The Audubon Societies 



255 



and appropriate tribute to Captain Davis 

 has been received from Hon. E. E. Kone, 

 Agricultural Commissioner of the State 

 of Texas. 



"Some time prior to his death, Captain 

 M. B. Davis was engaged in writing for 

 the State Department of Agriculture a 

 bulletin on 'The Birds of Texas,' which 

 has been eagerly awaited by farmers, 

 orchardists and others having an econo- 

 mic, and some of them a scientific and 

 scholarly interest in the subject, who 

 knew the author's special fitness for the 

 task, and who expected the production 

 to be a most serviceable and notable one. 



"While I received no information to 

 that effect from Captain Davis, I am of 

 the opinion that he either completed it 

 or had constructed it to the point that it 

 can be finished on the plan he formulated. 

 Three months ago, having gathered all 

 of the necessary data, he paid me a visit 

 at Austin, and we discussed engravings 

 to be used in illustrating the work, and 

 decided on including a few colored plates 

 (one as a frontispiece). This disposed 

 of, our conversation naturally drifted 

 to other topics — reminiscences of bygone 

 days and bygone friends — friends still 

 fighting bravely in the ranks in the battle 

 of life for Texas and all high aspirations 

 and ends, and in fact almost everything 

 except politics, he enlivening his remarks 

 v/ith many apt allusions and bits of rare 

 humor, kindly sarcasm, and, where they 

 were deserved, words of praise. I was 

 never more impressed with the length 

 and breadth and depth of his learning, 

 his elevated and unselfish character, and 

 that in him this state had one of its 

 noblest and most useful master-builders 

 of its rising and expanding fortunes. 



"He served Texas well. He thought 

 little of self, and much of the welfare of 

 others. Money-making occupied but 

 small space in his mind — scarcely, if any, 

 more than enough to make a living — 

 but, living and dead, I regard him as one 

 of the richest men I ever knew — opulent 

 in good thoughts and good deeds, some 

 of the harvests of which he lived to see 

 il garnered into the barns of many, and 



which through coming years will yield 

 ever more bounteous harvests, long after 

 he, who scratched them as seed in the 

 world-field shall ha\-e been forgotten. 



"I and others shall sadly miss our 

 dear old friend, and, with them, I feel 

 the deepest sympathy for his bereaved 

 family, whose loss is, indeed irreparable. 

 The memory of him will linger long as 

 a light on the paths of men." 



Many editorials have appeared in 

 Texas papers regarding the death of 



CAPTAIN M. B. DAVIS 



Captain Davis. A lengthy article of 

 appreciation by the editor of the San 

 Antonio Express, published June 22, 

 closes with the statement: "He will be 

 remembered as a friend to humanity and 

 as an earnest worker for the uplift of the 

 world, and his death will be deeply 

 regretted by all who had an opportunity 

 to know the service he did for humanity." 

 Captain Davis was a man of striking 

 appearance, pronounced and agreeable 

 personality, and was exceedingly effect- 

 ive in his public and private utterances. 

 The writer has seldom known a man who 



