NED ITOLLISTER OSGOOD 601 



The life in Delavan, the early collecting, and the hunting parties 

 with older men formed an important part of Hollister's background. 

 Good sportsmanship, manliness, loyalty, camaraderie, judgment, and 

 fun-loving humor were qualities which he possessed by nature, but 

 doubtless their development was assisted by these associations. There 

 was another and more intense side to him, however, and this also had 

 a favorable environment. He was the heir, so to speak, of a line of 

 pioneer naturalists in southern Wisconsin which included Lapham, 

 Hoy, Thure Kumlien, and Ludwig Kumlien. The last was the one to 

 form the connection and he exerted an important influence upon Hoi- 

 lister when he was at the critical age of 19. 



Kumlien was then teaching in Milton College and, although Hol- 

 lister was not a student of the college, he '' walked with " Kumlien to 

 better purpose than many of those who were. Shortly after this, 

 Hartley Jackson, now a well-known mammalogist but then a boy of 

 16 and four years younger than Ned, came to Milton College as a 

 student and the two were brought together by Kumlien. After Kum- 

 lien's early death, Hollister became a mentor for Jackson as Kumlien 

 had been for him, and later was instrumental in bringing Jackson to 

 his present position with the Biological Survey. Probably through 

 Kumlien, he became acquainted with others, including members of 

 the Wisconsin Natural History Society, among v/hom were Dr. H. V. 

 Ogden, Dr. Ernst Copeland, and Dr. G. W. Peckham, of Milwaukee. 

 As early as 1892 he was in touch with the United States Department 

 of Agriculture and began collecting birds' stomachs to assist the 

 Government work in economic ornithology. It was in this year, also, 

 that he began earnestly to collect birds' skins as well as eggs and was 

 soon exchanging and corresponding with many prominent ornitholo- 

 gists. One of them was William Brewster, whose well-known 

 warmth toward younger men soon caused Hollister to send him vari- 

 ous specimens for determination and to ask his advice on matters 

 concerning them. Just how Hollister would have developed without 

 these favorable influences is uncertain, but one can not avoid wonder- 

 ing what would be the fate of a boy like him in present times when, 

 with rare exceptions, there are no Kumliens in our small colleges and 

 no Brewsters forming private collections. Even as it was, he did not 

 find himself immediately, and for several years after reaching his 

 majority he remained in Delavan assisting in the general store kept 

 by his father. Meanwhile, all spare time was devoted to his collec- 

 tions and short trips were made at all opportunities. In 1890 and 

 1897 he had outings in Minnesota near the town of Kinbrae, and for 

 three succeeding winters a few weeks Avere spent in Arkansas in 

 Lonoke, Arkansas, and Prairie Counties. At this period his interest 

 in mammals had been awakened and he made his first mammal skins 



