DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 5 



tirely finished as to the text and a few of the plates, due no 

 doubt to the author's failing health. 



The text gives the common and scientific name of each bird, 

 dimensions, habitat and a short description of its habits, nest- 

 ing, etc., and in the case of rare species the name of the col- 

 lector. For instance the California Bluebeard, he described as 

 having been discovered by a party under the command of Lt. 

 Whipple on the Colorado River during the winter of 1853-54, 

 from which specimens his drawing was made. 



The introduction to Part 2 which he entitled " Haunts and 

 Habits of Humming Birds", is a very interesting description 

 of the main characteristics of the family, which comprised three 

 hundred and twenty species at the date of his writing. He 

 makes particular mention of the fact that the recent discoveries 

 of species was particularly ' ' due to the energetic exertions of 

 John Gould, whose collectors had distributed themselves 

 throughout America in search of new varieties ' ' . No doubt 

 Baily's correspondence with such collectors resulted in bring- 

 ing to hand many specimens from which he prepared his plates. 



William Baily was also interested in minerals as in indicated 

 by the portion of a letter dated Millville, 8/10/1847, from one 

 Theophilus, and when William was 19 years old: " The notice 

 of thy visit to Concordville and of our friends the Trimbles was 

 interesting, although I did not expect thee would get the mineral 

 fever again, as years ago that gave way to the bird stuffing 

 mania, and I thought it was a disease of which we need not 

 fear a recurrence." 



Perhaps his most interesting accomplishment was his inven- 

 tion of portraying on paper the iridescence on the plumage of 

 hummingbirds. Some letters, of which I possess the originals, 

 illustrate several interesting facts concerning this unique and 

 valuable process. These letters show that as early as 1854 Wil- 

 liam Baily had used the process and had shown and sent sam- 

 ples of his work to various ornithologists and friends. John 

 Gould had already published six parts of his ' ' Monograph of 

 the Trochilidae ", when in reply to a letter from Wm. Baily 

 he wrote as follows: 



