Coues, Elliott (1842–1899)

US ornithologist. He served in various posts in the western USA until 1881, and during those years made collections and compiled information about local bird life. His Birds of the Colorado Valley (1878) is considered a classic.

He was born in Portsmouth, New York He moved to Washington, DC, with his family at age 11 and became interested in birds after making the acquaintance of Smithsonian Institution naturalists. He enlisted in the Union Army as a medical cadet in 1862 and was appointed an assistant surgeon in 1864. An ardent theosophist, he helped found the American Society for Psychical Research. He also edited several volumes of early travel in the American West.