The Birds of Ohio; A Complete Scientific and Popular Description of the 320 Species of Birds Found in the State; Volume 2
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This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Lynds Jones made important contributions to early twentieth-century American ornithology as a pioneer in the teaching of ornithology and ecology, as editor of the Wilson Bulletin, a journal of national reputation, and as an authority on bird migration and habits.
Background
Lynds was born on January 5, 1865 in Jefferson, Ohio, United States, the son of Publius Virgilius and Lavinia Burton Jones. When he was three months old his father, a millwright, moved the large family to a farm five miles northeast of Grinnell, Iowa. They were poor and remained poor, the father proving no more successful at farming than at his previous occupation.
As a teen-ager Jones became interested in birds when he was hired to collect bird eggs by a neighbor who made his living by selling them. He aided the family by doing farm chores and hunting, activities that familiarized him with wildlife and the outdoors.
Education
Lynds studied at country school, his teacher was George W. Tallmon.
When time permitted, he attended the academic department of nearby Iowa (later Grinnell) College. Because of farm chores he could attend only sporadically, and he did not complete the high school course until he was twenty-three. He then entered the college, but, dissatisfied with its classical emphasis, transferred in the fall of 1890 to Oberlin, where the science program was stronger. In 1895 he received the M. A. from Oberlin.
Later he studied for a year at the University of Chicago, which awarded him the Ph. D. in 1905. His thesis was entitled "The Development of Nestling Feathers. "
Career
Graduating in 1892, Jones immediately obtained a position as a laboratory assistant in geology and ornithology.
While still in Iowa Jones came to know many other young ornithologists through his sale and exchange of bird eggs. Some of them were unhappy because their contributions to the Auk, the journal of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU), had not been published. Thus in 1888 three dozen of them formed the Wilson Ornithological Club. Jones became editor of the club journal, which operated under various titles for the first six years. In 1894 it assumed its present title, the Wilson Bulletin. Jones continued as editor until 1924, except for the years 1900 to 1902. He also held various club offices for twenty-three years and was president for a number of years. His patient and careful editing provided a firm foundation for the Bulletin's later strength, and he contributed to the journal most of his own articles.
In 1888 he joined the AOU, and he was made a fellow in 1905. Jones taught ornithology privately at Oberlin until 1895, when the college became the first American institution to offer a regular course in the subject. In 1899 he was promoted to instructor. During his year at Chicago, Jones became interested in ecology.
Upon receipt of his doctorate, he returned to Oberlin as an associate professor, hoping to offer courses in ecology there. But the chairman of the zoology department, who objected to field studies and who also wished to terminate Jones's popular ornithology course, would not authorize the courses. When the faculty supported Jones, the chairman resigned, and in 1908 Jones was asked to head a subdepartment of animal ecology.
He became a full professor in 1922 and chairman of the nation's first department of animal ecology. Birds, however, remained his greatest interest. His ornithology courses enrolled an average of 150 students annually; and he led field trips at 4:30 A. M. six days a week for many years. In 1910 a course in field ecology was first offered. After 1915 a field ecology major was made available to undergraduates, and an M. A. in ecology was added in 1926.
For many years he taught summer courses in ornithology and ecology at Oberlin and elsewhere along Lake Erie. He collaborated with one of his earliest students, William L. Dawson, on several projects, including Birds of Ohio, an important popular work published in 1902. Jones's other major study, A Revised Catalogue of the Birds of Ohio, was also published that year. From 1915 until 1930, except for two years during World War I and again in 1927, Jones led ecological field trips to the Pacific Northwest coast for Oberlin students. Unfortunately the department he headed at Oberlin was so identified with his work that all courses in ornithology and ecology were abandoned after he retired in 1930.
He died in Oberlin, Ohio.
Achievements
Lynds Jones was American naturalist, who was the first to offer a course in ornithology in 1895 and one on ecology. He worked for many years at the Oberlin College, serving as a curator at the natural history museum of the college. Jones was most interested in bird migration, and he collected information on the arrival and departure of all local species for more than forty years. As editor of the Wilson Bulletin he also encouraged daily bird counts and census taking, beginning in the late 1890's. This work may have prompted the magazine Bird Lore (later Audubon) to begin promoting its annual Christmas bird counts. Jones's other professional interests included life history studies, the compilation of local bird lists, and roosting in grackles.
