SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 521 



2. It was not long before Baird made a genuine dis- Audubon 

 covery, of a bird entirely new to science. We find him andBaird 



After a woodcut in " Science " 

 FIG. 209. Spencer Fullerton Baird, from a photograph taken about 1865. 



timidly writing about it to the great naturalist Audu- 

 bon : "You see, sir, that I have taken (after much 

 hesitation) the liberty of writing to you. I am but a 

 boy and very inexperienced, as you no doubt will 

 observe from my description of the flycatcher." To 

 this letter Audubon replied : 



On my return home from Charleston, South Carolina, yesterday, I found 

 your kind favor of the 4th instant, in which you have the goodness to inform 



