A Passion for Birds: American Ornithology after Audubon by Mark V. Barrow Jr

Author:Mark V. Barrow, Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 31. Caricature of Joseph Grinnell, 1927. Part of a series drawn by E. R. Kalmbach for the annual AOU meeting, this cartoon lampoons Grinnell’s tendency to split off new subspecies of California birds and mammals.

By far the most productive site for graduate training in ornithology was Cornell University. From the time it opened its doors in 1868, the Department of Zoology was one of the institution’s strongest academic programs.44 The department began auspiciously when Louis Agassiz signed on as visiting professor of natural history and geology and secured permanent appointments for two of his most prized students. One of these, Burt G. Wilder, remained at Cornell for over four decades, where he became known as a tireless crusader and an important force in shaping the institution’s biological curriculum.45 Long before it became fashionable, Wilder insisted his students receive adequate laboratory instruction—even in large classes—and he was one of the first American educators to promote the idea of using the domestic cat as an introduction to vertebrate anatomy, much to the dismay of local humanitarians.46 Among Wilder’s many students were several renowned biologists recruited to join Cornell’s faculty, including the entomologist John H. Comstock, the histologist Simon H. Gage, and the ichthyologist (and later college president) David S. Jordan.47

Not until after the turn of the century, when Arthur A. Allen arrived in Ithaca, did Cornell establish its reputation as America’s most productive ornithological program. When Allen first came to Cornell as a freshman in 1904, he already had an extensive background in natural history.48 His father was an attorney and avid naturalist who strongly encouraged his children’s youthful interest in wildlife and the outdoors. After earning his bachelor’s (1907) and master’s (1908) degrees, Allen remained at Cornell to pursue his Ph.D. degree. He completed his dissertation, “The Red-winged Blackbird: A Study in the Ecology of the Cattail Marsh,” in 1911 and published it three years later to an enthusiastic reception.49 Based on stomach-content analyses and an extensive series of field observations, and illustrated with copious photographs, Alien’s life history of this ubiquitous species was delineated with unprecedented thoroughness. In a review for the Auk, Witmer Stone praised Allen’s monograph as “one of the best ecologic studies that has yet appeared,” while Frank Chapman called it “the best, most significant biography which has thus far been prepared for any American bird.”50

After completing his doctoral degree, Allen spent nearly a year in Colombia collecting birds for the American Museum of Natural History before returning to his alma mater to accept a position as instructor in zoology.51 In 1915 he gained promotion to assistant professor in ornithology and began building a graduate program in ornithology at Cornell.52 Both the specialized position and its associated program were the first of their kind in the nation.53 Sixteen years and many graduate students later, Allen, an accomplished bird photographer and public speaker, was promoted to full professor of ornithology. By 1933 he had supervised sixteen of the thirty doctoral degrees in ornithology earned in the United

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