1?8 TH]? CONDOR Vol. XXI I was greatly surprised to hear in the pastures round Provo the familiar song of the Bobolink, whieh up to that time I had supposed to be an exclus- ively eastern bird? A small eolony, however, had established itself in this far western outpost, as sinee it has done elsewhere in the western states. I may here note as a eurious eoineidenee that at the time I was eolleeting birds round Provo, E. W. Nelson, then quite unknown to me, was also eolleet- ing birds a few miles to the north, a faet I have just beeome aware of. He had been in Wyoming assisting Prof. E. D. Cope in his search for fossils, and, hav- ing parted with that brilliant seientist, had made his way to Salt Lake City, near whieh he was eolleeting birds on his own initiative. Subsequently, a short aeeount of his eolleetions and observations near Salt Lake City, from July 27 to August 8, 1872, appeared in the Proeeedings of the Boston Soeiety of Natural History (XVl], 1875). METHODS OF FIELD WORK Space does not permit giving full details of our work in Utah, which in- eluded, besides the collecting of birds, colle. cting in several other branches of natural history, as mammals, fish, rep- tiles, insects and even plants. Since the methods of work practised the first season differed a little from those in I vogue later they may be briefly describ- ed, so as to afford an idea of the cir- ? eumstanees and difficulties that beset ? the path of the government collector nearly fifty years ago. Be it understood, then, that the es- sential work of the Wheeler Survey, as of its predeeessors in the War Depart- ment, was geographie, and eonsisted of the making of reeonnaissanee maps of the far west, mueh of whieh, even at that late date, was uninhabited and still very imperfeetly known, espeeially the mountain regions. The eolleetion of natural history speeimens formed a very small part of the work of the sev- eral field parties, and naturally was
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Fig. 35. HENRY WETHERBEE HENSIC[AW wholly subordinate to the main purpose ?r? 1873. ' of the Survey. PERSONNEL OF THE FIELD PARTIES Each of the field parties was in charge of an army officer, usually a re- cent graduate of West Point, and consisted of one or more topographers, an as- sistant who had charge of an odometer (which was attached to a large wheel drawn by a mule), a geologist, a naturalist (not every party had either), a number of packers according to the size of the mule train, and one or more cooks, according to the size of the party. The number of parties varied with each season, but was from five to ten, including perhaps fifty individuals, and their fields of operation often were widely separated.
