Edgar Alexander Mearns (September 11, 1856 – November 1, 1916) was an American surgeon, ornithologist and field naturalist. He was a founder of the American Ornithologists' Union.

Life

Mearns was born in n

Highland Falls, New York Highland Falls, formerly named Buttermilk Falls, is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,900 at the 2010 census. The village was founded in 1906. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletow ...

to Alexander and Nancy Reliance Mearns (née Clarswell). His grandfather Alexander was of Scottish origin and moved to Highland Falls in 1815. Edgar Mearns was educated at the Donald Highland Institute (Highland Falls). He attended the

Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded ...

, graduating in 1881. In 1881, he married Ella Wittich of

Circleville, Ohio Circleville is a city in and the county seat of Pickaway County, Ohio, United States, set along the Scioto River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Columbus. The population was 13,927 at the 2020 census. The city is best-known today as the host ...

. The couple had one son and one daughter. Their son was born in 1886 and died in 1912. Mearns became a doctor in the U.S. Army. From 1882 to 1899 he served the military as a surgeon. From 1899 to 1903, he was a medical officer in several army institutions. From 1903 to 1904 and from 1905 to 1907, he traveled to the Philippines; he had to interrupt his journey in 1904 because he came down with a parasitic disease. In 1905 a trip led him to

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

. As major and surgeon in the army, Mearns was appointed medical officer to the International Boundary Commission; he reported on the fauna and trees of the boundary between

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and the United States in his 1907 ''Mammals of the Mexican Boundary of the United States''. In 1909 he retired from the army with a rank of a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. Later that year

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

invited Mearns to accompany the Smithsonian-Roosevelt African Expedition as naturalist. From 1911 to 1912 he was a member of the Childs Frick expedition in Africa to collect and prepare specimens of birds that Frick later presented to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. Mearns co-founded the American Ornithologists' Union in 1883. He scientifically described several birds and other animal

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, like the

Taita thrush The Taita thrush (''Turdus helleri''), also known as the Taita olive thrush or Heller's ground thrush, is an endangered bird from the family of thrushes (Turdidae), endemic to the Taita Hills in Kenya. Description The Taita thrush was previously ...

, the

Apo sunbird The Apo sunbird (''Aethopyga boltoni'') is a species of bird in the sunbird family Nectariniidae. It is endemic to the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Description The Apo sunbird has several distinctions between its male and female count ...

, the Boran cisticola, the

Chihuahuan grasshopper mouse Mearns's grasshopper mouse or the Chihuahuan grasshopper mouse (''Onychomys arenicola'') is a grasshopper mouse found in southwestern New Mexico, West Texas, and north-central Mexico. They are similar to '' Onychomys torridus'', but differ in ...

, and the rufous-headed tailorbird. He died in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

at the age of 60.

Eponyms

Several animal

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

are named in honor of Mearns: five birds; seven mammals, including Mearns's pocket gopher (''Thomomys bottae mearnsi''); and '' Petrosaurus mearnsi''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ("Mearns", p. 174).

References

External links

Zoonomen.net: Short biography of Edgar Alexander MearnsSmithsonian Institution Archives.edu: Edgar Alexander Mearns Papers, circa 1871-1916, 1934 and undated
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mearns, Edgar Alexander American ornithologists 1856 births 1916 deaths American people of Scottish descent 19th-century American zoologists 20th-century American zoologists