Lobe Aw pUBON BULLE ESPEN 68) 
Louis Agassiz Fuertes 
Reprinted from ScitENCE, November 18, 1927, Vol. LXVI, No. 1716, 
pages 469-472. 
S ALREADY noted in Science, Louis Agassiz Fuertes was sud- 
denly killed at Unadilla, New York, August 22, when the auto- 
mobile he was driving was struck by a moving train. In the many 
printed notices which appeared immediately after his passing, super- 
latives have been used freely and justifiably. ‘‘Foremost American 
painter of birds,” says one; ‘“Cornell’s best beloved alumnus,” says 
another; and all testify to the extraordinary personal popularity which 
he enjoyed. 
He was indeed a unique character, the like of which is scarcely pro- 
duced except in America. He was born at Ithaca on February 7; 1874. 
His father, Estevan Antonio Fuertes, one time dean of civil engineering 
-at Cornell, was a man of outstanding character and ability. This 
father, whom Cornell students used to call ‘The Mogue,” was of 
Spanish lineage, born in Porto Rico, but completing his education in 
New York. The mother, Mary Stone Perry Fuertes, now surviving at 
an advanced age, is a fine American typeof English, Dutch and Huguenot 
ancestry. The remarkable combination of qualities developed by Louis 
Fuertes doubtless owed much to this parentage. 
His especial professional godtathers were Abbott Thayer and Elliott 
Coues with whom he had close association for which he never ceased to 
make loyal acknowledgment. As a boy, his passion for the beautiful 
in nature had fairly free rein and his early drawings of birds were made 
practically without suggestion or guidance from others. However, 
neither he nor his parents thought seriously of ornithology or painting 
in any practical way, and his father expected him to enter.the engineer- 
ing or architectural profession. This idea was overcome to some extent 
through the influence of Liberty H. Bailey, and shortly before Louis 
graduated from Cornell in 1897 a fortunate coincidence led him to send 
a few samples of his bird paintings to Elliott Coues for criticism. The 
enthusiastic reply received from the great ornithologist was fulsome 
beyond his hopes. He was electrified with joy, and from that moment 
was never in doubt as to his purpose in life. Coues literally took him 
under his wing, hailed him as a new and better Audubon, and introduced 
him to the ornithological world in such a way that contracts to illustrate 
several books were soon in his hands. 
He began at once to portray bird life in a way that appealed alike to 
the artist and to the ornithologist. At this time the long era of woodcuts 
and expensive lithographs was just passing. General interest in outdoor 
life and especially in birds in this country was awakening and the de- 
