Austin Loomer Rand was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 zoologist

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

.

He was born in Kentville, Nova Scotia

Kentville, Nova Scotia

Kentville is a town in Kings County, Nova Scotia. It is one of the main towns in the Annapolis Valley, and it is the county seat of Kings County. As of 2006, the town of Kentville had a population of 5,815 people....

 in 1905 and grew up in nearby Wolfville

Wolfville, Nova Scotia

Wolfville is a small town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. As of 2006, the population was 3,772....

, where he was mentored by the noted local ornithologist Robie W. Tufts. He received a Bachelor of Science

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 from Acadia University

Acadia University

Acadia University is a predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level...

, an institution which also awarded him an honorary DSc

DSC

-in academia:* D.Sc., Doctor of Science* Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine* Dalton State College, Georgia* Daytona State College, Florida* Deep Springs College, California* Dixie State College of Utah...

 degree in 1961.

In 1929, while still a graduate student at Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

, he travelled on an expedition to Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 as collector of birds. Rand published the results as his thesis for his Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

. It was on this expedition that he met Richard Archbold

Richard Archbold

Richard Archbold was an American zoologist and philanthropist. He was independently wealthy, being the grandson of the capitalist John Dustin Archbold. He was educated at private schools and later attended classes at Columbia University though he never graduated...

, zoologist and philanthropist, with whom he became a lifelong friend. Archbold subsequently financed and led a series of biological expeditions to New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

 in the 1930s in which Rand participated and co-led. In 1941 he assisted Archbold in the establishment of the Archbold Biological Station

Archbold Biological Station

The Archbold Biological Station is a research institute with a surrounding estate near Lake Placid, Florida, USA. It includes an extensive area of Florida scrub, a scientifically interesting and highly threatened ecosystem...

 at Lake Placid, Florida

Lake Placid, Florida

Lake Placid is a town in Highlands County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the town's population as 1,878 on 1 July 2007...

, a place he eventually retired to.

In 1942, Rand became assistant zoologist at the National Museum of Canada, now the Canadian Museum of Nature

Canadian Museum of Nature

The Canadian Museum of Nature is a natural history museum in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its collections, which were started by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1856, include all aspects of the intersection of human society and nature, from gardening to gene-splicing...

, where he worked with ornithologist Percy A. Taverner

Percy A. Taverner

Percy Algernon Taverner was a Canadian ornithologist and architect.He was born Percy Algernon Fowler in Guelph, Ontario in 1875. When his parents separated and his mother remarried, he took on his new parent's surname...

 and mammologist Rudolph Martin Anderson

Rudolph Martin Anderson

Rudolph Martin Anderson was a Canadian zoologist and explorer.He was born in Decorah, Iowa in 1876, the son of John E.A. Anderson. He received a Ph.D...

. From 1947-1955, he was curator of birds at the Field Museum in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and was chief Curator of Zoology there from 1955 to 1970.

He was a frequent contributor to The Auk

The Auk

The Auk is a quarterly journal and the official publication of the American Ornithologists' Union, having been continuously published by that body since 1884. The journal contains articles relating scientific studies of the anatomy, behavior, and distribution of birds. The journal is named for the...

, the ornithological

Ornithology

Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...

 journal of the American Ornithologists' Union

American Ornithologists' Union

The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithological organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birders...

, an organisation of which he was elected a Fellow

Fellow

A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...

 as well as serving as its President 1962-1964.

In 1996 he was commemorated in the name of one of the research buildings at the Archbold Biological Station.

Austin L. Rand was father of the noted tropical herpetologist Austin Stanley Rand of the Smithsonian.

Publications

As well as numerous articles and scientific papers, major reports and books authored or coauthored by Rand include:

• 1936. The distribution and habits of Madagascar birds. (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History).
• 1937. Results of the Archbold expeditions No.14: The birds of the 1933-1934 Papuan expedition. (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Coauthored with Ernst Mayr).
• 1942. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. Birds of the 1936-1937 New Guinea Expedition. (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History).
• 1955. Stray feathers from a bird man's desk. Fascinating and unusual sidelights on the lives of birds.
• 1956. American Water and Game Birds.
• 1960. Birds of the Philippine Islands: Siquijor, Mount Malidang, Bohol, and Samar. (Fieldiana. Coauthored with D.S. Rabor).
• 1961. A Midwestern Almanac, Pageant of the Seasons. (Coauthored with his wife Rheua M. Rand).
• 1962. Birds in Summer.
• 1967. Ornithology: an Introduction.
• 1967. Handbook of New Guinea Birds. (Coauthored with E. Thomas Gilliard).
• 1971. Birds of North America.