522 ZOOLOGY 



me that you have discovered a new species of flycatcher, and which, if the 

 bird corresponds to your description, is, indeed, likely to prove itself hitherto 

 undescribed; for, although you speak of yourself as being a youth, your 

 style and the descriptions you have sent me prove that an old head may from 

 time to time be found on young shoulders ! 



The bird was in due time described and named by the 

 brothers Baird, and is everywhere recognized today as 

 a valid and distinct species. This was only the first of 

 a series of such discoveries. 



Medical 3. Baird graduated from Dickinson College, at Car- 



lisle, and it became necessary for him to consider a 

 career. He wished to be a naturalist, but that occupa- 

 tion was hardly likely, it then seemed, to lead to fame 

 or fortune. After much discussion in the family, in 

 which young Baird found a strong supporter in his 

 grandmother, it was decided to send him to a medical 

 school in New York. There he would continue his 

 scientific studies, and the profession of medicine would 

 suitably combine biology with breadwinning. As with 

 Baird, so also with Agassiz, Darwin, Huxley, and others : 

 medicine was sooner or later abandoned for pure science, 

 but the knowledge gained in the medical school was by 

 no means wasted. On going to New York, Baird soon 

 made the personal acquaintance of Audubon, and be- 

 came closely associated with him. He also sought 

 out all the other notable zoologists of that part of 

 the country and of Philadelphia. During the holi- 

 days he continued his field work; in 1843 his diary 

 states that he had walked about 1400 miles during the 

 year. 



Professor 4. On his return to Carlisle, Baird did not take up 



College^ l tne practice of medicine ; indeed, he had not even taken 

 his medical degree. Instead, he was appointed profes- 

 sor of natural history in Dickinson College, when only 



