^^1 



354 Notes and News. [j^^) 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



In the death of Prof. Wells W. Cooke on March 30, 1916, the American 

 Ornithologists' Union has sustained a great loss. He died at his home 

 in Washington, D. C., from jmeumonia having been ill for only eight days. 



Prof. Cooke was one of the earliest members of the Union, having been 

 elected a Fellow in 1884. He was born January 25, 1858, in Massachusetts, 

 son of Rev. Elisha W. Cooke, but moved with his parents at an early age 

 to Ripon, Wis., where he was educated. 



For several years he was connected with the Indian Service in Minnesota 

 antl Indian Territory and then in 1886 was chosen professor of Agriculture 

 at the University of Vermont, and director of the university experiment 

 station. From 1893-1900 he was professor of agriculture at the college 

 at Fort Collins, Colo., and on July 1, 1901. was appointed on the staff of 

 the U. S. Biological Survey. 



He became interested in birds at an early age and almost from the begin- 

 ning of his studies he directed his attention primarily to bird migration, 

 eventually becoming our leading authority on this subject. 



As early as the winter of 1881-2 Prof. Cooke solicited the cooperation 

 of other oliservers in a comprehensive study of bird migration in the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley and for two years the results of their work were published 

 in the 'Ornithologist and Oologist.' When the American Ornithologists' 

 Union was organized in 1883, a committee was appointed to cooperate 

 with Prof. Cooke in extending this investigation throughout North Amer- 

 ica and he became superintendent of the Mississippi Valley division. His 

 work in this region formed the basis of one of the first extensive publi- 

 cations of the Biological Survey which later took over the migration in- 

 vestigations. Since Prof. Cooke's connection with the Survey he has had 

 personal supervision of this work and his many valuable publications 

 based upon the records of the Survey are familiar to all ornithologists. 

 His activities however, were not limited to this field, and the work that 

 he has accomplislied in mapping out the ranges of North American birds 

 and in compiling a voluminous card index to published records of occur- 

 rences are of equal impoi'tance, while his 'Birds of Colorado' and nu- 

 merous other papers stand as evidence of his unusual activity and his 

 ability to accomplish results. 



Prof. Cooke was a great lover of outdoor life and was a leading spirit in 

 the District of Columljia Audubon Society and in all local field excursions 

 for the study of nature. He had a delightful personality — generous and 

 unassuming and his loss will be felt by bird students in all parts of the 



