LOVER OF BIRDS

AND TREES DOES

NOTABLE WORK

 

Sketch of operations of Dr.

Robert Ridgway, owner of

famous “Bird Haven”

 

RECEIVED MANY HONORS

 

 

            More than half a century of continuous study of trees and birds is the record made by Dr. Robert Ridgway, owner of “Bird Haven,” the eighteen acres of land near Olney, Ill., his home, on which he was growing seventy different kinds of trees, more than any other “tree farm” in the world.

            Dr. Ridgway first became actively interested in what was to be his life work when he was 14 years old.  It was in 1864 that he began correspondence with Prof. Sepncer [sic] F. Baird, then assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and one of the leading ornithologists of the United States.

Now in 72nd Year.

            Dr. Ridgway was born at Mount Carmel, Ill., July 2, 1850, the oldest of ten children, six of whom are living.  Three years after his correspondence with Prof. Baird, Dr. Ridgway, thru the influence of the Smithsonian ornithologist, received an appointment as zoologist to a federal geological exploration.

            He took up the study of western birds in the Smithsonian collection and in May, 1867, sailed from New York for California, via Panama.  For about three years he was in field work in California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.  On his return to Washington in the spring of 1870 he became assistant to Prof[.] Baird in the preparation of “A History of North American Birds.”

Curator in National Museum.

            In 1880 Dr. Ridgway was appointed curator of the department (now division) of birds, United States National museum, which position he held until Aug. 1, 1920, when he was automatically retired by act of congress, but reappointed for two years.

            Besides having written more than 500 books or pamphlets, he has made trips to Alaska and Central America in his studies.  Among his books are “A Manual of North American Birds” and “The Ornithology of Illinois.”

            He is a member of all the scientific societies, including the National Academy of Sciences, and of several organizations in Great Britain, Germany and South America.

Wins the Walker Prize.

            In 1913 the Boston Society of Natural History awarded Dr. Ridgway the Walker prize, $1,000, for natural history work, and the National Academy of Sciences last April awarded him the D. G. Elliott gold medal for pre-eminence in zoology.

            Dr. Ridgway’s home is at Olney, Ill.  He puts in nearly all his time in botanical investigation and studying problems of deforestation in this state.  He is among the nation’s most enthusiastic advocates of conservation of wild life and scenery.

 

[Retrieved and transcribed by Nanci Headley Kotowski from the January 10, 1922 issue of

The Waukegan Daily Sun.]