SPENCER FULLEETON BAIRD 75 



of these and of fishes. It will be well to give a brief summary of his 

 labors : 



Mammals. — The eighth volume of the Pacific Railroad Reports, 

 published in 1857, is a large quarto of more than 800 pages, devoted to 

 a complete revision of the mammals of North America, so far as the 

 materials then available would permit. This work was much in ad- 

 vance of all others in the precision of the descriptions, the citation of 

 localities and the care with which the synonymy was compiled. To 

 this day, we have nothing that really takes its place. The matter of 

 illustrations was not overlooked; I found among Baird's letters one 

 dated January 24, 1852, addressed to d'Orbigny in Paris, asking how 

 illustrations might best be made with a view to excellence and at the 

 same time economy. What information d'Orbigny supplied I do not 

 know, but the illustrations accompanying Baird's larger works were 

 remarkable for their excellence, and highly creditable to the new 

 museum. 



Baird described in all sixty-three new mammals, of which forty-two 

 are now considered valid, and twenty-one synonyms. I will confess 

 that I was surprised at the large amount of synonymy; but it must be 

 remembered that in the fifties large series for comparison, such as are 

 available to-day, did not exist, while the descriptions of earlier writers 

 were many of them imperfect. Nine genera and subgenera were pro- 

 posed, of which seven are accepted to-day. 



Birds. — I can not do better than quote the statements ( Smithsonian 

 Eeport for 1888, pp. 706-708) of Dr. Eobert Bidgway, who more than 

 any other man is to be regarded as Baird's successor in this field: 



With the publication, in 1858, of (the Pacific Railroad Report on The Birds 

 of North America) a great quarto volume of more than one thousand pages, 

 began what my distinguished colleague, Professor Coues, has fitly termed the 

 ' Bairdian Period ' of American ornithology — a period covering almost thirty 

 years and characterized by an activity of ornithological research and rapidity 

 of advancement without a parallel in the history of the science. Referring to 

 this great work, in his 'Bibliographical Appendix' to 'Birds of the Colorado 

 Valley' (p. 650), Professor Coues says: "It represents the most important 

 single step ever taken in the progress of American ornithology in all that 

 relates to the technicalities. The nomenclature is entirely remodeled from 

 that of the immediately preceding Audubonian period, and for the first time 

 brought abreast of the then existing aspect of the case. . . . The synonymy 

 of the work is more extensive and elaborate and more reliable than any before 

 presented; the compilation was almost entirely original, very few citations 

 having been made at second-hand, and these being indicated by quotation-marks. 

 The general text consists of diagnoses or descriptions of each species, with 

 extended and elaborate criticisms, comparisons, and commentary. . . . The 

 appearance of so great a work from the hands of a most methodical, learned, 

 and sagacious naturalist, aided by two of the leading ornithologists of America 

 (John Cassin and George N. Lawrence), exerted an influence perhaps stronger 

 and more widely felt than that of any of its predecessors, Audubon's and 



