154 
This bird is now wholly extinct with 
only forty specimens known in all the 
collections of the world. The American 
Museum is highly fortunate therefore. 
Dr. Elliot’s five specimens are exhibited 
in group form, one of the most valuable 
of the bird groups in the Museum. 
At the last sale of this bird one specimen 
brought five thousand dollars. 
At the time of the foundation of the 
American Muse- 
um, New York 
City was practi- 
eally destitute of 
any scientific in- 
stitutions except 
the Lyceum of 
Natural History. 
This was holding 
its small meetings 
presided over by 
Major Delafield, 
in a room loaned 
through the cour- 
tesy of the Col- 
lege of Physicians 
and Surgeons at 
1The second an- 
nual dinner of the 
Linnean Society of 
New York was held 
March 24,1914. Dr. 
Daniel Giraud Elliot 
of the American Mu- 
seum of Natural His- 
tory, veteran orni- 
thologist and mam- 
malogist, was the 
principal guest, and there was a notable gath- 
ering of scientists from all over the East to 
do him honor. Many of those present either 
recounted what they owed him personally or testi- 
fied to his creative ability when ornithology as a 
science was still in its infancy in this country. 
Among those who spoke were Professor Henry 
Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Mu- 
seum of Natural History, and Dr. F. A. Lucas, 
director; Dr. Witmer Stone of the Philadelphia 
Academy of Sciences; Drs. T. S. Palmer and A. 
J. Fisher of the Biological Survey at Washington; 
Messrs. Ernest Thompson Seton and Ernest 
Ingersoll, the well-known writers on animal life. 
Other prominent scientists present were Dr. Frank 
M. Chapman, Mr. W. DeW. Miller, Dr. John 
H. Sage, Dr.;Louis B. Bishop, Dr. William T. 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Fourth Avenue and Fourteenth Street, 
then the northern boundary of the city. 
There were few natural history asso- 
ciates therefore with whom Elliot could 
compare notes. The conditions of the 
time were vividly stated by Dr. Elliot in 
his address before the Linnean Society 
of New York! in March, 1914: 
I do not suppose my boyhood was different 
from that of any other lad interested in 
natural history. I 
began to make a 
collection of birds 
—why I began I 
have no idea, prob- 
ably could not help 
it—and when it 
verged toward com- 
pletion I did not 
know what to do 
with it, for there 
was no one of my 
age anywhere to be 
found who sympa- 
thized with me in 
my pursuit; I was 
practically alone. 
My cousin, Jacob 
Giraud, author of 
the Birds of Long 
Island, had just en- 
tered upon the close 
of his career, and 
wrote no more. 
Audubon had en- 
tered upon the last 
years of his life; 
DeKay had but re- 
cently died in Al- 
Daniel Giraud Elliot at thirty years of age 
Hornaday, director of the New York Zodlogical 
Park, and Dr. C. H. Townsend, director of the 
New York Aquarium. At the close of the speech- 
making the Society presented Dr. Elliot with the 
Linnzan medal of honor, as a testimony of its 
appreciation of his preéminent position in orni- 
thology and mammalogy. In reply Dr. Elliot 
spoke of the science of ornithology as it existed 
sixty years ago at the beginning of his career; 
touched upon experiences in the past with many 
members of the Museum staff who were present 
that evening, and closed with a few words of 
advice and encouragement to the younger gener- 
ation, given with that kindliness of spirit which 
has endeared him to the hearts of those who at- 
tempt to follow in his footsteps.— Secretary, 
LINN AN Society oF New York. 
