Editorial 



45 



2^irtr=1Lore 



A Bi-Monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



ContributiuK Editor, MABELOSGOOD WRIGHT 



Published by D. APPLETON & CO. 



Vol. XVIII Published February 1,1916 No. 1 



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Price in the United States. Canada and Mexico, twenty cents 

 a number, one dollar a year, postage paid. 



COPYRIGHTKD. 1916. BY FKANK M. CHAPMAN 



Bird-Lore's Motto: 

 A Bird in the Bush Is Worth Two in the Band 



The lives of three great ornithologists 

 have ended on or near Christmas Day. 

 Elliot Coues died December 25, 1899; 

 Bowdler Sharpe, head of the Department 

 of Birds of the British Museum, died 

 December 25, 1899; and on December 22, 

 1915, American ornithology lost its dean 

 in the death of Daniel Giraud Elliot. 



Dr. Elliot was the last link connecting 

 us with what Dr. Coues termed the Cas- 

 sinian Period, which extended from the 

 year 1853 to 1858. For over fifty years 

 he pursued his studies of birds, and more 

 recently of mammals, and the mere enu- 

 meration of the titles of his great mono- 

 graphs and special papers would fill 

 pages of Bird-Lore. These he has left 

 behind him, a lasting record of his in- 

 dustry. But, in paying this brief trib- 

 ute to Dr. Elliot's memory, it is not our 

 object to dwell on what he accomplished. 

 Rather would we seek in his life the origin 

 of that inspiration which, with compelling 

 force, urged him from one task to another, 

 all undertaken with no hope of material 

 reward, but for the love of work for 

 work's sake and for the pure, exalted joy 

 of achievement. 



In 1850 odd, when Dr. Elliot began his 

 studies of birds, there were but few people 

 in this country who shared his tastes. 

 There were no Bird Clubs, no Audubon 

 Societies, no American Ornithologists' 

 Union, and no museum in the city in 

 which he resided. Nevertheless in spite 

 of these unfavorable surroundings, the 



germ of the naturalist within him steadily 

 developed. Ere long, like .Audubon, he 

 journeyed to England to further the 

 publication of his monographs, and also 

 to avail himself of the greater facilities 

 for investigation which at that time the 

 Old World offered. 



From this period until his final illness, 

 his interests in his chosen subjects and the 

 pleasure he derived from his studies 

 showed no abatement. His last work, a 

 monograph of the Primates, in three large 

 quarto volumes, completed in 1912, was 

 his greatest work, both in size and scien- 

 tific importance. While engaged in its 

 preparation at the American Museum of 

 Natural History, he was among the first 

 of the scientific staff to arrive, and with 

 only a few minutes' pause for luncheon, 

 he applied himself continuously to the 

 painstaking labor of compilation of syn- 

 onomy, describing of specimens, and mak- 

 ing of 'keys.' He seemed never to tire, 

 either in body or mind, but stuck per- 

 sistently at whatever task he had in hand 

 until it was completed. 



Dr. Elliot was in his seventy-eighth 

 year when the monograph of the Primates 

 was completed. At that age most men, 

 even those who retain an exceptional 

 measure of health and vigor, are apt to 

 consider their life-work as ended. Few 

 of their early associates remain; the past 

 is closed, the future holds no promise, and 

 the days, devoid of either duty or pleas- 

 ure, drag wearily along. 



But those who were privileged to know 

 Dr. Elliot in the final years of his life 

 never thought of him as old. His mind was 

 as young, his interest as keen, as those of 

 men who could count but half his years. 



Associates, therefore, he never lacked, 

 for community of interests constantly 

 brought him fresh ones. Occupation never 

 was wanting, for there were always fresh 

 fields to conquer, and it was not a question 

 of what he should do, but which of many 

 inviting problems he should select. Here, 

 then, is the lesson of Dr. Elliot's life: that 

 in his love of nature and study of her 

 manifold forms he discovered the secret 

 of perpetual youth. 



