A. Spencer Fnllcrloii Band. | lanunry 



number 3696, almost every species of bird occurring, regularly 

 or otherwise, in eastern and central Pennsylvania w^as represented, 

 and in most cases by scries of specimens showing the different 

 stages and phases of phunage. This collection, deposited there 

 by Professor Baird when he entered upon his duties as Assistant 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, is still in the National 

 Museum, of whose ornithological treasuiX'S it forms an important 

 element, so many of its specimens having served as the types of 

 Professor Baird's descriptions in his 'Birds of North America' 

 and subsequent works. In it are "■specimens of birds prepared 

 by these boys forty-five [now nearly fifty] years ago by a simple 

 process of evisceration, followed by stufting the body-cavities full 

 of cotton and arsenical soap," — a method probably adopted by 

 them before they had learned the art of skinning birds. 



Although his collection was made at a time when the art of 

 taxidermy is generally supposed to have been far behind its 

 present status, especially so far as this country is concerned, the 

 excellent preparation of the specimens, their very precise labelling 

 and perfect preservation, show Professor Baird to have been in 

 every respect the peer of any ornithological collector of the present 

 period. Exposed for more than thirty years to constant handling 

 and everything that could eflect their deterioration, they are still 

 in a most excellent state of preservation, and none have lost their 

 labels. I have never known a specimen of Professor Baird's 

 pi^eparation to be attacked by insects, a statement which I am 

 able to make regarding few other collections of which I possess 

 the knowledge to speak. The force of these observations may be 

 better appreciated when it is considered that probably no other 

 collection of skins has ever received so much handling as that 

 made by Professor Baird, every standard work on North American 

 birds published since 1S50 having been based essentially upon it, 

 so far as eastern species are concerned. Not only are the speci- 

 mens prepared and preserved in a manner equalled by only the best 

 ofour living collectors, but their labels are fastened with unusual 

 security, and contain very precise data, including scientific name 

 (with authority), sex, age, locality, and date ; and, usually, on the 

 reverse side, the total length and stretch of wings, measured be- 

 fore skinning. 



The formation of so large and varied a collection of course in- 

 volved such a vast amount of field work as to remove Professor 

 Baird from the limbo of so-called ' closet-naturalists.' How 



