IT is a matter of surprise that Robert Mont gomery Bird has hitherto escaped the biographer. Excepting the brief mention in textbooks and encyclopedias, virtually nothing has been written of a man whose name was once well known to the reading public of both America and England. Cast into cacophonous German, one of his novels found its way'to the continent and ran through successive editions. It is, of course, futile to deprecate the verdicts of time as it is unsafe to predict them. It is rather the purpose of this book to set forth the claims of Dr. Bird, such as they are, to rank among American men of letters; and incidentally to explore a character of great charm that made him loved of all that knew him.