AVERY BIRD COLLECTION 



Living in close touch with nature he had the opportun- 

 ity of gratifying his love of natural history. He studied 

 ornithology and related subjects for the mere love of 

 them, but he became soon an ornithologist recognized and 

 endorsed by the first in our land. 



By correspondence he became well known to ornithol- 

 ogists, and among them claimed as his friends, Messrs. 

 J. A. Allen and Frank Chapman, curators in the Museum 

 of Natural History Central Park, N. Y. ; and Prof. Coues, 

 Messrs. Bendire, Merriam, and Robert Ridgway of the 

 Smithsonian Institution in Washington City. 



He had a great desire to make a collection of the birds 

 of Alabama. Like many a gifted student, he had no 

 money of his own, nor the aid of influential wealthy 

 friends to advance him in his work. This did not deter 

 him but added zeal and determination to his desire. He 

 was very accurate. Time and labor were factors to prove 

 or establish a fact. 



He anticipated the necessity of the "bird law" which has 

 recently been passed. In 1882 he wrote a long article on 

 "Causes Leading to the Lessening and Destruction of our 

 Game." This article is given below in the Systematic 

 List. 



Not long after the English sparrow was introduced 

 into Central Park, New York, I spent the summer in 

 Orange, N. J. The little birds increased so rapidly that 

 Central Park could not hold them, and myriads flocked 

 to the Jersey town. Now it was hoped that gardens and 

 orchards would be freed from insects. Everybody re- 

 joiced. I was fascinated with them, and made arrange- 

 ments to take some of them home to my brother but I 

 was disappointed. After getting home I told him of my 

 plan, saying, "Brother, I hoped to bring you a lovely 

 present, a gift that would give you more pleasure than 

 anything else, but I did not succeed." "What was it?," 

 he asked. "Oh," I replied, "a cage full of lovely little 

 English sparrows. There were thousands of them in 

 Orange, N. J., and everybody was wild about them." 

 "English sparrows," he exclaimed. "Thank God, you 

 ,did not succeed. Don't you know that they will prove 



