106 Notes and News. [j an 



NOTES AND NEWS 



Lyman Belding, a Retired Fellow of the American Ornithologists ' Union 

 died at Stockton, Calif., Nov. 22, 1917. He was born at West Farms 

 (Northampton), Mass., June 12, 1829, and at the time of his death was 

 nearly eighty-eight and a half years old. He was the oldest member of the 

 Union and the oldest American ornithologist. 



Mr. Belding became interested in birds about 1876 and during the next 

 20 years was prominently identified with field work in California and Lower 

 California. In 1879 he published 'A Partial List of the Birds of Central 

 California' containing notes on 220 species. Two years later he made a 

 trip to Cerros Island and San Quentin Bay, L. C. In the winters of 1881-82 

 and 1882-83 he made two trips to the Cape region of Lower California 

 where he collected the types of several new birds and added much to our 

 knowledge of the avifauna of the region. The results of these trips appeared 

 in several papers in 1883 in the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum. 

 Upon the organization of the American Ornithologists' Union he was 

 selected by the Committee on Bird Migration to take charge of the migration 

 work in the Pacific District. For two or three years he carried on this work 

 actively and the results were published in 1890 in his well known 'Land 

 Birds of the Pacific District'. A corresponding volume on the 'Water 

 Birds of the Pacific District' was prepared but never published and the 

 manuscript is now deposited in the Bancroft Library of the University 

 of California. 



Mr. Belding 's field work in California was done mainly in the vicinity 

 of San Diego, Gridley, Marysville, Stockton, and in the Sierras in Calaveras 

 and Placer counties. Among the birds which bear his name are Belding 's 

 Jay (Aphelocoma calif arnica obscura), Geothlypis beldingi, Oceanodroma 

 beldingi, Passerculus beldingi and Rallies beldingi. He was elected an Active 

 Member of the American Ornithologists' Union at the first meeting in 1883 

 and he was placed on the list of Retired Fellows in 1911. In 1896 he was 

 made an Honorary Member of the Cooper Ornithological Club. His 

 portrait was published in 'The Condor' in 1900 (vol. II, p. 2). 



In accordance with the custom of recent years an address on his life 

 and work will be presented at the next meeting of the Union. The Presi- 

 dent of the Union has appointed Dr. A. K. Fisher to prepare this 

 memorial. — T. S. P. 



