1912] Owen,— Frederick William Batchelder 43 
days at Harvard, when he played in Appleton Chapel, to his last ser- 
vice in Manchester only two weeks before his death. 
Music and bird lore were combined in his very careful and accurate 
transcription of bird songs and calls which he used from time to time, 
illustrating them on the piano, in the ornithological section of the 
Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences. They were very highly 
thought of by those who heard them, though not satisfactory to Mr. 
Batchelder, because the bird song needs the sliding scale, which the 
piano does not have. He had studied carefully the birds of the Con- 
necticut Valley, and later of the Merrimac Valley; indeed he observed 
them wherever he was, but here again his work was limited by ill 
health, particularly in the case of the game, water and shore birds. 
He was a constant contributor to the magazine, Nature Study, pub- 
lished by the Institute, where his articles, excellent for their matter 
upon birds and plants, had an added value from the beauty of their 
style. Whatever came from his pen was charming,— clear, direct 
and simple, and with the delicious humor coming out suddenly in the 
most unexpected places. 
He loved to be with young people, and they, whatever their connec- 
tion with him might be, were devoted to him — his choir, the young 
botanists and ornithologists to whom he was always a helpful friend, 
those engaged in various other branches of Institute work and those 
who only knew him socially; they all enjoyed his society, and never 
realized any disparity of years, so youthful was his spirit. 
His knowledge was freely at the service of all who wanted it, and 
those far advanced in science often had something to learn of him, 
but for all this he sought no recognition. He was continually study- 
ing and learning from pure love of nature, and the glad helpfulness 
of his disposition made him always ready to impart from his gains; 
whether he was making a name in the world was far from his thoughts. 
A loyal son of Harvard, he was the beloved president of the Harvard 
Club of Manchester, and the dean of the Alumni of the same city. 
His last musical composition was *A Hymn to Harvard" with Latin 
words which he wrote for the July meeting of the New Hampshire 
Harvard Club at Walpole. He did not feel equal to attending, but 
they had asked him for a poem, and he sent this as his contribution. 
An attack of grip some ten years ago left him with chronic bronchitis 
and asthma which, in their turn, induced a peculiar weakness of the 
heart. These troubles incapacitated him for active work in his pro- 
