Chrono-Biographical Sketch: Waldo Lee McAtee

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Chrono-Biographical Sketches

McAtee, Waldo Lee (United States 1883-1962)
ornithology, conservation

Photo courtesy of The Auk.

McAtee has sometimes been referred to as an "economic ornithologist," a tag that is probably accurate enough, but does little justice to the range of his attention. He is perhaps most regarded for his numerous writings (many hundreds) on the food and feeding habits of birds, but he was also an expert entomologist who described over 460 new species of insects (especially of Hemiptera), and a contributing botanist. Further, he published a good deal of literary poetry and prose, and nearly a hundred pieces on folklore and literature. Add to this various semi-publications, letters to the Editor, etc., and his total output cannot have been much less than 1500 items: and even this neglects the 6000+ article abstracts he comprised while serving as editor of Wildlife Review. McAtee also gained a reputation as an acute critic of Darwinian natural selection, and for his many efforts in the name of bird conservation.

Life Chronology

--born in Jalapa, Indiana, on 21 January 1883.
--1901-1904: curator of birds, Indiana University Museum
--1904: A.B., Indiana University
--1904-1916: assistant biologist for the U. S. Biological Survey
--1906: A.M., Indiana University
--1911-1916: vice-president, Washington Biological Field Club
--1916-1934: senior biologist for the Food Habits Research division, USBS
--1920-1938: treasurer, American Ornithologists' Union
--1920-1942: acting custodian of Hemiptera, U. S. National Museum
--1921-1934: head of Food Habits Research, USBS
--1929-1936: principal biologist, USBS
--1932: publishes "Effectiveness in Nature of the So-Called Protective Adaptations in the Animal Kingdom, Chiefly as Illustrated by the Food Habits of Nearctic Birds" in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections
--1935-1947: founding editor of Wildlife Review
--1936: helps found the Wildlife Society
--1936-1940: technical advisor and game research specialist for the USBS
--1937-1942: founding editor, Journal of Wildlife Management
--1939: publishes his Wildlife Food Plants; Their Value, Propagation, and Management
--1940-1947: technical advisor and senior editor for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
--1961: honorary D.Sc., Indiana University
--dies at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on 7 January 1962.

For Additional Information, See:

--Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 18 (1990).
--Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists (1997).
--Auk, Vol. 80(4) (1963): 474-485.

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