56 



THE OOLOGIST. 



it pleased him to show them to other 

 boys, but at this age he was never 

 known to rob a nest of its eggs. 



He first became interested in stuffed 

 birds from a local Taxidermist and it 

 was his ambition to learn how to do it, 

 and he said if he ever learned, he was 

 going to mount a Scarlet Tanager, Blue- 

 bird, Golden Oriole, and a Robin as he 

 thought then, they were the most beau- 

 tiful birds in the world. 

 D But Mr. Dakin almost reached the 

 age of manhood before he learned how 

 to make a bird skin; having met Mr. 

 Albert Brainard, now of Red Lands, 

 Cal., who gave him his first instructions 

 and he immediately became enthusias- 

 tic in a collection of local birds. 



It was his habit to rise early every 

 morning and roam about the hillsides 

 and through what is now known as Bar- 

 ney's Swamp, and along the shores of 

 Tully Lake in pursuit of a greater 

 knowledge of birds. He accumlated a 

 vast amount of information concerning 

 the local birds and collected specimens 

 of most of the species known to occur 

 in Onondaga Co. 



In 1883 he went to Florida and hunt- 

 ed through the Everglades and along 

 the Oklawaha River, collecting inform- 

 ation and specimens of the birds in that 

 region. While there he also gave a 

 great deal of attention to the Heronries 

 which were then innumerable on the 

 brushy islands and shores of White 

 Lake. 



After being in Florida four years he 

 came north and fixed his home in Syra- 

 cuse. 



In 1888 he again returned to Florida 

 and took unto himself a wife after 

 which he returned to Syracuse and en- 

 gaged in business. 



In 1893 he took up the study and col- 

 lection of Lepidoptera which he pur- 

 sued with equal enthusiasm with birds, 

 and when he died he possessed one of 

 the largest collection of N. A. Lepidop- 

 tera in this section. 



Mr. Dakin had a competant knowl- 

 edge in other branches of natural his- 

 tory but devoted most of his time to 

 birds and later to insects. 



Mr. Dakin was a charter member and 

 founder of the Onondaga Academy of 

 Science and contributed many valuable 

 papers on the birds and insects of Onon- 

 daga Co. He was a great advocate of 

 bird protection and read many papers 

 before schools and other societies and 

 has done a noble work in this cause. 

 He was gifted with a graceful pen and 

 his simplicity of description made his 

 writing peculiarly attractive. 



It is impossible to speak of him in too 

 high terms as a friend and as a man he 

 possessed a singularly attractive person- 

 ality which endeared him to all, and 

 his honesty, modesty and lofty princi- 

 pals won for him universal esteem. 



By his death the Union and scientific 

 world looses a valuable and able con- 

 tributor to Natural Science, and his 

 large circle of friends mourn that they 

 have lost a true and very dear friend 

 who from his boyhood days has been a 

 lover and devotee to Natural History. 

 A. W. Perrior. 



The Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker in 

 Western New York. 



BY CORNELIUS F, POSSON, MEDINA, N. Y. 



The Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker, 

 [Picoidesarcticus) is not often observed 

 in localities so far removed from the 

 arctics as is this. 



A skin just recently received from 

 Murray, this county, and the recollec- 

 tion of another specimen also taken in 

 this county some seventeen or eighteen 

 years ago, suggest to me that a brief 

 sketch upon this rare Woodpecker and 

 its occurrence here might not be in- 

 appropriate. 



We have in the Eastern United States 

 two species of Thr:e-toed Woodpeck- 

 ers, the Arctic and the American, both 



