^°'^^^ ' J ] Notes a nd Ncxvs. 3 1 5 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Mk. Edward IIargitt, a CoiTesponciinij Member of tlie Ainciican 

 Ornitliologists' Union, died at his home in Edinburgh, March 19, 1895, 

 in the sixtieth jear of his age. Mr. IIargitt was an artist of eminent 

 standing, as well as an ornithologist, having been made in 1887 a member 

 of the Royal Institute. His interest in birds was general, and he had at 

 one time acquired a large collection of the birds of Northern Europe and 

 Asia, but lack of accommodation for its storage led him later to disperse 

 it, the greater part going to the British Museum. He selected, however, 

 the Woodpeckers as his special field of study, and will be long known as 

 an authority on this group through his admirable monograph forming 

 Vol. XVIII of the ' Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum.' From 

 ' The Ibis ' we learn that he " worked continuously at a series of paintings 

 to form a moiiographical gallery of the Picidtc, illustrating every type in 

 British and foreign museums, and giving colored portraits of every 

 variation in plumage." He was never strong, we learn from the same 

 authority, ''having for years been an uncomplaining martyr to asthma." 

 He is spoken of as " a very quiet, unobtrusive man, generous almost to a 

 fault," and •' chivalrous in the higiiest sense of word." 



Mr. John S. Cairns, an Associate Member of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, was killed June 10, 1895, by the accidental discharge of bis 

 gun while on a collecting trip with a party of friends to Black Mountain, 

 North Carolina. Mr. Cairns was a prominent and popular citizen of 

 Weaverville, N. C, where he was buried with Masonic honors. Although 

 Mr. Cairns liad published little, his untimely and sad death is a distinct 

 loss to ornithology, his researches in the vicinity of Asheville, North 

 Carolina, having given him an intimate knowledge of the birds of that 

 region. Fortunately some of his notes, generously sent to ornithologists 

 with whom he was in correspondence, may yet see the light. A letter to 

 the editors of ' The Auk ' from a prominent ornithologist speaks of him as 

 a thoroughly trustworthy observer, and "one of the most generous men 

 that ever lived." He was interested in other departments of natural 

 history, especially in mammals. He was a son of Captain John Cairns 

 of Weaverville. 



The Hon. Franklin Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, an 

 Associate Member of the American Ornithologists' Union, died in that 

 city on April 24, 1895, at the age of 67 years. He was the youngest of 

 four sons of the late Governor Erastus Fairbanks of Vermont. At the time 

 of his death he was President of tiie well-known Fairbanks Scales Com- 



