82 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
naturalist, philologist, and geologist. Early in October 
his uncle Penrose and brother William returned to Wash- 
ington. On the 16th he received a letter informing him 
he had been elected a member of the National Institute 
at Washington. About this time he was shooting and 
preserving an astonishing number of birds from the fall 
migration, and had to add a new case to his series to 
contain the skins. He walked 240 miles during October, 
and, during the year 1842, 2100 miles. 
His future plans were of course under discussion and 
he received a letter from his brother William generously 
offering to bear the expense of a winter residence at 
New York for the purpose of continuing the medical 
lectures. 
In his reply (which is not preserved among the papers 
at my disposal) Spencer must have expressed a distaste 
for the medical career. The following extract from his 
brother’s reply is all that a search has revealed in regard 
to the matter: 
From William M. Baird to Spencer F. Baird. 
WasuincTon City, 23 November, 1842. 
Dear SPENCER,— 
I received your letter and was sorry to find that you had a distaste 
for a medical life. As, however, you have it, it perhaps would be 
best not to pursue the study, for no one ever succeeds in a profession 
of which he is not fond. As it is necessary for you to do something, 
you ought to make up your mind. No means of livelihood, however, 
is to be obtained in America from ornithology. 
genial and somewhat eccentric disposition, and noted for his gener- 
osity to young students and lovers of nature, as exemplified in his 
services to the youthful Baird. He was one of the early members of 
the National Academy of Sciences. 
