112 



THE OOLOGIST 



Charles K. Worthen. 



Charles K. Worthen was born in 

 Warsaw, Illinois, September 6, 1850, 

 and was educated in the public 

 schools of Warsaw and of Springfield, 

 the family removing to the latter city 

 in 1858. In 1861 however they return- 

 ed to Warsaw, and in 1867, he began 

 the work of Delineator of Geological 

 Works, devoting ten years to illustrat- 

 ing the geological reports of Illinois 

 complied by his father, the late Amos 

 H. Worthen, who was at the time 

 State Geologist, and who for many 

 years as one of the foremost repre- 

 sentatives of geological research in 

 America. 



Hen then went to Boadein College, 

 Brunswick, Maine, where he illustrat- 

 ed Lieutenant Wheeler's Expedition 

 West of the One Hundredth Meridian, 

 under Professor Charles A. White. 

 He afterwards went to the Cambridge, 

 (Massachusetts) Museum of Compar- 

 ative Zoology, where he became as- 

 sociated with Professor Louis Agassiz, 

 illustrating the fishes and fish teeth of 

 Illinois Fossils. A part of the work 

 was done for Professor Agassiz and 

 part for the Illinois Geological survey. 



While at Cambridge he began his 

 work in natural history which he 

 pursued the remainder of his life, de- 

 voting his energies to labors along the 

 line of natural history and taxidemy. 

 His scientific knowledge along these 

 lines was broad and comprehensive 

 and his opinions were largely receiv- 

 ed as authority. He supplied various 

 museums of this country a;nd of 

 Europe with animal and bird speci- 

 mens, especially the famous British 

 Museum and the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tute, having collectors in all parts of 

 the world securing material for his 

 work. 



In 1900 Mr. Worthen organized and 

 managed Mr. R. H. Beck's trip to the 

 Galapagos Islands, and while on this 



trip a new species of Petrel was found, 

 one adult female caught at sea in SOS, 

 118 45W on January 2, 1901— (Type 

 No-143 Beck Coll, Mus. Tring.) Later 

 in a communication from Baron Roths- 

 child, Mr. Worthen was informed that 

 the Petrel had been named in his 

 honor Aestrelata Wortheni. Also a 

 .sparrow bears his name (Spizella 

 Wortheni). Mr. Worthen found pleas- 

 ure as well as profit in his vacation 

 and one of many charitable contribu- 

 tions was his gift to a New York Pub- 

 lic School. Knowing how ignorant 

 of bird life are the children brought 

 up in the heart of New York City, he 

 proffered a collection to such a 

 school through his friend Professor 

 Wm. T. Hornaday, director of the 

 New York Zoological Society and in 

 charge of Bronx Park Park. In ac- 

 knowledging its receipt, Professor 

 Hornaday, who placed them in a 

 school where they would be most ap- 

 preciated, wrote: "Pray accept from 

 me, on behalf of Miss Davis the Prin- 

 cipal of Public School No. 1, the 

 grateful thanks of all concerned for 

 a collection that will be a great joy 

 during the years to come to thousands 

 of the children of New York. This 

 collection is so fine and complete and 

 valuable that it must be kept together 

 in a case by itself, and known for all 

 time as the 'Charles K. Worthen Col- 

 lection.' " 



,Mr. Worthen died at his home in 

 Warsaw on the twenty-seventh day of 

 May, 1909. 



••--*- 



Prolific. 



.June 15th, one of our Wood duck 

 hens brought off twenty-one young 

 birds; healthy, vigorous, cute little fel- 

 lows. She sat upon twentj'-four eggs; 

 of course this large clutch was the re- 

 sult of the laying of two females, but 

 she surely makes a pretty sight sur- 

 rounded as she is with twenty-one 

 healthy active ducklings. 



