Mar., 1904 I 
THE CONDOR 
49 
MR, E. W. NELSON 
Mr. E. W. Nelson, our authority on Mexican birds, may be said to have ac- 
complished the greater part of his ornithological work at the two extremes of the 
continent — namely, in northern Alaska and in Mexico. Although as early as 1875 
he published Notes on Birds observed in Portions of PRah, Nevada, and California, 
and later several articles on the birds of Illinois, his first extensive paper was the 
Birds of Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, contained in the Cruise of the Corwin 
(1881), which was followed in 1887 by the Report upon Natural History Collections 
Made in Alaska. Since then he has published largely on the ornithology of our 
southwestern frontier and of Mexico. Mr. Nelson was a member of the Death 
Valley Expedition, and, assisted by Mr. E. A. Goldman, has penetrated every corner 
of Mexico in the interests of the Biological Survey. The results of these explora- 
tions have been the gathering of unparalleled collections, the discovery of many nov- 
elties", and what is perhaps most important, an accurate knowledge of the physio- 
graphy and life zones of the vast and remarkable region. Mr. Nelson has also made 
substantial contributions to the literature of mammalogj^i^ and Alaskan ethnology." 
a Mr. Nelson has described over 150 species and subspecies of birdsand mammals, the greater part from Mexico. 
b The Squirrels of Mexico and Central America, 1899, is the most extensive. 
c The Eskimo about Bering Straits. 1899. 
