Jan., 1916 
PHILADELPHIA TO THE COAST IN EARLY DAYS 
13 
friend Hutton is one of the severest things. I don’t want to do it— 
when he gets better known I will call something after him. This kind of 
thing is bad enough at the best, but to name a bird after a person utteily un- 
known is worse than that. I do not doubt his entire capability but I don t 
like to thrust honors upon him.” Baird, however, stood firm and a little 
later Cassin writes: “ Please give me the name in full of Mr. Hutton, his name, 
style, address, business, locality, age whether young or adult, present pursuits, 
occupations and whereabouts to the best of your knowledge and belief and 
I must have it early as the paper goes to the printer about Wednesday or 
Thursday next.” 
It seems also that Henry’s Nighthawk came near having another name, 
but in this case Baird gave in to Cassin ’s wishes. Cassin writes: “By the way, 
cannot Chordeiles Gunnisoni he called C. Henryi— name some other bird after 
Lt. Gunnison — Henry ought to have one named after him and I do not like the 
idea exactly of giving him one of the Buteos — too many already named in that 
style — just give in, Professor, for once. I think a bird can be found to call 
Gunnisoni — I think moreover that Henry’s claim is the superior! 
But to return to Bell. Cassin in naming the sparrow after him says he is 
“a gentleman possessed of a very extensive knowledge of natural history and 
whose attachment to the pursuit of which, induced him to make the visit to 
California which resulted in the discovery of this and other interesting birds.’ 
One other name deserves to be mentioned among these early transconti- 
nental travellers. This is A. L. Heermann, another member of the Philadel- 
phia Academy. As a young man of thirty, Heermann went to California in 
1849 and spent nearly three years “in making,” to quote Cassin, “researches 
and collections with excellent judgment and great enterprise and has suc- 
ceeded in bringing safely home the most extensive collections ever made in 
that country.” 
In a letter to Baird dated August 28, 1852, Cassin wrote with much enthu- 
siasm: “Heermann has arrived from California with a collection of about 
1200 bird skins. I have not seen them all but expect to tomorrow. I have a 
portion of them brought in his trunk among which are — a Hummingbird, T. 
alexandri which is new to our fauna, a Wren T. mexicanus and an undescribed 
finch [Am. rostratus ] ; also a Squirrel which LeConte says is new and the 
greatest kind of a lot of nests and eggs.” Heermann ’s Gull was another nov- 
elty which he obtained. Later Heermann was naturalist on Lt. Williamson’s 
party which surveyed the 32nd and 35th parallels in southern California on 
one of the Pacific Railroad Surveys. Heermann ’s paper dealing with his 
experiences with 125 land birds of California is the second great California 
ornithological contribution. 
With the rush of settlers that followed 1849 and the military occupancy 
of the Pacific coast posts, numerous ornithologists found their way to Cali- 
fornia and knowledge of its birds increased apace. The great Pacific Rail- 
road Surveys and the resultant report by Baird, Cassin and Lawrence, brought 
all the scattered contributions together in systematic form. But these opera- 
tions belong to another period in the history of western ornithological devel- 
opment and are clearly beyond my theme. I feel that I owe you an apology 
as it is, for occupying so much time in presenting matter that is not new. 
Sometimes, however, well worn facts may be assembled in new combinations 
so that the resultant structure has some elements of novelty and that, together 
