Arthur Cleveland Bent

Arthur Cleveland Bent (born November 25, 1866 in Taunton , Massachusetts , † December 30, 1954 ) was an American businessman, ornithologist and oologist .

Live and act

His father William Henry Bent (1839-1921) was an accountant at the Mason Machine works . On June 14, 1865 he married Harriet Fellowes, née Hendee (1845–1873), who died on February 21, 1873. From the marriage Arthur Cleveland, Frederick Hendee (1869-1897) and Charles (1873-1873), who probably died in childbirth, emerged. The father married Sarah E. Chesborough for the second time on January 30, 1885. Arthur Cleveland married Rosalba Peale Smith on October 23, 1895, from whom he divorced in 1911 without children. This was followed on January 20, 1914, a second marriage to Madeleine Vincent Godfrey (1888-1974), which survived him with the three married daughters Humphrey Barker, H. Sheldon Smith and Lloyd Knox. The only son of the two, Frederick Hendee Bent (1914–1915), died in childhood of heart disease.

Bent spent his primary school years at the local public school before moving to the Bristol Academy Secondary School in Taunton. After seven years and successful graduation, he attended Harvard University , which he graduated in 1889 with honors and a Bachelor of Arts . In the same year he started his first job at the Massachusetts National Bank .

But early in 1890, he moved to Fall River to assist in Crescent Mills to learn the trade of cotton spinning. In 1891 he took over the management of the Seamless Pocket Mill in Plymouth , a position he held for four years. He also worked as a manager at Atlantic Covering Co. , a company that manufactured enameled copper wire to supplement his meager wages. He invested the money together with John Scott in the company Plymouth Electric Light Co. , which they acquired from General Electric Co. for $ 87,500 . As a result of the economic crisis in 1893, the company went bankrupt . He convinced General Electric Co. that he could fix the matter and eventually managed to pay off his debts and those of the late Scott. After this difficult period he worked as a respected businessman. In his 60s he finally sold his shares and devoted himself exclusively to ornithology. From 1900 to 1930 he was accountant and president of General Electric Co. and from 1900 to 1914 managing director of Mason Machine Works . He was also Vice President of Campbell Printing Press and Manufacturing Co , President of Autoplate Co. of America , Director of Jager Engine Co. and Corr Manufacturing Co. Having preferred to work close to home, he organized and developed smaller businesses there. Here he led numerous companies as president of Provincetown Light and Power Co. , the Old Colony Light and Power Association , as director of Plymouth Gas Co. , Southeastern Massachusetts Power and Electric Co., and as administrator of Massachusetts Utilities Associates .

social commitment

In 1906 he was alderman of Taunton and finally in 1910 one of the nine members of the parish council as part of a new town charter . He was also on the school committee for three years. During the First World War he served as a corporal in the State Guard . He later gave escorts to the governor's public appearances . As the farmers' representative for the food administration, he tried to persuade the farmers of Bristol County to increase their production and, in close cooperation with the exemption committee, to release those farmers who produced enough. He was a member of the local public safety committee and a Four Minute Men . As president of the Bristol County Academy of Science , Taunton Chamber of Commerce and administrator of Taunton Savings Bank , he was involved in public affairs. As vice president of the Associated Charities of Taunton , he cared about charities for the needy. When the economic depression hit in the 1930s , he collected $ 300,000 as chairman of the so-called Rochester Plan to fight unemployment. He was particularly interested in the youth. He was awarded the “silver beaver” for his services as a boy scout officer for the Annawon Council of the Boy Scouts of America . His commitment to the John Burroughs Association brought him the award of the John Burroughs Medal in 1940 . He was also available as president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Social Welfare League . He is deeply religious as a community representative in the St. Thomas Episcopal Church of Taunton.

Bent as a scientist

After the early death of his mother, it was his father who motivated him to take part in outdoor activities in order to improve his physical performance . So father and son roamed the easily accessible forests and landscapes around Taunton. Later he was mostly traveling alone as his friends did not share their passion for nature. Due to the lack of mobility in his youth, his excursions were initially limited to local areas. Extended excursions to Rehoboth or Fall River were the exception for Bent. During one of these excursions he met Owen Durfee (1863-1933) from Fall River, who eventually became an important mentor for Bent. Bent began collecting eggs and bird hides as a child . During his later travels, his bird collection grew, so that around 12,000 exhibits could later be handed over to the Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology . The National Museum of Natural History received its egg collection of around 30,000 eggs.

Despite his enormous obligations, he found time to occasionally publish smaller ornithological articles. In 1885 he was traveling alone in a swampy area in North Middleboro . Here he tried to reach the nest of a barred owl in a cave and fell. When he fell, his arm got wedged in a crack. How he could get rid of it was later a mystery to him. As a memento of this experience he had a trembling hand throughout his life.

In 1912, Bent described a subspecies of the Ptarmigan that was new to science and is now called Lagopus muta sanfordi . Occasionally one finds Loxia curvirostra percna Bent , 1913 in the literature. This name is now considered a synonym for Loxia curvirostra pusilla .

At Harvard University , he worked as a staff member in the ornithology section, which was part of the Museum of Comparative Zoology . In Washington, he held the presidency of biology at the Smithsonian Institute and also held the rank of freelance worker at the United States National Museum . It was not until 1910 that he took over the unfinished work from Charles Emil Bendire (1836–1897). With the encouragement of Charles Foster Batchelder (1856–1954), he committed himself to write six volumes of Life histories of North American Birds for the Smithsonian Institute .

For the monumental work, he prepared himself through targeted trips. So he visited in 1901 with Herbert Keightley Job (1864-1933) and C. Godfrey Day North Dakota , 1902 and 1903 also with Job and Day Florida , 1904 with Job, Morton L. Church and James Lee Peters (1889-1952) the Magdalene Islands and Nova Scotia , 1905 with Job, Day and Louis Bennett Bishop (1865–1950) Assiniboia , 1906 with Bishop and Jonathan Dwight (1858–1929) Saskatchewan , 1907 with Bishop Cobbs Island and Nova Scotia, 1908 with Frank Michler Chapman ( 1864–1945) and Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874–1927) Florida Keys , 1909 with Charles Wendell Townsend (1859–1934) the southern part of Labrador , 1910 alone the Louisiana coast , 1911 with Alexander Wetmore (1886–1978), Rollo Howard Beck (1870–1950) and Frederick Bridgham McKechnie (1882–1913) the Aleutian Islands and Alaska , 1912 with Donald Baxter MacMillan (1874–1970) Newfoundland and the eastern part of Labrador, 1913 with Job and Frank Seymour Hersey (1884–?) Manitoba , 1914 with his wife Madeleine California and the Canadian Rockies , 1915 with his family and Arthur Trezevant Wayne (1863–1930) South Carolina and the Magdalene Islands alone, 1916 with Harold Harris Bailey (1878–1962) Virginia , 1917 alone northern Saskatchewan, 1920 with his family Percé , 1922 with Francis Cottle Willard (1874–1930) Arizona , 1923 with George Finlay Simmons (1895–1955) Texas , 1924–1925 with his family Central Florida, 1926 again with his family Central Florida, 1929 with the California family and finally 1930 also with the South Florida family.

He encouraged ornithologists from all over the world to report any available information about North American birds to him, and eventually included co-authors in his work. In the end there were 19 volumes that appeared under his name. The 20th on weaver birds , starfish and tanagers appeared posthumously a few years later. Further volumes were completed on the basis of his manuscripts by Oliver Luther Austin Jr. (1903–1988).

How respected he was among ornithologists was shown on his 80th birthday at the Nuttall Ornithological Club, when ornithological heavyweights such as James Lee Peters, Hoyes Lloyd (1888–1978), James Paul Chapin (1889–1964), Ludlow Griscom (1890) came –1959), Alfred Otto Gross (1893–1970), Frederick Charles Lincoln (1892–1960), Harry Church Oberholser (1870–1963) and Alexander Wetmore.

Memberships

At the Segregansett Country Club , Bent was temporarily president and was a member of the Taunton Yacht Club , Taunton Rod and Gun Club and the Bristol Branting Club . He also contributed to the Massachusetts Audubon Society , where he became Honorary Vice President, the Mansfield Fish and Game Protective Association , the Massachusetts Forest Association , the American Forestry Association, and the National Audubon Society . Other clubs he was a member of included the Old Colony Club in Plymouth, the Harvard Clubs in Taunton, Fall River and Boston, the University Club in Boston, the Cosmos Club in Washington and the Explorers Club in New York, in which he became an honorary member.

On November 18, 1888, he was elected a member of the Nuttall Ornithological Club . Membership expired due to the club's statutes when he moved to the University of Cambridge . As a result of the interruption, he was never able to celebrate his 50-year membership in the house of his sponsor Batchelder, although he was re-elected as a member in 1896 and served on the executive committee from 1902 to 1919. On October 15, 1845 he was elected an honorary member there, an honor that until then only Henry W. Henshaw (1850-1930), John Hall Sage (1847-1925) and Witmer Stone (1866-1939) benefited. In 1893 he became a member of the Wilson Ornithological Club . It was not until 1909 that he became a member of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and in 1920 a fellow . In 1929 he was elected Vice President and in 1935 President. Also in 1909 he became a member of the Cooper Ornithological Club , an honorary member there in 1933. Other institutions Bent was associated with included the Boston Society of Natural History , the Linnean Society of London , the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia , the California Academy of Sciences, and the Maine Audubon Society . From the AOU he was awarded the William Brewster Medal in 1923 and the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1949 .

Dedication names

Allan Robert Phillips honored him in 1991 in the name of Turdus assimilis benti , a subspecies of the white throat thrush . Ludlow Griscom named a subspecies of the crossbill ( Loxia curvirostra benti ) in 1937 .

Works (selection)

• A new subspecies of Ptarmigan from the Aleutian Islands . In: Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . tape 56 , no. 30 , 1912, pp. 1–2 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• A new subspecies of Crossbill from Newfoundland . In: Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . tape 60 , no. 15 , 1913, pp. 1-3 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life histories of North American diving birds: order Pygopodes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 107 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1919 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life histories of North American gulls and terns: order Longipennes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 113 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1921 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life histories of North American petrels and pelicans and their allies: order Tubinares and order Steganopodes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 121 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1922 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life histories of North American wild fowl: order Anseres (part 1) (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 126 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1923 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life histories of North American wild fowl: order Anseres (part 2) (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 130 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1925 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life histories of North American marsh birds: orders Odontoglossae, Herodiones and Paludicolae (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 135 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1926 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Shore Birds. Order Limicolae (Part 1) (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 142 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1927, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.142.i ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Shore Birds. Order Limicolae (Part 2) (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 146 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1929, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.146.i ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life histories of North American Gallinaceous birds. Orders Galliformes and Columbiformes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 162 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1932 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey: Order Falconiformes (Part 1) (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 167 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1937, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.167.i ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• In memoriam: Frederic Hedge Kennard, 1865–1937 . In: The Auk . tape 54 , no. 3 , 1937, pp. 341–348 (English, online [PDF; 540 kB ; accessed on May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey: Orders Falconiformes and Strigiformes (Part 2) (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 167 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1938, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.170.i ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Wookpeckers. Order Piciformes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 174 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1939, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.174.i ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds, and their Allies. Orders Psittaciformes, Cuculiformes, Trogoniformes, Coraciiformes, Caprimulgiformes, and Micropodiiformes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 176 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1939, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.176.i ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Flycatchers, Larks, Swallows, and their Allies. Order Passeriformes (Families Cotingidae, Tyrannidae, Alaudidae, and Hirundinidae) (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 179 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1939, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.179.i ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life histories of North American jays, crows, and titmice: Order Passeriformes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 191 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1946 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Nuthatches, Wrens, Thrashers, and their Allies: Order Passeriformes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 195 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1948, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.195.1 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Thrushes, Kinglets, and their Allies: Order Passeriformes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 196 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1949, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.196.1 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Wagtails, Shrikes, Vireos, and their Allies: Order Passeriformes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 197 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1950, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.197.1 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Wood Warblers: Order Passeriformes (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 203 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1953, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.203.1 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Life Histories of North American Blackbirds, Orioles, Tanagers, and Allies: Order Passeriformes: Families Ploccidae, Icteridae, and Thraupidae (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 211 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1958, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.211.1 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• with Oliver Luther Austin Jr .: Life Histories of North American Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Buntings, Towhees, Finches, Sparrows, and Allies (Part 1) Order Passeriformes Family Fringillidae Genera Richmondena through Piplo (part) (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 237 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1958, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.237.1 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• with Oliver Luther Austin Jr .: Life Histories of North American Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Buntings, Towhees, Finches, Sparrows, and Allies (Part 2) Order Passeriformes Family Fringillidae Genera Piplo (part) through Spizella (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 237 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1958, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.237.1 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• with Oliver Luther Austin Jr .: Life Histories of North American Cardinals, Grosbeaks, Buntings, Towhees, Finches, Sparrows, and Allies (Part 3) Order Passeriformes Family Fringillidae Genera Zonotrichia through Emberiza Literature Cited and Index (=  Bulletin (Smithonian Institute, United States National Museum) . No. 237 ). Government Printing Office, Washington 1958, doi : 10.5479 / si.03629236.237.1 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).

literature

• Wendell Taber: In Memoriam: Arthur Cleveland Bent . In: The Auk . tape 72 , no. 4 , 1955, pp. 332–339 (English, online [PDF; 508 kB ; accessed on May 3, 2016]).
• Keir Brooks Sterling, Richard P. Harmond, George A. Cevasco, Lorne F. Hammond: Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists . Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut 1997, ISBN 978-0-313-23047-9 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Allen Herbert Bent: The Bent Family in America: Being Mainly a Genealogy of the Descendants of John Bent who Settled in Sudbury, Mass. in 1638 . Printed by David Clapp & Son, Boston 1900 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).
• Allan Robert Phillips: The known birds of North and Middle America. Distributions and Variation, Migrations, Changes, Hybrids, etc. Band 2 (Bombycillidae; Sylviidae to Sturnidae; Vireoni). Published by the Author, Denver 1991, ISBN 978-0-9617402-1-4 .
• Ludlow Griscom: A monographic study of the Red Crossbill . In: Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History . tape 41 , no. 5 , 1937, pp. 77-209 ( online [accessed May 3, 2016]).

Web links

• Background on Arthur Cleveland Bent (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Allen Herbert Bent, pp. 247-248.
2. ↑ WHO READS HERE: A. Cleveland Bent, Taunton ornithologist
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Wendell Taber, p. 332.
4. ↑ Wendell Taber, p. 333.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Wendell Taber, p. 334.
6. ^ John Burroughs Medal Award List
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Wendell Taber, p. 335.
8. ^ Ornithology Department
9. ^ Arthur Cleveland Bent (1912), p. 1.
10. ^ Arthur Cleveland Bent (1913), p. 1.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Wendell Taber, p. 337.
12. ↑ Wendell Taber, p. 336.
13. ↑ Wendell Taber, p. 338.
14. ↑ Wendell Taber, p. 339.
15. ^ Allan Robert Phillips, p. 64.
16. ^ Ludlow Griscom, p. 129.