CORRESPONDENCE 289 



Elliott Coues was born in Portsmouth. N. H., Sep- 

 tember 9, 1842, and became a very prominent naturalist 

 and writer on ornithological subjects. Soon after gradu- 

 ating from Columbian University, Washington, D. C, 

 he entered the army as a medical cadet, ])ecame assistant 

 surgeon in 1864, but resigned in 1881 to devote his life 

 to science. He was naturalist to several exploring sur- 

 veys of the government, as the Northern Boundary 

 survey and the Survey of the Territories and was also a 

 collaborator at the Smithsonian Institution. At different 

 times he was editor of various scientific journals and 

 magazines and the author of no less than fourteen elab- 

 orate works on ornithology, together with several hun- 

 dred monographs and scientific papers in reviews and 

 other periodicals. Among the most important of his 

 works are Key to North American Birds ; Field Orni- 

 thology ; New England Bird Eife ; North American 

 Rodentia, Birds of the Colorado Valley, and Ornitholo- 

 gical Bibliography. Dr. Coues was a member of the 

 National Academy of Sciences, of many American and 

 foreign scientific societies and was one of the scientific 

 editors of the Centurj^ Cyclopaedia and Dictionary. He 

 died at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md., Decem- 

 ber 25, 1899. A Memorial, from the pen of D. G. Elliot, 

 with portrait, appeared in the number of The Auk for 

 January, 1901, Vol. XVIII., page 1. 



Many letters passed between Mr. Boardman and Dr. 

 Elliott Coues relating to the Black Robin of which a 

 history is given on pages 121-122 of this work. In one 

 of those written by Dr. Coues on August 30, 1877, he 

 says: "The case is one that should properly go on 

 record and I hope you will make a note of this for the 



