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017_A.C. Bent Letter to Keyes Dec. 29, 1915

Title

017_A.C. Bent Letter to Keyes Dec. 29, 1915

Description

A.C. Bent, of the Smithsonian Institution, is responding to Keyes' letter about the loss of water fowl in Iowa and telling him about his progress on the book he is writing.

Creator

Bent, A.C.

Date

12/29/1915

Rights

Education use only, no other permissions given. U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this item. Commercial use of distribution of this digital item is not permitted without written permission of Cornell College Archives

Language

English

Type

Document

Digital Reproduction Information

Items scanned using Xerox Work Centre 5735 at 600 ppi.

Repository

Cornell College Archives, Mt. Vernon, Iowa

Repository Collection

Charles Reuben Keyes

Contact information.

College Archivist, Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Phone: 319-895-4240, archives@cornellcollege.edu

File Name

A.C. Bent Letter to Keyes Dec. 29, 1915

Digital item created

2012-04

Digital item modified

9/13/2012

Transcription

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Washington, U.S.A.

Taunton, Mass., Dec. 29, 1915

Mr. Charles R. Keyes
Mt. Vernon
Iowa

Dear Mr. Keyes:

I was much pleased to receive your interesting letter of the 20th inst., and to learn that you had returned from abroad.
I am sorry to hear that the conditions in Iowa are such that the water birds are gradually disappearing, but this is not [to] be wondered at in a region which is increasing in population and in agricultural pursuits. The conditions are practically the same in North Dakota where the prairie has almost entirely disappeared, and most of the sloughs where the ducks bred have been drained and cultivated. Even Saskatchewan, which I visited two seasons in succession, is making rapid strides in the same direction, and it was appalling to see how marked the change was from one season to another.
You still have an interesting lot of water birds breeding at Eagle Lake and I sincerely hope that something can be done to preserve this interesting locality as a reservation for breeding water fowl. We ought to have a number of such reservations throughout the middle west if we are going to save from total extinction many of our most interesting species.
You will be interested to know that my work on the Life His-

C.R.K. #2 Dec. 29, 1915

tories is progressing well and that I expect to have my manuscript for volume one deposited in Washington before the end of this winter. The Life Histories for this volume are now all written except fourteen of the Steganopodes. The distributional part of the work is in the hands of Dr. Bishop and I am afraid it will take him a year or so more to finish it. Then it will probably take the Smithsonian a year or so more to decide upon the illustrations and have the plates made, so you can see it will be some little time before the work is actually published. In the meantime, the manuscript will be open to any additions or corrections which new information may make desirable.
Some time this winter, I expect to publish a complete list of the information wanted as a final appeal to ornithologists to get this for me.
Hoping to hear from you again when you have anything interesting to report, and wishing you the compliments of the season, I am

Sincerely yours,
AL Bent
ACB-MVN