1 8 Allen, /« Memoriam : George B. Sennett- Ljan. 



It was his custom at this time, and till about 1896, to spend his 

 winters in New York, and from about 1885 to 1893 he was able 

 at this season to devote considerable time to ornithological work, 

 — especially during the years 1884 to 1890, when most of his 

 later ornithological investigations were made. In return for the 

 storage and care of his collections on the part of the Museum, 

 they were made freely available for scientific use, not only to the 

 officers of the Museum, but to all specialists who might desire to 

 consult them in their investigations. This harmonious coopera- 

 tion was of great importance to the Museum, which further pro- 

 fited through the generous gift of specimens to supply desiderata 

 for exhibition. As already implied, the collection, numbering 

 over 8000 well prepared skins and nearly as many nests and 

 eggs, is composed principally of material from Texas and north- 

 eastern Mexico, and hence possesses special value as an exponent 

 of the bird fauna of this portion of North America. 



Mr. Sennett, though not a Founder, was one of the original 

 members of the American Ornithologists' Union, having been 

 elected at its first Congress held in New York City in 1883. In 

 1886 he was made Chairman of its Committee on the Protection 

 of North American Birds, which position he held till 1893, or for 

 seven years. He took a very active part in the work of the 

 Committee, which, during the year 1886-87 held over twenty 

 meetings at which a quorum was present, besides several informal 

 meetings. It also prepared and distributed, under his direction, 

 two large ' Bulletins ' on bird protection, and drafted a stringent 

 law for the protection of birds, which was afterward enacted with 

 little change by the State of New York, and later by other States. 

 Mr. Sennett contributed an important paper to the Committee's 

 first Bulletin on the • Destruction of the Eggs of Birds for Food,' 

 as startlingly exemplified along the coast of Texas in the destruc- 

 tion of the eggs of Pelicans, Cormorants, Gulls, Terns, and Her- 

 ons. In 1890 he delivered an address on 'Bird Legislation' 

 before the State Board of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, which was 

 published in the Board of Agriculture Report for that year. In 

 this address the general subject of bird protection was admirably 

 presented, with recommendations for future legislation by the 

 State. 



