointed and prongless, set, backward on a line with the 

 face, Occassionally, however, the horns are found slightly 

 curved inward, in which case they are far less formidable 

 weapons than such as are perfectly straight. The spike- 

 horn grows to fully 200 pounds iu weight, as he stands. 

 No Virginian deer of one, two, or three years old attains this 

 weight. 



By those well acquainted with this deer, even the doe of 

 the spikehorn class can readily be distinguished by her char 

 acteristic peculiarities. The track of this animal can also 

 be distinguished from the track of the branching horn, being 

 somewhat rounder and less pointed. 



1 do not know r how many Virginian deer Judge Caton may 

 have had altogether in his acclimatization grounds; but I 

 believe it quite possible that even among hundreds kept in a 

 state of domestication he may not have had a single specimen 

 of the true spikehorn. 



The spikehorn has always been a puzzle tome; neverthe 

 less, there he is. I cannot ignore his existence, notwith- 

 standing the fact that it is almost a species of zoological 

 heresy to question the experimental deductions of such a 

 well-established authority' as Judge Caton. 



There may be, after all, some grounds for the story of the 

 spikehorns driving the branch-antlered deer out of the Adir- 

 ondacks. There can be no question whatever as to the fight- 

 ing capabilities of the former. 1 believe that the moose, or 

 even the wapiti, would be compelled to fly from his danger- 

 ous attack, as the bison has to retreat from the battering- 

 charge of the ponderously-horned Rocky Mountain cimmar- 

 ron, or the domestic bull from the ordinary tame rani. 



I have written this letter, not through any feeling of a 

 captious nature or in the spirit of dogmatism. ' I have" been 

 simply endeavoring to prevent my old and beautifully-inter- 

 esting acquaintance, the spikehorned buck of the Ottawa 

 Valley, from being scientifically exterminated. 



Wm. P. Lett 



Ottawa, May 17, i884. 



