Margaret Morse Nice

Margaret Morse Nice (December 6, 1883 - June 26, 1974) was an American ornithologist who made an extensive study of the life history of the sparrow and was author of Studies in the Life History of the Song Sparrow (1937). Nice was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, and studied at Mount Holyoke College (1901-1906) and Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts (1907-1909).

Her first ornithological research was a detailed study of the birds of Oklahoma. In 1927 she moved to Columbus, 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. In 1931 she met Ernst Mayr at a meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union, and it was he who encouraged her to write and arranged the publishing the results of her studies. Following the publication Nice was elected the first woman president of the Wilson Club and to fellowship of the AOU. In 1938 she spent two months studying the habits of captive birds with Konrad Lorenz in Austria.

Nice's other books included Birds of Oklahoma (1924), The Watcher at the Nest (1939) and her autobiography Research Is a Passion With Me (1979).