44 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
submitting a certificate from Dr. Foster concerning his 
palpitation of the heart. He notes about this time the 
very great number of birds due to the autumn migration. 
In November Spencer was busy with chemistry under 
the direction of Professor Allen. 
On Christmas Day there was a family gathering at his 
grandmother’s and he notes that five children, three chil- 
dren-in-law, and twenty-three grandchildren were present. 
In January, 1840, he began the study of German, and 
a little later having borrowed Michaux’s Sylva he begins 
to copy the descriptions and the 150 plates. 
In March, his mother having purchased a house 
situated next to his grandmother’s, all members of the 
family were kept busy moving in and getting settled. 
June 4, 1840, having obtained two flycatchers which 
he could not identify, he mustered up courage to write 
to John J. Audubon, then the most eminent ornithologist 
of the United States.’ He enclosed descriptions and 
measurements for Audubon’s consideration and follows 
them with the remarks here cited: 
Extract from a letter from S. F. Baird to John J. Audubon, dated 
Carlisle, June 4, 1840. 
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. My 
5 The correspondence between Baird and Audubon has been 
largely published and discussed by Prof. Ruthven Deane in the issues 
of the Auk for April and July, 1906, and January, 1907. The materials 
for this publication were chiefly due to letters contributed by Miss 
Baird and Miss M. R. Audubon. This excellent presentation of the 
subject makes it unnecessary for the present biographer to enter 
that part of the field, except so far as continuity of narration or the 
possession of unpublished material may require. 
