273 



The Alba B. Ghere Collection of Birds' Eggs Pre- 

 sented to the Museum of Purdue University. 



Howard E. Enders. 



Alba B. Ghere of Frankfort, Indiana, was born in 1870 and died March 

 25, 1904, at the age of thirty-four years. 



It is said of him that he was a born naturalist, an enthusiastic student 

 of birds, their eggs and their nests. To this line of endeavor he gave all of 

 the spare time of his life from the fourteenth year to the end. A careful list 

 of the spring and fall migrations was recorded for a period of years, and at 

 the end of each season was forwarded to the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 for record. The incomplete list of the spring migration of 1904, in which he 

 entered notes to a day or two before his death, accompanies the collection 

 of eggs. 



That Mr. Ghere was a careful observer is attested to by the fact that 

 his notes, among those of many other persons, are quoted at five or more 

 points by Dr. C. H. Merriam in the Bulletin No. 1, on The English Sparrow 

 in North America (1889), Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalog}-, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Through the kindness of his mother, Mrs. India S. Cottingham, of 

 Frankfort, Indiana, the complete collection of eggs, the oological instruments, 

 and his oological books were presented to Purdue University in October, 

 1914. l The collection numbers somewhat more than four hundred specimens 

 of eggs from about one hundred and thirty species of birds, some of which 

 are western or marine species that were acquired by exchange or by purchase. 

 It may be of special interest to know that one egg is said to be from the once 

 abundant passenger pigeon. 2 



■Among the books are government publications on birds; Davis and Baker's Oologist's Directory, 

 1885; Davies' Nests and Eggs of North American Birds, 1886; Capen's Oology of New England, 1886. 

 The latter is an elaborate quarto in natural colors, and is one of a limited small edition. 



2 Its measurements and diagnostic characteristics seem to correspond with the descriptions 

 given for this species. 



IS— 4966 



