THE OOLOGIST. 



85 



George N. Lawrence. 



.Mr. George N. Lawrence, one of 

 the Founders and an Honorary Meinber 

 of the American Ornithologists' Union, 

 and for some years a member of its 

 Council, died Jan, 17, 1895, at his resi- 

 dence in New York City, in the eighty- 

 ninth year of his age. Mr. Lawrence 

 was especially known as an authority 

 on the birds of tropical America, to 

 which his attention was chiefly given 

 during the long period of his scientific 

 activity. As a writer on North Amer- 

 ican birds he will be mainly remember- 

 ed for his association with Baird and 

 Cassin in the authorship of the famous 

 'IX Volume' of the Reports of Explor- 

 ations and Surveys for a Railroad Route 

 from the Mississippi River to the Pacific 

 Ocean, published in 1858, to which Mr. 

 Lawrence contributed the parts relating 

 to several orders of the Water Birds ;and 

 for his well known 'Catalogue of Birds 

 observed on New York, Long and Stat- 

 en Islands, and the adjacent parts of 

 New Jersey, published in 18G6. He was 

 an intimate friend and scientific asso- 

 ciate of the late Professor Baird, and 

 also of Audubon. During the later 

 years of his life the infirmfties incident 

 of age greatly lessened his activity in 

 scientific research, but in no way di- 

 minished his interest in the science to 

 which he had devoted so many years 

 of his life, his ornithological publica- 

 tions covering a period of fifty years. 

 His high standing as a sj)ecialist in his 

 chosen field is well attested by the hon- 

 orary membership conferred upon him 

 by many of the leading scientific socie- 

 ties and academies of not only his own 

 country but of Europe. His amiability 

 of character endeared him to a wide 

 circle of friends, so that in his death 

 his scientific associates mourn the loss 

 of a personal friend as well as an es- 

 teemed fellow-worker. 



In order that proper respect may be 

 shown by the Members of the A. O. U. 



as a body to the memory of deceased 

 members, the following resolution was 

 adopted at the Tenth Congress of the 

 Union: — 



''Besolved: That on the decease of 

 any Active Member of the Union, the 

 President shall appoint a Committee of 

 One to prepare a suitable memorial of 

 the life and work of the deceased, to be 

 read at the first Stated Meeting of the 

 Union, and to be published in 'The Auk' 

 as an expression of the sense of the 

 Union." 



Mr. Lawerence is the first deceased 

 member coming within the scope of 

 this resolution since its adoption, and, 

 in accordance with its provisions, the 

 President, Dr. Coues, has appointed 

 Mr. D. G. Elliot as the memorialist of 

 Mr. Lawrence — a selection singularly 

 fitting, inasmuch as to no member of 

 the Union is the life and work of the 

 late Mr. Lawrence better known than 

 to his long intimate associate Mr. Elliot. 

 The eulogy will be read at the next 

 Annual Meeting of the Union and pub- 

 lished in 'The Auk' for January, 1896. — 

 The Auk. 



Owls and Their Nests. 



Charles VVaterton,.the naturalist, says 

 that he never heard of but one song in 

 which the Owl was praised and that was 

 a ditty sung to him in his infancy by 

 his nurse. He repeats the first two 

 stanzas of it for us, they are as follows: 



"Once I was a monarch's daughter 



And sat on a lady's knee; 

 Now I am a nightly rover, 



Banislied to the ivy tree. 



Crying Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, 

 Hoo, hoo, my feet are cold! 



Pity me for now you see me 

 Persecuted, poor, and old." 



Praise of the Owl is very rare in song 

 or elsewhere, and yet the fancy that she 

 is a disguised princess is very old, older 

 even than the "'Arabian Nights." 



