Walter Bradford Barrows (January 10, 1855 - February 26, 1923) was an American naturalist who wrote books about

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s and published articles in scientific journals.

Early career

After graduating from

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1876, Barrows was employed as a science instructor in Argentina and the United States at colleges and at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

. He later became a professor of

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

Michigan State Agricultural College Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Ornithological career

Barrows' South American field work was detailed in ''The Birds of the Lower Uruguay'' published in the ''Bulletin of the

Nuttall Ornithological Club The Nuttall Ornithological Club is the oldest ornithology organization in the United States. History The club initially was a small informal group of William Brewster's childhood friends, all of whom shared his interest in ornithology. These fr ...

'' and ''

The Auk ''Ornithology'', formerly ''The Auk'' and ''The Auk: Ornithological Advances'', is a peer-reviewed scientific journal and the official publication of the American Ornithological Society (AOS). It was established in 1884 and is published quarterly. ...

''. In 1886, Barrows was appointed as an

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

in the Biological Survey section at the

US Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

, a position he held until 1894. His 1912 book, ''Michigan Bird Life'' is considered the most comprehensive ever written on the subject and held in 452 libraries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrows, Walter B. American male non-fiction writers American ornithologists Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni 1855 births 1923 deaths