2 Richmond, In Memoriam: Edgar A. Mearns. [Jem. 



from his ornithological achievements, can receive mention in the 

 present notice. 1 



Edgar Alexander Mearns, son of Alexander and Nancy Reliance 

 (Carswell) Mearns, was born at the home of his grandfather 

 (Alexander Mearns), at Highland Falls, near West Point, N. Y., 

 September 11, 1856. His grandfather, born a few miles from 

 Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1786, came to New York in 1805, after 

 making several perilous voyages at sea. He settled at Highland 

 Falls about the year 1815, where Alexander, his son, one of seven 

 children, was born in 1823. Dr. Mearns' father died in 1873, 

 but his mother, who comes of New England stock, is still living. 



Edgar Mearns manifested a remarkable interest in birds and 

 animals at a very early age, and this taste was fostered by his 

 father, who bought him a large illustrated book on the native birds. 

 He took great pleasure in looking at the pictures — he was only 

 three years old at this time — and his mother spent hours in teach- 

 ing him their names and histories, and he soon developed a wonder- 

 ful knowledge of the subject for one of his years. As he grew older, 

 his father gave him a gun, and they would shoulder their arms and 

 wander through the fields together, close companions. He was 

 taught to set box traps in these early years, and if there was no one 

 at hand to go with him to inspect them, he would steal out alone to 

 see what the traps contained. As a school boy he was often tardy 

 as a result of lingering in the woods in search of specimens. Every 

 natural object interested and attracted him. 



Young Mearns was educated at Donald Highland Institute, at 

 Highland Falls, and subsequently entered the College of Physicians 

 and Surgeons of New York, from which he graduated in 1881. 

 At the outset of his medical course, he became personally acquainted 

 with several of the young naturalists of the time, E. P. Bicknell, 

 A. K. Fisher, C. Hart Merriam, and others, some of whom were 

 attending the same routine of studies. He and Dr. Fisher chanced 

 to share the same room at a boarding house at this time, and it 

 was here that the budding young Linnsean Society held its early 

 meetings. 



1 The War Department was asked for a copy of Dr. Mearns' military record, but the 

 request was refused, owing to the great amount of extra work now placed on the depart- 

 ment. 



