Robert Ridgway's drawing of a Junco, a small North American finch. Robert Ridgway was an American ornithologist, protégé of second Smithsonian Secretary Spencer F. Baird, and first full time curator of birds at the Smithsonian's United States National Museum. He came to the Smithsonian in 1880 and remained until his death in 1929. Ridgway produced wonderful drawings and paintings of birds