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David Douglas, his guail, and his travels (1 Viewer)

Björn Bergenholtz

(former alias "Calalp")
Sweden
Nothing much, nothing new, simply some 'flesh to the bone', hopefully also with some minor additional info, not on the commemoratee himself, but of his travels, as he is commemorated in (for example) ...

douglasii as in …
• the Elegant Quail Callipepla douglasii VIGORS 1829 (here) a k a "Douglas quail" alt. "Douglas's Quail" (or even earlier "douglasvaktel", in Swedish, hence my interest, even if its Swedish name today is prakttofsvaktel, in which prakt is equal of Splendour, magnificense, pomp and glory).
= the fairly well-known Scottish botanist, traveller and collector David Douglas (1799–1834), collector mostly of Plants (several thousands, hundreds of new species!), but also of Birds (and Mammals) – who explored and collected mostly in North America, in three different expeditions (see below), of various lengths, between 1823 untill 1833, finally ending up on Hawaii, the next following year (his very last). He is also sometimes titled "plant hunter" ...

In today's Key explained as:
douglasii / douglassii
David Douglas (1799-1834) Scottish botanist, plant hunter in North America 1824-1833 and Hawaii 1834 (syn. Calidris himantopus, Callipepla, syn. Gallinago delicata).
● ...

The same bird was also, a few weeks after Vigors's OD, dealt with, by David Douglas himself (here).

Either way, below are some details about the ...

Expeditions by David Douglas

1823–1824
: Douglas went on board the ship Ann Maria, on 5th of June 1823, that left Liverpool the day after, crossed the Atlantic ocean, and set foot on US soil 4th of August, disembarked 7th of August, ondwards from August to December; Hudson River, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Amherstburg, Sandwich (Windsor), Niagara, back to Albany, New Jersey and Philadelphia, as well as to New York ... (with "Pigeons, Ducks and Quail aboard", 9t of December) he left the US, with the ship Nimrod, on the 12th of December 1823. Arrived back to England, off Dover 1st–3rd of January, thereafter 4th–10th January 1824; "arriving safe at London on Friday Morning having had a highly intersting journey."

1824-1827: Left England again, on board the brig William and Ann, the 26th of July 1824, sailed via Funchal, Madeira (9–11th of August), along the Brazilian Coast in October, passing the Falklands (5th of November), rounding Cape Horn (took them 10 days), Mas-a-Fuera (14th of December) [today's Isla Alejandro Selkirk or Alexander Selkirk Island, at that time Isla Más Afuera], stoping shortly at Juan Fernández Island, and onwards to the Galápagos, "pleasantly gained on the Sunday, January 9th, 1825", ... Chatham sland, James´ Island, proceeded towards the Columbia, off Cape Disappointment (3rd of April), on shore in Baker´s Bay (Early April), "All my Papers and trunks were sent on shore on the 16th, and on the 19th I embarked in a small boat" ... and from May 1825 he explored , criss-crossed over the North Western Parts of the Continent, visiting; Columbia River, Grand Rapids, Cape Disappointment, Cheecheeler River, Fort Vancouver, Wallawallah, Kettle Falls, Spokane, Barrière River, Blue Mountain, Lewis and Clarke's River , Multnomah River, Umpqua River, La Bische River, Sandiam River, McGillivray's or Cootaine River, Rocky Mountains, Big Hill, Fort Assiniboine, Sturgeon Rver, Fort Vermilion, Jackfish River, Pigeon River, Fort Garry, York Factory, etc., etc., back and forth, (while collecting several thousands of plants, and some birds as well as mammals)... until he sailed from "Hudson's Bay on September 15th [1827] and arrived at Portsmouth on October 11th, having enjoyed a most gratifying trip".

1829-1834: Left England 31st of October 1829, and returned (via Hawaii, shortly, along the route, in 1830), to North America and the Columbia River area, where he arrived the 3rd of June 1830, went to San Francisco in 1831, visting Hawaii (August 1832), returned to the Columbia River, criss-crossed North Western America for a year, from Puget Sound to Santa Barbara, leaving again for Hawaii (on the 18 October 1833, arriving 2 January 1834), ascended the Vulcano Mount Roa ... and onwards, until the 12th of July 1834, when David Douglas happened to fall into a Cattle trap where he was trampled, butted, gored to death by an equally fallen bull!

For more details on his travels see Douglas's own journal (here), and regarding Mr Douglas himself, see here, or elsewhere. He´s a guy fairly easy to find.

Enjoy!

Björn
 
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