4 THEAUDUBONBULLETIN 



"Of all pleasures, not only during my boyhood but during later years, 

 by far the greatest to me was that of going to the woods and fields to 

 observe birds, trees, and nature in general, and in order to do this I would 

 take any chance, even with the certainty of punishment. 



"My love for the country and taste for natural history were inherited 

 from both my parents. It was my father's custom to take walks to the 

 woods and visit friends in the country whenever he could spare the time 

 from business (he was a druggist). On these occasions I was usually his 

 companion, and a delighted one, too, for he possessed an unusual knowl- 

 edge of birds and other animals, knew nearly all the trees and other plants, 

 and thus I learned many things from him that otherwise I could only have 

 learned much later in life. 



"Of course it was necessary for me, when old enough, to carry a gun 

 with me during my excursions, in order to secure specimens of such birds 

 as were new to me, but I can truthfully say that I never shot a bird out of 

 mere wantonness or for 'sport.' The specimens obtained were taken home 

 and carefully studied and colored drawings made of them. It was through 

 these colored drawings of birds, and not through a collection of birds, 

 that I became known to Professor Spencer Fullerton Baird, then Assistant 

 Secretary, later Secretary, of the Smithsonian Institution." 



In a memorial to Professor Baird, read before the American Ornithol- 

 ogists' Union in January, 1888, Mr. Ridgway tells how that eminent scien- 

 tist encouraged him and gave him valuable direction in his work. Refer- 

 ring to himself as "the writer," Mr. Ridgway says: 



"Until the middle of the year 1864, the writer, then a lad in his four- 

 teenth year, was unacquainted with the name of any living naturalist, or 

 with any books on natural history except such general or superficial com- 

 pilations as Goldsmith's 'Animated Nature,' a history of the United States 

 (author forgotten) which included a chapter or two on the natural history, 

 and Goodrich's 'Animal Kingdom' — works which, although supplying 

 much valuable information to the general reader, were of course wholly 

 inadequate to the wants of a special student. A lady resident in the town 

 learned of his difficulties, and suggested that by writing to the Commis- 

 sioner of Patents in Washington he might be able to obtain the correct 

 names of birds, supplementing her fortunate suggestion by the gift of an 

 envelope bearing the printed address of a former Commissioner of Patents. 

 A letter was written, and with it was enclosed a colored drawing, life size, 

 of a pair of Purple Finches ("Roseate Grosbeak, Loxia rosea," of the 

 incipient ornithologist) perched upon a dry stalk of the great ragweed 

 (Ambrosia trifida) , the seeds of which in winter constitute the principal 

 food of the bird in that locality. An answer was awaited with great impa- 

 tience, but in due time was received, the following being an exact copy : 



" 'Smithsonian Institution. 



" 'No. 5664 Washington, D .C, June 23, 1864. 



"'Dear Sir: — The present Commissioner of Patents (Mr. Holloway, 

 not Mr. Bishop), has sent me your letter, as more conversant with the sub- 

 ject of North American Birds than himself. I have read it with interest and 

 much pleasure, as showing an unusual degree of ability as an artist, and 



