AVERY BIRD COLLECTION 9 
Living in close touch with nature he had the opportun- 
ity of gratifying his love of natural history. He studied 
ornithology and related subjects for the mere love of 
them, but he became soon an ornithologist recognized and 
endorsed by the first in our land. 
By correspondence he became well known to ornithol- 
ogists, and among them claimed as his friends, Messrs. 
J. A. Allen and Frank Chapman, curators in the Museum 
of Natural History Central Park, N. Y.; and Prof. Coues, 
Messrs. Bendire, Merriam, and Robert Ridgway of the 
Smithsonian Institution in Washington City. 
He had a great desire to make a collection of the birds 
of Alabama. Like many a gifted student, he had no 
money of his own, nor the aid of influential wealthy 
friends to advance him in his work. This did not deter 
him but added zeal and determination to his desire. He 
was very accurate. Time and labor were factors to prove 
or establish a fact. 
He anticipated the necessity of the “bird law” which has 
recently been passed. In 1882 he wrote a long article on 
“Causes Leading to the Lessening and Destruction of our 
Game.” This article is given below in the Systematic 
List. 
Not long after the English sparrow was introduced 
into Central Park, New York, I spent the summer in 
Orange, N. J. The little birds increased so rapidly that 
Central Park could not hold them, and myriads flocked 
to the Jersey town. Now it was hoped that gardens and 
orchards would be freed from insects. Everybody re- 
joiced. I was fascinated with them, and made arrange- 
ments to take some of them home to my brother but I 
was disappointed. After getting home I told him of my 
plan, saying, “Brother, I hoped to bring you a lovely 
present, a gift that would give you more pleasure than 
anything else, but I did not succeed.” ‘“‘What was it?,” 
he asked. “Oh,” I replied, “‘a cage full of lovely little 
English sparrows. There were thousands of them in 
Orange, N. J., and everybody was wild about them.” 
“English sparrows,” he exclaimed. “Thank God, you 
did not succeed. Don’t you know that they will prove 
