18 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ALABAMA 



classic Latin and Greek and of course his ideas did not 

 conform to the A. 0. U. rules on original spelling. Miss 

 Mary E. Avery in a letter to Dr. T. M. Owen writes that 

 "It would be difficult to say whether he loved the study 

 of languages or of nature best." 



Dr. Avery became an Associate Member of the Ameri- 

 can Ornithologists' Union in 1887, and his name was 

 listed in "The International Scientists' Directory," pub- 

 lished by S. E. Cassino, Boston, 1888. 



Though Dr. Avery's serious interest in ornithology did 

 not awake until late in life, he then surrounded himself 

 with the best books that could be had at that time on the 

 subject. In his library were found among others, the 

 following: Coues' "Key to North American Birds," 1872; 

 Ridgway's "Manual of North American Birds," 1887, 

 and "Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists," 1886; 

 Davie's "Nests and Eggs of North American Birds," 

 1889 ; A. 0. U. "Code of Nomenclature and Check-List of 

 North American Birds," 1886; Maynard's "Naturalist's 

 Guide," 1887 ; and Hornaday's "Taxidermy and Zoological 

 Collecting," 1891. 



Dr. Avery was much concerned over the increasing 

 scarcity of birds and scattered through his journals are 

 many references to the subject. The following are of 

 interest: "Sept. 5th, 1889. Saw on the edge of a piece 

 of woods many warblers, gnatcatchers, and cuckoos feed- 

 ing evidently upon the army worms on the cotton in the 

 adjacent field. Shot a blue yellow-back warbler; too 

 badly shot to preserve ; this individual with several others 

 of the same species, and numerous blue-gray gnatcatch- 

 ers were feeding on army worms. 



"I have often seen the fields around woods completely 

 protected against worms by the birds ; but that was fifteen 

 or twenty years ago. The birds have decreased so since 

 that time that they seem to make little impression on 

 the army of worms even around forests." 



"Jan. 22, 1892. Birds have been scarcer this winter 

 than I have ever known them before ; a few myrtle warb- 

 lers, and sparrows, with now and then a robin, or a small 

 bunch of cedar waxwings are nearly the sum total of our 



