Jan., 1916 PHILADELPHIA TO THE COAST IN EARLY DAYS !1 Audubon, or had there been salaried scientific positions in those early days by which an ornithologist could make a living, the name of Townsend would have been among the leaders in American ornithology. ! have talked with his cousin who remembers him dressed in the furs and skins that he brought from the far west, and with his brother-in-law who knew him in the intimacy of family relationship; and ! have read the opinions of Cassin in his confi- dential letters to Baird and all testify to his high character and ability. Townsend filled minor positions at Washington loo]?ing after the birds of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, and later practiced dentistry in Philadel- phia. He seems always to have been handicapped by financial conditions and died suddenly on February 6, 1851? at the age of 42. It is deplorable that a man of his capabilities could not have been given the opportunities of devel- oping them. Prior to the appearance of Townsend's Narrative, two foreign expeditions had collected in California. A German explorer then in Mexico, Ferdi- nand Deppe, travelled northward to Monterey and went from there to the Hawaiian Islands, where, by the way, he met Townsend. He made some collec- tions and his ornithological discoveries were published by Lichtenstein in 1838. They did not amount to much, however, as he secured only one new species, the Ferruginous Rough-leg. A British expedition under Capt. Beethey <1525) obtained a much larger collection which was reported on by Vigors in 1839. The material was actually collected by Dr. Collie, Mr. Lay and Lt. Belcher. One hundred species were listed {many from Mexico), but the California Jay, Pygmy Nuthatch, California Towhee and Red-shafted Flicker, were described as new from California. This brings us to the next transcontinental expedition, that of William Gambel. Gambel was a young protege of Thomas Nuttail. All I have been able to learn of his ancestry was that he lived in Philadelphia with his mother and sister who were in humble cire?m?tances. He later had some sort of occupation at the Academy of Natural Sciences, and in 1842 {Cassin says 1841) at the solicitation of Nuttall, he made a journey to California with a party of trappers. He took a more southerly route than any of the previous parties, following the Santa Fe trail, exploring the Raton Mountains of northern New Mexico and passing thence from Santa Fe to the Colorado River and into southren California. He returned round the Horn reaching Philadelphia with his treasures in August, 1845. The new species which Gambel discovered included the Wren-tit, in many ways one of the most remarkable birds of the coast, Plain Titmouse, Mountain Chickadee, California Thrasher, Gambel's Quail, Elegant Tern, and Nuttall's Woodpecker. Diagnoses of some of his new species were sent from the west to Nuttall and pubhs?ed beiore Gambel's return. His final report, a fully anno- tated list of 176 species, is the first paper of note on Californian ornithology and forms the basis of all subsequent work. Gambel and his specimens reached Philadelphia about August 15, 1845., and Cassin, writing to Baird on this date, says: "Gambel is here with his California birds and others--not very many but some of the most magnificent specimens I ever saw. He has four new species in addition to those already described: a queer little Parus crestec/but totally distinct from 5icoior ? another which he calls Pa rus but is hardly of that genus more like ?etop]?#?; an extraordinarily large long billed bird which he
