Nice, Margaret (1883–1974)

US ornithologist who made an extensive study of the life history of the sparrow. She also campaigned against the indiscriminate use of pesticides.

Morse was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, and studied at Mount Holyoke College and Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, graduating in child psychology. She never had an academic appointment.

Her first ornithological research was a detailed study of the birds of Oklahoma. In 1927 she moved to Ohio, where she carried out the study of sparrows that established her as one of the leading ornithologists in the world, recording the behaviour of individual birds over a long period of time. A family move to Chicago provided fewer opportunities for Nice to study living birds, so she spent more of her time writing, and became involved in conservation issues.