iSSS.j Speiiccr FnUcrton Ihiird. ^ 



grandfather on the mother's side was the Rev. Elihu Spencer 

 of Trenton, one of the war preachers of the Revolution, whose 

 patiMOtic eloquence was so influential that a price was set on his 

 head by the British government ; his daughter married William 

 M. Biddle, a banker, of an English family for many generations 

 established in Pennsylvania, and identified with the banking in- 

 terests of Philadelphia. Samuel Baird, the father of the subject 

 of this sketch, established himself as a lawyer at Reading, Penn- 

 sylvania, and died when his son was ten years old. He was a 

 man of fine culture, a strong thinker, a close observer, and a 

 lover of nature and out-of-door pursuits. His traits were inher- 

 ited by his children, especially by his sons Spencer and William. 

 The latter, who was the elder, was the first to begin collecting 

 specimens, and as early as 1S36 had in hand a collection of the 

 game-birds of Cumberland County. His brother soon became 

 his companion in this pursuit, and six years later they published 

 conjointly a paper entitled 'Descriptions of two species, supposed 

 to be new, of the Genus Tyrantmla Swainson, found in Cumber- 

 land County, Pennsylvania.'" * 



Early in 1838 Professor Baird became acquainted with Audu- 

 bon, " with whom he was for many years in correspondence, antl 

 who, in 1842, gave to him the greater part of his collection of birds, 

 including most of his types of new species." In 1841 a veiy 

 intimate friendship was begun with George N. Lawrence of 

 New York, with John Cassin of Philadelphia, in 1843, and 

 Thomas M. Brewer of Boston, in 1845. These close friendships 

 continued through life, though of these ornithologists only the first 

 named survives him, the others having died before Professor Baird. 

 They were all at one time or another associated with him in his 

 ornithological work. 



Although his elder brother had anticipated him by a few years 

 in beginning the formation of a collection, he soon "diverged 

 into other paths," and became a lawyer in Reading, Pa.,t leav- 

 ing to him the field of ornithology, which he cultivated so assidu- 

 ously that when the catalogue of his collection J was closed, at 



* These species are now known as Empido7iax Jlaviventris Baird and E. minimus 

 Baird. 



fMr. Goode informs us that "at the time of his death, in 1S72," he "was United 

 States collector of internal revenue at Reading." 



JThis catalogue now constitutes Volume I of the series of National Museum ' Regis- 

 ter of Specimens,' now filling twenty-one volumes, and containing more than 112,- 

 000 separate entries. 



