Bailey, Florence (1863–1948)

American ornithologist and nature writer. Born Florence Augusta Merriam in Locust Grove, New York, on August 8, 1863; died in Washington, D.C., on September 22, 1948; youngest of four children of Clinton (a banker) and Caroline (Hart) Merriam; sister of Clinton Hart, first chief of the United States Biological Survey; attended Mrs. Piatt's, a private school in Utica, New York; attended Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, as a special student, 1882–86,granted B.A., 1921; married Vernon Bailey (a naturalist), on December 16, 1899.

Selected writings:

Birds Through an Opera Glass (1889); My Summer in a Mormon Village (1894); A-Birding on a Bronco (1896); Birds of Village and Field (1898); Handbook of Birds of the Western United States (1902); Birds of New Mexico (1928); Among the Birds in the Grand Canyon National Park (1939).

Florence Merriam Bailey, who grew up on the family country estate of Homewood in Locust Grove, New York, showed an interest in natural history at an early age. While at Smith College as a non-degree student (she would be awarded a B.A. in 1921), she became interested in ornithology and began birding expeditions with friends and classmates in the Northampton countryside. Some early articles she prepared for Audubon Magazine and other publications on birds were later revised to form the basis of her first book Birds Through an Opera Glass, published in 1889. During these early years, Bailey also dabbled in social work. In the summer of 1891, she spent a month at a school for Chicago working girls (a branch of Jane Addams ' Hull House), and in the winter of that year she took a job in one of Grace Hoadley Dodge 's working girls' clubs in New York City.

Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1893, Bailey embarked on a trip to the curative climate of the Southwest, traveling in Utah, California, and Arizona, while producing a number of books. Upon her return to Washington, D.C., in 1896, she took up residence with her brother Clinton, then chief of the U.S. Biological Survey. Clinton introduced her to a colleague, Vernon Bailey, who was also a naturalist with the Biological Survey. The two had much in common and married in 1899. During the next 30 years, Bailey often accompanied her husband on arduous field expeditions in Texas, California, Arizona, the Pacific Northwest, and the Dakotas. While he pursued his studies of mammals, birds, reptiles, and plants, she concentrated on birdlife. Bailey's Handbook of Birds of the Western United States appeared in 1902, as she continued to regularly publish articles and papers on her observations. A counterpart to Frank M. Chapman's Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America (1895), Bailey's Handbook became a standard and went through many printings. She also contributed sections on birds to a number of her husband's books, notably Wild Animals of Glacier National Park (1918) and Cave Life of Kentucky (1933).

In 1928, Bailey finished a comprehensive study of the birdlife of the Southwest. The resulting book, Birds of New Mexico, was awarded the 1931 Brewster Medal of the American Ornithologists' Union, making Bailey the first woman to receive that award. This particular work was acknowledged again in 1933, when she received an honorary degree from the University of New Mexico. Bailey's last work of note, Among the Birds in the Grand Canyon National Park, was published when she was past 75 years of age, a mark of her incredible vitality.

Keeping a home in Washington, Bailey remained active as a founding member of the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia when not in the field and often taught classes in basic ornithology. As the first woman associate member of the American Ornithologists' Union (1885), she became its first woman fellow in 1929. Throughout her life, Bailey retained her strong social conscience and held memberships in groups like the Playground and Recreation Association of America, the National Housing Association, and the National Child Labor Committee. She served on the board of managers of the Working Boys' Home in Washington for many years.

Surviving her husband by six years, Florence Bailey died at age 85. Perhaps the greatest of her many honors was bestowed in 1908, when a variety of chickadee from the mountains of southern California was named Parus gambeli baileyae. Florence Bailey is remembered as one of the most literary ornithologists of her time.

Barbara Morgan , Melrose, Massachusetts