This page needs to be proofread.

102 THE CONDOR Vol. IV Of the former there are forty-three sep- arate papers and of the latter twenty- six. His most important work was "Land Birds" in the Geological Survey of California, and us. ually known as "Ornithology of California." This book was edited by Prof. Baird and includes most of the land birds west of the Rocky Mts. His was a quiet unassuming life, passed amid the simple surroundings of his home. He was a tall, spare man of forests, and could never bear to see a tree cut down, or even have it used for fuel in his home. There stands beside his home today a tall California laurel, which was transplanted from a near ra- vine as a little sapling, and which now overtops his home. It was early in life that the naturalists' traits manifested themselves, as he says in his autobio- graphical summary. "I was noted for planting toothpicks to raise geese, ?nd for hugging goslings to death, a bud- HOME OF THE LATE .soldiery bearing, with a ?lark beard well silvered, dear blue eyes, delicate hands, avoiceslow and not given to a ready flow of language. But when touched on his favorite topic, the man was for- gotten.? and he impressed you as one of the. true-worshippers at Nature's shrine --a no.b?e man of lasting worth. At times he was humorous, when stirred by the remin/te of some early days of exploring among the mountains and 'fields. Dr. Cooper was a great lover of PHOTO BY W. O. EMERSON DR. J. G. COOPER. ding of ornithological tastes. This oc- curred in ?837 and c()ntinued. say, to x84o. I went to a country school in summer, walked a mile over hills and bad roads, taking side paths thru the fields to hunt bird nests, shells and rep- tiles, which I preserved till some natur- alist captured the specimens for little or nothing. The most noted of these cap- tures was a living copper-head make which my sister Mary and I found while crossing a newly cleared field, and