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Ornithologists and Benefactors of Birds at Mount Auburn
Some Ornithologists and Benefactors of Birds at Mount Auburn Lo! the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of the signing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. Song of Solomon, 2:11-12* *Variants are carved on the memorials of William Brewster and Henry Augustus Purdie
Early Mount Auburn Field Note: ... from Thomas Mayo Brewer, in A History of North American Birds by S.F. Baird, T.M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway, 1875. Late in May, 1838, I have a note of having met with this species [Mourning Warbler] in Mount Auburn. The bird was fearless and unsuspecting, busily engaged among some low shrubbery, in search of insects. It suffered our near presence, was often within a few feet, and was so readily distinguishable that my companion, with no acquaintance with birds, at once recognized it from Audubon’s plates. Mount Auburn was selected as one of the state’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) by the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 2003.
Notes About Mount Auburn and the Birds of the Area From William Brewster, The Birds of the Cambridge Region of Massachusetts, 1906: Mount Auburn-- or Sweet Auburn, as it was formerly called-- was one of Nuttall’s favorite haunts. Its abrupt heights and deep hollows were covered in his time by heavy and perhaps primeval forest, frequented by sportsmen in pusuit of game and by troops of children looking for nuts or the shy hepaticas which bloomed in early spring on some of the sunnier slopes. Its summer fauna, also rich and varied, included one species of especial interest, viz., the Olivesided Flycatcher, which Nuttall found breeding near Mount Auburn before 1832, and which continued to nest in the same locality 1867 to 1879. From Ludlow Griscom, unpublished manuscript, circa 1940: ...thanks to careful planting and planning, the cemetery grounds are more attractive than ever. If Brewster could revisit the Cemetery today, he would deplore the scarcity of nesting and wintering birds, and the abundance of Starlings and English Sparrow, but he would rub his eyes in amazement at the spectacular concentrations or rare warblers, as nothing even remotely approximating them were known during the decades of his field work.
Griscom described Mount Auburn Cemetery as one of the most advantageous stations for the migration of land birds in eastern Massachusetts. He explained that from the point of view of the birds the Cemetery is primarily a piece of woodland. Birds seeking woodland will swarm to the Cemetery at the season of their migration. Since Mount Auburn is on the edge of a great metropolitan area, with a broad belt of badly wrecked suburbs beyond it, the Cemetery “appears as a green oasis in a vast desert and they make for it, as the best place they can see below them” when they put down at dawn for food and rest after a night’s migration.
To ensure the attractiveness of the grounds for birds, Mount Auburn Cemetery has planted trees and shrubs that support birds. In the Trustee Minutes of September 14, 1870, Trustee T.M. Brewer reported from the Committee on Birds that they favored the introduction of the trees and shrubs attractive to birds. In fact, the Committee recommended that the Cemetery’s Superintendent “be directed to the preparation of a list of such suitable fruit-bearing shrubbery as we can recommend for planting in the Cemetery.” This careful consideration of the needs of wildlife continues today.
Please join the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery in recognizing a select few of our more notable ornithologists and benefactors of birds: Please refer to the next page for the key to this map.
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Mount Auburn Cemetery
Map Key 1. Thomas Mayo Brewer #792 Yarrow Path
10. Ruthven Deane #5892 Beryl Path
2. Henry Augustus Purdie #1484 Mimosa Path
11. Francis Parkman Atkinson #4337 Palm Avenue
3. Charles Foster Batchelder #5481 Excelsior Path
12. Ludlow Griscom #7370 Palm Avenue
4. Wendell Taber and Elizabeth Taber Taintor #7380 Excelsior Path 5. Samuel Atkins Eliot, Jr. #5417 Amethyst Path 6. Thomas Barbour #5279 Excelsior Path 7. Harriett Lawrence Hemenway #1463 Thistle Path 8. Oakes Ingalls Ames #9210 Begonia Path 9. Richard A. Forster #11000 Willow Pond Knoll
13. Henry Munson Spelman #1346 Olive Path 14. Charles Wendell Townsend #523 Rose Path 15. Zebedee Cook, Jr. #397 Rose Path 16. Outram Bangs #411 Woodbine Path 17. Horace Winslow Wright #72 Lily Path 18. William Brewster #1099 Larch Avenue 19. Glover Morrill Allen #8275 Maple Avenue
Thomas Mayo Brewer (1814-1880) #792 Yarrow Path • Early ornithologist. • Friend of Nuttall and Audubon. • Editor of a revised edition of Wilson’s American Ornithology (1840). • Author of North American Oology (1857) and A History of North American Birds (with Spencer Fullerton Baird and Robert Ridgeway). • Trustee of Mount Auburn, 1870-1880. • Elected member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, 1876. Henry Augustus Purdie (1840-1911) #1484 Mimosa Path • Original member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. • Fellow, American Ornithologists’ Union (A.O.U.).
Charles Foster Batchelder (1856-1956) #5481 Excelsior Path • Elected member of the Nutall Orinthological Club, 1877. • Associate in mammalogy and ornithology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. • Author of An Account of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 1873 to 1919 (1937). Wendell Taber (1897-1960) #7380 Excelsior Path
• Member, A.O.U., Wilson, Cooper and Nuttall ornithological clubs. • Edited some of the final volumes of Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds for the Smithsonian Institution. • Investment counselor.
Elizabeth Taber Taintor (1895-1955) #7380 Excelsior Path
• Local authority on birds. • Active in Massachusetts Audubon Society’s work to interest children in the appreciation of birds.
Samuel Atkins Eliot, Jr. (1893-1984) #713 Amethyst Path
• Author of Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts with A.C. Bragg (1937). • College professor.
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Thomas Barbour (1884-1946) #5279 Excelsior Path Professor of zoology at Harvard. Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. One of the foremost American naturalists. Herpetologist and member of the Nutall Ornithological Club. Author of several ornithological books including The Birds of Cuba (1923) and Cuban Orinthology (1943).
Harriett Lawrence Hemenway (1858-1960) #1463 Thistle Path
• With her cousin Minna Hall, founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society, 1896.
Oakes Ingalls Ames (1893-1970) #9210 Begonia Path • President of Mount Auburn Cemetery, 19341963, 1967-1968. • Lifelong interests in horticulture and conservation. • Director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. • Recognized and developed Mount Auburn’s resources as an arboretum and a bird sanctuary.
Richard A. Forster (1944-1997) #11000 Willow Pond Knoll
• Ornithologist with Massachusetts Audubon Society, 1971-1986. • Contributor to birding texts and journals. • Tour leader. • Expert on dragonflies.
Ruthven Deane (1851-1934) #5892 Beryl Path
• Original member of the Nutall Ornithological Club. • Fellow, American Ornithologists’ Union. • Businessman. Francis Parkman Atkinson (1851-1874) #4337 Palm Avenue • Original member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club.
Henry Munson Spelman (1861-1946) #1346 Olive Path • Elected member of the NOC in 1879, one of the youngest members ever admitted. Also one of the most active. • Son of Israel Munson Spelman, who was president of Mount Auburn, 1874-1905. • Lawyer.
Ludlow Griscom (1890-1959) #7370 Palm Avenue
“Patron saint of modern American birdwatching.” (C. Leahy, Birdwatcher’s Companion, 1982)
• Ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History, 1917-1927. • Curator at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) starting in 1927. • Expert on Mexican and Central American avifaunas. • Known for his brilliant field identification skills, encyclopedic memory and enthusiasm for the sport of birding. • Author of Birds of the New York City Region (1923), Modern Bird Study (1945), The Birds of Nantucket (with E. Folger, 1948), Birds of Concord (1949), Birds of Massachusetts (with D. Snyder, 1955) Birds of Martha’s Vineyard (with G. Emerson, 1959).
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Charles Wendell Townsend (1859-1934) #523 Rose Path Prolific amateur ornithologist. Author of Birds of Essex County, Massachusetts (1904), Supplement (1920) and many reports in Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds. Member, Nutall Ornithological Club. Fellow, American Ornithologists’ Union. Physician. Zebedee Cook, Jr. (1786-1858) #397 Rose Path
• Horticulturist. • A founder and a trustee of Mount Auburn, 1832-1833. • During the early years of the Cemetery, called for the protection and preservation of useful birds at Mount Auburn (B. Linden-Ward, Silent City, 1989).
Outram Bangs (1863-1932) #411 Woodbine Path • Elected member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, 1880. • As a young man, known to his fellows as a boxer and a keen quail-shooter and admired for his dazzling waiscoats. • As curator of mammals and curator of birds at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), he built collections of worldwide fame. Horace Winslow Wright (1848-1920) #72 Lily Path
• Author of “Birds of the Boston Public Garden” (1909). • Member, Nuttall Ornithological Club.
William Brewster (1851-1919) #1099 Larch Avenue • Founder of the Nuttall Ornithological Club (1873) and American Ornithologists’ Union (1884). • First president of the Massachusetts Audubon Society (1896). • Amassed one of the best collections of North American birds (now at the MCZ). • Author of nearly 300 papers and Birds of the Cambridge Region (1906). • Selections from his journals published as October Farm (1936) and Concord River (1937). • Early conservationist.
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Glover Morrill Allen (1879-1942) #8275 Maple Avenue Zoologist and ornithologist. Professor of zoology at Harvard. Author of many scientific papers, The Birds of Massachusetts (with R.H. Howe, Jr., 1901), Birds and Their Attributes, and Bats. President of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, 1919-1942.
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In 1831 Mount Auburn created a new American landscape that defined what our nation’s cemeteries should be and inspired the creation of our public parks. As an active burial place and a vibrant cultural institution, we continue to celebrate the lives of individuals who have shaped our world, by opening our renowned landscape, art and architecture to the community. A natural oasis for tens of thousands of visitors annually, Mount Auburn Cemetery will forever be a source of comfort and inspiration. The Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery is a non-profit educational trust established to promote the appreciation and preservation of Mount Auburn’s cultural, historic and natural resources. If you would like to join the Friends of Mount Auburn, please call us at: 617-547-7105 or visit our website at www.mountauburn.org