286 CALIFOENIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



In accordance with the desire of the Academy I have prepared some r> solu- 

 tioQS commemorative of the death of our fellow member Spencer F. Baird. 

 But before offering them it seems fitting that I should make a few preparatory 

 remarks on his character and work in order especially to show how his whole 

 noble career was foreshadowed in his boyhood. 



My acquaintance with Prof. Baird commenced in 1843, when both of us 

 wrre little more than boys, being each about 20 years of age. I was at that 

 time in New York pursuing medical studies and living with my uncle Maj. 

 LeConte and his son John, the entomologist. Baird was also in New York 

 perfecting his knowledge of ornithology by the lase of the large collections, 

 public and private, in that city, and frequently and familiarly visited at my 

 uncle's house. At that time my own special field of scientitic work was 

 not yet declared. My mind roamed with equal interest, and therefore super- 

 ficially over many departments; Baird's on the contrary was already unalter- 

 ably determined. All the Hues of his mental energy converged with intense 

 heat on one focal point — Natural History, and especially ornithology. He 

 had neither pleasure nor recreation in anything else. I remember well his 

 tall, slender, somewhat uugaiuly form and careless dress, his long and rapid 

 strides, his eager but downward look intent only on the subject in mind, and 

 utterly oblivious of all else. How little — far too little of the boy there was 

 about him. 



At that time I saw much of him, and in company with my cousin John we 

 of>en visited the great Audubon, who then lived about ten miles out of New 

 York on the banks of the Hudson. This place, still called Audubon Park, 

 is now swallowed up by the growing city. I recall with intense pleasure the 

 hours we spent there. The extensive grounds dotted over with large trees 

 and sloping down to the beautiful Hudson — the splendid luan-iion adorned 

 everywhere with trophies of the huntsman and the ornithologist — but above 

 all the tall commanding figure of the host himself, with his eagle eye and high 

 aquiline nose, and abundant white hair brushed straight back from h's fore- 

 head and falling on his shoulders. Add to these the stately dignity of his wife, 

 the almost boyish genialty of his sons John and Victor, and the hearty 

 hospitality of all, and it is easy to understand the influence on a young and 

 impressible mind. Is it any wonder that with such associations, aided by 

 an early life in the country and passion for gunning, my first specialty was 

 ornithology? During the years '45 and '46 I made a large collections of birds 

 which I afterwards sent to Baird, then assistant in the Smithsonian, and 

 which are now doubtless among the collections of the National Museum. 



Since that time of intimate association I have seen little of Baird. Our 

 lives drifted apart; my own investigations, partly through natural taste, 

 partly through the dominating influence of Agassiz with whom I studi' d 

 in 1850 and 1851, were turned into other channels. But Baird's never 

 swerved from their original .direction — not only the original dii'ection of 

 his work, but the most striking charactei i-itic of his mind remained the same. 

 That characteristic was intense energy directed to one point, and oblivious of 



