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The North American Bird Collection of the Chicago Academy of Sciences: Views of the Past, Perspectives on the Present

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The North American Bird Collection of the Chicago Academy of Sciences: Views of the Past, Perspectives on the Present The North American Bird collection of the ChicagoAcademy of Sciences: viewsof the past, perspectiveson the present Ronald S. Vasile and Victoria J. Byre HE ORNITHOLOGICALCOLLEC- number of birds preservedin alcohol. Cleveland Bent, William Brewster,El- tionsat theChicago Academy of A small collection of birds from other liott Coues, Ruthven Deane, and Sciences (CAS) have recently areasof the world, including over 100 Robert Ridgway. The Academy's ar- been reinventoried, and the records specimensfrom Kenya, is also being chives contains several hundred letters enteredinto a computerizeddata base inventoried;and work has begun on from thesescientists, a collection that programfor quick and easyaccess. In addingto the database the Academy's had previously been unknown. Th•s addition, the records for the more extensiveoological collection, which correspondencesheds some light on than 3600 specimensforming the Ste- contains approximately 2500 sets of the founding of the American Orm- phen S. Gregory,Jr., collectionhave eggsrepresenting about 440 speciesof thologists' Union and provides in- been added to the data base. This North American birds. sights into the way these men ap- valuablegroup of specimenswas col- A unique feature of the Academy's proachedthe scienceof ornithology. lected betweenthe 1870s and 1950s; ornithologicalcollection is that most Forty percent of the specimensin •t wasin privatehands until 1970,and of the specimenswere collectedduring the collection were collected in the has been 'little noted in ornitho- the second half of the nineteenth cen- statesof Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ken- logicalliterature. tury and the first 30 yearsof the twen- tucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mis- For someyears the Academy'sor- tieth century.Over 30% of the speci- souri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The rest mthologicalcollections were often in- mens were collected before 1900. of the specimenswere collected from accessibleto researchers,making crit- Therefore, the collection contains a many areas of North America, with ical Studyand examinationdifficult. wealth of information on the status large numbers from Alaska, Arizona, The presentpaper providesinforma- and distribution of North American and Louisiana. Many of the species Uon on hitherto unrecorded, un- birds during that time. are representedby several subspecies known, or undocumented specimens, The Academyhas long had a his- or variant forms; they thus provide and disCUssesspecific examples from tory of ornithologicalinvestigation. Its both a record of the former status and the collection that illustrate how the founder,Robert Kennicott,collected distribution of these forms and a re- status and distribution of certain extensivelythroughoutIllinois in the sourcefor taxonomic study. North American species, especially 1850S,and his specimensrepresent Since 1900, northeastern Illinois thosefound in I!linois,have changed some of the earliest records in the has experienced rapid urbanization s•ncethe time the specimenswere col- collection.The 110 Kennicott birds and industrialization,along with con- lected. were donated to the Academy by tinued population growth. Th•s The collection consists of over NorthwesternUniversity in 1930. growth and expansionhas resultedin 12,000 studyskins and 1000 mounted Historically minded ornithologists large-scaledestruction of natural hab- b•rds, representing63 families and will find specimens--in some cases itats and radical changesin avian d•- 583 species(including two extinctspe- accompanied by the original field versity and distribution. Changesin cies) of North American birds. Al- notes--collectedby many of Ameri- the bird populationsaround Chicago thoughthe collectionincludes no skel- ca'smost distinguished ornithologists, and in the Cook County area are well etalspecimens, it does contain a small including CharlesE. Bendire, Arthur illustratedby the following examples Volume 43, Number 3 431 (Ford et al. 1934). The last record of a Greater Prairie-Chicken around Chicago was of one seen near La- Grange, Illinois, Cook County, in 1948 (Ford 1956). This state endan- geredbird is now extirpatedin north- em Illinois (Mlodinow 1984). The Academy has a specimencollected in 1894 in Chicago(CAS 5706), and one collected in Woodstock, Illinois in 1932 (CAS 5340). Upland Sandpipers( Bartramia lon- gicauda), which are also Illinois state endangeredbirds, were once so com- mon that 10 specimenswere collected for the Academy in one year (1894), only a short distance from Chicago. Nesting pairs were found in Cook County very near Chicago as late as the 1930s(Ford et al. 1934). Now the speciesis not found in most places where "suitable" habitat exists (Mlo- dinow 1984). The Academy'scollection of Illinois birds containsmany spedmenswhich are now on the federal endangered spedes list. Piping Plovers (Charad- Robert Kennicott, rius melodus),of which the Academy founderof the Chicago has several spedmens taken in the Academyof Sciences. From the Chicago Chicago area, were once consideredto Academyof Sciences. be common summer residents in northeastern Illinois (Nelson 1876). By the early 1950s they were consid- ered uncommon summer residents (Ford 1956).Single pairs are now only Ruffed Grouse ( Bonasa umbellus) as "extremely rare in northeasternIl- rarely found around the Chicago area, formerlybred throughoutthe Chicago linois". The Academy's specimen althougha few birdsare seeneach year area (Mlodinow 1984). Kennicott col- (CAS 5704) wassecured prior to 1894, during migration (Mlodinow 1984). lected a specimenfrom Illinois (CAS in Geneva, Illinois, 40 miles to the The PeregrineFalcon (Falco pere- 3766) around 1855. Specimenswere west of Chicago. grinus), another bird on the federal securedfrom the Chicago suburb of The Common Raven (Corvus endangeredspecies list, once nested Evanston, Illinois (CAS 3760), in corax) "formerly a not uncommon locally throughout Illinois (National 1872, and from Kane County, Illinois, resident" (Nelson 1876) but now ex- Land Institute 1981), and at one time to the westof Chicago,(CAS 4011) in tirpated from the state, has been re- was considered a rare summer resi- 1886. Eggswere collectedfrom a nest corded in the Chicago area only five dent in the Chicago area (Nelson found in Lake County, Illinois, to the times since 1900 (Mlodinow 1984). 1876). Although the Academy has 14 north of Chicago,(CAS 324)in 1893. The Academy's Illinois specimen spedmens,at leastfour of which were By 1932, the spedeswas considered (CAS 15487) was collectedjust north collected in the Chicago area, they very rare in the Chicago area (Ford of Chicagoin 1875. Another bird once probably do not represent resident 1956), and the original population is quite common (Kennicott 1855) but breedingbirds becauseall but one are now extirpated from the state(Bohlen now extirpatedin northern Illinois is of the subspeciestundrius (McCoy 1978). A "new population" has re- the American Swallow-tailed Kite and Spreyer 1987). The Academy has cently been reintroducedto areas of ( Elanoidesforficatus). The Academy released36 Peregrinesin the last four southern Illinois (Stroyls 1987). has one (CAS 15124) of three speci- yearsin an attempt to restorea viable The Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympa- mens taken in Cook County in the population to the Chicago area. nuchusphasianellus), another spedes springof 1905 (Ford et al. 1934). Eskimo Curlews (Numenius bo- now extirpated from the state of Illi- Greater Prairie-Chickens (Tympa- realis), on the federalendangered spe- nois (Bohlen 1978), was also known nuchuscupido) fed by the thousands cies list and considered to be almost to nestin the Chicagoarea (Kennicott in the fields surrounding Cook extinct, also used to frequent the Chi- 1855). Nelson(1876) reporteda covey County in the 1850s(Ford 1956). By cagoarea (Ridgway 1895). The Acad- of 14 birds near the Chicago suburb the 1930s they were considered un- emy hasa spedmen collectedin 1880 of Waukegan,Illinois, during 1863 (or common local residents but were still in Cook County, Illinois, near the 1864), but by 1876, he reported them found in small numbersnear Chicago present-daysuburb of Lemont (CAS 432 American Birds, Fall 1989 15324), as well as a specimenthat was strictedbreeding range was unknown paid Brower anywhere from forty purchasedin a Chicago market in until 1903 (Woodruff 1907), was col- cents to three dollars a skin. The col- 1896 (CAS 3101). lected 15 miles west of Chicago on lection contains 930 Alaska birds, Federally endangeredspedes from May 17, 1894 (CAS 17303). most taken in the early 1930s. The other areas of North America in the Bachman's Sparrow (Aimophila two main sitesrepresented are among Academy'scollection include a total aestiv.alis),also considered a very rare the most forbidding regions on the of 15 specimensof the Red-cockaded vagrantto the Chicago area, is repre- North American continent; Point Woodpecker ( Picoides borealis) col- sented by a specimen (CAS 18425) Barrow, the northernmost point in lected in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, taken in the Chicagosuburb of High- Alaska, and Cape Prince of Wales, the Mississippi,and South Carolina dur- land Park on April 22, 1922; and the westernmost,only 56 miles from Sib- ing the years 1878-1894, six sped- only Illinois specimen (Mlodinow efta. mens of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker 1984) of a Golden-crownedSparrow The Alaska collection contains a (Campephilusprincipalis)collected in ( Zonotrichiaatricapi!!a) was collected fine seriesof gulls, eiders, and loons, Florida between 1892 and 1894, and in Waukegan, Illinois,
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