The aspirations and disappointments of Charles Fothergill in Upper Canada, Ontario ’s pioneer ornithologis t/naturalist, from 1817 to 1840 John W. Sabean

Introduction Charles Fothergill (1782-1840, Figure 1) For the general background of those was the first naturalist actively engaged articles, as everyone must now do, I in ornithological studies in southern relied heavily on James L. Baillie, Jr.’s Ontario, but due to a combination of article, “Charles Fothergill, 1782-1840”, misfortune and mismanagement, his published in an issue of the Canadian efforts did not lead immediately to an Historical Review (Baillie 1944). Baillie advancement in natural history. It was wrote nearly three quarters of a century not until a hundred years after his death ago. What prompted his effort was the that his extraordinary achievements “discovery” (in several descendants’ came to light. Recently, I wrote a series homes) of 16 manuscripts between 1931 of articles for the newsletter of the Pick - and 1944. More than 40 years later Paul ering Township Historical Society about Romney made Fothergill the subject of Charles Fothergill’s years in Pickering his doctoral dissertation, a distillation of Township where he lived from 1831 to which was published in the Dictionary of 1837. I then followed those up with Canadian Biography (Romney 1988). another article on the “Nature Notes of Even that is more than a quarter centu - Charles Fothergill between 1831 and ry ago. While I was particularly interest - 1837”, specifically those notes that per - ed in Fothergill’s contributions to the tain to Pickering Township. Subsequent - history of Pickering Township, I was also ly, I published all of the articles in a spe - interested to see if Baillie’s and Romney’s cial edition of the newsletter (Sabean assessments of Fothergill might change 2015). The sightings that Fothergill with new information or a different recorded for Pickering —27 bird species, approach. 7 mammals, and one reptile —constitute Writing in a more popular article in the first historical “list” of natural histo - the same year as Romney, Elaine The - ry for the city (then township). berge noted that Fothergill’s status as

28 Ontario Birds April 2017 Fothergill’s descriptions of the birds, mammals, fishes, reptiles and amphibians were meticulous and included a number of species he was the first to describe.

Figure 1. Charles Fothergill (1834) by Grove Sheldon Gilbert. With permission of the Royal Ontario Museum. © ROM

Canada’s pioneer naturalist was beginning what follows is not a detailed biography to have its due (Theberge 1988). While of Fothergill, it does cover the main fac - Romney’s interests were chiefly political, tors of his life in an attempt to understand Theberge was more concerned with argu - what went wrong to nearly assign him to ing that the reappearance of the Fothergill oblivion rather than to celebrate his great manuscripts proved him to be primarily a accomplishments. naturalist: “Although prominent as a leg - islator, newspaper publisher and artist, it England is in the field of natural history that Charles Fothergill was born in York, Eng - Charles Fothergill deserves to be best land, on 23 May 1782. His father, John remembered.” Another more recent, but Fothergill, was a maker of brushes and brief, account of Fothergill’s contribution combs. Charles was trained in his father’s to Ontario ornithology may be found in trade, but did not choose to follow a com - D.F. Brunton’s article in Ornithology in mercial avocation; rather he opted to find Ontario : “The early years of ornithology his niche in scientific and artistic pursuits. in Ontario: southern Ontario from In 1811, Fothergill married Charlotte Champlain to McIlwraith 1600 to 1886” Nevins, the daughter of a Quaker woollen (Brunton 1994). Brunton suggested that manufacturer. Two sons, Charles and “Fothergill’s tragic life in Canada under - George, were born to them before they lines the limited support that existed in immigrated to Upper Canada. the early nineteenth century for intellec - If one’s pedigree counts for anything, tual pursuits… His time was one of polit - Fothergill was well situated. He came ical unrest and rebellion, as well as diffi - from a well-known Yorkshire family cult economic conditions for most citi - noted for their interests in ornithology, zens… and the community of the day was science and art. His uncle, James Forbes, simply not prepared to listen.” While F.R.S., for example, was an artist who

Volume 35 Number 1 29 He came to Canada with one plan in mind — to research, compile and illustrate the natural history of the British Empire.

travelled to Asia, Africa, America and British Research Europe depicting the people and places Given these stimuli, it was not surprising he encountered, including the natural to find Fothergill wandering about the history. Fothergill assisted in the prepa - British Isles in pursuit of its natural his - ration of his Oriental Memoirs (Forbes tory. He spent a year in Wales, another in 1813) and acknowledged his debt to his Ireland, and still another in the Shetlands uncle in art and natural history in ded - and Orkneys, two years in Scotland and icating to him a book he himself pub - two years on the Isle of Man. As early as lished in 1813 under the title Essay on age 13, he had begun an intensive study the Philosophy, Study, and Use of Natu - of Yorkshire birds, and at 17 (1799) he ral History (Fothergill 1813). had published Ornithologia Britannica , a A great uncle, Dr. John Fothergill, a folio of eleven pages, listing 301 species naturalist and philanthropist, had assist - of British birds (Fothergill 1799). Four ed George Edwards with the publica - years later, he published a two-volume tion in England of his works on birds work at London entitled The Wanderer: including many new world species or a Collection of Original Tales and Essays being illustrated for the first time, and Founded upon Facts (Fothergill 1803). also sponsored William Bartram in his Before leaving for the New World, he also botanical investigations in the Caroli - published in 1813 an Essay on the Philos - nas, Georgia, and Florida between 1773 ophy, Study and Use of Natural History and 1778. Another uncle, William (Fothergill 1813). Seeking a greater chal - Fothergill, recounted to Charles the lenge, he conceived the idea of compiling birdlife of the ancestral home of the a comprehensive natural history of the family in Yorkshire, while a first cousin, British Empire, and for that he had to Alexander Fothergill, drew from life travel to the New World. nearly all the birds and other wildlife of the same area. Alexander’s brother, Aspirations another Dr. John Fothergill, was an On 6 March 1817, 200 years ago, Charles artist and compiled a list of birds in The Fothergill arrived in York, Upper Canada, History of Richmondshire (Whitaker having emigrated from Yorkshire, Eng - 1823). Charles’s brother, Dr. Samuel land to Montreal the previous year. He Fothergill, was a physician, and his sis - came to Canada with one plan in mind — ter Eliza Fothergill was a talented por - to research, compile and illustrate the trait and landscape artist. natural history of the British Empire. The project carried the tentative title Memoirs and Illustrations of the Natural History of the British Empire . It was to run

30 Ontario Birds April 2017 to several volumes and include his own Canada and a proposal to create a feder - illustrations. This might appear to have al government for all the British provinces been a daunting task, but if anyone was in North America. According to Paul prepared to attain this end, it was he. Romney’s assessment: “Fother gill’s im - After visiting York, Upper Canada, por tance in the years 1824-30 was con - Fothergill eventually settled his family at siderable. He was the foremost exponent Smith’s Creek (later Port Hope) in the of ‘conservative reform’ views in the spring of 1817, where he opened a gen - province, and his image of gentility and eral store and became the settlement’s first respectability was useful to the emergent postmaster. Meanwhile, he applied to reform movement at a time when many Lieutenant-Governor Sir Francis Gore for people still equated ‘party’ activity with 1200 acres of land on the south shore of disloyalty” (Romney 1988). Rice Lake. In this vicinity, he proposed to create a colony of gentlemen. The Pickering Years In 1818, Fothergill was appointed a Charles Fothergill’s wife, Charlotte Magistrate in the Court of Requests, and Nevins, died in 1822. Shortly after her the next year became a member of the death, he wrote pensively to his sister district land board. By 1821, he was also Elizabeth in England expressing a desire operating a brewery and distillery in to reunite with the Quaker heritage of his Port Hope and a sawmill in South Mon - family. Though his family had been aghan. Later he would become one of the Quakers (Friends) for many years, principal founders of the Port Hope Har - Charles had been banished in England bour and Wharf Company, founded in from the society for his interest in breed - March 1829. ing race horses. It may be that his wish to In 1821, Fothergill was appointed reconnect with the Friends’ Society was King’s Printer, necessitating a move to what led him to the Richardson family of York where he took up his duties as of 1 Pickering Township, a Quaker family that January 1822. In this capacity, he pub - had emigrated from Ireland about 1820. lished the official Upper Canada Gazette, At some time, he met Eliza Richardson, but he also availed himself of the oppor - eldest daughter of Joshua and Catherine tunity to find other outlets for his ener - Richardson and on 20 March 1825, they gy. He published a newsletter, the Week - were married in Port Hope. For the next ly Register , which would include the first six years, the family made their home in nature column to appear in a Canadian Port Hope. newspaper. Late in the year 1830, Fothergill pur - From 1825 to 1830, Fothergill repre - chased for £1200, a 50-acre lot in Pick - sented Durham County in the Legislative ering Township (Lot 14, Concession 1) Assembly where he played an active role. from York businessman Alexander Wood Among the bills he initiated in the and sometime in the following year he House, were an Act to establish agricul - moved his family to this land. The land tural societies in the province, an Act for was described as having a gristmill and the pre servation of salmon within Upper sawmill and with a blacksmith shop on

Volume 35 Number 1 31 its border. Even before the sale was Richard Bonnycastle, he was one of the registered in the Land Registry Office, exhibitors in the first exhibition of art in Fothergill was already petitioning Peter what is now Ontario, which took place in Robinson, Commissioner of Crown July 1834 at the Legislative Building on Lands, for permission to obtain the Front Street West in York. It was spon - adjoining Lot 15, a Clergy Reserve. In sored by the Society of Artists and Ama - order for Fothergill to repair the mills and teurs. For the show, he pulled out some of get them up and running again, he need - his older watercolours that he had paint - ed to dam up the creek that ran through ed in Yorkshire and Scotland. None of his the property and supplied the motive Rice Lake or Port Hope paintings were power for the mills. The dam, however, entered in this exhibition, not even his would have backed up the creek onto Lot very first effort in the New World —a 15. Before he invested in re-establishing watercolour painting of a Red-breasted the mills, he needed to gain control of the Nuthatch ( Sitta canadensis ) (Fig ure 2) land he would be flooding. completed while he was still aboard ship Fothergill had in mind more than the in the St. Lawrence River. working of the mills on his newly As a public-spirited citizen, Fothergill acquired property. Once he secured Lot proposed both a literary society and a 15, comprising 187 acres, he proceeded to museum for the Town of York. In 1831, purchase the 200 acres of Lot 16 as well, with the aid of Dr. William Rees, a sur - and these 387 acres would form “the prin - geon and meteorologist from York, and cipal part of the Town plot of Monadel - William (Tiger) Dunlop, army officer, phia”. Monadelphia was the name he gave surgeon and official with the Canada to a proposed town he planned to create. Company, Fothergill proposed to estab - First he restored the mills, then he built a lish the Literary and Philosophical Socie - distillery and barns. Further plans includ - ty of Upper Canada, which, among other ed dwelling houses, a tavern, churches and things, would promote the study of natu - a printing office and probably much ral history. They applied to Chief Justice more. From the time Foth ergill first John Beverley Robinson and Archdeacon arrived in Upper Canada, he had been John Strachan to assume the leadership. interested in assisting British immigrants. In 1836, Fothergill, again with associ - When his “colony of gentlemen” did not ates Rees and Dunlop, proposed the materialize in South Monaghan, perhaps establishment of a Lyceum of Natural Monadelphia, on a grander scale, was History and the Fine Arts. For this they meant to accomplish the same ends. received the patronage of Sir John Col - borne. Sir Fr ancis Bond Head promised Intellectual Pursuits “a piece of ground on the Military Reserve Fothergill had high intellectual ideals and behind the Garrison, and near Farr’s pursued many of them during his years in Brewery, containing a little more than two Upper Canada. As an artist, he entered acres” (Fothergill undated. TFRBL MS. some of his paintings into a public Coll 140:24). Plans for the Lyceum were exhibition. Along with Paul Kane and ambitious. It was to comprise a museum

32 Ontario Birds April 2017 Figure 2. Fothergill’s first effort in the New World—a watercolour of a Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis ) completed while aboard ship in the St. Lawrence River. Fothergill (undated) T FRBL MS Coll 140:20, folio 247. of natural and civil history, an art gallery, Fothergill’s last venture was the estab - a botanical garden and a zoological gar - lishment of a printing office in which he den. Henry Scadding cited a prospectus published the newspapers the Palladium that described a picture gallery “for sub - of British America , and Upper Canada jects connected with Science and Por - Mercantile Advertiser , with his eldest son, traits of individuals” and did not omit Charles, as co-proprietor. He also issued “Indian antiquities, arms, dresses, uten - a Toronto Almanac and the Royal Calen - sils and whatever might illustrate and dar of Upper Canada for 1839. Despite make permanent all that we can know of all this other activity, Fothergill did not the Aborigines of this great Continent, a forget what he had come to Upper Cana - people who are rapidly passing away and da to achieve, and in 1833, Fothergill becoming as though they had never wrote a letter to British bookseller, John been.” (Scadding 1966). The building Murray, seeking a publisher for his that would house the museum and art intended opus: Memoirs and Illustrations gallery was to be patterned after the of the Natural History of the British Parthenon of Athens. Empire .

Volume 35 Number 1 33 A Naturalist Above All He wrote that Magistrates “who have No matter what else occupied him dur - attempted to enforce the protection… ing the 24 years he lived in Upper Cana - have generally suffered some way… in da, he remained, above all, a naturalist. their persons or property. The writer of He prepared “An Essay Descriptive of this essay had a very valuable mill burnt the Quadrupeds of British North Amer - down in the night, [and] other mischief ica”, in which he described 117 mam - done for sending a notorious salmon mals (Fothergill, undated). He was one poacher to gaol for killing salmon of the first to document the depletion of contrary to Law” (as quoted in Anony - salmon in the rivers and streams of mous 1855). Upper Canada and in 1835 he had a In order to record, study and illus - paper he prepared on the migration of trate the fauna of North America, salmon read at the Literary and Histor - Fothergill collected and had stuffed, ical Society of Quebec (Fothergill specimens of as many species as he could 1835). In that paper, he noted the find. In his journals, he often spoke of diminishing of salmon due to the build - shooting birds and mammals for the ing of dams, the increase of human pop - purpose of identification. These he ulation, and illegal fishing. would have preserved and added to a growing collection. Beyond that, he would purchase stuffed specimens from

Figure 3. A hand - written account by Charles Fothergill on the Golden backed or Little Pivoine [Northern Parula Setophaga americana ] Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library MS 140:25.

34 Charles Fothergill: Description of Northern lead coloured blue – Chin, throat, neck, breast and Parula, Female and Male belly golden yellow – with a broken bar of black across The account below is an example of a species descrip - the breast about the vent & lower belly white – Legs & tion that I (JWS) transcribed from a handwritten feet light brown. account (Figure 3) by Charles Fothergill. The first line The above written about a quarter an hour after the in the account (below) is the name he gave to the specimen was lost & just as I was going to sit down and species he was describing. Then, in square brackets, is describe it accurately. I believe the above was a female. the present nomenclature—the English and the Latin For a further descrip[tio]n of a perfect male see p. 70, genus and species names. The third line provides the Vol. 3rd of Cana[dia]n Researches.” source from which the account has been taken. The number 25 refers to Volume 25 of the Charles Fothergill [20: 70] “The following is a description of a perfect papers in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (TFRBL) male killed at Monadelphia May 12, 1837 …. entitled “Memoirs and illustrations of natural history in Length 4 1/4 [-] 4 1/ 2 In. Breadth 6 1/2 [-] 6 3/4 inches. various parts of the British Empire” (Fother gill, undat - Bill to corners rather more than 3/8ths, very sharp ed, TFRBL MS 140:25). The number 20 signifies Volume pointed, somewhat curved and beset at base with very 20 in the same collection: “Canadian researches chiefly fine horn like bristles. Upper mandible dark blue, in natural history” (Fothergill, undated, TFRBL MS *nearly black*, lower orange yellow. Irides hazel. Eye - 140:20). I have also noted R.D. Black’s references by lids white. From the bill to the eye black. Head, cheeks, page and number from his 1934 article (Black 1934). sides & back of the neck, scapulars, less[er] wing Note that words and phrases contained between aster - coverts, lower back, rump and upper tail coverts a fine isks (*) are interlinear additions or corrections made by and glossy blue or very blue lead colour much more Fothergill in the manuscript, usually indicated inclining to a perfect blue than the most cerulean lead there by a caret ( ^) colour. Center of the back behind the shoulders taper - ing to a point on the lower back a bright and shining Golden backed or Little Pivoine / golden *olivaceous* bronze colour — not easily Golden, or Bronzed Backed, or described or imitated. Quills black finely margined on Least Pivoine [Northern Parula. their outer edge with blue and on the inner with white. Setophaga americana ] 25: 295; 20: Their coverts the same tipped with white. The first row 70 (Black 154:86 ) of the second coverts are also white which together [25: 295] “Shot May 4, 1833 at Mon - form two short bars of white across the extended wing. adelphia. Length apparently not more Chin and throat virgin golden yellow – below this than 4 1/2 Inches. Bill small & more across the front of (th)e neck a narrow bar of black *or curved and sharp pointed than usual dusky spots* edged with gold. Upper breast gold or among the Warblers – Upper mand - yellow with a few large spots of bright ferruginous. ible light brown, lower yellow – Irides Lower breast, belly, vent & under tail coverts white. hazel – Lower eyelid white – Upper Sides lead colour. Tail a little forked, bluish black fine - plumage on the head, neck, rump &c, ly edged on their outer margins with blue. Two outer lead coloured blue – The back beau - feathers marked with a large spot of pure white near tifully marked with a gold coloured the end of inner web. Legs & feet *light* reddish shining olive – On the wing two short brown. Soles yellow.” bars of dingy white, smaller coverts

Volume 35 Number 1 35 a number of different sources. The col - concern approximately 186 birds, 105 lection was housed at first at his home in mammals (not including domestic Pickering Township. In his Statistical ones), 27 fishes, 15 reptiles, and 2 Account of Upper Canada, Thomas Rolph amphibians. The descriptions were, in (1836) recorded a visit he made to nearly all cases, given in great detail, Fothergill in Pickering. and were prepared with such care that one experiences little difficulty in iden - The Township of Pickering, he said , is tifying the animals concerned. There is well settled & contains some fine land no question that Fothergill was the pio - and well watered. Mr Fothergill has an neer naturalist of southern Ontario and extensive & most valuable museum of the care with which he made his notes natural curiosities, at his residence in stamps him as one of the most impor - the township, which he has collected tant of the early naturalists of Canada with great industry & the most refined (Baillie 1944). taste. He is a person of superior acquire - ments & ardently devoted to the pursuit Fothergill died in Toronto on 22 May of natural philosophy (Scadding 1966). 1840. He was buried in the burying ground of the Cathedral Church of St. Fothergill’s Museum James. During his years in Upper Cana - When Fothergill began to urge the cre - da, he was at one time or another, among ation of a provincial natural history muse - others, a storeowner, a postmaster, a mill um at Toronto, he moved his collection owner, a brewer, King’s printer, a news - into the city. According to James L. Bail - paper publisher, a legislator, a magistrate, lie, Jr., the first home was in Chewett’s a member of the land board, as well as a building at the southwest corner of King naturalist and an artist. and York Streets, then it was moved to the So why is Charles Fothergill not bet - Market Square building (St. Lawrence ter known for his role in the affairs of Hall) and finally it was housed in a build - Upper Canada? And why has he not been ing at the corner of York and Boulton generally recognized as the Audubon of Streets. Fothergill also kept detailed Canada, or at least, as Baillie put it: “one records of his wildlife encounters, filling of the most important of the early natu - several ledger-size volumes with descrip - ralists of Canada” (Baillie 1944)? tions of birds, mammals and other Disappointments wildlife that he either shot or observed. Baillie, the first to write comprehensively It must be said that in many ways about Fothergill in relation to his natural Fothergill was a man ahead of his times, history pursuits, concluded: a visionary, a deep thinker. But that, among other things, was also his undo - The present writer has made no attempt ing. Paul Romney, in his article for the to ascertain the number of British ani - Dictionary of Canadian Biography , refers mals discussed in the Fothergill records, to “unbroken sequences of failures that but his Canadian descriptions and notes were largely of his own making.” “His

36 Ontario Birds April 2017 self-destructive risk-taking is probably he was unable to see his vision established traceable to an obsessional neurosis akin despite a great outlay of money. He to that of a compulsive gambler” (Rom - lacked the good will of his neighbours, ney 1988). including some of the earliest settlers in Even before he came to Canada, Pickering Township, who might have Fothergill had already gained a reputa - assisted him in achieving his goal if he tion as a poor money manager. He had not quarrelled with them. In 1834, appeared to be constantly in debt. That one of his mills burned down, the trend continued in the New World. His responsibility for which he blamed an store in Port Hope failed and the proper - alleged salmon poacher, John Sparks, ty was seized for debt. Later, he was dis - whom he had previously prosecuted. In missed from the post office for his criti - the same year, both his milldams were cism of the post-office administration. carried away by floods —for which he Fothergill was strongly opinionated blamed his sons for neglecting their and that often brought him into a clash responsibilities. In any case, he could not with the ruling authorities. Thus, for enlarge his mill complex because the land example, he was removed as King’s Print - he had purchased was not sufficient for er on January 1826 after voting against the operation —for which he blamed the the administration and incurring the seller of the property for misrepresenting wrath of the Family Compact. While the what was intended in the sale. decision was political, he had not When, in 1831, Fothergill requested endeared himself to the administration Robinson and Strachan take up the lead - by constantly asking for cash advances ership of his proposed Literary and Philo - and not using the money wisely. sophical Society of Upper Canada, they As a legislator, he was not always able turned him down only to accept a few to convince his fellow members of the months later a similar proposal from benefits of his proposals. So while he had James Cull, newly arrived in Upper an act for the preservation of salmon Canada and virtually unknown. On Fri - passed in the House, it was vetoed by the day, 5 September 1832, Strachan gave Executive. His proposal to create a feder - the inaugural lecture to the society. The al government was rejected by the major - society, however, failed to attract a large ity of the House as “visionary”. Had he following and soon disbanded. succeeded at the time, we would this year be celebrating nearly 190 years of a unit - Lyceum of Natural History ed Canada instead of 150 years. But his As for the plans for the creation of a proposal to create agricultural societies Lyceum of Natural History and the Fine not only passed in the House, it had Arts in the mid-1830s, although Fother - some success subsequently. gill did secure the support of Sir John Of his scheme to create a model com - Colborne and Sir Francis Bond Head, the munity in Pickering, whether Fothergill project eventually had to be abandoned. was ill prepared to complete his project, There was an effort to raise money by or whether events conspired against him, subscription, but it fell short of the goal.

Volume 35 Number 1 37 Henry Scadding was probably right when managed Fothergill’s newspaper, summed he said in 1873 that the project “was up the dilemma perfectly: probably too bold in its conception and Mr Fothergill was a man of talent, a too advanced to be justly appreciated and scholar and a gentleman, but so entire - earnestly taken up by a sufficient number ly given up to the study of natural histo - of the contemporary public forty years ry and the practice of taxidermy that his ago” (Scadding 1966). At the time newspaper received but scant atten - Fothergill’s efforts were most needed, he tion… His family sometimes suffered was lying desperately ill at home for seven from the want of common necessaries, months, so ill that doctors despaired of while the money which should have fed his life. No doubt his health had been them went to pay for some rare bird or undermined by the troubles he faced in strange fish (Thompson 1969). Pickering and by his inability to find remunerative work. When he died in 1840, his debts, his This was not the first time sickness land claims and his failures all had to be plagued Fothergill. In 1822, the year he sorted out by his widow and children. So began his term as King’s Printer, a time destitute was Fothergill’s widow that a that should have been one of the happiest Quaker neighbour wrote a letter to of his life, he suffered a prolonged illness. Fothergill’s sister in England to make her At the same time an infant son (his and aware of Eliza’s predicament and suggest Charlotte’s third son) died from menin - she desperately needed financial help. gitis, and Charlotte, herself, succumbed after a long bout with tuberculosis. Assessment The failure of the Lyceum was espe - There can be no doubt that, as Baillie cially cruel for Fothergill as he was des - stated, “As a naturalist and an illustrator perate to find employment and had writ - of animals, he ranked with the best of his ten a letter to Sir Francis Bond Head in period.” At the same time, again as assert - 1836 pleading to be appointed to one of ed by Baillie, “Fothergill exerted no great several offices then vacant: Commission - influence on the development of natural er of Crown Lands, Surveyor General, or history studies in Ontario” (Baillie 1944). Inspector General, or failing those Although he accumulated much data for appointments to be put in charge of the his proposed Memoirs and Illustrations of Lyceum (his preferred position). the Natural History of the British Empire, all of his notes and illustrations remained The Final Challenge in manuscript form not to be discovered By the time Fothergill took on his final until the 1930s. Added to that, shortly challenge, the publication of the Palladi - after after he died in 1840, the building um of British America , he was probably that housed his museum burned down too worn out by illness, constant poverty, and his collection was totally destroyed and failure to secure a remunerative posi - by the fire. All of Fothergill’s stubbornly tion. Samuel Thompson, who in 1838 accumulated artefacts, and all of his notes

38 Ontario Birds April 2017 ...what remains of his achievement stands as a remarkable record of the wildlife of southern Ontario in the early decades of the nineteenth century. and written records were lost, some per - parts of the British Empire” (Fothergill manently, some for nearly 100 years. His undated. TFRBL MS Coll. 140:25). descriptions of the birds, mammals, fish - From these two manuscripts, I extracted es, reptiles and amphibians of Upper only his faunal descriptions for Pickering Canada were meticulous and included a Township. There, between 1831 and number of species he was the first to 1837, Fothergill observed, shot and describe. Had his work been available to stuffed as many of the specimens as he subsequent scholars and scientists over could —often with the help of his son the next century, the development of George, who appears to have been handy ornithology and other scientific disci - with a gun. The preserved specimens plines would have been greatly were added to his growing museum. advanced. As it is, however, what While I asked Ross James, Barry Kent remains of his achievement stands as a MacKay and Glenn Coady for help in remarkable record of the wildlife of determining the bird species described, southern Ontario in the early decades of for the most part I was able, without the nineteenth century. question, to make my own determina - tion. I have to conclude with Black that Faunal Descriptions of Fothergill’s wildlife records: “The Ten years before Baillie published his minuteness and accuracy of Fothergill’s seminal article on Charles Fothergill, descriptions are amazing and such that Dela mere Black did an analysis (not there could be no doubt as to the identi - without error) of one of Fothergill’s man - ty of the species in the great majority of uscripts (“Canadian Researches Chiefly cases” (Black 1934). in Natural History” (Fothergill undated. TFRBL MS Coll. 140:20) in which he Acknowledgements wished “to convey some idea of the qual - Glenn Coady provided encouragement for ity and keenness of [Fothergill’s] obser - my researches into the Pickering years of vations” (Black 1934). Black recorded Charles Fothergill from the very beginning 117 birds, 23 mammals, 7 fish, 7 rep - in 2009. tiles, 1 amphibian and 3 plants. My own Literature Cited researches were just as limiting as Black’s, Anonymous. 1855. The Patriot [15 May]. but in a different way. I had access to a Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. TFRBL second, and somewhat more extensive, MS 140:47. manuscript containing Fothergill’s fau - Baillie, J.L., Jr. 1944. Charles Fothergill, nal descriptions, viz., “Memoirs and 1782-1840. Canadian Historical Review illustrations of natural history in various 25:376-396.

Volume 35 Number 1 39 Black, R.D. 1934. Charles Fothergill’s notes Fothergill, C. undated. An essay descriptive of on the natural history of eastern Canada, the quadrupeds of British North America. No 1816-1837. Transactions of the Royal publication data. Can adian Institute No. 43, 20:141-168. Fothergill, C. undated. Canadian researches Brunton, D.F. 1994. The early years of chiefly in natural history. Thomas Fisher Rare ornithology in Ontario: southern Ontario Book Library. TFRBL MS Coll.140:20. from Champlain to McIlwraith 1600 to 1886. Fothergill, C. undated. Rough copies of Pages 54-70 in McNicholl, M.K. and J.L. letters. Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Cranmer Byng, eds. Ornithology in Ontario. TFRBL MS Coll.140:24. Spec. Publ. No. 1. Ontario Field Ornitholo - Fothergill, C . undated. Memoirs and illustra - gists. Hawk Owl Publishing, Whitby. tions of natural history in various parts of the Forbes, J . 1813. Oriental memoirs. London. British Empire. Thomas Fisher Rare Book Fothergill, C. 1799. Ornithologia Britannica. Library. TFRBL MS Coll.140:25. York, England. Rolph, T. 1836. Statistical account of Upper Fothergill, C . 1803. The wanderer: or a col - Canada. Dundas, Upper Canada. lection of original tales and essays founded Romney, P. 1988. Fothergill, Charles. upon facts. 2 vols. London. Dictionary of Canadian Biography 7:317-321. Fothergill, C. 1813. Essay on the philosophy, Sabean, J. 2015. The Pickering years of study, and use of natural history. London. Charles Fothergill. Pathmaster (Pickering Fothergill, C . 1835. The migration of salmon Township Historical Society Newsletter). in the rivers tributary to the St. Lawrence. Spring Special Edition. Pickering. 72pp.

Unpublished. OScadding, H. 1966. Toronto of old. F.H. Armstrong, ed. Oxford University Press. Toronto. Originally published: 1873. Toronto. Theberge, E. 1988. Fothergill: Canada’s pioneer naturalist emerges from ob livion. The Beav er. [Feb-Mar]:12-18. Thompson, S. 1969. Reminiscences of a 636 Point Pelee Dr. Leamington ON N8H 3V4 Canadian pioneer for the last 50 years BirdingBirding • Nature• Nature • Optics • •BooksBooks (1 833-1883). McClelland & Stewart. &DQDGD·V/DUJHVW6HOHFWLRQRI%LQRFXODUVDQG6FRSHVCanada’s Largest Selection T oron to. Originally published: 1884. of Binoculars and Scopes $OODW'LVFRXQW3ULFHV BHunter Rose. Toronto. ‡6ZDURYVNLKOWA 88mm SCOPES ON SALE Whitaker, T.D . 1823. A history of Rich - ‡.RZDSwarovski ‡3HQWD[Kowa mondshire, in the north riding of the ‡/HLFDZeiss County of York. 2 vols. London. ‡1LNRQLeica Bushnell ‡6ZLIW Celestron John W. Sabean ‡%XVKQHOOMinox ‡=HLVVVortex 928 Reytan Blvd. Pentax Pickering, Ontario L1W 1Y7 ‡Steiner New Swarovski ‡&HOHVWURQNikon ATX / STX Modular E-mail: [email protected] Eagle ‡9RUWH[ Spotting Scopes )RU)$67 0DLO2UGHU'HOLYHU\RU4XRWH VDOHV#SHOHHZLQJVFD ZZZSHOHHZLQJVFD

40 Ontario Birds April 2017