5Uo Notes and News. Tuiv 



LJuly 



NOTES AND NEWS 



Frank Slater Daggett, a Member of the American Ornithologists' 

 Union, died at Redlands, Cal., April 5, 1920, at the age of 65. He went 

 to Riverside to attend the sunrise Easter services at Mount Rubidoux 

 and shortly after returning to Redlands with members of his family and 

 friends he was taken ill and died early Easter Monday. 



Mr. Daggett was born at Norwalk, Ohio, January 30, 1855. He be- 

 came interested in birds at an early age and was elected an Associate of 

 the A. O. U. in 1889 and was one of the first advanced to the class of Mem- 

 bers when that class was established in 1901. When first identified with 

 the Union he was living at Duluth, Minn., but in 1895 he moved to Pasa- 

 dena, Cal., where he remained until 1904, when he returned East and en- 

 gaged in business in Chicago until 1912. He then took up his permanent 

 residence in Los Angeles and became Director of the Museum of History, 

 Science and Art, a position which he retained until his death. Under 

 his management the Museum has developed rapidly until it has become 

 one of the leading institutions of the kind in the West. It is perhaps 

 best known on account of its wonderful collection of Pleistocene fossils 

 obtained from the asphalt pits of the Rancho La Brea on the outskirts 

 of Los Angeles. Excavations in these beds began in 1906 under the direc- 

 tion of Dr. John C. Merriam and continued with great success for several 

 years. In 1913 the owner of the property, Mr. G. Allan Hancock, gener- 

 ously granted to Los Angeles County the exclusive privilege of excavating 

 for a period of two years with the understanding that the specimens 

 secured would become the property of the Museum where they now form 

 the Hancock collection. These fossils constitute perhaps the largest 

 collection of Pleistocene material in the world and in addition to sabre 

 tooth tigers, ground sloths, elephants, mastodons and other mammals 

 include the remains of about 60 species of birds of which the most remark- 

 able are an extinct Peacock (Pavo californicus) and several peculiar vul- 

 tures and eagles belonging to the genera Teratornis, Cathartornis, Pleis- 

 togyps, Neophrontops and Morphnus. 



Mr. Daggett's contributions to ornithology appeared chiefly in 'The 

 Auk' and 'The Condor.' He was not a voluminous writer and most 

 of his papers comprised notes on the occurrence of rare or interesting 

 species or observations based on his own field experiences. He was, how- 

 ever, a man of broad vision and occasionally expressed his views on gen- 

 eral questions as exemplified by his notes on accuracy in local lists, the 

 membership of the A. O. U., and the proper limits of the Check List of 

 Birds. He was a man of charming personality, quiet, affable and tactful 

 but at the same time forceful and a good administrator. For several 

 years he served as Highway Commissioner of Los Angeles County and 

 in 1916, when the asphalt beds of Rancho La Brea comprising a tract 



