XV1 CHARLES OTIS WHITMAN 
pared where they, and so naturally mounted, that they attracted 
much attention among ornithological students.’’? 
It would be interesting to know more of his early life but Pro- 
fessor Whitman rarely spoke of it, though he referred at times to 
work on his father’s farm. In reply to the question whether 
he had been interested in natural history as a boy, he replied to 
Professor Wallace Craig that he judged he must have been, be- 
cause of his persistence in getting his grandfather to tell hunting 
stories. He never tired of the stories, and often walked a mile 
to have an evening of them; his grandfather was very kind in 
always telling these when asked. He also said that he kept 
pigeons as a boy, and was fascinated by them and sat and watched 
them by the hour, intensely interested in their feeding, their 
young, and in everything that they did. 
We thus get a distinct though undetailed view of a boyhood 
spent on a New England farm, an education acquired by dint of 
labor and self sacrifice, and of an original interest in natural 
history, shown in his observation of pigeons and his collection 
of the birds of Maine. 
He entered Bowdoin College as a sophomore in September, 1865, 
and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in July, 1868. 
The college curriculum of this time was the usual course of re- 
quired studies with much emphasis on the classical languages, 
some study of modern languages and of mathematics, the elements 
of philosophy and a variety of sciences taught no doubt mainly 
from text-books. The influence of this classical education re- 
mained with him all his life, and was no doubt responsible for 
the views that he entertained in favor of the requirement of Latin 
for college education. There was certainly little to stimulate 
his interest in the field in which he subsequently won distinction. 
His membership in the Greek Letter Society Delta Kappa Epsi- 
lon, in the Athenaeum Society (literary), and in the Philologian 
Society (debating) may help to indicate his social and intellectual 
interests at this period. At his graduation he ranked about 
ninth in a class of twenty-three. The title of his commence- 
2 See Lapham, William B. ‘‘History of Woodstock, Me., with family sketches 
and an appendix.’ Portland, Stephen Barry, Printer, 1882. 
