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I'UOFKSSOR FULLERTON BaIRD. A Biog- 



raph\' Including Selections from his 

 Corresi^ondence with Audubon, Agassiz, 

 Dana, and others. By William Healy 

 Dall, A.m., D.Sc. With nineteen illus- 

 trations. Philadelphia and London. 

 J. B. Lippincott Company. 1915. 8vo. 

 xvi+462 pp. 



Important as were Professor Baird's 

 published works, they form so small a 

 part of the service he rendered science 

 that, without such a record as this biog- 

 raphy supplies, we might well fail to realize 

 our indebtedness to him. 



Reading this straightforward story of 

 his life, one is impressed by his ceaseless 

 activity (he seems never to have rested) 

 and by the definiteness of his plans. Work 

 with him, as with every true naturalist, 

 was play, but it was play with an object in 

 view. Every stroke was made to count. 

 His energy did not lead him into cul de 

 sacs; it was under control. He was in the 

 highest degree effectively constructive. 

 Add to this an enthusiasm which could 

 communicate itself to others, and a per- 

 sonality which won the cordial coopera- 

 tion, if not the loyal support and loving 

 service, of his associates, and one begins to 

 understand what a power Baird was at a 

 period in the history of American science 

 when the leadership of a man of his 

 caliber was more needed than it ever was 

 before, or probably ever will be again. 



Baird's first love was birds, and to the 

 ornithologist that portion of this volume 

 which tells of his early studies and collec- 

 tions, and of his correspondence with 

 Audubon, will have the strongest interest. 

 The latter began in 1840, when Baird 

 was but seventeen years old and Audu- 

 bon about sixty. 



In his first letter, dated, June 4, 1840, 

 Baird reported (as have many beginners 

 since that time!) that he was unable to 

 identify with any of the bird books 

 available to him, including Audubon's 

 'Biography' and 'Synopsis,' a certain Fly- 

 catcher which he had collected. After 



describing his specimens in admirable 

 detail, Baird added: "You see. Sir, that I 

 have taken (after much hesitation) the 

 liberty of writing to you. I am but a boy 

 and very inexperienced, as you no doubt 

 will observe from my description of the 

 Flycatcher." To which Audubon, who 

 was then in Charleston, replied on reach- 

 ing New York, under date of June 13: "If 

 the bird corresponds to your description, 

 [it] is indeed likely to prove itself hitherto 

 undescribed; for, although you speak of 

 yourself as being a youth, your style and 

 the descriptions you have sent me prove 

 to me that an old head may from time to 

 time be found on young shoulders!" 



Unlike more modern 'discoveries,' 

 Baird's bird did prove to be new, and we 

 know it today as the Yellow-bellied 

 Flycatcher. 



The biography abounds in such inter- 

 esting revelations of Baird's personal 

 relations with ornithologists, from Audu- 

 bon to Coues, and thus throws many side- 

 lights on the ornithological history of this 

 period. But we may gain from this 

 biography, so well and so sympathetically 

 prepared by Doctor Dall, much more than 

 a history of Baird in relation to the endless 

 series of tasks and conditions which con- 

 fronted him; we have a picture of the man 

 at work. It was not that, as Harrison 

 Allen wrote, "his industry was enormous" 

 but that, as the same author adds: "He 

 lost no time by misdirected efforts; indeed, 

 he was a personation of systematic en- 

 ergy." And that is an example natural- 

 ists, whatever be their specialty, may all 

 well take to heart.— F. M. C. 



British Birds. Written and illustrated 

 by A. Thorburn, F.Z.S. With eighty 

 plates in color, showing over four hun- 

 dred species. In four volumes. Long- 

 mans, Green & Co. London and New 

 York, 1915. Vol. I, large 4to. viii^- 

 143 pp. 20 pis. 



In his preface to this important work 

 Mr. Thorburn tells us that it "has been 



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