LESTER L. SNYDER, 1894-1968 (From a photograph taken about 1961) IN MEMORIAM: LESTER L. SNYDER R. CHARLES LONG AND JoN C. BARLOW Department of Ornithology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C6, Canada Lester Lynne Snyder, the youngest child of John Theodore and Dora B. Snyder (n&e Mil- ler), was born at Panora, Gutherie Co., Iowa, on 11 July 1894. A Life Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union, Snyder died, age 74, of a stroke on 26 December 1968, in York Co. Hos- pital, Newmarket, Ontario. He attended public school in Panora, then spent 3 years (1909-1912) at Gutherie High School. In his senior year Lester transferred to Mason City High School, and lived with his older sister Aimee. In September 1913 he en- rolled in a 4-year liberal arts program at the State University of Iowa in Iowa City. He came under the influence of Professor H. R. Dill and enrolled in the University's museum training course. He received training in basic museum techniques, ornithology, general zoology, and entomology. He also completed courses in graphic and plastic arts (from the Fine Arts College), technical English (from the College of Engineering), and harmony (from the School of Music), all of which were to prove useful in his professional work in ornithology. In September 1917, with sufficient course credits for a B.A., he successfully competed for a position as technologist at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) of Zoology in Toronto, Ontar- io, and thus never officially completed his un- dergraduate degree. Snyder went to Toronto on 17 September to join the curatorial staff of three other persons in the Zoology Museum. Thus was initiated his career of 46 years at the ROM, first as technologist in gallery work and then as technologist in ornithology. In Septem- ber 1935 he was appointed curator of birds, serving in that capacity until his retirement on 30 June 1963. Concurrent with his curatorship, he was assistant director (1938-1949) and as- sociate director (1949-1955) of ROM Zoology, one of five curatorial divisions within the Mu- seum complex. He married Florence Ethyl Steece of Mason City, Iowa, in Toronto on 2 January 1918. Their one son, Richard Lynne, born 18 February 1927, is at present science librarian at Drexel Uni- versity, Philadelphia. Snyder's major contributions to ornithology in Ontario and concomitantly in Canada lay in three areas: (1) He initiated a faunal survey of Ontario that was conducted during most sum- mers until 1952. (2) He developed a magnifi- cent ornithological library as well as the re- search collections of bird specimens (and in part those of mammals) at the ROM. During his ten- ure the collection increased from 5,000 to ap- proximately 100,000 skins, eggs, and nests. (3) He actively encouraged the study of birds by individuals and groups. He had special insight concerning the re- sponsibilities of the museum ornithologist for exhibition, teaching, and scientific investiga- tions. He led numerous field expeditions to di- verse parts of Ontario, from Point Pelee and Long Point on Lake Erie north to Fort Severn on Hudson Bay. These field ventures produced data and specimens for exhibits, especially hab- itat groups, and representative samples of bird species such as Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus), Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus), Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus), and Com- mon Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) for taxo- nomic and biogeographic studies. Snyder was responsible for the first diorareas in ROM history, and played the central con- ceptional as well as an artistic role. Today none of these displays survives in the much altered and expanded museum, but the guiding prin- ciples enshrined by Snyder still have currency. The thousands of research specimens ac- quired during the surveys provided material for two important books: "Ontario Birds" (1951), chosen as the book of the year by the Toronto Daily Star, and "Arctic Birds of Canada" (1957). One substantial disappointment was his in- ability to complete the 1,000-page typescript account of the distributional and taxonomic as- pects of Ontario avifauna. Tentatively titled "Ontario ornithological manual," he began this work in 1956 and continued it in the bird de- partment for two years after retirement. In addition to faunal surveys in Ontario, Snyder was instrumental in enlarging the Mu- seum's holdings in other ways. Through his encouragement the private collections of J. H. Fleming (32,267 specimens of worldwide ori- gin), J. A. Munro (8,461), and Hoyes Lloyd (4,726) were donated to the ROM. The Fleming material included 80% of the world's species as recognized in 1940 and representatives of all families of birds except Atrichornithidae. The collections of Munro and Lloyd greatly en- riched species representation from across Can- ada and selected parts of the United States. Snyder published 183 papers, including species lists from his many field surveys, rec- ords of unusual birds, taxonomic reviews of bird species, popular papers for naturalists, and 23 about mammals. He chronicled the history of the two recognized song types of the Empidonax alnorum/traillii complex, noting the arrival of "fitzbew" near Toronto in 1950 with its tren- chant differences in nest construction, habitat, plumage, and mensural characters and paving the way for R. C. Stein's subsequent studies. In founding the Brodie Club in 1921, which continues as the senior natural science orga- nization in Ontario, Snyder noted that the meetings were "... for the purpose of studying natural history, and at the same time to have a sociable evening together." He had a hand in establishing the Toronto Field Naturalists (1923) and the Federation of Ontario Naturalists (1931), which he served as a director until 1947. L. L. Snyder joined the A.O.U. in 1919 but did not attend an annual meeting until 1924. He was elected a Member in 1929, the year he gave his first paper in Philadelphia. Snyder be- came a part of the Canadian inner circle of the A.O.U., known as the Appleton Club, with Hoyes Lloyd, J. H. Fleming, P. A. Taverner, and W. E. Saunders. Association with these men fa- cilitated his appointment to a number of com- mittees and his election to Council in 1951- 1953 and 1959-1961. He served on the local committee for the three Toronto A.O.U. meet- ings in 1935, 1947, and 1967. He was chairman of the Snowy Owl committee from its incep- tion in 1938, reporting in the Wilson Bulletin in 1943, 1947, and 1949 on the periodic southern invasions. In 1947, in recognition of his con- tributions to Ontario ornithology and his sem- inal role in the development of the ROM bird collection, he was elected a Fellow. He was active in the Ontario Research Coun- cil's Wildlife Advisory Committee, the com- mittee of 100 of the International Ornitholog- ical Congress, and the General Committee of Toronto City Council for the establishment of zoological, botanical, and horticultural facili- ties in that city. Snyder retired in 1963. Apart from partici- pation in the local committee for the 1967 A.O.U. meeting, he ceased all formal scientific activity in 1965. Repairing to his rural home near Pottageville, Ontario, he contented him- self with his lovely wife and a home-based chickadee study until the end. EDITOR'S NOTE R. Charles Long died on 1 April 1986.