October2000] In Memoriam 1031

The Auk 117(4):1031-1032, 2000

IN MEMORIAM: ERNST SUTTER, 1914-1999

RAFFAEL WINKLER • AND LUC SCHIFFERLI 2 •NaturalHistory Museum, P.O. Box 1048, CH-4001 Basel,Switzerland; and 2SwissOrnithological Institute, CH-6204 Sempach,Switzerland

Ernst Sutter died on 9 November 1999 after a Sutter's other main interests concerned avian short illness. He was born in Basel, Switzer- growth patterns.As a student of Professor land,on 7 August1914 and was educated there. Adolf Portmann, a leading zoologist and an- As a schoolboy,he was in the field well before thropologistinvolved in juveniledevelopment the first morninglessons started. In the 1930s, of birds in an evolutionarycontext, Sutter orig- togetherwith the SwissOrnithological Insti- inally workedon growthand functionaldevel- tute,he participatedin the firstpioneering field opmentof the brain and body as well as on courses to band and measure birds in their mi- molt and feathergrowth. His major publica- grationthrough the Alps. He completedhis tions coveredwoodpeckers, the White Stork, Ph.D.thesis on growthand developmentof the and growthand molt in buttonquailsand gal- avian brain in Galliformes and Passeriformes in liforms. Late in life, Sutter reanalyzed some of 1943under the supervisionof ProfessorAdolf his originaldata, and in his last dayshe com- Portmann.Two yearslater, he becameCurator pletedediting a final manuscriptin the hospi- of the Bird Collectionof the Natural History tal. An enormous amount of information on Museumin Basel.Following his retirementin molt and feathergrowth was incorporatedin 1980, he continued his scientific work on an the Handbuchder VdigelMitteleuropas by Glutz von Blotzheim and Bauer, and Stresemann and honorarybasis until his death,thus serving the Baselmuseum for 55 years. Stresemannrelied on his unpublisheddata on In 1949,Sutter organized a nine-monthfield molt of megapodesin theirbook on molt. expeditionto Sumbain Indonesia,together Ernst Sutter was a modest and quiet person with a profoundknowledge in mostfields of sci- with ethnologistAlfred Btihler.Among 65,000 entificornithology. He measuredand recorded zoologicalspecimens were 770 birds. Basedon predsely,almost to perfection.His wide interests, these specimens,the racesof two speciesof scrutiny,and perspicacitymade him eminently buttonquailwere revisedand five new subspe- qualifiedto editDer Ornithologische Beobachter, the ciesdescribed. A list of the taxawas published ornithologicaljournal of German-speakingSwit- in White and Bruce'sThe Birds ofWallacea (BOU zerland. With his advice, constructive criticism, ChecklistNo. 7, 1986). and support,Sutter transformed this periodical The Sumbatrip was Sutter'sonly collecting into a scientificallyvaluable and highlyappreci- expedition.From his excellent contacts with the atedjournal for amateursand professionals alike. SwissOrnithological Institute, Sutter obtained His editingwas not restrictedto the contentof specimensfound dead within Switzerland.He thepapers. He tookcare of thelayout, revised the expandedthe bird collectionat theNatural His- textfor clarityand conciseness, and improved the tory Museumto becomeone of the important graphsand figures. Although not a staffmember collectionsin Europe. of the university,he activelyassisted in the su- In 1954,Sutter encountered radar technology pervisionof manymaster's and doctoraltheses. at the Zurich airport and realized that this His contributionsto scientificornitholog• nearly could be a unique tool for studiesof bird mi- 100papers, reached far beyondthe national scale. gration.Shortly thereafter, in 1956,Sutter con- Along with Adolf Portmann,Sutter edited ducted one of the first systematicstudies of the Proceedingsof the 11th InternationalOr- nocturnalmigration by radar.The presentation nithologicalCongress held in Baselin 1954.He of a radarfilmat the InternationalOrnitholog- alsowas engaged in the posthumouspublica- ical Congressin Helsinkiin 1958made him tion of Portmann's scientific material (Vorn world renowned. Wunderdes Vogellebens, 1984). 1032 In Memoriam [Auk, Vol. 117

Sutter's open mind and sensitive and in- nitologica del Plata in Argentina. In Switzer- tuitive character gained him personal con- land, he receivedthe Honorary Membership tacts with colleaguesthroughout the world. of Ala, the SwissOrnithological Society. Fi- His broad biological knowledge extendedfar nally, in 1998 he was elected an Honorary beyond ornithology, and his scientificcom- Chairman of the 23rd International Ornitho- petenceand expertiserewarded him with an logicalCongress to be held in Beijing,China, international reputation. He'was elected a in 2002. Sadly,he will not be able to under- CorrespondingFellow of the AOU in 1958 take this task. and an Honorary Fellow in 1991, and he was Ernst Sutter is survived by his wife Gaby, a CorrespondingMember of the DeutscheOr- three children,and five grandchildren.A more nithologen-Gesellschaft,the Nederlandse extensivememorial with portrait,appeared in OrnithologischeUnie, and the AsociacionOr- Der OrnithologischeBeobachter 97:1-6.

TheAuk 117(4):1032-1033,2000

IN MEMORIAM: COLONEL JACK VINCENT, 1904-1999

JOHN VINCENT P.O.Box 11085, 3206 Dorspruit,KwaZulu-,

JackVincent was born in , England, farm in the Mooi River district of Natal in South on 6 March1904. At the ageof 21,he emigrated Africa. to South Africa and worked on two farms in the During World War II, Jackserved with the Richmonddistrict of Natal beforereturning to then RoyalNatal Carbineersin eastand north Englandto work for the BritishMuseum. In the Africa, where he was awarded the MBE for his late 1920sand early 1930s,he was sent on a service. In 1942, he was secondedto the British number of bird-collectingexpeditions in east, Army in Haifa, Palestine. central and , some on his own In 1949,Jack was asked to takeover the fledg- and othersin the companyof Admiral Hubert ling Natal ParksBoard. Under his guidance,the Lynesof the Battleof Jutlandfame. In ornitho- Board became one of the most famous of the logicalcircles, Lynes perhaps is bestknown for world'snature conservation authorities, partic- unravelingthe systematicsof the cisticolas,a ularly for the roleit playedin savingthe white notoriouslydifficult group of Old World war- rhino from extinction. In the late 1940s and ear- biers.Jack played a largepart in thiswork, and ly 1950s,he servedas editor of TheOstrich, the his own monumentalwork was a study of the journalof the SouthAfrican Ornithological So- birds oœnorthern Portuguese (now ciety.He becamea CorrespondingFellow of the )in 1930. Severalsubspecies of AOU in 1949. birds bear his name. In 1963,Jack accepted a postwith the Inter- On his return from the last expedition,in national Council for Bird Preservation and 1934,Jack met a Scottishgirl Mary Russellin moved to Morges in Switzerland,where he ;he proposedto and married her worked in international conservation for four within a week!After a year in London,Jardine years.During this time he was awardedthe Mathieson Co. sent him to Zanzibar to start the World Wildlife Fund Gold Medal and the Order first clovedistillery in that mostfamous of the of the GoldenArk by PrinceBernhard of the "clove isles." After three yearsthere, he was Netherlands. transferredto a sisalplantation in Tanganyika, Jackreturned to rejointhe Natal ParksBoard now knownas Tanzania. I.n 1937, Jack bought a in 1967 before finally retiring in 1974 to live