10 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



ence of a hatching Black Duck, the eggs of which and Chicken group of islands were studied, and to 



had probably been laid for about three weeks. the Wilson Bulletin for March, 1916, where a 



Down from the bird's breast was used to line the colony off the coast of Massachusetts was studied, 



finely-constructed nest. Phctographs are supplied in both articles and it is 



To those interested in the nesting cf the Common interesting to note that in the ocean colony the 



Tern, I would refer them to an article in Bird-Lore nesting material is totally different from and more 



for August, 1904, where the colonies on the Hen abundant than that employed in Lake Erie. 



OBITUARY 



JOHN MACOUN, 1831-1920. 

 Assistant Director and Naturalist to the Geological Survey of Canada. 



Prof. John Macoun, one of the oldest members 

 of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, died at Sid- 

 ney, Vancouver Island, B.C., on July 18, 1920, in 

 his 90th year. He was born at Maralin, Ireland, 

 about twenty miles from Belfast, on April 17, 1831. 

 Like many other families in Ireland, after the great 

 depression through famine and rebellion between 

 1840 and 1850, his family emigrated to Canada in 

 the latter year, and settled in Seymour Township, 

 Northumberland County, Ontario. At that time 

 much of this part of Ontario was heavily wooded, 

 and John Macoun and his brothers, Frederick and 

 James, with their mother, began to clear a farm. 

 Profits were slow in coming, and in order to relieve 

 the situation, John, who felt that his calling was in 

 a different field, began to teach school, as many an- 

 other bright young man has done in Canada. Teach- 

 ers were much needed in the country, and soon he 

 had charge of a small rural school. He felt, however, 

 that to succeed as he desired, more knowledge was 

 necessary, so he took a course in the Normal School 

 in Toronto in 1859. Later he was in charge of 

 one of the smaller schools in Belleville, then be- 

 came head of the public schools there. 



All this time his love of nature had led him to 

 study her many forms, but in botany he took par- 

 ticular delight, and by 1874 he had made such a 

 name for himself in this study, that he was ap- 

 pointed Professor of Botany and Geology in Albert 

 College, Belleville, a position he filled with great 

 ability and success until 1881, when, having been 

 appointed Botanist to the Dominion Government, 

 he severed his connection with the college to devote 

 all his time to public service, although since 1872 

 he had been employed part of the lime by the 

 Dominion Government. 



In 1872, Mr. Macoun was invited by the late 

 Sir Sanford Fleming lo be the botanist of a party 

 on a expedition through the West to explore and to 

 determine the line for the first transcontinental rail- 



way, now known as the Canadian Pacific. Associ- 

 ated with the party was the late Principal Grant of 

 Queen's University, who in his book "Ocean to 

 Ocean" gave a description of the trip and the part 

 John Macoun played in it. 



In 1875, Mr. Macoun was appointed botanist to 

 an expedition under the leadership of the late Dr. 

 Alfred Selwyn, then Director of the Geological 

 Survey, and assisted in exploring the Peace River 

 and the Rocky Mountains; and in 1877 he was 

 asked to write a report on the country he had visited, 

 and it was this report which brought Mr. Macoun 

 prominently before the public, for in it he was 

 most enthusiastic over the possibilities of the West, 

 claiming that there were immense areas suitable for 

 wheat culture, and for settlement. 



He again explored the prairies in 1879, 1880 

 and 1881, and in 1882 published his very valuable 

 work "Manitoba and the Great North-West," an 

 octavo volume of 687 pages, and still the most 

 complete book on the West which has been pub- 

 lished. This was a private enterprise, but the in- 

 formation contained in that book did much to open 

 the eyes of Canadians and the people of other 

 countries to the vast possibilities of the Canadian 

 North-West. On page 213 he wrote: "Much 

 might be written about the future, and calculations 

 made regarding the wheat production of years to 

 come, but such speculations are needless. In a 

 very few years the crop will be limited by the 

 means of export, and just as the carrying capacity 

 of the roads increase, so will the crop." 



In 1877, he was invited to write a report on the 

 whole of the western country for the information 

 of the Minister of Public Works in connection with 

 the new railway, and was cautioned not to draw 

 on his imagination. "In response to this I wrote 

 as much truth about the country as I dared," he 

 states in another part of his book, "for I saw that 

 even yet my best friends believed me rather wild on 



