THE AUK: 



A Q^UARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



VOL. V. January, 1888. No. i. 



SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD. 



BY ROBERT RIDGWAY. 



[Read before the Fifth Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union.] 



Mr. President and Members of the American Orni- 

 thologists' Union : — When asked by the worthy President of 

 our Union to prepare a memorial address upon the life and services 

 to ornithology of our great teacher and leader, Professor Baird, 

 it was with many misgivings that the invitation v\'ith which I 

 was thus honored was accepted ; for, glad as I am to render 

 what tribute I can to the revered memory of a departed and 

 beloved friend, the sense of my own inability to do justice to 

 such a subject has almost deterred me from the attempt. 



The preparation of an address which shall consist essentiallv 

 of new matter is rendered particularly difficult by the circum- 

 stance that there has already been published by Professor G. 

 Brown Goode in Bulletin 3o of the United States National 

 Museum * an excellent biograpln' of Professor Baird, giving in 



* Department of the Interior : | U.S. National Museum. | — 23 — | Bulletin | of 

 the United States National Museum. | No. 20. | — | Published under the direction 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. | — | Washington : \ Government Printing Office. | 

 1883. I . 



Comprising — 



Bibliographies of American Naturalists. | I. | The Published Writings | of | 

 Spencer Fullerton Baird, | 1843-1S82. | By | George Brown Goode. | Assistant 

 Director of the National Museum. | Washington : | Govemment Printinji Office, 

 I 1883. I 



An octavo volume of 377 pages, -j- pages i-.\vi (title pages, Prefatory Note, 

 Biographical Sketch, etc.). 



