708 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS. 



tions) in 1873, and with still farther raodiflcatious by the American 

 Ornitholoji^istB' Union, in 188G. 



Tlie distinctive featnres of the "Bairdian School" were still farther 

 developed by the pnblication, in 1804-66, of the "Review of American 

 Birds," a work of uneqnalled merit, displaying in their j^erfection Pro- 

 fessor Baird's wonderful powers of analysis and synthesis, so strongly 

 combined in his treatment of difficult problems. Unfortunately for 

 ornithology this work was bat fairly begun, only a single volume (an 

 octavo of 450 pages) being published. The cause of its discontinuance 

 is not definitely known to the present writer, but it may have been the 

 intervention of the " Ornithology of California," * a work based on the 

 manuscript notes of Dr. J., G. Cooper, but edited by Professor Baird, 

 who also superintended its publication, and the " History of North 

 American Birds," t material for which was already being arranged, be- 

 sides other literary work and the increasing pressure of administrative 

 duties. Whatever the cause, however, its discontinuance is to be 

 regretted, since its completion would have given us an invaluable guide 

 to the study of Neotropical birds, I have it on good authority 

 that no single work on American ornithology has made so profound an 

 impression on European ornithologists as Professor Baird's '■'■ K'eview ;" 

 and, by the same authority, lam permitted to state that he — a European 

 by birth and rearing — became an American citizen through its influence. 



In the ])reface to the present writer's latest work on American 

 ornithology! the author is proud to mention that the book was " orgi- 

 nally projected by Professor Spencer F. Baird, - - - whose works 

 represent the highest type of systematic ornithology and have furnished 

 the model from which the younger generation of ornithologists have 

 drawn their inspiration ;" and that his friendly advice and suggestions 

 had rendered comparatively easy the performance of a task which under 

 less favorable ausjuces would have ]»een far more difficult of accomplish- 

 ment — acknowledgments which but faintly express the author's obliga- 

 tion to his tutor. 



'Geological Siirvey of California. J. D. Whitney, State Geologist. Ornithology. 

 Vol. I. Laud Birds. Edited by S. F. Baird, from the manuscript and notes of J. G. 

 Cooper. Published by authority of the legislature, 1870. A royal octavo volume of 

 592 pages, illustrated by numerous wood-cuts, some colored by hand. 



tA History of North American Birds, by S. F. Baird, T. M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway. 

 Land Birds, illustrated by 64 colored plates and 51):? wood cuts. Boston : Little, 

 Brown & Company, 1874. 3 vols., small quarto. Vol. i, pp. i-xxviii, 1-596, i-vi, 

 cuts, audpll. i-xxvi; vol. ii, 3 pll. pp. 1-590, i-vi, cuts, and pll. xvii-lvi; vol. iii, 3 pll., 

 ])p. 1-.560, I 1., i-ssviii, cuts, and pll. Ivii-lxix. 



tA Manual of North American Birds, by Robert Ridgway. Illustrated by 464 

 outline drawings of the generic characters. Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott Com- 

 pany, 1887. Royal octavo. Frontispiece (portrait of Professor Baird), i)p. i-xi. 1-631, 

 pll. i-cxxiv. 



The history of this work, briefly stated, is as follows: 



Before the printing of the "History of North American Birds'' had been completed. 

 Professor Baird had under way a smaller but very useful work, consisting of the ana- 



