Florence Merriam Bailey

Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey
Florence Merriam, 1904, Portrait from The Condor
Born	(1863-08-08)August 8, 1863 Locust Grove, New York, United States
Died	September 22, 1948(1948-09-22) (aged 85) Washington, D.C.
Resting place	Locust Grove, New York, United States
Nationality	USA
Fields	Ornithology
Alma mater	Smith College (attended, 1882–1886; awarded, 1921), Stanford University
Known for	First modern field guide for birdwatchers, work in bird conservation
Notable awards	Brewster Medal
Spouse	Vernon Orlando Bailey

Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey (August 8, 1863 – September 22, 1948) was an American ornithologist and nature writer. She was born in Locust Grove, New York. The youngest of four children, she was the younger sister of Clinton Hart Merriam. She organized early Audubon Society chapters and was an activist for bird protection. She wrote what is considered the first bird field guide in the modern tradition, Birds Through an Opera-Glass, published in 1890. Her extensive field work in the American West, often with her husband Vernon Bailey, was documented in several books, chief among them Handbook of Birds of the Western United States and The Birds of New Mexico.

Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey was born on August 8, 1863 in Locust Grove, near Leyden, New York. Her parents were Clinton Levi Merriam and Caroline Hart Merriam. The youngest of four children, Florence's siblings were her brother Clinton Hart (who was known as C. Hart to distinguish him from his father), sister Ella Gertrude (who died before Florence was born), and brother Charles Collins. She grew up at her family's estate, "Homewood", on a wooded hilltop above her grandparents' home at Locust Grove. She and her brother C. Hart (almost eight years her senior) were encouraged to study natural history and astronomy by their mother, father, and aunt Helen Bagg; the both of them became interested in ornithology at an early age. Florence's father was interested in scientific matters and was in correspondence with John Muir after he had met him at Yosemite in the summer of 1871.

In her adolescence, Florence Merriam's health was somewhat fragile. Nevertheless, she studied at Mrs. Piatt's private school in Utica, New York as a preparation for college. Beginning in 1882, she attended Smith College as a special student, for which she received a certificate rather than a degree in 1886. Her candidacy for a degree was recognized much later, and she received it in 1921. She also attended six months of lectures at Stanford University in the winter of 1893–1894.