Page:Condor19(5).djvu/14

 160 THE CONDOR Vol. XlX la Californie Septentrionale' and the quail or 'Perdrix de la Californie' had been reported by the French expedition under La Prouse which visited Mon- terey in 1786, and specimens of the quail and condor collected by Archibald Menzies, botanist of the English expedi.tion in command of Capt. Vaneouver, had been taken to England where they were described in 1797. With the exception of the botanist Menzies, Collie and Botta were the first naturalists who collected in California. Botta's collections were small and no special report on them was published, but several of the species named in hi.s honor serve to recall his visit. His name is borne by the pocket gopher (Tho- toorays bottae) which is common in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay; by an unidentified squirrel (Sciurus botae), by the peculiar rubber snake (Charina bottac), and by Saurothera bottae now regarded as one of the synonyms of the Roadrunner. Botta collected the type specimens of the Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus), and Anna Hummingbird (Calypte anna), and also a young male of the latter species, all of which were described by Lesson. A record of his work may be found in his paper on the Roadrunner  and an account of his trip in Duhaut-Cilly's narrative of the voyage and a brief statement in H. H. Bancroft's 'History of California '2. Botta was born in Turin, Italy, December 6, 1802, and died in his 68th year at Acheres, near Paris, March 29, 1870. He is well known from his archaeological explorations in Arabia, Mesopotamia, and especially in the vicinity of Nineveh. When a young man, not yet 24 years of age, he sailed from Havre, Franee, in April, 1826, as surgeon on the sailing vessel 'Le Heros' in command of Capt. Auguste Duhaut-Cilly bound on a three years trading voyage around the world. After touching at several South American ports the 'Heros' anchored at San Francisco, on January 27, 1827, where she remained six weeks and where dur- ing the month of February a number of birds were obtained. During Botta's stay on the coast he spent most of his time at the various Spanish Missions and visited all of the more important ones from Solano to San Diego, some of them two or three times. With the exception of the trips to points in the vicinity of San Francisco and to San Gabriel and San Luis Rey, the journeys were made chiefly in the vessel as it went from port to port. Following is a rough outline of his itinerary as shown by the route of the vessel: 1827 Jan. 27-Mar. 7--San Francisco. Mar.--Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Barbara. April--San Pedro, San Diego. May-June 10--Trip to Mazatlan, Mexico. June--San Diego, San Luis Rey, Santa Bar- bara. July--San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose. Aug.--Solano, Santa Cruz, .Monterey. Sept.--.Santa Barbara, San Pedro, Los An- geles, San Gabriel. Oct.--Monterey, and departure Oct. 20 for Callao, Peru. 1828 May 3--Arrival at Monterey on return from Peru. June--Bodega, Ross, Monterey, Santa Bar- bara, San Pedro, Los Angeles, San Ga- briel. July--San Diego. Aug. 27--Departure for Sandwich Islands. In both of these visits Botta missed meeting Capt. F. W. Beechey and the naturalists on H. M. S. 'Blossom'. Beechey on his first voyage to Bering Strait to meet Sir John Franklin had been obliged to turn south on the approach of winter and sailed for San Francisco to obtain supplies. Here the 'Blossom' remained from Nov. 8 to Dec. 25, 1826, while Collie and a party went overland 'Description du Saurothera californiana, Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat., IV, Pl. 121-124. pl. 9, 1835. '-'Bancroft's Works, XX, pp. 128-130, 1885.