Edgar Alexander Mearns

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Edgar Alexander Mearns (born, September 11, 1856 in Highland Falls, New York, died November 1, 1916 in Washington, D.C.) was a notable American ornithologist and field naturalist.

Mearns was born to Alexander and Nancy Reliance Mearns née Clarswell. His grandfather Alexander was of Scottish origin and moved to Highland Falls in 1815. Edgar Alexander Mearns was educated in the Donald Highland Institute (Highland Falls) and attended the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons where he graduated in 1881. In 1881 he married Ella Wittich of Circleville, Ohio. The couple had one son and one daughter. Their son was born in 1886 and died in 1912. From 1882 to 1899 he served the military service as a surgeon. From 1899 to 1903 he was a medical officer in several army institutions. From 1903 to 1904 and 1905 to 1907 he traveled to the Philippines. He had to interrupt his journey in 1904 because he came down with a parasitic disease. In 1905 a trip led him to Guam. In 1909 he retired from the army with a rank of a Lieutenant Colonel. After that he joined Theodore Roosevelt with whom he was befriended on a trip to Africa. From 1911 to 1912 he was in Africa for a second time.

Mearns belongs to the co-founders of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1883. He scientifically described several birds and other animal species, like the Taita Thrush, the Apo Sunbird, the Boran Cisticola, the Chihuahuan Grasshopper Mouse, and the Rufous-headed Tailorbird. Animal species like Mearns' Pocket Gopher (Thomomys bottae mearnsi) or the Banded rock lizard (Petrosaurus mearnsi) were named after him.