154 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



An Effective Friend of Birds. 



William Dutcher was born January 

 20th, 1846 at Piscataway, New Jersey ; 

 his father being - the Rev. Jacob Conk- 

 lin Dutcher of Tarrytown, New York, 

 and his mother Margaretta Ayres of 

 New Brunswick, New Jersey. 



On his father's side, he is a direct 

 descendant of Capt. William Dutcher 

 of revolutionary fame and also of 

 Isaac Van Wart one of the captors of 

 the unfortunate Major Andre. On his 

 mother's side he is a direct descendant 

 of Edward Fuller, one of the May- 

 flower pilgrims. 



Such education as was obtained 'by 

 Mr. Dutcher was in the common 

 schools of the country of his clay, but 

 unfortunate circumstances compelled 

 him to commence work for a liveli- 

 hood when he was about fourteen 

 years of age. Up to the age of 

 twenty, he successfully conducted a 

 small farm in the State of Massachu- 

 setts ; subsequently he came to New 

 York and engaged in the business of 

 life insurance, in which he has con- 

 tinued for over a period of forty years, 

 during all of which period he has 

 never represented but two companies. 



Mr. Dutcher supplemented his 

 rather meager early education by read- 

 ing and association with educated peo- 

 ple ; both his reading and association 

 being largely natural history subjects. 



He has always been deeply inter- 

 ested in the life history of birds and 

 especially in their protection from the 

 economic as well as the aesthetic 

 standpoint. 



He was a member of the original A. 

 O. U. Committee for the protection of 

 birds which was established in 1884 

 and was always a member or chair- 

 man of the said A. O. U. Committee 

 until this work was turned over to the 

 Audubon Societies, and later to the 

 National Association, of which he has 

 been President since its organization 

 and incorporation. Pie devotes a very 

 large part of his time to this work 

 and has always done so without com- 

 pensation of any kind whatever, con- 

 sidering it a civic duty he is called 

 upon to perform, owing to his intimate 

 knowledge of birds and their relation 

 to humanity. 



WILLIAM DUTCHER 



Mr. Dutcher is a Fellow of the fol- 

 lowing societies : 



American Ornithologists' Union, 

 New York Academy of Sciences, 

 New York Zoological Society, 

 The American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, 

 The Royal Society for the Protection 



of Birds, Great Britain, 

 and is also a member of the Linnaean 

 Society of New York, the American 

 Museum of Natural History, Zoologi- 

 cal Society and the Sons of the Ameri- 

 can Revolution, the Mayflower de- 

 scendants. 



During his many years' residence in 

 New York City he always took an ac- 

 tive part in reform politics, being one 

 of the originators of good Government 

 clubs, and was also a member of the 

 Citizen's Union. He is independent 

 in politics. 



