Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University WILMOT W. BROWN: ONE OF THE MOST PROLIFIC COLLECTORS OF THE VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE NEW WORLD KEVINB.CLARK1 ABSTRACT. Wilmot W. Brown (1870?–1953) collect- knowledgeofthedistributionandtaxonomy ed birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles from oftheterrestrialvertebratefaunaofCentral 1890untilhisdeathin1953,amassingacollectionthat forms the core of knowledge of the distribution and and South America. His collection of more taxonomyoftheterrestrialvertebratefaunaofCentral than18,000birdspecimens(Petersonetal., and South America. His collection of more than 2004) is spread over 25 institutions (Vert- 18,000 bird specimens is spread over 25 institutions, Net, 2019). He collected throughout the although his longest collaboration was with Outram Bangs and John Thayer of the Museum of Compar- Caribbean;northernSouthAmerica,includ- ativeZoology.HecollectedthroughouttheCaribbean; ing Colombia and Panama; and principally northern South America, including Colombia and throughoutMexico,wherehewasbasedfor Panama;andprincipallythroughoutMexico,wherehe morethan40years,formingoneofthemost wasbasedformorethan40years,formingoneofthe most important collections ever amassed for that important collections ever amassed for that country. He collected more than 750 specimens now country. He collected more than 341 classifiedassomeformoftypespecimen,andatleast mammal, 211 bird, 196 reptile, and 11 eight taxa are named in his honor, including two reptiles, a mammal, and five birds. Although he sent amphibianspecimenslistedassomeformof regular,detailedcorrespondencebacktohisbenefac- typespecimen,althoughheisrarelydirectly torsintheUnitedStates,heneverpublishedasingle credited with their discovery. Although he professional article, and no field journal has been sent regular, detailed correspondence back located, leaving his legacy obscured. In an era of lax data collection and fraudulent collectors, Brown’s to his benefactors in the United States specimens and associated data have proven to be of (Appendix 1), he never published a single high quality and help form the basis for our current professional article, and no field journal has understanding of New World biodiversity, although his legacy is marred by his disregard for the been located, leaving his legacy obscured. conservationplightofthespecieshecollected. While better known for his bird collecting, Brown also made extensive mammalian and Key words: Wilmot W. Brown, Collector, Collec- herpetologicalcollectionsthatarekeytoour tions, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Grand Cayman, understanding of the distribution and tax- Birds, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Outram Bangs,Mammals,Reptiles onomy of those groups, and at least eight taxa are named in his honor, including two reptiles, a mammal, and five birds (Appen- INTRODUCTION dix 2). Wilmot W. Brown (1870?–1953; Fig. 1) By 1900 a fierce debate was occurring in collected birds, mammals, amphibians, and the United States over whether and how to reptiles from 1890 until his death in 1953, conserve species that were seemingly going amassing a collection that forms the core of extinct in rapid succession. The near extinction of the American Bison (Bison 1San Diego Natural History Museum, 1788 El bison) was one catalyst for this debate, but Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, California 92101. Authorfor correspondence([email protected]). the regular reports of wanton slaughter of Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 162(6): 347–378, January, 2020 347 Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University 348 Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. 162, No. 6 wildlife for food or fashion also fed public anger, which resulted in the rise of the Audubon Society and other conservation groups that lobbied for increased wildlife protection in response (Barrow, 1998). To modern eyes, the seemingly preventable extinctions of iconic North American spe- cies such as the Labrador Duck (Campto- rhynchus labradorius), Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis), Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius), and Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) are tragic tales of missed opportunities that have left whole ecological communities, as well as modern human society, diminished to an unknown degree. As we shall see, Wilmot W. Brown had a cavalier attitude toward species conservation, which is espe- cially disturbing in light of the subsequent decline to extinction of some of the species he collected. However it must be remem- bered that the status and distribution of much of the New World fauna was very Figure1. PortraitofWilmotW.Brownin1930. poorly known in the 1890s, when Brown began collecting for museums, and there Furthermore, the vast majorityof species was an eagerness, not to mention financial that went extinct, or nearly so, during this incentive, to discover and document as period were driven to their fate through muchofthenaturalhistoryofthecontinent either direct hunting for food, fashion, as possible. To this day the presettlement hides, oil or other consumptive uses; distribution of even charismatic species extensive habitat destruction; feral cats or such as the Merriam’s elk (Cervus elaphus other introduced predators; or a combina- merriami) in Arizona, the gray wolf (Canis tion of all of these influences. Scientific lupus) in California, or the American collectors generally took so few individuals Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) in Florida of any one species in any given area that arepoorlyknown(Schmidt,1991;Carmony, they had almost no effect on a species’ 2009; Whitfield et al., 2018). Without the conservation status, althoughonce aspecies diligent collectors and explorers recording became endangered, almost any loss could their observations and collecting specimens be detrimental. forscience,ourmodernconservationefforts As we shall see, however, Brown’s own would be lost in trying to determine where actionscontributed tothedeclineof several endangered species originally occurred and where they can be reintroduced. It was rare species he collected, and he continued collectors such as Brown, collecting for his collecting efforts despite knowing of museums that preserved these records in their negative effects—and in some cases perpetuity, that allow us to attempt to where he knew his actions were expressly understand and even reconstruct whole illegal. Therefore, when considering his communities of organisms in places now legacy, his significant contributions to our irrevocably altered by modern society. modern understanding of vertebrate taxon- Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University WILMOT W. BROWN (cid:2) Clark 349 omy and distribution must be balanced (AMNH) in 1932 (Stearn, 1998). The against his actions in imperiling some of curator of the collection in New York the species he collected. becameErnstMayr,whousedtheextensive Brown was originally from Somerville, series of skins of individual species to Massachusetts, where by 1890 he had document intraspecific geographical varia- amassed an impressive collection of local tion, which became the basis of his System- birds (Hitchcock, 1890). By 1891 he was in aticsandtheOriginofSpecies(Mayr,1942), the Caribbean, collecting birds in Puerto one of the foundational texts of the neo- Rico and nearby islands (Cory, 1892). Darwinian evolutionary synthesis of the HefirstwrotetoOutramBangs,whowas mid–twentieth century. later to become curator of mammals at BrownwrotetoHartertin1897seekinga Harvard’s Museumof ComparativeZoology sponsor for a trip to Venezuela, because (MCZ),in1895lookingforsponsorstosend specimens from there were in great de- himtoSouthAmericatocollect.Bangssoon mand. However, Hartert was already spon- sent him to the southern United States, soring several collectors in Venezuela, where he collected in Georgia, Alabama, including George Cherrie, later with the and Florida in 1896–1897. It was in AMNH and future companion of Theodore Fernandina, Florida, that he writes of one of several close calls with law enforcement Roosevelt on the River of Doubt expedition investigating his collecting activity: ‘‘I was in Brazil in 1912. Hartert suggested Brown obliged to leave Fernandina, Fla. in very travel to Colombia instead, and Brown, much of a hurry as I got into trouble with receiving Hartert’s telegram a few days the authorities over shooting birds, and before departing for Venezuela, changed would have been heavily fined had I not his plans to go the Sierra Nevada de Santa sailedawayatmidnight... .Theauthorities Marta in northeastern Colombia. Between also learned that I was hunting deer which his arrival in December and his descent did not improve the situation. The fine for from the Sierra in April, Brown heard shooting deer out of season is $3.00!’’ (19 nothing from Hartert and concluded that April 1897 letter; see Appendix 1 for all Hartert had backed out of the deal. Brown correspondence details). may have anticipated the event, because he In the late 1890s, Walter Rothschild, had kept up a correspondence with Bangs, scionofoneofthewealthiestfamiliesinthe trying to convince him to sponsor him at world,wascompilinganimmensezoological $110 per month for his collecting. Brown collection at the family’s estate in Tring, claimedthatHartert,asthecollectorforthe England. With his ornithological curator Rothschilds, and with plenty of money Ernst Hartert, he was sponsoring collecting behind him, would pay top dollar for the expeditions around the world. Hartert specimensifBangsdidnotbuythemfirst(8 himself had attempted to reach Venezuela, Jan 1898 letter). A little bit of bravado did although he had been diverted to the not hurt: ‘‘A revolution is expected to break Caribbean because of hostilities there out any day and I have been warned by the (Rothschild, 2008). Hartert and other spon- American Consul to leave the country. But sored explorers had successfully collected birds in central Africa, India, Sumatra, and this I will not do for I came to South the Galapagos Islands. The Rothschild America to make a collection and will Collection would eventually encompass accomplish what I came for or die in the more than 300,000 bird skins and 200,000 attempt’’ (15 Dec 1897 letter). The rela- bird eggs before the bulk of it was sold to tionship between Brown and Bangs would the American Museum of Natural History last for the next three decades. Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University 350 Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. 162, No. 6 COLOMBIA (1897–1899) tained a variety of tools for the wide range Brown’s travels in the Sierra Nevada de of birds, mammals, reptiles, and butterflies SantaMartaonthenorthcoastofColombia he might collect. A request to Bangs for wereproductive,eventhoughhesometimes supplies in 1899 included detailed instruc- complained about the hospitality. Brown tions on an auxiliary shotgun barrel he needed, as well as the following (4 May lived for 5 weeks with the Arhuaco Indians, 1899 letter): who helped him check his traps and guided him through the Sierra. He lived mostly off 50 pounds Duck Shot of what he trapped and looked to his hosts 25 pounds No. 4 shot forcookingassistance,‘‘I gavethebodiesof 10 pounds of Powder in Cans these rats to an Indian girl to cook for ½ Doz. boxes of No. 2 Winchester Primers herself. I also gave her some bird bodies to 8 boxes No. 1½ Winchester Primers make a soup out of for me. Well, to make a 1 Recaper for No. 12 Gauge Shell (a strong long story short, she ate the birds herself one) and made a soup out of the rats for me, 100StevensLongEverlastingBr__Shellsof which I ate thinking it was bird soup until I 44 Calibre fished a rat out of it with a tail! The soup 100 U.S New Climax Paper Shells No. 12 was pretty good however’’ (15 April 1898 Gage [sic] letter). 1 doz. Boxes of No. 10 Thick Wads Bangs (1899), like many others, was 1 doz. Boxes of No. 12 card board wads amazed by Brown’s persistence and forti- 5 pounds of Napthalene or shat Mr. Frazar tude, no matter what the conditions: calls ‘‘Alba’’ [a fumigant] 12 Rolls of Cotton Batten Travelling inthe SierraNevada isat best 1 small steel vice slow and laborious and in the rainy 300 newspapers season is harder still. Mr. Brown, in 1 fine file. ordertogoaslightaspossible,carriedno tent with him, and cut down his outfit in PANAMA (1899–1904) other ways till much too small for his In late 1899 Brown arrived in David, comfort. Night after night he slept out Panama, where he proceeded about 20 with no shelter, wet to the skin by the miles to the west to collect near Divala´, terrific thunder storms that rage in these just inland from the Pacific coast. Now mountains nearly continuously through- cleared and agricultural, this region at the out the spring. His one pair of shoes was time was primary tropical forest and greatly soon worn out by the rough travelling, impressed Brown: ‘‘In the luxuriant, cool and for the greater part of the trip he tropical forest, the red rubber trees and went barefoot, his feet and legs exposed gigantic Spanish cedar abound ... . Around to the attacks of wood ticks and numer- the trunks of the forest trees big vines wind ous insects with every now and then a themselvesandfind theirway farup among narrow escape from a fer-de lance or a the branches. On certain trees orchids bushmaster. aboundwhileonothertreestheyarescarce. Despite the difficult conditions, Brown Tropical flowers of many species beautify sent more than 1,000 bird skins and 350 the trails. At night the monkeys (mono mammal skins to Bangs after his first 6 congo) [howler monkey (Alouatta palliata)] months of effort (Bangs, 1899). maketheforesttediouswiththeirroars’’(24 The field supplies Brown used were Jan 1900 letter). Bangs (1901b) proceeded minimal to promote portability but con- to describe six new avian taxa from Brown’s Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University WILMOT W. BROWN (cid:2) Clark 351 collection. Brown also fathered a child, from around Boquete and up to 8,000 ft Serafina Brown Arauz, in Divala´ (Heck- elevation on Baru´ Volcano. This included adon-Moreno, 2004). what became the type specimen of the Brown then moved to Colon on the TimberlineWren(Thryorchilusbrowni).By Atlantic coast where he made a collection 4 July 1901, Brown wrote Bangs trium- of more than 750 birds and mammals, phantly that he had reached the summit of although 40 of those were eaten by a pig the volcano, at more than 11,400 ft eleva- as he left them to dry in the sun: ‘‘I was tion.‘‘Thesummitwasahightoweringrock. never so mad in my life’’ (4 April 1900 Thelastrockofthepeakwassonarrowthat letter). He also relates that since 1888 I had to straddle it. Under one foot was a millinery hunters had been active in the sheer fall of some 900 ft., under the other a area to provide feathers to Frenchmen sharpslopeof600or700ft.Ifoundnosigns based in the Panama Canal. Probably or marks of a previous ascent. My carriers because of this competition and the sup- and men failed to follow me. I left two pressionofbirdpopulationsbythemillinery records of my ascent. The people of Dav´ıd hunters, by April 1900, Brown made plans and Boquete claim mine to be the first to leave Colon for the Pacific Coast and the ascent’’(7July1901letter).Brownprovided Las Perlas Archipelago. This string of aseparate 11-page descriptionof the ascent islands lies in the Gulf of Panama, and at andthevegetationandbirdlifeencountered thistimeitsnaturalhistoryhadbeenlargely at various elevations: ‘‘The characteristic unexplored. Ever since Alfred Russell Wal- species of this region is a Junco [Volcano lace’s famed collections of fabulous birds Junco, Junco vulcani] which feeds partly on and butterflies from the Malay Archipelago the berries. It has a sharp alarm note. in the 1850s and Charles Darwin’s even Toweringupsome300ft.istherockbarren more famous finds in the Galapagos Islands summit of Mt. Chiriqu´ı [now Volca´n Baru´], two decades earlier, naturalists and collec- which frowns down in all its majesty on the tors had sought out islands the world over Caribbean Sea on the north and the Pacific foruniquefinds.OnceBrownarrivedinthe Ocean on the south.’’ islands, he stayed for a month and made a Brown also discovered that a rival collec- collection on San Miguel Island, the largest tor, J. H. Batty, was collecting in Boquete islandintheBayofPanama(Bangs,1901b). and was using several paid assistants to Bangs (1901a,b,c) would describe four new collect ‘‘on the wholesale plan making big avian taxa and six mammalian taxa from series of all species.’’ Batty was a well- Brown’s brief stay in the islands. known, charismatic figure in natural history Panama at this time was a semiautono- circles, having participated in several high- mous department of Colombia, and the profile expeditions to remote regions of the whole region was engulfed in ‘‘The Thou- western United States. He subsequently sandDaysWar,’’apreludetotheseparation wrote a book titled Practical Taxidermy, ofPanamain1903.Brown,neveronetoshy published in 1880. He was well positioned away from conflict zones, nevertheless to cash in on his fame and seek sponsors to found it difficult to negotiate this strife in send him to remote locations to collect. Panama, and he returned to Boston. Think- While Rothschild would not hire an unher- ing the revolution over, Brown returned to alded W. W. Brown to collect in tropical Colon in October but found the city under America, Batty’s fame proved a selling martial law andrenewed fighting imminent. point. Brown suspected as much in letters BrownrelocatedtowesternPanama,andby to Bangs: ‘‘I believe Mr. Batty is collecting May 1901 he shipped to Bangs more than for the Tring Museum, but am not sure.’’ 1,500 bird and mammal skins, principally Brown further wrote to Bangs: ‘‘He played Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University 352 Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. 162, No. 6 you a mean trick in encroaching on your long collecting effort throughout that coun- collecting ground. In my opinion it was a try for the next five decades. put up job... . It makes me mad’’ (27 Jan 1902 letter). Imperial Woodpecker The chance that Rothschild took on a Brown knew the Imperial Woodpecker more well known figure like Batty proved (Campephilus imperialis) of western Mex- disastrous. Batty took large series of birds ico, the largest woodpecker in the world, and mammals from mainland Panama and was a highly sought after specimen. In fraudulently changed the dates and locali- September 1905, he spent 2 weeks in the ties to make them appear to have been Sierra Madre Occidental among the Mor- collected from the Las Perlas Archipelago. moncoloniesofnorthernChihuahua,where Rothschild, like many collectors, knew that he procured 17 Imperial Woodpecker islands harbored many new species, and specimens in 2 weeks (Snyder et al., Batty likely knew that he could charge a 2009). Brown also provided the first de- premium for island specimens. Rothschild’s scriptionsofthenestandeggsoftheThick- collectionmanager,Hartert,wassuspicious, billed Parrot (Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyn- as were several later ornithologists, but it cha), which at that time often nested in was not until recently that the full scale of Imperial Woodpecker nest cavities (Thayer, Batty’s fraud was evident (Olson, 2008). 1906). He likely paid a high price for local Batty parlayed his ‘‘successful’’ Panama hunters to bring him specimens, for not long after he left the Sierra Madre, word expedition into a paid collecting position travelled that Imperial Woodpeckers had a with the American Museum of Natural highvalueontheirhead,asillustratedbyan History. They paid Batty $2,000 per year article in the March 1908 Condor (Smith, to collect throughout Central America 1908): beginning in 1902. This only lasted a few years however, as Batty was eventually Recently there came to my knowledge killed in the field when his gun accidentally facts relative to a deplorable slaughter of discharged in southern Mexico in 1906 the Imperial Woodpecker (Campephilus (Olson, 2008). imperialis), not so very far south of our Brown returned to the United States in border. July 1901. By January 1902 he was in La Ceiba, Honduras, on the Caribbean coast. Two prospectors (one of whom imparted Between1and27Janhecollectedmorethan the information given herewith) were 500specimens.ByApril1902hewasbackin working over a region in west central Colon, Panama, but the war was continuing Chihuahua some fifty miles west of and he found it impossible to travel. He Terrazas (pueblo), a mountainous and returned to the United States that summer. heavily forested country, much frequent- In the spring of 1904, Brown returned to edbythebirdinsubject.Oneofthemen the Las Perlas Archipelago and spent 2 had heard somewhere of the rarity of the species, and that it bore a commercial months collecting (Thayer and Bangs, value,buterroneously,hisconceptionwas 1905). Two new avian subspecies were that the bill was the portion in demand, described from this collection. and not the prepared skin. Working on this idea he shot some seventeen of the MEXICO (1905–1911) magnificent creatures in the course of a After returning from Panama, Brown left fewmonths, and cutoffthe bills, figuring for Mexico in what would become a life- them at $25.00 each, until on reaching Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University WILMOT W. BROWN (cid:2) Clark 353 Figure2. Browncollectedmorethan120MaskedBobwhite Figure3. ManyofBrown’sexpeditionswere sponsored by (Colinusvirginianusridgwayi)specimensinsouthernSonora, JohnThayer,includinghistriptoSonora,Mexico. Mexico, in 1905–1906, at a time when fewer than 30 specimenswereknown. Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ridgwayi) became a much sought after specimen by civilizationagain,hewaschagrinedtofind period naturalists (Stephens, 1885; Allen, his material utterly worthless. 1886). By 1905, the Masked Bobwhite was In the early 1920s, Brown again returned still known from fewer than 10 specimens to the Sierra Madre in search of these from the Mexican State of Sonora, and an woodpeckersandnowfoundthebirdsmuch equal number from adjacent Arizona rarerandproceededtopurchasethemfrom Territory, where it had already become local hunters. L. A. Carlton (1922), who extirpated by drought and excessive live- kept a diary of his hunting trip into the stock grazing (Brown, 1989). Brown dis- Sierra, revealed how high the price had coveredapopulationfarsouthofitsknown risen: ‘‘Saw giant woodpecker today. Rare range at the boundary of the Yaqui tribal bird and to be found only in these lands in southern Sonora. In December mountains. His coloring is gorgeous—blue- 1905 and January 1906, he collected 120 black, white and red. Very large. Perhaps Masked Bobwhite, nearly 50% of the total twenty-four inches in length. The Whettens number of specimens now in collections [J. A. Whetten was the party’s Mormon (Brown et al., 2012; Figs. 2, 3). Unrest guide] tell us that some museum or between the Yaquis and the Mexican ornithologist recently procured a specimen here by paying $1500.00 for its capture.’’ government prevented any more investi- The only specimens from the early 1920s gations farther south through the first half are four obtained by Brown from the Sierra of the twentieth century (Spicer, 1980), Madre Occidental in the vicinity of Mound and Brown’s collection area remains the Valley, just south of the Mormon colony of southern boundary of the known historical Colonia Pacheco and now at the American distribution of this critically endangered Museum of Natural History (Snyder et al., bird. 2009). Byspringof1906,Brownwasinsouthern California. His fame was now significant, Masked Bobwhite and his arrival was announced with fanfare AfteritsdiscoveryinnorthernSonoraby in the journal The Condor (Anonymous, Frank Stephens in 1884, the Masked 1906): Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University 354 Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Vol. 162, No. 6 Mr. Wilmot W. Brown, Jr., of Cam- Towhee (Pipilo maculatus consobrinus), bridge, Mass., is in southern California Guadalupe Junco (Junco [hyemalis] insu- for a few month’s collecting, having just laris),andGuadalupeHouseFinch(Carpo- returned from a successful trip into the dacus mexicanus amplus). Sadly, only three Yaqui country of Sonora. He intends to of these, the Rock Wren, Junco, and House visit some of the Santa Barbara Islands, Finch, are still extant, the rest having and if a suitable vessel can be chartered, succumbed to feral cat predation and Guadalupe Island off the Lower Califor- habitat destruction by feral goats (Quinta- nia coast. Mr. Brown is famous for his na-Barrios et al., 2006). many years of field work in South The first ornithological collections from America, where he has discovered over the island were made by the botanist 100 species of birds, and a great many Edward Palmer in 1875. W. E. Bryant new mammals. By dint of extreme provided the first systematic account of courage and energy he has penetrated the ornithology of the island in 1884 (Allen, into the most remote districts, discover- 1887). The collectors A. W. Anthony (in ing such remarkable novelties as the 1896) and Rollo Beck (in 1900) had also white-tailed hummingbird, from the visited Guadalupe, but the status of the Santa Marta region, figured in a colored island’sdecliningspecieswasstillunclearby plate in the April, 1899, Auk. Mr. the time of W. W. Brown’s visit in 1906 Brown’s work is pursued wholly thru (Thayer and Bangs, 1908). hisloveofcollecting,thoheworkspartly Before departing on the trip, Brown in the interests of the Museum of conferred with Frank Stephens, with the Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, San Diego Society of Natural History, who and of Mr. Outram Bangs, the latter was one of the most experienced collectors gentlemanpublishingmostoftheresults. in the southwestern United States and had just finished his book California Mammals that year (Stephens, 1906). Stephens rec- Guadalupe Island (1906) ommended a colleague of his, H. W. Brown’sinterestinvisitingremoteislands Marsden,toaccompanyBrownonhisisland full of unique fauna was still strong. Of all trip. Stephens remarked that Brown ‘‘is a the islands off the western coast of North peculiarfellow andseemsafraid peoplewill America, Guadalupe Island, about 160 find out something about his business’’ miles west of Baja California, is a rarity in (Stephens, 1906, letter to Swarth). being an island of volcanic origin that never InMayofthatyearBrownarrivedonthe had any connection to the mainland. As islandwherehewastospend2months.His such, it contains no native terrestrial mam- main target was the Guadalupe Caracara, a mals and supports a high degree of ende- darkly colored, bold, and aggressive version mism in its flora and fauna (Moran, 1996). of the mainland Crested Caracara (Caraca- No fewer than nine endemic bird taxa have ra cheriway). This species had only been been described: Guadalupe Caracara (Ca- discovered by science after Palmer’s visit in racara lutosus), Guadalupe Storm-petrel 1875. Brown repeatedly set out dead goats (Oceanodroma macrodactyla), Guadalupe andhidnearby,waitingfortheCaracarasto Flicker (Colaptes auratus rufipileus), Gua- appear. As Brown himself relates, a sailor dalupe Bewick’s Wren (Thryomanes be- who lived on the island 30 years before had wickii brevicauda), Guadalupe Rock Wren told him that, at that time, these birds were (Salpinctes obsoletus guadeloupensis), Gua- commonandweresoboldastoswoopdown dalupe Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus on a freshly killed goat carcass as the goat calendula obscurus), Guadalupe Spotted hunter was still skinning it. However, the Downloaded From: https://bioone.org/journals/Bulletin-of-the-Museum-of-Comparative-Zoology on 03 Feb 2020 Terms of Use: https://bioone.org/terms-of-use(cid:9)Access provided by Harvard University WILMOT W. BROWN (cid:2) Clark 355 hunters discovered they preyed on the kids Bangs himself well knew the effect of and began killing them. An agent on the feralcats,especiallyonislands.Asrelatedin island made a special effort to shoot them his obituary (Peters, 1933), ‘‘One of the with regularity, and after Palmer’s early incidents of his local mammal trapping that visit, each subsequent visitor noted fewer he sometimes referred to was how he and and fewer of the raptors. One visiting Gerrit Miller saved the Muskeget Island American goat hunter, aware of the bird’s beach mouse (Microtus breweri) from rarity, even went so far as to catch four of extinction. One summer while trapping on thebirdsaliveandbringthemtoSanDiego Muskeget, they found the island overrun in 1898, hoping to sell them. They spent with house cats gone wild, but not a sign of sometimeondisplayinthefrontwindowof Microtus. On a smaller island separated by a saloon downtown (Abbott, 1933). Brown’s onlyanarrowchannel,themiceoccurredin extensive efforts to collect the caracaras abundance. He and Miller procured some catnip and either trapped or shot every cat came to nothing, as the last of the birds onthemainisland;theythenwadedoverto were collected by Beck in 1900 (Abbott, the smaller island and caught a large 1933). Shortly after Beck arrived, he came number of mice with which they restocked across a flock of 11 birds and shot nine of Muskeget.Thefollowingwinter,thesmaller them, failing to come across any others for island was washed away in a storm.’’ therestofhistimeontheisland.Yearslater, Despite the carnage by feral cats and Beck expressed regret that he had contrib- habitat destruction by goats, the endemic uted to the species’ demise, ‘‘judging by RockWrenof GuadalupeIsland, largerand theirtamenessandtheshorttimethatIwas with a much longer bill than its mainland ontheislandIassumedatthetimethatthey relatives, was still common. Despite their must be abundant’’ (Abbott, 1933). abundance, the Rock Wrens of Guadalupe Brown (1906) also took note of another hadfoundatrickthatevenBrowncouldnot hunterbusycatchingthebirdsoftheisland: surmount: ‘‘Once when out hunting, I was ‘‘Domestic cats in a wild state were standingmotionless,whenIsawarockwren numerous, particularly along the northern nearby, it was too near to shoot for a ridge where the petrels and shearwaters specimen,soIbackedoffsoastogetalong breed. The mortality among the petrels shot and the wren followed me, so I backed [both Guadalupe and Leach’s Storm-Petrel again and sat down, when along it came, Oceanodroma leucorhoa socorroensis] and jumpedontothetoeofmyhuntingbootand shearwaters [Black-vented Shearwater, Puf- hopped up to my knee with its head on one finus opisthomelas] must be great for there side looking up into my face with the were hundreds of their wings strewn about, greatest of curiosity. Needless to write, that and the wings and feathers of Juncos and wren, and all the other wrens of a like Rock Wrens and Woodpeckers [Guadalupe sociable nature are still denizens of Guada- Flickers] were also found. The extinction of lupe’’ (Brown, 1906). (Pipilo consobrinus) [Guadalupe Spotted Brownalsofoundtimetocollect85plant Towhee] was undoubtedly caused by the specimens on the island, which now reside cats. A woodpecker’s nest containing four in the Gray Herbarium at Harvard Univer- youngoneswasrobbedbythecats.Onefat, sity. Upon returning, Brown again con- sleek feline killed by us contained 13 mice ferred with Stephens in San Diego. and some feathers in her stomach.’’ The Stephens later wrote to Harry Swarth after Guadalupe Flickers and Guadalupe Storm- hearing from both Marsden and Brown petrels described by Brown were not to be about their trip: ‘‘they returned thoroughly found again by subsequent visitors. disgusted with one another. 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