19S 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XI 
observations, but built on the solid rock of facts, cemented together by the 
scientific training of brilliant minds. 
Think of the golden opportunities that lay before them! How well they took 
advantage of those opportunities are matters of record in various ornithological 
publications. Some are still with us and are as active as of yore; but many have 
past away, and with the exception of Denis Gale, whose biography has been so ably 
written by Judge Henderson, how many of us know anything of the individual life 
of those that have gone beyond ? 
A sketch of the life of any ornithologist who has become prominent either 
world wide or locally, and especially those who were engaged in that work in our 
own State, has always been a matter of great interest to me. The subject of this 
sketch, William Gilbert Smith, 
can justly be called the pioneer 
ornithologist of Larimer Coun- 
ty. Born June 20, 1841, at 
Sandwich, England, he spent 
the first thirty years of his life 
at his birthplace, and coming 
to this country in 1871, he 
settled at Rochester, New 
York, where he followed his 
trade of stair-building. He 
also did considerable taxider- 
mist work and bird study 
during his spare moments. It 
was while living there that he 
joined the Society of American 
Taxidermists and met many 
men of national fame. He 
counted W. T. Hornaday and 
the late Professor Ward among 
his most intimate acquaint- 
ances. The Society about the 
year 1880 conducted an ex- 
hibit, and Smith entered some 
of his work. One piece, “The 
Story of Cock Robin,” illus- 
trated by a group of animals 
grotesquely mounted, was 
awarded a certificate of merit. 
Smith left Rochester in the 
fall of 1881 and came to Denver, where he opened a bird store and museum on 
Larimer Street between 15th and 16th streets, which he' kept until the first of the 
year 1883 when he sold out to Mr. H. H. Tamman. 
He spent the year 1883 collecting in Platt Canyon and Buffalo Park, where he 
secured many specimens of birds, eggs, insects, and mammals. At that time he 
donated some rare specimens to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, among 
which was a set of three eggs of the Townsend Solitaire, at that time almost un- 
known to science. 
In 1884 he took up a homestead about six miles northeast of Loveland, 
Colorado, where he lived until the fall of 1892, when on account of failing 
WILLIAM GILBERT SMITH: BORN JUNE 20, 1841; 
DIED MAY 12, 1900 
