'Sfe,%, 



Vol.. I. No. 5. 



ALAMEDA, CAL., JANUARY, 1894. 



(One Dollar 

 } Per Year. 



THE LATE CAPT. B. F. GOSS. 



There are probably few readers of the 



NiDiOLOGiST who are not familiar with the 



name of B. F. Goss, for many years one of 



the pioneers and leaders in their favorite 



branch of study; 



nevertheless a 



short sketch of 



his life will not 



be out of place in 



the pages of a 



magazine devoted 



to similar sub- 

 jects, the nesting 



habits of our 



North American 



birds. 



Capt. Goss was 



born in Lancaster, 



N. H., April 24, 



1823, and at the 



age of 18 moved 



west to Pewau- 



kee, Wisconsin, 



then one of the 



frontier settle- 

 ments of that 



region. Here he 



remained until 



1857, when he 



located at Neosho 



Falls, Kansas, at 



the time one of the border hamlets of civiliz- 

 ation and contiguous to the Indian country. 



At the breaking out of the civil war in 

 1 86 1 he promptly offered his services to his 

 adopted State, and was elected captain of a 



THE LATE CAPT. B. F. GOSS 



company of Kansas Rangers. In January, 

 1862, he and his company enlisted in the 

 United States service, and he was mustered 

 in as Captain of Company F, Ninth Kansas 

 Cavalry, under Colonel I^ynde. 



During the three years of active service 

 his command was 

 constantly en- 

 gaged in either 

 guarding the 

 Kansas border or 

 in scouting in 

 Missouri and Ar- 

 kansas. While on 

 duty in the latter 

 State near L,ittle 

 Rock his health 

 broke down, 

 caused b}' inces- 

 sant exposure and 

 overwork, which 

 finally compelled 

 him to leave the 

 service, being 

 honorably dis- 

 charged there- 

 from shortly be- 

 fore the close of 

 the war. He re- 

 turned to his 

 home in Kansas, 

 remaining here a 



few months, and 

 then settled permanently at Pewaukee, 

 Wisconsin, where he resided up to 

 the time of his death (caused by neu- 

 ralgia of the heart), July 6, 1893, honored 

 and esteemed by all his neighbors. 



