42 Fisher, In Memoriam: Lyman Belding. [j" n 



and moonlight nights in some secluded part of the forest where 

 large game was abundant. I have often heard the Pygmy Owl, 

 which Mr. Ridgway correctly says is diurnal and crepuscular and 

 have quite as often heard the Flammulated Owl, which is strictly 

 nocturnal and hard to get. I have only taken one specimen. The 

 Western Barred Owl has never ceased to interest me, for it is quite 

 familiar and seems to have a fondness for talking back! By imi- 

 tating its shrieks and dog-like barkings, I seldom fail to get a 

 response." 



Mr. Belding being preeminently a field ornithologist and pri- 

 marily interested in birds in their native haunts accounts in part 

 for the disparity between the work he accomplished and the 

 amount of material published. One of his earliest and longest 

 papers appeared in the 'Proceedings of the National Museum' in 

 1879, entitled 'A Partial List of the Birds of Central California' 

 and included observations made in the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin Valleys from Marysville to Stockton and on the western 

 slopes of the Sierras. It covered sixty one pages and included 

 annotated notes on 220 species. 



' The Birds of the Pacific District,' appearing in 1890 as one of the 

 series of ' Occasional Papers ' of the California Academy of Science, 

 was one of Mr. Belding's best-known, and most important publica- 

 tions. It was based on material from California, Oregon, Wash- 

 ington, and Nevada furnished by migration observers of the 

 American Ornithologists' Union. Although many observers fur- 

 nished data, a very important part of the work was contributed by 

 Mr. Belding himself. His intimate knowledge of the region and 

 his well-known accuracy make this volume one of the standard 

 publications relating to the birds of the Pacific Coast. The 

 manuscript, which contains much material not in the published 

 volume and a similar report on the waterfowl which was never 

 published, are deposited in the Bancroft Library of the University 

 of California. 



It is only logical that a man who had collected so much zoological 

 material, over wide and little-known regions, would have species 

 dedicated to him, and we find five birds and four other vertebrates 

 named after Belding. 



When the American Ornithologists' Union was founded in 1SS3, 



