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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol 124. No. 4. December 2012 
birds by taking him on walks through fields and 
woods and teaching him to identify' birds. Father 
also taught son to hunt, a skill critical for the 
taxonomic studies of birds undertaken by Ridg- 
way from about the age of 10. He began to shoot 
birds and, mixing his own paints, taught himself 
to paint birds. His interest was spurred by a book 
given to him by an uncle. 
The most charming story of Ridgway's early 
steps to a lifetime of ornithological pursuit may be a 
lesson lor those of us who receive e-mails from 
students asking questions about birds. Ridgway, 
wanting to know the name of a bird he'd seen 
around his hometown of Mt. Carmel, Illinois wrote 
to the Commissioner of Patents who turned the 
letter over to Spencer Baird, then Assistant 
Secretary of the Smithsonian. That first letter 
sparked a running correspondence that ultimately 
brought Ridgway to the Smithsonian, where he 
remained for the rest of his life. Even today, 
Ridgway’s handwritten letters and drawings hang in 
a hallway in the Smithsonian Castle. The story 
reminds us to respond to and encourage our young 
correspondents seeking information about birds but. 
then again, few of us are rewarded with a simple 
message ol thanks, much less a series of letters 
evidencing a dedication to learning the names of 
birds, their anatomy, and technical terminology. 
Baird recommended Ridgway to geologist Clar¬ 
ence King who was to conduct the Fortieth Parallel 
Survey commencing in 1867. Ridgway was only 17 
and had never been outside Mt. Carmel but Baird 
thought he would make a suitable naturalist for the 
survey. After a crash-course at the Smithsonian to 
learn how to prepare study skins, Ridgway traveled 
with the group surveying the Sierra Nevada from 
Nevada to Wyoming. This section of the book is 
relatively rich in details of Baird's experience. 
During the trip, Ridgway gathered 769 skins and 
753 nests and eggs, and contributed 366 pages to 
the expedition report. Thereafter, he returned to the 
Smithsonian to take a job as an illustrator, although 
he also answered correspondence from the public, 
worked on the public display areas, and managed 
the bird collection. He undertook a number of 
collecting expeditions in the eastern United States 
and, «n 1899, joined the famed Harriman expedition 
to Alaska. From this point forward, and apart from 
some limited discussion of his marriage, his son 
and his ever-pressing need for money, Ridgway 
laigely recedes from die book. 
Lewis moves into an in-depth discussion of the 
development of ornithology as a science and the 
establishment of the American Ornithologists’ 
Union, covered more completely by Mark Barrow 
in A Passion for Birds (2000, Princeton University 
Press, Princeton, New Jersey. USA). Lewis (page 
86) devotes an entire chapter to America’s '‘first 
bird organizations” noting that Ridgway was 
busy with other matters." His intense devotion 
to his work kept him distant from Coues’ 
maneuvering and plotting in the creation of rhe 
American Ornithologists' Union. The discussion 
ot the development of professional ornithology is 
basically limited to the creation of the Nuttall 
Ornithological Club and the subsequent develop¬ 
ment ot the American Ornithologists’ Union and 
locuses largely on Coues. A bold and apparently 
rather unpleasant character widely disliked by 
his peers. Coues was, according to Lewis, the 
constant engine ol change in ornithology in Norlh 
America. 
The founding ol the AOU elicited a deliberate, 
although ultimately blurry, drawing of lines 
between scientific professionals-especiaUy the 
taxonomists-and all others who studied birds. 
Lewis identifies three attributes that seem accu¬ 
rate enough in the absence of the formal education 
credentials that would become de rigeur a few 
decades later. He describes the professionals as 
unsentimental, technical and precise in their use 
ot language, had published in the technical 
literature, and were respected by others who knew 
them, or knew someone who knew them. At least 
the first of these, according to Lewis (page 112), 
served to exclude women who were seen as 
delicate, emotional, and nurturing." This inter¬ 
pretation seems a stretch in that few women were 
entering any profession, scientific or otherwise, in 
the 1880s. Lewis names several female astrono¬ 
mers ol the time but disregards the fact women 
could rarely undertake careers that entailed 
lengthy absences from the home or unchaperoned 
travel with men. as would have been the case for 
most scientific collecting expeditions, even within 
the United States. Barrow makes this point, but 
goes on to name a number of women working in 
ornithology including Graceanna Lewis, John 
Cassin s only student; Fannie Chapman, Frank 
Chapman s wife; and, although not mentioned by 
Barrow, Florence Merriam Bailey, the first female 
member of the AOU. 
Lewis devotes his fourth chapter to scientific 
collecting. It is the liveliest chapter of the book, 
describing the need for specimens, the manner in 
which collecting was undertaken, the preparation 
