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April 7, 1855
[stamp] Smithsonian Institution Washington D.C.
My Dear Robert
I was glad to learn by your
letter of March 26 as also from
one written by Dr Hoy that you had
been to Racine and had had
the benefit of a little training from
the Doctor. He and his wife are
first rate people and everyway
worthy of acquaintance. The Doctor
is the best Naturalist in the west
probably, after Dr. Kirtland and
is really a remarkable man
Your principle about not felling
after new species is the right one!
It is better to complete the history
of old ones, than to have dozens of
isolated new ones about which you
can only say they exist and no more.
Nuttals Ornithology (Second
edition of the Land Birds) is the
best manual you can have, but very
difficult to procure. I doubt whether
it can be bought.
I am glad you have made
a beginning in the way of small
quadrupeds. By your aid and that
of other eager students of nature. I
hope within a year to complete what
will serve as a monograph of
North American mammals. I
have already made out nearly