IN MEMORIAM. 



Albert H. Vilas, Bird Lover. 



Member of the Museum of Comparative Oology. 

 Born, Racine, Wisconsin, June 11, 1848. Died, Santa Barbara, California, Feb. 9, 1920. 



By W. L. D. 



It does not seem possible, even yet, that this gentle devotee of the birds, this 

 familiar figure of Nature's byways, and our museum's most faithful visitor, should 

 have taken his departure for a better land. I cannot recall when Mr. Vilas first 

 dropped in, one of the crowd, at some bird function held in "the studio" in the pre- 

 museum days. But he soon emerged from the crowd. Alert, persistent, insatiable 

 for knowledge, and companionable withal, he soon became the studio-museum's most 

 inveterate and welcome guest. For years he never missed a talk or a reception on an 

 open day. On these occasions and on other private ones he reported occurrences 

 afield with great gusto, or asked eager and often puzzling questions as to identification 

 or behavior characters of our local species of birds. 



Of Mr. Vilas' ample business experience I knew little; but of his interest as an 

 amateur bird-man, I learned a great deal, and for his accomplishments I conceived a 

 great respect. To me he was an almost ideal exanjple of the profitable use of earned 

 leisure. Bird-study taken up late in life kept him fresh and young in his interests. 

 Moreover, it had lured him afield to his manifest physical profit; so that the birds had 

 actually helped him to cheat the "grim destroyer" for several happy years. Along with 

 his field work Mr. Vilas had also kept up an incessant reading, so that he had become 

 a wonderfully well-informed man. his observation was accurate and his memory 

 retentive, insomuch that he could trip un the suoposed expert, and once (to my undying 

 amusement) he fairlv sent me sprawling. He had. moreover, a kindly humor, so 

 that he could give and take some very pretty blows without loss of bonhomie on either 

 side. 



My friend illustrated also that other trait so frequently observed in real nature- 

 lovers, a trait which, for lack of a better term, we must call self-sufficiency. By 

 this we do not mean intolerance of opinion, but rather independence of opinion. The 

 student of nature forms the habit of going to the original sources. He appeals to 

 the facts, and having found them calmly rests his case. This means that he is not 

 subject to social vagaries. He is not at the mercy of public opinion. He cannot 

 be stampeded into the acceptance of conclusions not his own. This appeal to nature 

 means not only a strengthening and enrichment of life, but it ensures old age against 

 emptiness. Is not the saddest plaint of age that of emptiness? "Nothing to do." old 

 ties severed, social opportunities denied, practical problems distasteful. What remains? 

 Well, of course, chiefly, the communion with the Unseen, the spiritual preparation for 

 the renewed life. But even that is likely to be an austere thing, incommunicable and 

 tenuous, unless it is supported, diversified, and clarified bv contact with nature. The 

 man who is supported in his last years by a hobby, especially by a nature hobby, the 

 man who is absorbed to the last in a passion of wonder over the marvels of God's 

 creation, he is thrice blest. He enjoys life in his own right; he "knows his salvation;" 

 and he makes of old age a prized opportunity for us all, a thing to be welcomed and 

 cherished, instead of a blear stretch before which we tremble and fall silent. So, T 

 believe, it was with our friend; and I glory that he went down, after a full voyage, 

 with his colors fluttering courageously from the masthead. 



SINGLES. 



One <»(' the pleasantest occasions of the M. C. O. year was the '"joint meeting" ol 

 the Southern Division of the Cooper Ornithological Chili and the Members of the 

 M. C. O. held at the Museum in Santa Barbara, Saturday evening, October 25th, 1919. 

 There were fourteen visitors from Los Angeles and other southern points, and there 

 were twenty-four of our own Members to welcome them. 



The early evening was passed in a social way while, supper was served, and in the 

 telling of nesting stories. These included some thrillers, for the challenge was out 

 to produce the biggest story of adventure, or to recount the taking of the rarest egg. 

 At nine o'clock the local Members retired to allow the visitors full opportunity at the 

 cabinets. The words of appreciation and sometimes of astonishment which came from 



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