Melvin Alvah Traylor Jr. (December 16, 1915 – February 11, 2008) was an American ornithologist. He was the son of Chicago banker Melvin Alvah Traylor and Mrs. Dorothy Y. Traylor. Traylor was Lieutenant with the marines and served on Guadalcanal during World War II in 1942 where he was awarded with the Silver Star medal. As a Marine Corps officer, Mel was severely injured during the Battle of Tarawa in the Pacific theatre, where he lost one eye and suffered arm and upper body wounds during the famous beach assault. After the war Traylor continued his work for the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which he had started in 1937. He made expeditions to Africa (in collaboration with Austin L. Rand), to South America, and to Asia. In 1960 he was among the members of the World Book Encyc