aoa | Patmer, In Memoriam: Wells W. Cooke. 123 
vey. Evidently the dawn of a new era in the study of migration 
in America was close at hand. 
In the winter of 1881-82 Cooke invited the ornithologists of 
Iowa to send him lists of winter residents and dates of the first 
arrival of spring migrants. The field of investigation was soon 
extended to include the whole Mississippi Valley. The reports for 
1882 were published in ‘Forest and Stream ’ for October to Decem- 
ber, 1882; those for 1883 in the ‘Ornithologist and Odlogist’ for that 
year, and those for 1884 and 1885 in the bulletin on ‘ Bird Migra- 
tion in the Mississippi Valley’ issued by the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture. 
In the autumn of 1885 Professor Cooke entered on a period of 
college work which lasted 16 years, during which time he was con- 
nected with three institutions, the University of Vermont, the State 
Agricultural College of Colorado, and the State College of Penn- 
sylvania. He went to Burlington, Vt., as a graduate student of 
chemistry, apparently attracted partly by the presence on the 
faculty of Prof. A. H. Sabin, under whom he had studied chemistry 
at Ripon College. In January, 1886, he was employed as a lecturer 
in the Agricultural College and as State Chemist, and a few months 
later was appointed Professor of Agriculture in the University. 
Upon the organization of the Experiment Station early in 1887 he 
was made Director, a position which he held until September 1, 
1893. He was evidently fully occupied with the many details of 
organization and administration connected with Station work. 
Of the 39 bulletins published during this time he was the author in 
whole or in part of 24, on such varied subjects as fertilizers, feeding 
experiments, insecticides, maple sugar, and testing dairy cows. 
In addition he prepared the annual reports and a number of short 
articles or notes on agricultural topics. From an ornithological 
standpoint the eight busy years at Burlington were the least pro- 
ductive of his life. Beside putting the finishing touches on his 
migration report he published only one short note in ‘The Auk.’ 
In later years he remarked that while he had added one bird to the 
Vermont list during his residence in the State he had never pub- 
lished the fact, whereas he published several additions to the Colo- 
rado list during his stay in that State although none of the additions 
were based on his own observations. 
