American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, New York 10024 USA Back in August of 1938 the senior writer was observing birds at Tobay Pond on Long Island. Among the waders present on that occasion, now more than 40 years ago, were not only numerous yellowlegs of both species and dow- itchers, but also a few others that did not seem to fit in. Were they Stilt Sandpipers, a bird he had never seen? After conferring with another birder who was standing nearby, the decision was that they were indeed that uncommon species. The stranger proved to be Eugene ("Gene") Eisenmann. He and Bull soon became close friends and, years later, colleagues at The American Museum of Natural History. Ama- don met Eisenmann at about this time too, and also in the field where, again after a consulta- tion, they decided a slightly aberrant plover was not, unfortunately, a Wilson's. Gene had graduated from Harvard Univer- sity and Harvard Law School during the Great Depression. Failing to find immediate suitable employment he visited Egypt and pondered his future from the back of a camel! After returning he joined the firm of Proskauer and Mendel- sohn in New York as a trial lawyer, became a partner, and practiced successfully, but found the work increasingly irksome. When the firm, like so many others, moved from lower Man- hattan, where Gene had a fine old-fashioned office with a view of the harbor, to a monoto- nous glass tower on Park Avenue, it was the last straw and Gene retired. He had sufficient funds to live modestly a few blocks from the Museum, first with an elderly aunt and, after her death, alone. Often he would invite friends to stay with him when they were visiting the Museum. Gregarious by nature, Eugene soon became prominent in the Linnaean Society of New York and, later, its President. The Society published one of his more important publications, The species of Middle American birds. In those days, Ernst Mayr, Joseph Hickey, and others were injecting a strong dose of scientific vitality into the meetings of the Society. Gene needed little encouragement to follow such leads, and began to spend more time at the American Museum. Because of his increasing involvement in or- nithological circles and his publications, Gene was appointed a Research Associate of the mu- seum in 1957, a position he held until his death. Dr. Eisenmann--he became that a few years ago when law schools conferred the degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence on their distinguished graduates--could hold his own on any topic-- music, politics, or science. If his off-the-cuff remarks had been recorded, they would have been ready to go to press without editing. Al- though he was such an articulate person, he never resorted to the use of a dictaphone. He typed his manuscripts with one finger, hand- icapped by the use of only one hand because of a birth defect. His marginal notes were care- less scrawls--a nightmare for secretaries! Gene was never too busy for consultations, often on knotty questions of nomenclature, de- spite the fact that his desk was piled high with correspondence and two or three manuscripts in various stages of completion. He was ap- pointed a member of the prestigious Interna- tional Commission on Zoological Nomencla- ture and sometimes remarked that many nonlawyers were more addicted to circumlo- cutions and obscurities than lawyers them- selves! He usually worked at home till mid- morning, walked over to the Museum, and remained in his office until seven or eight in the evening. Undoubtedly those quiet hours, after the rest of us had departed, were among his most productive. Eugene Eisenmann was born in Panama and visited that country annually to study the rich birdlife and to touch base with various mem- bers of his family. In 1952 the senior author went to Panama with him. It was Bull's intro- duction to the rich neotropical avifauna and, with an ideal mentor, an experience he will never forget. Gene's fluent Spanish enabled him to help many aspiring bird students from Latin America, both in the field and at the Museum. His influence in ornithology was wider than indicated by his relatively modest bibliog- raphy, for his immense file of notes on neo- EUGENE EISENMANN, 1906-1981 (Barro Colorado Island, 1967) tropical birds, centered in Panama and radiat- ing north and south therefrom, was always at the disposal of any serious worker. His assis- tance went far beyond merely supplying notes and comments; he would spend weeks on end going through manuscripts line by line making corrections and suggestions. Such assistance is acknowledged in numerous works on the birds of Middle and South America published in re- cent years. In Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee's important Species of South American birds, for example, Gene's help was so substantial that he was offered junior authorship, but he de- clined the honor. It was in the American Ornithologist's Union, however, that Eugene Eisenmann exerted the greatest influence and had the widest circle of friends. He became a Life Member in 1936, an Elective Member in 1951, a Fellow in 1960, and Vice President from 1967 to 1969. In 1958 and 1959 he was Editor of The Auk. Finally, and most importantly, he served as Chairman of the Committee preparing the sixth edition of the A.O.U. Check-List, from 1966 until the time of his death. This volume, which will be ded- icated to Eisenmann, will be published in time for the Centennial Meeting of the Union in 1983. What a pity that Gene did not live to attend this historic event! The Check-List, however, will be a fitting memorial to his incessant la- bors, and a testimony of his ability to compro- mise and to bring often strongly divergent viewpoints into a semblance of consensus. Gene's interest in birds, their biology, evo- lution, geographical variation, and conserva- tion, went far deeper than any side issues such as names, whether popular or scientific. At meetings he always participated in field trips, and he undertook more extensive fieldwork when possible. This meant not only the annual trips to Panama but also such distant jaunts as to a meeting of the International Council for Bird Preservation in Japan and a Pan-African Ornithological Congress in Kruger Park. His wisdom in matters of finance and legal affairs, plus his dedication to conservation, made him a valued member of the Pan-American Section of the ICBP, of which he was Vice-Chairman at the time of his death. It was while returning from the excursion to Japan that Gene suffered a heart attack on Mid- way Island, where he was observing albatross- es in the company of Roger Tory Peterson. He received excellent care at the Naval hospital on the island and was to enjoy another two-score years of undiminished activity, even though some of us worried about the strain imposed by his expanding waistline. Early in 1981 Gene had a second cardiac attack. He seemed to make a good recovery and even ventured all the way to Edmonton to attend the 1981 A.O.U. meet- ing. Shortly after returning home, however, he was fatally stricken on October 16. Eugene left a sister Audrey in Panama, a brother Richard in Washington, and a sister Ethel in New York, along with numerous other members of the far-flung but closely knit Ei- senmann family and a host of friends, young and old. Relatives and friends have established a me- morial fund in his name. It will be used to enhance the library of the Ornithology De- partment of The American Museum of Natural History. Last, but not least, a group of his many friends have banded together to produce a me- morial volume in Neotropical Ornithology--with over 50 contributors so far--to be dedicated to Gene. Selected Bibliography of Eugene Eisenmann 1946. Suggested principles for vernacular nomencla- ture. (with H. H. Poor) Wilson Bull. 58: 210- 215. 1950. Some notes on Panama birds collected by J. H. Batty. Auk 67: 364-367. 1951. Northern birds summering in Panama. Wilson Bull. 63: 181-185. 1952. Annotated list of birds of Barro Colorado Is- land, Panama Canal Zone. Smithsonian Misc. Coils. 117: 1-62. 1954. Seventy-five years of the Linnaean Society of New York. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.Y. 63: 1-9. 1955. The species of Middle American birds. Trans. Linn. Soc. 7: 1-128. 1957. Notes on birds of the province of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Condor 59: 247-262. 1959. South American migrant swallows of the ge- nus Progne in Panama and Northern South America; with comments on their identifica- tion and molt. Auk 76: 529-532. 1961. Favorite foods of Neotropical birds: flying ter- mites and Cecropia catkins. Auk 78: 636-638. 1962a. On the genus "Chamaethlypis" and its sup- posed relationship to Icteria. Auk 79: 265-267. 1962b. On the systematic position of Rhodinocichla rosea. Auk 79: 640-648. 1962c. Notes on nighthawks of the genus Chordeiles in southern Middle America, with a descrip- tion of a new race of Chordeiles minor breeding in Panama. Amer. Mus. Novit. 2094: 1-21. 1962d. A new species of Swift of the genus Cypse- loides from Colombia. (with F. C. Lehmann) Amer. Mus. Novit. 2117: 1-16. 1962e. An erroneous Panama record of Puffinus ten- uirostris and other misidentifications. (with D. L. Serventy) Emu 62: 199-201. 1962f. The taxonomic status of the Hummingbirds Chalybura melanorrhoa and C. urochrysia. (with T. R. Howell) Condor 64: 300-310. 1962g. Notes on some Neotropical vireos in Panama. Condor 64: 505-508. 1963a. Bear Island murre colony. Nat. Hist. (Jan.): 26-31. 1963b. Mississippi Kite in Argentina; with corn~ ments on migration and plumages in the ge- nus Ictinia. Auk 80: 74-77. 1963c. Is the Black Vulture migratory? Wilson Bull. 75: 244-249. 1963d. Breeding nighthawks in Central America. Condor 65: 165-166. 1965. The use of the terms "juvenal" and "juvenile". Auk 82: 105. 1966. Falco rufigularis--the correct name of the Bat Falcon. Condor 68: 208-209. 1968. Birds of the Panama Canal Zone area. (with H. Loftin) Florida Naturalist (April): 57-60. 1969. Wing formula as a means of distinguishing Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) from Hepatic Tanager (P. tiara). Bird-Banding 40: 144-145. 1970a. Review: A distributional survey of the birds of Honduras. (by Burt L. Monroe, Jr.) Wilson Bull. 82: 106-109. 1970b. Avifauna in Panama. Smithsonian Contr. Zool. 26: 50-57. 1971a. Range expansion and population increase in North and Middle America of the White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus). Amer. Birds 25: 529-536. 1971b. Una nueva subespecie de Todirostrum macu- latum del delta del Orinoco. (with W. H. Phelps) Bol. Soc. Venezolana Cienc. Nat. 29: 186-194. 1973. Thirty-second supplement to the A.O.U. Check-List of North American Birds. Auk 90: 411419. 1976. Thirty-third supplement to the A.O.U. Check- List of North American birds. Auk 93: 875-879. 1977. Rediscovery of the Crescent-faced Antpitta (Grallaricula lineifrons) in Colombia. (with F. C. Lehmann and J. R. Silliman) Condor 79: 387-388. 1982. Systematics of the avian genus Emberizoides (Emberizidae). (with L. L. Short) Amer. Mus. Novit. 2740: 1-21.