Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey

Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey ( born August 8, 1863 in Locust Grove, New York, † September 22, 1948 in Washington, DC) was an American ornithologist. Her older brother was Clinton Hart Merriam.

Life and work

Bailey grew up on the estate of her family. Like her brother, she developed a great interest in natural history. My father made in 1871, later in Yosemite National Park acquaintance with John Muir. Bailey went to Utica to a private school. From 1882 to 1886 she attended Smith College. There you not an academic degree was recognized until the 1921 honorary happened. At times, Bailey also attended the Stanford University.

She started with bird watching at a time when the Ornithology was based on the examination of preparations. Prior to 1885, were used as ornamental feathers as decoration on hats, Bailey wrote articles on the need for measures to protect the birds. She tried to educate the public about the value of the animals. Soon after, the United States Congress passed a law forbidding the import of birds. This resulted in a recovery of the water bird populations, including pelicans and grebes. Over time, the fashion changed to the extent that the interest in bird feathers disappeared for decoration.

Bailey published a nature guide about birds in their natural habitat. He is considered the first example of modern bird identification books. The then twenty-six was the first descriptions print in Audubon Magazine and later published in book form. In December 1899 Florence Augusta Merriam married the naturalist Vernon Orlando Bailey. This worked with her brother Clinton together for the United States Bureau of Biological Survey. The couple Bailey undertook wide study trips and had to wake up the order, young people's interest in natural history.

Florence Bailey was built in 1885 as the first woman member of the American Ornithologists ' Union and in 1929 the first female Fellow of the organization. In 1931 she received the William Brewster Medal for the work Birds of New Mexico, at that time the most comprehensive book on the birds of the Southwestern United States. She was involved in the founding of the National Audubon Society of the District of Columbia and taught there often Fundamentals of ornithology. Bailey's last major work Among the Birds in the Grand Canyon National Park was published in 1939 by the National Park Service. A subspecies of the California Gambelmeise was named in 1908 in honor of the ornithologist Parus gambeli baileyae.

Florence Bailey died on September 22, 1948 in Washington, DC

Works

• Birds of Village and Field (1898), Houghton, Mifflin & Co., New York & Boston.
• Birds Through An Opera Glass Riverside Library for Young People, Mifflin & Co., New York & Boston.
• My Summer In A Mormon Village, Mifflin & Co., New York & Boston.
• Handbook of Birds of The Western United States, Mifflin & Co., New York & Boston.
• Birds of New Mexico ( 1928), New Mexico Dept. of Game & Fish.