Lillian Grace Barrington-Baker Paca (1883-1978) was born in Kingston, Jamaica on October 20,1883, the daughter of Lt. Colonel Robert Barrington-Baker and his wife, Susanna MaryMiddleton. Lillian spent her childhood in the West Indies where her father was stationed withthe British Army. As a young woman she studied art in France, Germany and in London withrenowned portraitist Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope. She also became fluent in five languages.Lillian set up her first art studio in Kensington, London and became a member of the IpswichFine Art Club where she exhibited her early commissioned portraits. During World War l Lilliandid intelligence work for the British Intelligence Corps related to the censorship securitydepartment. Post-war she worked in Paris with American Headquarters where she met anAmerican serviceman, Edward Tilghman Paca (1877-1972). Emigrating to the United States, shemarried Paca in 1920 and the couple moved to a farm in Colorado. They had two sons, Robertand Francis.During World War ll Lillian spent time in Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, California sketchingthe seals on Seal Rock. These illustrations were collected in her first, privately published book,Sea Lions and Seals of California (1947), closely followed by Pelican Personalities. She opted toremain on the Monterey Peninsula for the rest of her life and became a member of the CarmelArt Association as well as the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.For several years Lillian wrote a nature column for the Monterey Herald. In the late 1950s theSmithsonian Institution requested her bird drawings for an exhibition. She then authored andillustrated four more books on birds and whales for publishing houses, including Introduction toWestern Birds, 1953; Sea Gulls and Such: Shore Birds of the Pacific Coast, 1961; The Royal Birds,1963; and California Sea Otters, 1967. In addition, Paca published a book of poetry whichearned her the title of “Monterey Peninsula’s Poet Laureate.”One of the nation’s foremost bird artists, Paca died in Pacific Grove on January 14, 1978, at theage of ninety-four.