Dr. JAMES G. COOPER. 



A SKETCH 

 [By W. O. Emerson, President of the Cooper Ornithological Club.J 



IT is proper, and in accordance with the wish of the 

 Club, that the initial number of the BULLETIN 

 should contain a brief sketch of the life of him, in 

 whose honor our Club is named, Dr. James G. Cooper. 



The fact that Dr. Cooper, though very feeble, is yet 

 alive, precludes us from entering upon any detailed 

 view of his private life, even though it be that phase 

 with which his friends most delight. We must, there- 

 fore, confine ourselves to the scientific aspect of his life, 

 as it is in this relation that he is best known to thous- 

 ands who have never met him, and who will be pained 

 to learn that it is almost impossible for him to receive 

 visitors, as it is difficult and painful for him to speak. 



When it became necessary for us to visit him to 

 verify certain portions of this sketch, we noticed his 

 evident pleasure when he learned that the Club in- 

 tended to publish its own BULLETIN, and he expressed 

 the wish to do all that he could to further its interests. 

 To us this meeting was at once a promise and a bene- 

 diction. For many years he had been to us a friend 

 and a guide, and necessarily our mind reverted to the 

 time when we learned of bird-life at his feet. As we 

 looked on his kindly face and listened to the almost in- 

 articulate words, in memory we traveled backward to 



