Outgoing Correspondence from Robert Ridgway, November 21, 1868

              smithsonian institution washington d c dear father november 21st 1868 i arrived here evening before last after a very tiresome trip of nearly three days and nights-mr king is not here yet and but three others have arrived~viz mr o'sullivan mr wilson and mr clark we had snow here last night and the weather is very blustering and disagreable to day i commenced opening and arranging my specimens = mr baird said they were the most neatly prepared lot that had ever been received at the smithsonian one of the most important discoveries that i have made is » among the western hawks = i collected the first summer on the truckee river a family of large hen hawks buteo consisting of the two parent birds and their four young = the young were first shot and the parent birds as they flew at me were also shot now the male of these the parents is buteo swainsonii the female buteo insignatus and the young the buteo bairdii-thus at once knocking two species out of existence as they prove to be different stages of plumage of one the b swainsonii—also the buteo calurus and b montanus prove to be peculiar varieties of b bairdii-thus you see out of the six each formerly considered a distinctly characterized species only two remain actualy good species~on the other hand mr baird thinks my pelican may be a new species he has not yet examined them and of course i cannot tell what interesting things i have goten until he does i will from time to time let you hear all the news of interest your affectionate son robert ridgway