McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Person
Felger, Alva Howard
1868-1952
Alva Howard Felger was born on April 16, 1868, in Geneseo, Illinois.
He was an educator and amateur ornithologist. His academic training was received at the University of Michigan (Ph.B., 1895) and the University of Denver (M.A., 1925).
After graduating from the University of Michigan, he taught for a year at a private boys' school in Racine, Wisconsin, and then for another year at Lake Charles College in Louisiana. Starting in 1897, he became a biology teacher at North High School in Denver, Colorado, where he worked until his retirement in 1941. In 1898, he was named an Honorary Life Associate of the American Ornithologists' Union. Mr. Felger also enjoyed agriculture and horticulture, and in 1916, he bought a farm in Broomfield, Colorado, hoping for a pleasant retirement. He was passionate about studying birds and collected about 2,000 bird skins. He published twenty articles in the 'Auk' between 1901 and 1919. On Easter Sunday, while returning from church, he was struck by a car. He spent the next five months in the hospital and died on September 15, 1952, in Denver, Colorado.