Yol 'wi9 XVI ] Stone, Jacob Post Giraud, Jr. 471 



are the substitution of Turdus minor Gmelin for T. solitarius as 

 the name of the Hermit Thrush, and the recognition of the generic 

 name Calidris for the Sanderling. 



Anas pcnelope, the European Widgeon, is added to the fauna of 

 North America on the basis of a specimen secured by Mr. George 

 N. Lawrence, while two new species are described . Turdus olivaccus, 

 the Olive-backed Thrush, and Fidigula minor, the Lesser Scaup 

 Duck. In the latter case Giraud was anticipated by a few years 

 by Eyton, who described the bird as F. affinis, while in the former 

 he unfortunately selected a name that was already in use for 

 another bird, so that neither of his technical names stand, though 

 both of the vernacular names that he proposed are still in use. 



In view of the rather crude nature of the text of his earlier work, 

 as may be judged from the introduction quoted above, the style 

 of " The Birds of Long Island " is rather surprising, and one wonders 

 if it did not receive some editorial supervision from another hand. 

 This, however, would in no way affect the value of the contents nor 

 the credit due the author. 



It is a favorite, though somewhat dangerous practice, to specu- 

 late upon the influence of one man upon the career of another. 

 Foster in his bibliography of the writings of George N. Lawrence 

 says: " Fortunate was it for ornithological science when, in 1841, 

 Prof. Baird and Mr. George N. Lawrence formed an acquaintance- 

 ship, which soon ripened into a close and lasting intimacy. Stimu- 

 lated by this, Mr. Lawrence then commenced the scientific study 

 of birds." Mr. Foster evidently did not stop to think that, on the 

 occasion of the meeting he describes, Lawrence was a man of 

 thirty-five years of age and the possessor of a fine cabinet of birds, 

 while Baird was a youth of eighteen, on one of his first trips from 

 his home in Carlisle, where he had made a small collection but had 

 as yet published nothing! 1 If the meeting produced any result, it 

 was rather due to the influence of Lawrence upon young Baird, 

 and doubtless the youth was even more influenced by Giraud, 

 whose collection he saw and praised so highly. Moreover if we 

 may be pardoned for engaging in speculation, Lawrence's mention 

 of the publication of Giraud's 'Sixteen New Species,' in his letter 

 to Mr. Dutcher, as being a surprise and establishing the fact that 



1 In this connection attention might be called to the brief obituary notice of Giraud 

 in the Amer. Jour, of Science and Arts, 1S70, p. 293; in which he is referred to as a 

 particular friend of Alexander Wilson. As Giraud was but two years old at the time 

 of Wilson's death the intimacy could hardly have been close! 



