Bailey Orlando Vernon (1864-1942)

Vernon Orlando Bailey, naturalist and mammalogist, was born 21 June 1864 at Manchester, Michigan. He was the sixth of eight children born to Hiram and Emily (Taylor) Bailey. He completed high school in Elk River, Minnesota. After farming for several years, he attended the University of Michigan from 1893-1894 and Columbian University (now George Washington) from 1894-1895.

From 1887 to 1896 Bailey was a field naturalist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy.

In 1897 he became Chief Field Naturalist and Senior Biologist of the Department of Agriculture’s Biological Survey Bureau, making many field trips throughout the west and southwest until his retirement in 1933.

He authored several books on mammals, birds, and plants, including Wild Animals of Glacier National Park, Animal Life of Yellowstone National Park, and Animal Life of Carlsbad Cavern.

He was also responsible for adding specimens of North American mammals to the U.S. National Museum collection and writing technical descriptions of new species.

Vernon Bailey founded the American Society of Mammalogists in 1933 and was president of both that society and the District Biological Society. He was also a member of the American Ornithologists Union.

In 1899 Vernon Bailey married Florence Merriam (1863-1948), who herself was
an accomplished naturalist and author of several books on ornithology.
They had no children.

Bailey died at his home in Washington, D.C. on 20 April 1942.

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Cronologia Ornitologica
copyright Masi Alberto