CODES, kouz, ELLIOTT An Ameri can naturalist, particularly distinguished for his researches in ornithology. He was born at Ports mouth. N. H., graduated at Columbian Univer sity in 1861. from the medical department of that institution in 1863, became an assistant surgeon in the United States Army, and made extensive studies of the flora and fauna in the vicinity of the various posts at which he chanced to he sta tioned. In 1873.76 he was attached as surgeon and naturalist to the United States Northern Boundary Commission, and from 1876 to 1880 as secretary and naturalist to the United States Ceologieal and Geographical Survey of the Ter ritories. directed by Dr. F. V. Hayden. He re signed his commission in 1880, and thenceforth was occupied wholly with scientific pursuits. From 1877 to 1887 he was professor of anatomy at the National :Medical College at Washington, D. C. He was elected to the National Acadelity of Sciences in 1877, was a founder of the Ameri can Ornithologists' Union. and an editor of the Auk, the journal of that society. About 1880 he became interested in spiritualism. theosophy, and allied matters, and for a time was affiliated with the Theosophical Society. He was known as a student of comparative anatomy and general biology, and for seven years was connected with the Century Dictionary as editor and contributor in the departments of general zoillogy. biology.
and comparative anatomy. Itut while his field of activity was wide. he was prominent chiefly as a writer on ornithology, and in particular on that of North American birds. Ills key to North American Birds (1872: rewritten 1884; again. 1901) has perhaps liad a greater influence On American ornithology than any other work. With this should be named his Pkld Ornithology (1874) ; Birds of the Northwest (1574) ; Birds of the Colorado Valley (187S): an incomplete Bibliography of Ornithology ( 1878-80) ; New England lfi•d-Life (1851; with W. A. Stearns) ; and a Dirtionary and clark•Eist of .Vorik _trnnri cad Birds (188•). also made investigations regarding the early exploration of the trans Mississippi region, and edited (1893) the Jour eels of Lewis and Clark. As a contributor to the technical advance of ornithology in America he ranked as not gieatly inferior to Spencer Baird (q.v.), and as a popular expositor of tilt subject probably had no equal.