THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



Ma for Robert Kennicott 



MAJOR ROBERT KENNICOTT 



The American Ornithologists 

 Union a few years ago organ- 

 ized a committee on biography 

 and bibliography which is to 

 make official note of the homes 

 and last resting places of well- 

 known ornithologists. This has 

 involved considerable investi- 

 gations but the work of 

 the committee has been meet- 

 ing with a good measure of suc- 

 cess. This committee took the 

 occasion of the recent meeting 

 of the Union in Chicago to look 

 up the home and last resting 

 place of Major Robert Kenni- 

 cott, the well-known pioneer in 

 Illinois ornithology and Arctic 

 explorer under the auspices of 

 the National Government. A 

 party consisting of Doctor and 

 Mrs. T.S. Palmer, John H.Sage, 

 and Ruthven Deane went to Des Plaines where they were met by 

 Ransom S. Kennicott, Chief Forester of the Cook County Forest 

 Preserve, a nephew of the late Major Kennicott. They made 

 a pilgrimage to Arlington Cemetery and then they proceeded 

 to "The Grove," the original home of the Kennicotts. The house, 

 which appears in our illustration, was built in 1845 and it was 

 here that Major Kennicott spent much of his early life and 

 wrote many of his reports. The death of this brilliant naturalist 

 and explorer at the comparatively early age of thirty-one, cut 

 short a career full of promise which had been signalized by 

 numerous activities in laying the foundation of scientific surveys. 

 Robert Kennicott was born in New Orleans, November 13, 

 1838, and passed his boyhood at "The Grove." He acquired a 

 taste for natural history at an early age, and while still little 

 more than a youth his writing attracted the attention of some 

 of the leading naturalists of the day. As a result he became for 

 a while a guest and pupil of Doctor J. P. Kirtland of Cleveland, 

 Ohio. In 1854 he accepted an invitation from Dr. P. R. Hoy of 

 Racine, Wisconsin, .where he pursued his studies in zoology 

 In 1855 the Illinois Central Railroad Company and the Illinois 

 State Agricultural Society formed a combination for the pur- 

 pose of making a Natural History survey of the state. Kenni- 

 cott received the appointment for the work and the Smithsonian 

 Institute furnished the outfit and the results of this expedition 

 were worked up at "The Grove." In 1855-6 he rendered assist- 



