Research is a Passion with Me. Published by Amethyst, 1979. 322 pp. Paperback. $6.95

"The study of animal behavior is the only and ultimate source of understanding ourselves." -Studies in the Life History of the Song Sparrow, 1937.

Margaret Morse Nice was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on December 6, 1883. At the age of seven, she received her first bird book, and in 1896, she wrote and published a small booklet, "Fates and fortunes of Fruit-acre birds." During her lifetime, she published more than 250 articles in scientific journals. But it was her ground-breaking book, Studies in the life history of the Song Sparrow, that established her as one of the leading ornithologists in the world, recording the behavior of individual birds over a long period of time.

        "Incredible as it may seem, almost complete ignorance reigned
        as to the life history of this abundant, friendly, and well-nigh
        universally distributed bird. I went to the books and read that this
        species has two notes beside the song, and that incubation lasted
        ten to fourteen days and was performed by both sexes - meager enough
        information and all of it wrong." --The Watcher at the Nest, 1939.

Nice seemed to make it her lifelong quest to expand on that meager information, and make it available to all. She pioneered the use of bands to mark individual birds and follow the lives of each one. According to Professor Ernst Mayr, "She almost single-handedly initiated a new era in American Ornithology". Her book, The Watcher at the Nest, was the first book illustrated by Roger Tory Peterson.

Studies in the life history of the Song Sparrow was her real masterpiece. Of the first volume, "A population study of the Song Sparrow," Jean Delacour wrote:

        "In its form, this book is a model of clarity; in
        its substance, it is perhaps the most important contribution
        yet published to our knowledge of the life of a species."
        (Delacour 1937:656).

In 1943 the second volume (Nice 1943) was published with the following evaluations:

        "This treatise is far superior to anything of the kind
        that has been previously attempted. Many of the
        chapters... are complete treatises in themselves with
        enough meat in them to fill separate volumes. "
        (Mayr 1944:60).

        "No other life-history study combines such rich scholarship
        with such keen field work. " (Hickey 1943:23 1).

In 1933 she founded the literature review section of Bird Banding (now Journal of Field Ornithology). Over the next nine years she wrote 1800 reviews, most summarizing and commenting on ariticles written in foreign languages, of which she read five fluently.

In 1935 she was elected Second Vice-President of the Wilson Omithological Society and succeeded to its Presidency in 1937, the first woman to preside over one of the world’s major ornithological societies.

In 1937 she was elected a Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union, only the second woman so honored.

Through her study of Song Sparrows she introduced many of the concepts of European ethology to American ornithologists (Nice 1939a).

In 1943 her achievement was recognized by the American Ornithologists’ Union which awarded Margaret Morse Nice its prestigious Brewster Medal given to the author of ". . . the most important work relating to the birds of the Western Hemisphere . . . over the last six years."

Dean Richard Bond of Elmira College best summarized the career of Margaret Morse Nice when he stated:

        "She used the outdoors near her home as her laboratory and common species
        of birds as her subject. In so doing, she joined the ranks of the eminent
        ornithologists of all time, who saw so much in what appeared common to
        so many." -(Nice 1979:262-263).

The Wilson Ornithological Society established the Margaret Morse Nice Medal in recognition of her scientific creativity and insight, her concern for the education of young and amateur ornithologists, and her leadership as an innovator and mentor. The medal honors a lifetime of contributions to ornithology.

Mrs. Nice died in 1974. Research is a Passion with Me, her autobiography, was published posthumously in 1979.

Research is a Passion with Me. Margaret Morse Nice. Amethyst, 1979. 322 pp. Paperback. $6.95

References:
Birdwatching with American Women: A Selection of Nature Writings. Deborah Strom, Editor. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1986. 286 pp. Very good used copy in dust jacket. $15.00
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Morse_Nice
http://www.netwalk.com/~vireo/Nice,_Margaret.html
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/proj/cel/ref/women/nice.shtml