Bird watching has become a very popular activity in recent years here in the Smokies region. In my experience, it is only surpassed as a natural history endeavor by wildflower identification. Accordingly, interest in the ornithological history of the region has grown as well.

This was evidenced once again by the response to a Back Then that appeared several weeks ago concerning William Brewster’s exploration of the avifauna of the southern mountains during the mid-1880s. Ten or so readers emailed either to say that they enjoyed the column or to ask for additional information about the topic in general.

As interesting to me as Brewster’s expedition — during which he established with certainty that more than 20 bird species (dark-eyed juncos, red-breasted nuthatches, brown creepers, winter wrens, golden-crowned kinglets, black-capped chickadees, ravens, etc.) thought to be “northern” breeders did in fact nest this far south in the higher elevations of our mountains — is the story of WNC’s first homegrown ornithologist.

As I noted in regard to William Brewster, the systematic observation of the birds of WNC did not commence until May 22, 1885. That’s the day Brewster — a professor at Harvard University — stepped off a coach of the Western North Carolina Railroad in Asheville. One of the foremost figures in the history of American ornithology, Brewster proceeded to conduct a breeding bird survey of the Balsams, Cowees, Highlands plateau, and Mt. Mitchell that’s described in detail by Marcus B. Simpson Jr., in his 1980 article “William Brewster’s Exploration of the Southern Appalachian Mountains: The Journal of 1885.”

While exploring this region in 1885, Brewster did not know there was a resident “lay” ornithologist living in Weaverville several miles north of Asheville — one who had been conducting year-round observations on his own initiative. His name was John S. Cairns. He was 23 years old. And he, too, had a passion for birds.

When Brewster saw a paper titled “The Summer Birds of Buncombe County, North Carolina” that Cairns contributed in 1889 to an ornithological journal, he wrote the young birder, thereby initiating a correspondence that lasted until Cairns’ untimely death in 1895. The eminent Harvard professor and the business manager of the family-owned Reems Creek Woolen Mills had found common ground.

Cairns’s parents migrated in 1855 from Scotland to the United States, where the elder Cairns served as foreman of various textile mills in New England. The family moved to Buncombe County in 1870. In 1888, he married Lena Cressman at Haw Creek Episcopal Church. According to an online biographical sketch by W.K. Boyd, “Trinity College Historical Society” (June 2003), “In June, 1895, while searching for some rare specimens among the Black Mountains, he became separated from his party. When he did not return, a search was made. After many hours of weary toil and anxious expectation, he was found lying by the trunk of a large tree, his head pillowed upon a bed of moss, and life extinct. While knocking the fungus from a log with his gun, it was discharged, killing him instantly .... His remains were brought back to his home and buried with Masonic honors in the village cemetery, where the birds sing their requiem above the still heart that loved them so well.”

No one seems to know just how or why Cairns developed his knowledge of birds. But it was considerable. Simpson summarized Cairns’ accomplishments in a profile written for the “Dictionary of North Carolina Biography” in 1979: “His observations provided the best available description of the avifauna of the North Carolina mountains before extensive disruption of the original forests by human activities. He added over a dozen bird species to the state list ... Many of his four thousand bird and egg specimens were added to zoological collections.”

I have in my library an 18-page pamphlet titled “List of the Birds of Buncombe County, North Carolina” that Cairns published privately in 1891. It is the best record available as to how much the bird life of WNC has changed in just over a century: Bewick’s wrens were then “common” (now rarely seen); a flock of 40 pelicans appeared on the French Broad in May 1889; American bitterns were then “tolerably common” (now only very occasional); black rails nested in the wet meadows along the rivers (scarcely ever seen again); swallow-tailed kites were seen each season (now very rarely seen); golden eagles were breeding “on the cliffs” (status today is uncertain, but certainly not a breeding species as of now); barn swallows were then “rare” (now very common); warbling vireos were “tolerably common” (now only occasional); etc.

The specimens of birds, eggs, and nests that Cairns shipped to Brewster complemented the professional ornithologist’s personal observations and helped to lay the foundation for our present understanding of the birds of the southern mountains in general and WNC in particular. For anyone residing in WNC with an interest in birds, the correspondence between Brewster and Cairns is both informative and delightful. It was edited by Simpson and published in 1978 as The Letters of John S. Cairns to William Brewster, 1887-1895. Here’s a typical letter, dated Weaverville, N.C. June 16, 1887:

“Dear Sir: In regard to nest of Mtn S.V. [i.e., solitary vireo, now named blue-headed vireo] you may describe it if you wish [i.e., the first nest of this subspecies ever collected]. The nest was found on the south side of the Mtn about 200 feet from the top, in a beautiful grove of Beech and Chestnut timber. I seen an other pair, but could not find their nest. Will try and go to the Black Mtn this month. I heard and seen a number of Thrushes when on Craggy, but none like the one I got last year. The weather was very cold and windy their and the birds did not seem to be on the move, and very shy . . . Mean while I will do my best for you here and get to the mts soon as I can . . . Yours truly, Jno. S. Cairns.”

In 1897, Cairns became the first North Carolina resident to have a bird species named in his honor. The Cairns warbler (Dendroica caerulescens cairnsi) is a subspecies of the black-throated blue warbler that nests only in the high mountains of WNC and adjacent regions. I never see this beautiful bird without thinking about the young John S. Cairns, his friendship with the Harvard professor, and his passion for the birds of the North Carolina highlands.

(Note: the online article about Cairns cited above can be located at: http://www.accessgenealogy.com/scripts/data/database.cgi?file=Data&report=
SingleArticle&ArticleID=0012084)

George Ellison is a writer who lives in Bryson City. He wrote the biographical introductions for the reissues of two Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. Readers can contact him at P.O. Box 1262, Bryson City, N.C. 28713, or at ellisongeorge@cs.com.