where Audubon spent his last years, the remains of the naturalist were
laid with all honor and respect, on the Thursday following his death.
Time brought changes which demanded the removal of the first
burial-place, and a second one was chosen in the same cemetery, which
is now marked by the beautiful monument erected by the New York
Academy of Sciences.[64]
Now wife and sons have joined him; together they rest undisturbed by
winter storms or summer heat; the river they loved so well flows past
their silent home as in days long gone when its beauties won their
hearts.
Truly the place where they dwelt shall know them no more, but "while
the melody of the mocking-bird is heard in the cypress forests of
Louisiana, and the squirrel leaps from its leafy curtain like a thing
of beauty, the name of Audubon will live in the hearts of coming
generations."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] "My name is John James Laforest Audubon. The name Laforest I never
sign except when writing to my wife, and she is the only being, since
my father's death, who calls me by it." (Letter of Audubon to Mrs.
Rathbone, 1827.) All Mrs. Audubon's letters to her husband address him
as Laforest.
[2] This manuscript was found in an old book which had been in a barn
on Staten Island for years.
[3] Reprinted from Scribner's Magazine, March, 1893, p. 267. A few
errors in names and dates are now corrected.
[4] Isle a Vache, eight miles south of Aux Cayes.
[5] This vessel was the "Annelle."
[6] The family still own this portrait, of which Victor G. Audubon
writes: "This portrait is probably the _first_ one taken of that great
and good man, and although the drawing is hard, the coloring and
costume are correct, I have no doubt. It was copied by Greenhow, the
sculptor, when he was preparing to model his 'Washington' for the
Capitol, and he considered it as a valuable addition to the material
already obtained. This portrait was painted by an artist named Polk,
but who or what he was, I know not."
[7] There still remain those who recall how Audubon would walk up and
down, snapping his fingers, a habit he had when excited, when relating
how he had seen his aunt tied to a wagon and dragged through the
streets of Nantes in the time of Carrier.
[8] This brother left three daughters; only one married, and her
descendants, if any, cannot be traced.
[9] "The Polly," Captain Sammis commander.
[10] May 26, 1806.
[11] Great Blue Heron.
[12] This visit passed into history in the published works of each of
the great ornithologists, who were never friends. See "Behind the
Veil," by Dr. Coues in Bulletin of Nuttall Ornithological Club, Oct.,
1880, p. 200.
[13] Episode "Breaking of the Ice."
[14] 1819.
[15] Stephen Harriman Long, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army, who was
then on his way to explore the region of the upper Mississippi and
Minnesota Rivers.
[16] Titian R. Peale, afterward naturalist of the U.S. Exploring
Expedition, under Commodore Wilkes. Later in life he was for many
years an examiner in the Patent Office at Washington, and died at a
very advanced age. He was a member of the eminent Peale family of
artists, one of whom established Peale's Museum in Philadelphia.--E.
C.
[17] The distinguished naturalist of that name.--E. C.
[18] Jacques Louis David (1748-1825), court painter to Louis XVI. and
afterwards to Napoleon I.
[19] In 1836, Audubon wrote to Dr. John Bachman: "Some of my early
drawings of European birds are still in our possession, but many have
been given away, and the greatest number were destroyed, not by the
rats that gnawed my collection of the "Birds of America," but by the
great fire in New York, as these drawings were considered my wife's
special property and seldom out of her sight. Would that the others
had been under her especial care also! Yet, after all, who can say
that it was not a material advantage, both to myself and to the world,
that the Norway rats destroyed those drawings?"
[20] Mr. W. H. Wetherill, of Philadelphia.
[21] April 28, 1893.
[22] "I have often seen the red-sandstone monument placed to mark the
terminal of the Sullivan Bridge on our side of the river, but the
curiosity hunters have so marred it that only 'livans' and part of the
date remain." (Extract from letter of Mr. W. H. Wetherill, Aug. 12,
1893.)
[23] This statement is from the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and
Biography," vol. xiv., No. 2, page 218, July, 1890.
[24] "Under the will of Col. Jno. Macomb Wetherill, late owner of
Fatland Farm, 40 feet square were deeded out of the farm, and placed
in trust, and $1000 trusteed to keep the grove and lot in order. A
granite curb and heavy iron rail surround this plot; Col. Wetherill
was buried there and his remains lie with those of your ancestors."
(Extract from letter of W. H. Wetherill, May 10, 1897.)
[25] From "History of Henderson County, Kentucky," by E. L. Starling,
page 794.
[26] Of these many sketches few can be traced, and none purchased.
[27] Mrs. Audubon afterwards received four hundred dollars, of the
twelve hundred dollars due; the remainder was never paid.
[28] See Episode: "A Tough Walk for a Youth."
[29] The before-mentioned journal, 1822-24.
[30] (With slight alterations) from "Bird Life," by F. M. Chapman,
1897, p. 13.
[31] Prince of Musignano, and subsequently a distinguished
ornithologist. In March, 1824, Bonaparte was just publishing his
"Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology," which ran
through the "Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences," of
Philadelphia, from April 5, 1824, to Aug. 25, 1825, in five parts.
This was preliminary to Bonaparte's "American Ornithology," which
appeared in four quarto vols., 1825-33, to his "Synopsis," of 1828,
and to his "Comparative List," of 1838.--E. C.
[32] Probably the Academy of Natural Sciences.
[33] Ord had edited the posthumous vols. viii. and ix. of "Wilson's
Ornithology," which appeared in 1814; and in 1824 was engaged upon
that edition of Wilson which was published in 3 vols. 8vo, in 1828-29,
with a folio atlas of 76 plates. This is probably enough to account
for his attitude toward Audubon.--E. C.
[34] "Defence of Audubon," by John Bachman. "Bucks Co. Intelligencer,"
1835, and other papers.
[35] Almost the only other enemy Audubon appears to have ever had in
public print was Charles Waterton, who vehemently assailed him in
"Loudon's Magazine of Natural History," vi. 1833, pp. 215-218, and
vii., 1834, pp. 66-74. Audubon was warmly defended by his son Victor
in the same magazine, vi. 1833, p. 369, and at greater length by "R.
B.," _ibid._, pp. 369-372. Dr. Coues characterizes Waterton's attack
as "flippant and supercilious animadversion," in "Birds of the
Colorado Valley," 1878, p. 622.
The present is hardly the occasion to bring up the countless reviews
and notices of Audubon's published life-work; but a few references I
have at hand may be given. One of the earliest, if not the first,
appeared in the "Edinburgh Journal of Science," vi. p. 184 (1827). In
1828, Audubon himself published "An Account of the Method of Drawing
Birds," etc., in the same Journal, viii., pp. 48-54. The "Report of a
Committee appointed by the Lyceum of Natural History of New York to
examine the splendid work of Mr. Audubon," etc., appeared in
"Silliman's Journal," xvi., 1829, pp. 353, 354. His friend William
Swainson published some highly commendatory and justly appreciative
articles on the same subject in "Loudon's Magazine," i., 1829, pp.
43-52, and in the "Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal," x., 1831, pp.
317-332, under the pseudonym "Ornithophilus." Another anonymous
review, highly laudatory, appeared in the same Journal, xviii., 1834,
pp. 131-144. Dr. John Bachman defended the truthfulness of Audubon's
drawings in the "Journal of the Boston Society of Natural History," i.
1834, pp. 15-31. One of the most extended notices appeared anonymously
in the "North American Review," July, 1835, pp. 194-231; and another
signed "B," in "Loudon's Magazine," viii., 1835, PP. 184-190. In
Germany, "Isis von Oken" contained others, xxx., 1837, pp. 922-928,
xxxv., 1842, pp. 157, 158; and xxxvii., 1844, pp. 713-718. "Silliman's
Journal" again reviewed the work in xlii., 1842, pp. 130-136.--E. C.
[36] That is the species now known as Wilson's Snipe, _Gallinago
delicata_.
[37] Dr. Richard Harlan is the author of the well-known "Fauna
Americana," 8vo, Philadelphia, 1825, and of many scientific papers.
Audubon dedicated to him the Black Warrior, _Falco harlani_, a large,
dark hawk of the genus _Buteo_, shot at St. Francisville, La., Nov.
18, 1829.
[38] Charles Alexandre Le Sueur, 1778-1846, distinguished French
naturalist. Best biography in Youman's "Pioneers of Science in
America," 8vo, N.Y., 1896, pp. 128-139, with portrait. The same volume
contains a biographical sketch of Audubon, pp. 152-166, with portrait
after the oil painting by George P. A. Healy, belonging to the Boston
Society of Natural History.--E. C.
[39] Of the great folios, parts i.-v., containing plates 1-25, were
originally published at successive dates (not ascertained) in 1827;
parts vi.-x., plates 26-50, appeared in the course of 1828,--all in
London. The whole work was completed in 1838; it is supposed to have
been issued in 87 parts of 5 plates each, making the actual total of
435 plates, giving 1065 figures of birds. On the completion of the
series, the plates were to be bound in 4 vols. Vol. i., pll. 1-100,
1827-30; vol. ii., pll. 101-200, 1831-34; vol. iii., pll. 201-300,
1834-35; vol. iv., pll. 301-435, 1835-38 (completed June 30). These
folios had no text except the title-leaf of each volume. The original
price was two guineas a part; a complete copy is now worth $1,500 to
$2,000, according to condition of binding, etc., and is scarce at any
price. The text to the plates appeared under the different title of
"Ornithological Biography," in 5 large 8vo volumes, Edinburgh,
1831-39; vol. i., 1831; vol. ii., 1834; vol. iii., 1835; vol. iv.,
1838; vol. v., 1839. In 1840-44, the work reappeared in octavo, text
and plates together, under the original title of "Birds of America;"
the text somewhat modified by the omission of the "Delineations of
American Scenery and Manners," the addition of some new matter
acquired after 1839, and change in the names of many species to agree
with the nomenclature of Audubon's Synopsis of 1839; the plates
reduced by the camera lucida, rearranged and renumbered, making 500 in
all. The two original works, thus put together and modified, became
the first octavo edition called "Birds of America," issued in 100
parts, to be bound in 7 volumes, 1840-44. There have been various
subsequent issues, partial or complete, upon which I cannot here
enlarge. For full bibliographical data see Dr. Coues' "Birds of the
Colorado Valley," Appendix, 1878, pp. 612, 618, 625, 629, 644, 661,
666, 669 and 686.--E. C.
[40] Referring to Mr. Robert Havell, of No. 77 Oxford St., London. His
name will be recalled in connection with _Sterna havellii_, the Tern
which Audubon shot at New Orleans in 1820, and dedicated to his
engraver in "Orn. Biogr." v., 1839, p. 122, "B. Amer.," 8vo, vii.,
1844, p. 103, pl. 434. It is the winter plumage of the bird Nuttall
called _S. forsteri_ in his "Manual," ii., 1834, p. 274. See Coues,
"Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Science," 1862, p.
543.--E. C.
[41] See previous note on p. 59, where it is said that plates 1-25
appeared in 1827, and plates 26-50 in 1828--in attestation of which
the above words to Victor Audubon become important.--E. C.
[42] It actually ran to 87 numbers, as stated in a previous note.
[43] See Episodes "Great Egg Harbor" and "Great Pine Swamp."
[44] Mr. Garrett Johnson, where Mrs. Audubon was then teaching.
[45] There has been much question as to the spelling of MacGillivray's
name, Professor Newton and most others writing it Macgillivray, but in
the autograph letters we own the capital "G" is always used.
[46] Address at the special meeting of the New York Academy of
Sciences, April 26, 1893.
[47] Referring to one of the six "epochs" into which, in the same
work, Dr. Coues divided the progress of American Ornithology. His
"Audubon epoch" extends from 1824 to 1853, and one of the four periods
into which this epoch is divided is the "Audubonian period,"
1834-1853.
[48] Descriptions of the Rapacious Birds of Great Britain. By William
MacGillivray, A.M., Edinburgh, 1836, I vol. small 8vo. This valuable
treatise is dedicated "To John James Audubon, in admiration of his
talents as an ornithologist, and in gratitude for many acts of
friendship." Mr. MacGillivray also had then in preparation or
contemplation his larger "History of British Birds," 3 volumes of
which appeared in 1837-40, but the 4th and 5th volumes not till
1852.--E. C.
[49] The completed volume bears date of MDCCCXXXI. on the titlepage
and the publisher's imprint of "Adam Black, 55, North Bridge,
Edinburgh." The collation is pp. i-xxiv, 1-512, + 15 pp. of
Prospectus, etc. This is the text to plates I.-C. (1-100) of the
elephant folios. Other copies are said to bear the imprint of
"Philadelphia, E. L. Carey and A. Hart, MDCCCXXXI."--E. C.
Audubon wrote to Dr. Richard Harlan on March 13, 1831, "I have sent a
copy of the first volume to you to-day."
[50] We only possess one oil painting signed "Audubon."
[51] John Bachman, D.D., LL.D., Ph.D., Feb. 4, 1790-April 24, 1874.
Author of many works, scientific, zoological, and religious. For sixty
years he was pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Charleston, S.C.
[52] Both these daughters died young,--Maria, the eldest, who married
John, before she was twenty-four; Eliza, who married Victor, still
younger, during the first year of her wedded life.
[53] Mr. Joseph Coolidge, formerly of Maine, now of San Francisco,
Cal. Two others are known by name to every ornithologist through
Audubon's _Emberiza shattuckii_ and _Fringilla lincolnii_; for these
birds see notes beyond.--E. C.
[54] The offices 34 Liberty St., New York, were burned at this time.
[55] John James Abert, who was in 1837 brevet lieutenant-colonel of
Topographical Engineers, U.S. Army, and afterward chief of his corps.
Abert's Squirrel, _Sciurus aberti_, forms the subject of plate 153,
fig. 1, of Audubon and Bachman's "Quadrupeds."
[56] This important and standard work on American Mammalogy was not,
however, finished till many years afterward, nor did Audubon live to
see its completion. Publication of the colored plates in oblong folio,
without text, began at least as early as 1840, and with few exceptions
they first appeared in this form. They were subsequently reduced to
large octavo size, and issued in parts with the text, then first
published. The whole, text and plates, were then gathered in 3
volumes: vol. i., 1846; vol. ii., 1851; vol. iii., to page 254 and pl.
150, 1853; vol. iii., p. 255 to end, 1854. There are in all 155
plates; 50 in vol. i., 50 in vol. ii., 55 in vol. iii.; about half of
them are from Audubon's brush, the rest by John Woodhouse. The exact
character of the joint authorship does not appear; but no doubt the
technical descriptions are by Dr. Bachman. Publication was made in New
York by Victor Audubon; and there was a reissue of some parts of the
work at least, as vol. i. is found with copyright of 1849, and date
1851 on the title.--E. C.
[57] Lucy, now Mrs. Delancey B. Williams.
[58] Victor Audubon wrote in reply to a question as to how many copies
of the "Birds" were in existence: "About 175 copies; of these I should
say 80 were in our own country. The length of time over which the work
extended brought many changes to original subscribers, and this
accounts for the odd volumes which are sometimes offered for sale."
In stating that the work had been "absolutely completed" in 1838, I
must not omit to add that when the octavo reissue appeared it
contained a few additional birds chiefly derived from Audubon's
fruitful voyage up the Missouri in 1843, which also yielded much
material for the work on the Quadrupeds. The appearance of the
"Synopsis" in 1839 marks the interval between the completion of the
original undertaking and the beginning of plans for its reduction to
octavo.--E. C.
[59] "These little folk, of all sizes, sit and play in my room and do
not touch the specimens." (Letter of Dr. Bachman, May 11, 1848, to his
family in Charleston.)
[60] Harper's Monthly Magazine, October, 1880, p. 665.
[61] Both sons had married a second time. Victor had married Georgiana
R. Mallory of New York, and John, Caroline Hall of England.
[62] Mrs. V. G. Audubon.
[63] Reminiscences of Audubon, Scribner's Monthly, July, 1876, p. 333;
Turf, Field, and Farm, Nov. 18, 1881.
[64] Unveiled April 26, 1893, on which occasion eulogies were
pronounced by Mr. D. G. Elliot, ex-president of the American
Ornithologists' Union, and Prof. Thomas Egleston of Columbia College.
THE EUROPEAN JOURNALS
1826-1829
THE EUROPEAN JOURNALS
1826-1829
On _the 26th April_, 1826, I left my beloved wife Lucy Audubon, and my
son John Woodhouse with our friends the Percys at Bayou Sara. I
remained at Doctor Pope's at St. Francisville till Wednesday at four
o'clock P. M., when I took the steamboat "Red River," Captain Kemble,
for New Orleans, which city I reached at noon on Wednesday, 27th.
Visited many vessels for my passage to England, and concluded to go in
the ship "Delos" of Kennebunk, Captain Joseph Hatch, bound to
Liverpool, and loaded entirely with cotton. During my stay in New
Orleans, I lived at G. L. Sapinot's, and saw many of my old friends
and acquaintances, but the whole time of waiting was dull and heavy. I
generally walked from morning till dusk. New Orleans, to a man who
does not trade in dollars or other such stuff, is a miserable spot.
Finally, discovering that the ship would not be ready for sea for
several days longer, I ascended the Mississippi again in the "Red
River," and arrived at Mrs. Percy's at three o'clock in the morning,
having had a dark ride through the Magnolia woods. I remained two
days, left at sunrise, and breakfasted with my good friend Augustin
Bourgeat. Arrived at New Orleans, I called on the governor, who gave
me a letter bearing the seal of the State, obviating the necessity of
a passport. I received many letters of introduction from different
persons which will be of use to me. Also I wrote to Charles Bonaparte,
apprising him of the box of bird skins forwarded to him.
On the _17th of May_, my baggage was put on board, I following, and
the steamboat "Hercules" came alongside at seven P. M., and in ten
hours put the "Delos" to sea. I was immediately affected with
sea-sickness, which, however, lasted but a short time; I remained on
deck constantly, forcing myself to exercise. We calculated our day of
departure to be May 18, 1826, at noon, when we first made an
observation. It is now the 28th; the weather has been generally fair
with light winds. The first objects which diverted my thoughts from
the dear ones left behind me, were the beautiful Dolphins that glided
by the vessel like burnished gold by day, and bright meteors by night.
Our captain and mate proved experts at alluring them with baited
hooks, and dexterous at piercing them with a five-pronged instrument,
generally called by seamen "grain." If hooked, the Dolphin flounces
desperately, glides off with all its natural swiftness, rises
perpendicularly out of the water several feet, and often shakes off
the hook and escapes; if, however, he is well hooked, he is played
about for a while, soon exhausted, and hauled into the ship. Their
flesh is firm, dry, yet quite acceptable at sea. They differ much in
their sizes, being, according to age, smaller or larger; I saw some
four and a half feet long, but a fair average is three feet. The
paunch of all we caught contained more or less small fishes of
different varieties, amongst which the flying-fish is most prevalent.
Dolphins move in companies of from four or five to twenty or more.
They chase the flying-fish, that with astonishing rapidity, after
having escaped their sharp pursuer a while in the water, emerge, and
go through the air with the swiftness of an arrow, sometimes in a
straight course, sometimes forming part of a circle; yet frequently
the whole is unavailing, for the Dolphin bounds from the sea in leaps
of fifteen or twenty feet, and so moves rapidly towards his prey, and
the little fish falls, to be swallowed by his antagonist. You must not
suppose, however, that the Dolphin moves through the seas without
risk or danger; he, as well as others has vigilant and powerful
enemies. One is the Barracouta, in shape much like a Pike, growing
sometimes to a large size; one of these cut off upwards of a foot of a
Dolphin's tail, as if done with an axe, as the Dolphin made for a
baited hook; and I may say we about divided the bounty. There is a
degree of sympathy existing between Dolphins quite remarkable; the
moment one of them is hooked or grained, all those in company
immediately make towards him, and remain close to him till the
unfortunate is hauled on board, then they move off and will rarely
bite. The skin of the fish is a tissue of small scales, softer in
their substance than is generally the case in scaley fishes of such
size; the skin is tough.