Ornithologist, born at Mt. Carmel, IL, on the 2nd of July 1850. At an early age he showed fondness for natural history and a correspondence with Spencer F. Baird in 1864 led to his appointment a few years later as naturalist in Clarence King’s U.S. geological survey of the 40th parallel. In the Report of this exploration he edited the department of ornithology. He was afterwards connected with other government surveys, and in 1879 was appointed curator of the department of birds in the U.S. National Museum. He has published over 200 papers on ornithology, including several catalogues. He was associated with S. F. Baird and T. M. Brewer in preparing a History of North American Birds (3 vols., 1874), and has since published Water Birds of North America (1884), Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists (1886), and Manual of North American Birds (1887).
