° 'iQio J Notes and News. 487 



Lakes region of Colorado, and spent the winter of 1879-1880, on the Gulf 

 Coast of Florida, collecting mainly near the mouth of the Withlacoochie 

 River. In the spring of 1881 he devoted a number of weeks to the study 

 of bird life at Cobb's Island, off the coast of Virginia, and a portion of the 

 summer of the same year at Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, in pursuit 

 of sea-birds. 



Up to this time his rich and varied collections of birds were made for 

 the Princeton Museum, which soon numbered thousands of beautifully 

 prepared skins, besides hundreds of specimens finely mounted for exhibi- 

 tion. But in the spring of 1881, he obtained leave of absence to visit 

 southern Arizona, partly on business and partly for ornithological research. 

 Here, chiefly in Pinal, Pima, and Gila counties, he spent the greater part 

 of the next four years, forming a collection of 2.500 birds, which later were 

 purchased by the American Museum of Natural History. Leaving Ari- 

 zona in March, 1886, he proceeded to Tarpon Springs, Florida, where he 

 remained almost continuously till August, 1888, collecting at different 

 points along the Gulf Coast from Cedar Keys to Key West. Later visits 

 were made to Florida in 1890, when several weeks in March and April 

 were spent at the Dry Tortugas, and in 1891-1892, when the period from 

 November 21 to April 26 was devoted to an exploration of the Caloosa- 

 hatchie region. The winter of 1890-91 was given to ornithological work 

 in the island of Jamaica. Thus from 1875 to 1892 Mr. Scott was almost 

 continuously engaged in field exploration, visits being made to the moun- 

 tains of Virginia and North Carolina during intervals of rest from work 

 in Florida, and as a respite therefrom. 



The rich experience thus gained and the thousands of specimens thus 

 acquired became the basis of numerous important contributions by Mr. 

 Scott to ornithological literature, published principally in 'The Auk' and its 

 predecessor, the 'Bulletin' of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, during the 

 years 1879 to 1892. His explorations have added many species and sub- 

 species to the known avifauna of the United States and quite a number 

 new to science, some of them described by him and some by others on the 

 basis of material collected by him. But perhaps far more important than 

 this have been his contributions to the life histories of many previously 

 little known species, and to a better knowledge of the distribution, migra- 

 tions, and changes of plumage due to season and age of a large number 

 of others. 



Among Mr. Scott's contributions to ornithological literature, in addi- 

 tion to those already instanced, are his 'Bird Studies: An Account of the 

 Land Birds of Eastern North America' (1898), 'The Story of a Bird 

 Lover' (1903), and 'Birds of Patagonia' (4to, pt. 1, 1904, Pt. 2, 1910, 

 with a large portion of the work still unpublished). The 'Story of a Bird 

 Lover,' charmingly written, is autobiographical, and replete with evidence 

 of the intense enthusiasm and wide range of interest with which the 

 author pursued his favorite studies. It contains also a list of his orni- 

 thological publications down to the year 1902. 



