THE OSPREY. 



75 



because of the inconiijleteness of these remains, 

 their deiitiferous character was unsuspected. 

 Later, in November, Marsh described, under the 

 name Coloiiosaiirus J///(f,^('t\ what he considered 

 as a small saurian differing;- "widely from any 

 hitherto discovered". The description wa^^ 

 based upon twt) lower jaws containitii^ numer- 

 ous small teeth in sockets. Subsequent removal 

 of the matrix revealed the fact that the bird 

 Ichtliyornis and the saurian Colonosaurus were 

 one! Thus a g'reat barrier between birds and 

 reptiles was removed, and a recasting^ of the 

 avian definition was made necessary-. 



In reviewing- all the North American species 

 of fossil birds. Marsh's share in rehabilitating- 

 the ancient bird life of the contiiient becomes 

 easily apparent. There are fifty fossil species 

 • known from the (Juaternary, Tertiary. Creta- 

 ceous, and Jurassic, of which forty-two may be 

 attributed to him. Of the twenty-six (Juater- 

 nary and Tertiary species, eig^hteen are his. 

 This leaves twenty-three Cretaceous species all 

 his, as well as the sole bird from the Jurassic. 

 The Quaternary and Tertiary species include 

 one of the Picaria' (woodpeckers), two Raptores 

 (birds of prey), three Gallina* (fowls), seven 

 Alectorides (cranes), one of the Steg^anopodes 

 (totipalmate birds), one of the Long-ipennes 

 (long--wing"ed swimmers), two Pyg^opodes (diving" 

 birds), and one of the Ratita^ (running' birdsl. 

 The Cretaceous and Jurassic species are all re- 

 ferred to the subclass Odontornithes or toothed 

 birds. 



Had the supph' of fossil birds held out, these 

 forms would undoubtedly have almost claimed 

 Marsh's undivided attention. His enthusiam 

 over a fossil bird bone was even greater than 

 that for the more complete remains of g-ig-antic 

 monsters belonging^ to the Reptilia and Mam- 

 malia. He often said that, durinj^ his early 

 studies, the dissection of a bird at table fre- 

 quently led him to pocket the bones for purposes 

 of post-prandial study. 



A list of Marsh's species of fossil birds, 

 tog^ether with a reference to their geological 

 position, year of publication, and locality, is 

 herewith appended. A complete list of his pub- 

 lications comprises two hundred and thirty- 

 seven titles, of which thirty-nine relate more or 

 less to birds, and are also appended to this sketch. 



Othniel Charles Marsh was born near Lock- 

 port, N. Y., October 29, 1831. The region about 

 Lockport was already famous for an abundance 

 of minerals and fossils, and Marsh, having 

 natural scientific tastes, early acquired the love 

 of outdoor study and the absorbing enthusiasm 

 of a collector. He prepared for his higher edu- 

 cation at Andover, Mass., and entered Yale Col- 

 lege in 1856. He was graduated in 1850, with 

 the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Special courses 

 in science were pursued in the Sheffield Scien- 

 tific School during the two following- years. 

 Then from 1862 to 1865, he studied abroad at the 

 universities of Berlin, Heidelberg- and Breslau. 



In 1866, he formed his first official connection 

 with Yale College, having- received the appoint- 

 ment of Professor of Paleontology. This chair 

 he held uninterruptedly to the time of his death. 

 Through his uncle, Mr. George Peabody, he had 

 received his educational advantages and a sub- 



stantial fortune. The latter enabled him to 

 project plans of work on a generous .scale, and 

 to carry on extensive expeditions in quest of 

 material. 



He planned and organized the Yale Scientific 

 Pvxpeditions, which, during- the Held seasons of 

 l.s7o, '71, '72 and "73. explored new and little 

 known regions in the west, mainly in the Rocky 

 Mountain reg-ion. At that time, these under- 

 takings were almost of as great magnitude as 

 similar expeditions to Central Africa would be 

 to-day. In scientific results, they were even 

 more fruitful than most African scientific expl<i- 

 rations have been. P^rom the tons of material 

 thus acquired. Marsh brought out many new 

 and important types of vertebrate life, including 

 the birds with teeth, the first American ptero- 

 dactyls, the gigantic Dinocerata of the Eocene, 

 the ancestors of the horse, the huge Brontothe- 

 rida?, and others of almost equal note. 



The subsequent accumulation of material from 

 the West was continued under increasing^ly fa- 

 vorable Conditions, owing to the rapid settlement 

 and development of the country, and in 1JS83 

 Professor Marsh undertook for the United Stales 

 (xeological Survey what he had before accom- 

 plished alone; namely, the collection and des- 

 cription of the vertefjrate riches of this country. 

 As Vertebrate Paleontologist to the Survey, he 

 carried on extensive researches, and planned 

 the publication of a series of monographs on 

 various groups of extinct vertebrates. Much 

 preliminary work on the.se memoirs has been 

 completed, but the volume on the Dinocerata. 

 issued in 188(), is the only ]niblished monograph 

 prepared for the Survey. The other finished 

 monograph is that on the Odontornithes, for 

 which no government aid was furnished except 

 its publication in 1880, by the United States 

 Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel. 

 In no other way was Professor Marsh's tireless 

 energy so well displayed as in the accumulation 

 of collections. Commencing in earlj' youth, 

 there was no cessation of his industrj' as a col- 

 lector, and the mass of material stored in the 

 Yale University' Museum is his greatest scien- 

 tific monument. Not only did he gather about 

 him all he possibly could to represent his imme- 

 diate field of research, but he woi'ked equally 

 hard to secure material for all the departments 

 of the museum. 



His collections were formally presented to 

 Yale University, Januar3' 1, 1898. They were 

 described in his letter of presentation under 

 the heads (1) Vertebrate Fossils; (2) Fossil Foot- 

 prints; (3) Invertebrate Fossils; (4) Recent Os- 

 teology; (5) American Archeology and Ethnol- 

 ogy, and (6) Minerals. Besides these, there were 

 others representing fossil plants, casts of fos- 

 sils, g-eological specimens, and recent zoological 

 material. 



About the middle of his sixty-eighth year, 

 while working'- with undiminished vigor and 

 making further extensive additions to his collec- 

 tions, he was seized with an attack of pneumo- 

 nia that resulted fatally after an illness of about 

 a week. His death occurred on March 18. 1899. 

 The world will long remember him for his bril- 

 liant investig-ations in natural science, and for 

 the wealth of scientific material with which he 

 endowed the Yale Universitv Museuin. 



