George Newbold Lawrence

Who was George Newbold Lawrence?

George Newbold Lawrence was an American businessman and amateur ornithologist.

Lawrence conducted Pacific bird surveys for Spencer Fullerton Baird and John Cassin, and the three men co-authored Birds of North America in 1860.

He sold his collection of 8,000 bird skins to the American Museum of Natural History in 1887.

Fellow ornithologists honored him by naming one bird genus and 20 species after him, including both the scientific and common name of the Lawrence's Goldfinch, first described by Cassin in 1852.