Excerpt from Birds of Massachusetts and Other New England States, Vol. 3: Land Birds From Sparrows to Thrushes

The editor of a posthumous volume is under a handicap in endeavoring to express the feelings of the author of the book to the many individuals who assisted in its preparation. Fortunately, I had come to know Mr. Forbush rather intimately during the several years immediately preceding his death, when it was my privilege to act as his assistant in pre paring material for these volumes.

Edward Howe Forbush was a'man of great attainments in the fields of economic ornithology and of wildlife conservation, but he was also a man of great modesty. While he was continually consulted by scientists of the highest standing as well as by the veriest tyros in bird study, he was always ready to give full credit to those who had contributed in any way to his fund of information. It was his intention to acknowledge his indebted ness to all those who had assisted him, in the preface of the third volume of The Birds of Massachusetts. It is not possible for me to name all those to whom Mr. Forbush felt indebted, but all who assisted him and whose work is not herein acknowledged, will have the satisfaction of knowing that they have made a contribution to a work of real value, which has added to the knowledge and pleasure of countless individuals.

First to whom Mr. Forbush tendered grateful recognition was his wife, to whom he was married in 1882 and who survives him. Throughout the long period of their life together, Mrs. Forbush not only encouraged him in his chosen work, but was of much assistance to him in many ways. Although crippled by illness in recent years, she spent many long hours in reading and revising his manuscript and in painstaking correction of the proof of The Birds of Massachusetts, and her criticisms were always constructive and helpful.

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