302 Obituary. [Ibis, 



at Cambridge, and from 1900 to the time of his deatli lie 

 was in charge of the i)irds of that institution. He devoted 

 himself chiefly, however, to tlie development of the collection 

 of North American birds contained in a private museum 

 erected on the grounds of his home in Cambridge. 



William Brewster occupied a unique position among 

 ornithologists. Thoroughly (lualified by training and 

 e.\ceptional powers of analysis and discrimination to become 

 a systematic ornithologist, and with the means at his com- 

 mand to acquire large collections, there was every reason to 

 believe that after his youthful enthusiasm for field-w^ork 

 had lost its keenness he would devote himself to a study 

 of problems in synonymy and the subspecific variations of 

 geographic foi'ms. Such Avork as he did of this kind is 

 authoritative, but although he amassed large collections, 

 his interest seemed to be in living birds ratiier than dead 

 ones. His contributions to ornithology are therefore actual 

 additions to our knowledge of birds and have a permanency 

 unfortunately wanting in much of the woik of the syste- 

 matist. His numerous faunal papers abound in novel 

 observations on the habits of birds, while his monographic 

 biographies of certain species are replete with fresh infor- 

 mation and are presented in a literary form which make 

 them models of their kind. 



Excellent examples of Brewster^s method of handling his 

 material are shown in ''A llemarkable Flight of Pine 

 Grosbeaks (Finicola enuncleator)^' *,h'\s now classic memoir 

 on '' Bird Migration " j? ^'^^^^ I'^s " Birds of the Cambridge 

 Region" t. The latter, based on over forty years' almost 

 continuous observation, possesses unusual historic and 

 scientific value. 



We understand that at the time of his deatli Mr. Brewster 

 was bringing to completion an important Avork on the 

 Birds of the Umbagog Region Avhicli we trnst will be 

 published by his literary executors. 



* 'The Auk; xii. 1895, pp. 245-246; see also 'The Ibis,' 1896, p. 137. 

 + Memoh's of the Nuttall Orn. Club, No. i. 1886, 4to, pp. 22. 

 + Ibid. No. iv. 1906, 4to, pp. 426. 



