Charles Bendire Major Charles Emil Bendire ( April 27 , 1836 – February 4 , 1897 ) was a United States Army soldier and noted ornithologist and oologist . The Bendire ' s Thrasher is named for him . Early life . Born Karl Emil Bender at König im Odenwald in the Grand Duchy of Hesse - Darmstadt , he was the eldest of six children . Bender was home schooled until the age of twelve , after which he attended five years at a theological school at Passy , near Paris . Karl left school suddenly and returned home , and on the advice of a friend he and his brother Wilhelm Bender left for New York in 1853 . Upon arrival they found that the new world did not meet their expectations . Wilhelm Bender soon sailed for home , but was lost overboard at sea . Army career . After his brother ' s departure , Bender enlisted in the United States Army at the age of eighteen on June 10 , 1854 , changing his name to Charles Bendire , dropping his middle name altogether . Although Bendire would later start using his middle initial again in correspondence and public notes , his legally official name did not contain a middle name . Bendire served for five years as a private and subsequently a corporal in Company D , First Dragoons . After his tour of duty ended Bendire left the army for one year , but re - enlisted on June 8 , 1860 , and was assigned to the 4th Cavalry , where he served successively as a private , corporal , sergeant , and a hospital steward until he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Infantry on May 18 , 1864 . He transferred to the 1st Cavalry on September 9 , 1864 , and was eventually promoted to 1st Lieutenant ( for " for gallant and meritorious services " at the battle of Trevilian Station during the American Civil War ) , and later to captain , and then major . He retired on April 24 , 1886 , for disability contracted in the line of duty . During Bendire ' s service in the army he was sent to many locations , often isolated , across America , for example Virginia , Arizona , Washington and California . Bendire mainly fought against American Indians during the periods of the United States ' expansions . It was during these travels across North America that he developed a fondness for all things wild , and particularly birds . Ornithology . He initially sent letters containing his observations to other American naturalists such as Joel A . Allen , Thomas M . Brewer , Elliott Coues , and Robert Ridgway , who would publish them in American naturalist magazines like " Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club " and the " American Naturalist " . However in 1877 , he began to publish articles under his own name . Bendire ' s private collection of 8 , 000 eggs formed the basis of the egg collection at the Smithsonian Institution , then known as the U . S . National Museum , in Washington , D . C . . He made new discoveries about the migration habits of various birds and discovered several new species , including the Bendire ' s Thrasher , " Toxostoma bendirei " . On 1872 while patrolling in Central Arizona , Bendire reportedly snatched a zone - tailed hawk ' s egg from a nest for his collection while under fire from an Apache scout and secured it safely in his mouth until he could return to camp .