BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GEORGE NEW1^>0LD 

 LAWRENCE. 



spencer F. Baird, who has a])tly been coiisidorod the ISTcstor of 

 ^Viiu'iican ornitht)logists, ]>os.sesse(l, besides tlie capacity lor organiza- 

 tion, the power of gnidiug- as well as enkindling enthusiasm. 



l"\)itunate was it for ornitliological science when, in ISIl. Prof, 

 r.aird and Mr. (Icorgc X. J^iwreuce formed an acqnaintanceslii}*, whicli 

 soon ripened into a close and lasting intimacy. Stimulated by this, 

 ]Mr. Lawren<•<^ then commence*! tlie scientific study of birds. From his 

 earliest recollection, howev»'r, birds had attracted him and lie had i)aid 

 considerable attention to them. 



(xeorge Newbold Lawrence was horn in tlie city of New York, where 

 he has always resided, on October L'O, 1S()0. His parents were both of 

 Fn.ulish stock; his father's ancestors, coming to this country in 10."}5, 

 iinally settled in ]S"ew York, and those on his mother's side located in 

 liurlington County, N. J., in 1G81. 



His business career was an active and successful one, lu' having at the 

 early age of twenty entered into a partnership, with his father and 

 others, in the wholesale drug business in New York City. In this he 

 continued for thirty-six years, devoting assiduously his spare time to 

 ornithology, in his earlier eftbrts to i)reserve bird-skins he endeavored 

 to do so without removing the body of the bird, lacking as yet the 

 counsel of a skilled taxidermist. This indicates that he felt an irre- 

 sistible spur to action, the impelling force of all earnest souls. 



Kepeatedly he was of service to the Smithsonian Institution in the 

 details of outfitting expeditions for held work, and in many ways aided 

 Prof. Baird in scientilic matters. He took the initiative in organizing 

 the Ober expedition to the Lesser Antilles. 



He became a near neighbor of John James Audubon at alxnit the 

 close of the life of that illustrious naturalist, and was very faniiHar 

 with his sons Victor and John. For the many years covered by his 

 activity in oinithology he has conducted an extensive correspondence, 

 endtracing most of the naturalists throughout the world, particularly 

 those interested in ornithology. 



His colle(!ti(Ui of bird-skins of great scientitic value, numbering about 

 S. ()()*;> specimens, and containing some 300 types of new spe<'ies of birds, 

 was deposited in the American !\Ius«'uin of Natural History. New York 

 City, in May, 1887. 



