COL. N. S. GOSS. 



lyATHANIEL STICKNEY GOSS was born in Lancaster, N. H., 

 -^^ June 8, 1826. At an early age he moved with his father to 

 Pewaukee, Wis. Here he received a common-school education, sup- 

 plemented by a few short terms in a local academy. In 1857 he came 

 to Kansas and became one of the first settlers at Neosho Falls. In 

 1860 he was elected major in the Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry, and in 

 1863 he was made lieutenant-colonel. He was employed for a time 

 as a scout for United States troops. He served as register of the 

 United States land-ofiice at Humboldt, and was for a time land at- 

 torney for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway, and also for the 

 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. He was president of the Neosho 

 Valley railroad during its construction. 



Colonel Goss was, from his youth, a lover of birds. He always de- 

 voted such leisure as he could find to their study, and, when he re- 

 tired from active business, devoted the greater part of his time to 

 collecting and preparing the magnificent ornithological exhibit which 

 he afterward presented to the state of Kansas. It is one of the finest 

 collections of North American birds in existence, and in pursuit of 

 the specimens which it contains Colonel Goss visited many sections 

 of the United States, British America, Mexico, and Central America. 



Colonel Goss was an active member of the Kansas Academy of Sci- 

 ence and a frequent contributor to its transactions. His papers related 

 mostly to the ornithology of Kansas. He also was a frequent con- 

 tributor to The Auk, the organ of the American Ornithologists' Union, 

 of which he was one of the founders and a life member. He prepared 

 two catalogues of the birds of Kansas, which were published by the 

 state. His chief work was the large octavo "History of the Birds of 

 Kansas," published but a few days before his sudden death, which oc- 

 curred at Neosho Falls, March 10, 1891. 



Colonel Goss had a host of personal friends and no enemies, but 

 there were few whom he admitted to the circle that might claim inti- 

 macy with him. It was only these few who could properly appreciate 

 the sterling worth and sincerity of the man. To others he was friendly 

 and courteous, but he gave them no insight into his inner life. He 

 was a man of rare powers of observation, and his judgment of men 

 was not often at fault. In his death the state lost a most valuable 

 citizen, and the cause of science a firm friend. 



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