8 Brewster, In Memoriavi: Henry Augustus Purdie. uan. 



later, the keenest possible interest in the litertvture of ornithology 

 and kept in close touch with it. Thus, throughout a period extend- 

 ing over at least a dozen or fifteen years, he was one of the leading 

 spirits of the Nuttall Club, taking a prominent part in all its aflfairs 

 and rendering it most loyal and efficient ser\ice. But with advanc- 

 ing years he came to its meetings somewhat less often than before 

 although not infrequently. His very last appearance was at one 

 held on the evening of March G, 1911, less than a week before his 

 final illness began, and but little more than three weeks before he 

 died. 



The editors of that pioneer journal, the 'Bulletin of the Nuttall 

 Ornithological Club,' were often indebted to Mr. Purdie for valu- 

 able assistance or critical advice. During the eight years of its 

 existence, he contributed to its pages no less than twenty-five 

 articles and notes of varying length. Among the earlier of these 

 were two, — a short review signed by his initials merely, and a 

 seven-page article under his full name, — in which he criticised 

 rather sharply, but in the main quite justly, certain statements 

 and rulings made about a year before, in a ' Catalogue of the Birds 

 of New England,' by Dr. T. M. Brewer. These papers excited 

 general interest at the time of their appearance. They show 

 better, perhaps, than anything else that Mr. Purdie ever wrote, 

 the scope and accuracy of his ornithological knowledge when he 

 was in his prime, and the ability he possessed for temperate and 

 logical argument. 



Having been included, as a matter of course, among those who 

 were invited to take part in the organization of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union and being present at its first Congress held 

 in NeAv York City on September 26, 1883, Henry Purdie became 

 one of its Original Members or Founders, now known as Fellows. 

 He retained this membership up to the time of his death, but his 

 attendance at meetings of the Union was mainly restricted to those 

 held in Boston and Cambridge. Although during the earlier years 

 of its existence, he served on certain of its Committees, his name is 

 not included in any of its lists of officers. His only communication 

 to the pages of its journal, ' The Auk,' was a briel^ note relating to 

 the occurrence of the Prothonotary Warbler in Massachusetts, 

 published in 188(3. He was a member of the Boston Society of 



