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 10 THE CONDOR. Vol. XVIII in scientific matters. Audubon seemed to miss this element in the short pithy otes with which they supplied him, and. to make up for it launched forth in a picturesque, if wholly imaginary, account of their trip in the opening of his fourth volume (1838) which s in strong contrast to Townsend's own narrative which appeared in 1839, but it has no doubt fired many a youthful mind with. a determination to visit the wonderful country which was pictured in such brilliant colors. tie says: "ttow dehghtful, 1 have often exclaimed, must have been the feelings of those enthusiastic naturalists, my friends Nuttall and Townsend, while tra- versing the ridges of the Rocky Mountains! liow grand and impressive the scenery presented to their admiring gaze, when from an elevated station they saw the mountain torrent hurling its foaming waters over the black crags of the rugged ravine, while on wide-spread wings the Great Vulture sailed over- head watching the departure of the travellers, that he might feast on the sal- fnon, which on striving to ascend the catarract had been thrown on the stony beach! Now the weary travellers are resting on the bank of a brawling brook, along which they are delighted to see the hvely Dipper frisking wren- like lrom stone to stone. On the stunted bushes above them some curious Jays are chattering, and as my friends are looking upon the gay and restless birds, they are involuntarily led to extend their gaze to the green slope beneath the more distant crags, where they spy a mountain sheep, watching the movements of the travellers, as well as those of yon wolves stealing silently toward the fleet-looted animal. Again the pilgrims are in motion; they wind their path- less way round rocks and fissures; they have reached the greatest height of the sterile platform; and as they gaze on the valleys whose waters hasten to join the Pacific Ocean, and bid adieu, perhaps for the last time, to the dear friends they have left in the distant east, how intense must be .their feelings, as thoughts of the past and future blend themselves in their anxious minds! But now I see them brother-hke, with hghtr steps, descenling towards the head waters of the famed Oregon. They have reached the great stream, and seating themselves in a canoe, shoot adown the eurrent gazing on the beautiful shrubs and 11owers that ornament the banks, and the majestic trees that cover the sdes of the valley, all new to them, and presenting a wide field of discov- ery. The melodies of unknown songsters enhven their spirits, and glimpses of gaudily plumed birds excite their desire to search those beautiful thickets; but time is urgent, and onward they must speed. A deer crosses the stream, they pursue and capture it; and it being now evening, they land and soon form a camp, carefully concealed from .the prying eyes of the lurking savage. The night is past, the dawn smiles upon the refreshed travellers who launch their frail bark; and as they slowly float on the stream, both hsten attentively to the notes of the Red-and-White-winged Troupial, and wonder how similar they are to those of the Red-winged Starling". From these rhetorical heights we come to earth with an unpleasant jar as our eye catches a pencilled note in Town- send's hand on the margin of our Academy copy of Audubon. It says the name tricolor which Audubon gave to this blackbird should be credited to Nuttall, who communicated both specimen and name to Audubon, who appropriated the latter! Thus early did scientific jealousies develop and the never ceasing con- test for priority and credit!! John K. Townsend was evidently a genius whom force of circumstances prevented from reaching his proper place in ornithological annals. had he had the financial backing that Edward liarris was ever ready to provide for