16 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 



City; H. W. Flint, New Haven, Conn.; Flood Brothers, 

 Hudson, Mass.; Thomas H. Jackson, West Chester, Pa.; 

 Thomas Mcllwraith, Hamilton, Ontario; Dr. C. Hart Mer- 

 riam, Washington, D. C. ; J. T. Park, Warner, Tenn.; 

 Harry G. Parker, Chester, Pa. ; Charles J. Pennock, Ken- 

 nett Square, Pa. ; G. H. Ragsdale, Gainesville, Tex. ; W. 

 G. Smith, Colorado; G. E. Stilwell, Kansas City, Mo.; 

 Frank B. Webster, Boston, Mass. There are specimens 

 in the collection taken by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, W. E. D. 

 Scott, L. M. Loomis, and John Rov^ley, but the writer 

 was unable to ascertain whether Dr. Avery corresponded 

 directly with these gentlemen or received the specimens 

 in exchange through some of his museum correspondents. 

 Many of the letters from his correspondents fortunately 

 are preserved in the files of the State Department of 

 Archives and History, at Montgomery, and these are very 

 interesting. For instance there is one from Robert Ridg- 

 way thanking Dr. Avery for correcting the diagnosis of 

 Dendroica vigo7'si as published in the former's "Manual 

 of North American Birds," 1887, and Dr. J. A. Allen tells 

 how to make a fat scraper and gives a few hints on pois- 

 oning the tails of mammal skins. 



That Dr. Avery's interest in Zoology was not confined 

 to birds is evidenced by a catalogue of fifty-three mam- 

 mals taken Dec. 16, 1890, to Feb. 2, 1894. The collec- 

 tion included mice, rats, moles, skunks, chipmunks, musk 

 rats, minks, flying squirrels, and others, the most of the 

 specimens were little spotted skunks. Apparently few of 

 his specimens were retained for his own collection, the 

 majority being sent to Dr. A. K. Fisher, Dr. C. Hart Mer- 

 riam, and the Smithsonian Institution. Snakes also were 

 collected and sent to Dr. Leonhard Stejneger of the U. 

 S. National Museum, and there was some correspondence 

 with Drs. L. 0. Howard and C. L. Marlatt, of the U. S. 

 Bureau of Entomology, relating to insect specimens sent 

 to them by Dr. Avery for identification. Dr. Avery was 

 also something of an amateur botanist. 



Doctor Avery was ever the sportsman. Besides being 

 an enthusiastic gunner he was a lover of dogs and was 

 widely known as an excellent trainer of these animals. 



