In Memoriam: Arthur Cleveland Bent

Abstract

ARTHUR CLEVELAND BENT, President of the American Ornithologists' Union from 1935 to 1937, died in his home on December 30, 1954. Born on November 25, 1866, the son of William Henry Bent and Harriet Fellowes Hendee Bent, he had lived for many years at 140 High Street in Taunton, Massachusetts, diagonally across the street from the home of his childhood days. Bishop Cleveland, for whom he was named, was a favorite friend of the family. His mother died when he was about six years old. Not many years later his father, watching a frail and delicate child growing up, embarked him on an invigorating outdoor life to promote physical development. Father and son would amble off together on long walks into the woods and country so easily accessible around Taunton in those days. Came the bicycle at first, that one-huge-wheel affair with trailer-wheel, and carriage drives to exercise the family horse. Not until many years later, when he was in middle life, did the era of the automobile arrive. Much of the time he was alone, simply because of inability to arouse interest among his companions. With the limited transportation facilities of the era, bird trips were necessarily of a type that would now be considered local. Rarely did they extend beyond the neighboring townships of Rehobeth and Fall River. Ultimately, he became acquainted with and frequently joined forces with Owen Durfee of Fall River, only a few years his senior. In these boyhood days, too, came the beginnings of specimen and egg collections. Carried on throughout years of travel all over North America, the specimen collection ultimately attained a size which warranted presentation to Harvard University. Similarly, the U. S. National Museum in Washington received a 30,000-unit egg collection. The trips were health-maintaining, and ornithologically constructive. At home, the use of an axe later in life was a daily delight. At night came setting-up exercises with dumbbells. His major long-distance trips ceased when he was 60: the axe and dumbbells he kept using until he was over 80. Primary education in the local public schools instilled in him a lasting spirit of democracy. After seven years of secondary education at Bristol Academy, he entered Harvard College. He graduated, with Honorable Mention, and an A.B. degree, in 1889. A broken nose from boxing reflected his athletic career. In the fall of 1889, he commenced work with the Massachusetts National Bank at a salary of $15 a month. Early in 1890, however,