iSSS.l Nofes and Nczvs. 445 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Charles WicKLn-KK Bkckiiam \va> bom iiLar Bardstown. Kentucky, 

 August I. 1856, and died there at liis home June 8, 18S8. His father was 

 a lawyer- atid member of the Leyislature of Kentucky at the time of his 

 decease, some eii;ht or ten years ago. His mother, who survives him. 

 was a daughter ot" the hite Governor Charles C. WicklilVe, of Kentuckv. 

 Mr. Beckham was educated at a private school near Bardstown. ajid when 

 seventeen years old was for one or two years a student at the University 

 of V^irginia. After that he was attached to the Geological Surve\' of Ken- 

 tucky under Protessor Siialer, for about two years. He then followed 

 Professor Shaler to Harvard University where he spent a year in >cientific 

 studies. He was then appcjinted. by the Hon. J. Proctor Knott, of Ken- 

 tucky, clerk of the Judiciaiy Committee of the House of Repiesentatives, 

 at Washington, where he remained for four years. Afterwaids he \\ent 

 to Pueblo, Colorado, where for about a year he engaged in mercantile 

 pursuits; thence returned to Washington and became connected ^^ith the 

 National Museum. While clerk to the Judiciary Committee of the House 

 of Representatives he studied law. attending for a portion of the term, the 

 Columbia Law School in Washington. Abt)ut two years belbre his death 

 he was induced to turn his attention to the ]>iactice of law, as a jiatent 

 solicitor, anil entered the office ol' Mr. Pollock, where he was engaged 

 with great promise of success when his fatal disease began to develop 

 itself. 



Mr. Beckham's talent lor mathematical and physical science, united to 

 f)ther qualities, formed a rare combination from which his friends arguetl 

 that he woidd win success. But Providence decreed otherwise. It was 

 in the effort to throw off disease that he spent a winter in Texas. em|ii()\- 

 ing his time making a collection ol" birds, a fine series of which he ]ne- 

 seiited to the National Museum. Returning from Texas for a few months, 

 he resumed his labors al Wasb.ington, but again attacked l)y illness he went 

 to Louisiana and spent tlie winter with his uncle. Governor R, C. Wick- 

 lifYe, near St. Francisville. Growing worse, he returned, with his mother, 

 to Bardstown. where he died, after extreme suffering. '-All that friends 

 and relatives and medical skill could do were of no avail. He died with- 

 out an enemy, and was followed to the grave by the tears and tender 

 rennets of all who had ever known him." During liLs connection with the 

 Department of Birds of the National Museum, Mr. Beckham proved an 

 intelligent and able assistant, while his gentle, genial, and unassuming 

 manners, and gentlemanl\cleportment won \'ov him the genuine regard of 

 his associates. Owing to his ill health, he was not able to devote much 

 of his leisure time to the labor of original research in his favorite studv, 

 but he managed to write several papers, each of which is a valuable con- 

 tribution to the subject to which it relates, being characterized bv an 

 unusual degree of painstaking care and unbiased judgment ; and had he 

 been able to write more would undoubtedly have won for himself a hioh 

 rank among ornithologists. 



