plants and animals. This subject has been distinctive of all of his later work, and if we are not in error, he was the first to note the particular laws governing the environment of bird-life.
At the time he presented his essay on the geographical distribution of plants, no one in the United States, and only De Candalle, Richard and Humboldt in Europe, had critically examined this subject, and Michaux, on the basis of the forest growth of a portion of the United States had noted it. While Purrsh, Bartram, Nuttall, Barton and Torrey had preceded him, they are silent on the laws or conditions governing the distribution, and while Douglas and Eschscholtz preceded him on the West Coast and noted cases of geographical distribution, they were from the very paucity of systematic observations unable to formulate any scientific generalizations. Then we regard this essay as the first systematic presentation of this subject in the United States. From the plants he carried this question into the life history of the Molluscæ, and thence he laid the foundation of his generalizations regarding the distribution of bird-life. There can be no doubt that this question of geographical distribution has marked and modified our views of the life history of birds, and from the mere descriptive technology of ornithology, we have opened a new and varied field of ornithological study. In this particular field he has been a pioneer, and it is a portion of the special work of this Club. To the scientist the work of Dr. Cooper is of special value, and this is acknowledged and emphasized by Prof. Baird, who says: "By far the most valuable contribution to the biography of American birds that has appeared since the time of Audubon, is that written by Dr. J. G. Cooper in the Geological Survey of California,"—(Baird North American Land Birds. Preface page 1.)
While the number of his publications on conchology exceeds those on ornithology, in the latter they have taken the form of finished works or monographs, which have such a value as attaches to the works of Audubon, Baird, Wilson and Bendire. During his work on the Pacific Coast Dr. Cooper discovered and established ten forms, which will be made the subject of a paper in our next issue.
Lewis' and Clarke's explorations to the head waters of the Missouri River made known to us that vast expanse of territory known as the Northwest and Audubon, Nuttall and Townsend were the first to describe and make known its zoology. The exploration of Maj. Long in 1870, of which Dr. Edwin James was the scientist, reached to the south and west of the territory covered by Lewis and Clark, but did not to any great extent enlarge our knowledge of its zoology, as James was a better botanist than zoologist. To a certain extent the same may be remarked respecting the explorations of Fremont. The botany of these several surveys and explorations was particularly elaborated by Torrey, Gray, James and Eaton, while the zoology was not so thoroughly elaborated.
In 1831 Sir John Richardson published the results of his observations of a portion of the territory covered by the Hudson Bay Company, but none of these, however, explored Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California, although the work of Eschscholtz covered a portion, and it was not until the Geological Survey of California under Whitney that this territory really became known to science. Thus this survey becomes a starting point and a scientific epoch, as it were. To this survey Dr. Cooper was assigned as zoologist and by mutual consent between he and Whitney, the notes and specimens were to be placed in the hands of Prof. Baird for elaboration at the Smithsonian Institute, and to be finally published as a portion of the work on The Land and Water Birds of North America by Baird, Brewer and Ridgway. This arrangement, however, was not practically carried out, and a large portion of this work was published by Whitney as a part of the California Reports. A portion of the bird skins were deposited at the State University at Berkeley.
Thus it was the zoological work of Dr. Cooper in connection with this survey that has so enlarged our real knowledge of the zoology of this section. Thus, from December 1860 until April 1862, and a considerable portion of 1863 he was collecting in the Colorado Valley near Fort Mojave. This included the vicinity of San Diego, San Pedro, Santa Barbara and the islands of the coast. In 1864 he explored a portion of the coast from Bolinas Bay to Santa Cruz, and during a portion of this time (1862) was assisted by Dr. Edward Palmer. During this period he did a large amount of gratuitous work, in the way of elaborating the material in various branches of the zoology of the Pacific Coast. In 1865 he prepared his series of reports on the higher classes of animals. We hope that this preliminary sketch will call attention to Dr. Cooper's ornithological work, and while it is not intended to be critical, we have attempted to do him justice as an original observer and as an author. In a subsequent issue of the Bulletin we will give a detailed catalogue of his ornithological publications expressly prepared for students who wish to examine them.
