Couëron: Alcide Charles Victor in 1802, Gaston Edouard in
1805, and Charles in 1806; the youngest and eldest became
distinguished naturalists. So far as known, Audubon was
godfather only to the second, Gaston Edouard, who according
to the records of the Catholic church at Couëron, "was
born on the 3d day of the present [month], the issue of the
legitimate marriage of Mr. Charles Marie d'Orbigny, doctor of
medicine, and of Anna Pepart," was christened on August 20,
1805, in the presence of the godfather, John James Audubon,
the godmother, Rosa Audubon, the father and mother, together
with the "undersigned" (Extracted by Monsieur Lavigne).
D'Orbigny appears as a witness to the powers of attorney which
Jean Audubon and his wife issued jointly to their son and to
Ferdinand Rozier at Couëron in 1805 (see Appendix I, Document
No. 8) and on November 20, 1806 (see Vol. I, p. 153).
[109] For copies of this and the following letters, which are
here translated from the French, I am indebted to Monsieur
Lavigne.
[110] A daughter of Catharine Bouffard, regarding whom see
Vol. I, p. 56.
[111] See Appendix I, Document No. 8.
[112] The civil ceremony of Rosa Audubon's marriage was
performed at the mayor's office in Couëron, on December 16,
1805 (_le 26 frimaire, an 14_), when the bride was in her
eighteenth year; the contract had been drawn on the 12th
day of that month (_le 22 frimaire, an 14_) by notary Martin
Daviais, who was mayor of Couëron in the following year, and
the religious ceremony was conducted by the Bishop of Nantes.
"The following have assisted," so reads in translation the
Couëron record, "at the marriage, aforesaid, on the side of
the groom, M. André Loyen du Puigaudeau, his brother, and
M. Honoré François Guiraud, his brother-in-law; by the side
of the bride, her father, and M. Jean Audubon, her brother,
[and these have] undersigned, together with the bridegroom."
Audubon's signature reads "J. L. J. Audubon."
[113] For the full text of these two documents, which are so
interesting for our story, see Appendix I, Documents Nos.
9 and 10; and for translations, Documents Nos. 9a and 10a.
For the privilege of examining and reproducing the first of
these papers I am indebted to Mr. Charles A. Rozier, of St.
Louis, and for the second, as well as the power of attorney
of 1805 (see Document No. 8), referred to earlier, to Mr. Tom
J. Rozier, of Sainte Geneviève, Missouri. In the case of this
second warrant it will be noticed that the grantors signed
only the minute which was filed with the notaries, who, with
the judge of the Court of the First Instance, affixed their
names to the document itself. No better illustration could be
given of the dignity which the French attach to the office
of notary, to the honored incumbents of which their private
affairs are unreservedly entrusted, than this elaborate
judicial document.
[114] In the register of the Central Committee of Nantes
it is noted, under date of October 4, 1793, that "owing
to the friendly relations then existing between France and
the citizens of the United States, and to the good feeling
evinced by them in sending to us for food, four American ships
are accordingly permitted to leave the port of Nantes, with
cargoes of wine, sugar, and coffee, and also to take enough
biscuit for the voyage."
[115] The receipt which the captain handed the young men,
and which the methodical Rozier preserved, remains as a
souvenir of this voyage (in the Tom J. Rozier MSS); it reads
as follows:
Recvd. from Mr. John Audubon &
ferdinand Rozier the sum of five Hundred
and twenty five Livers being in full for their
passage from Nantes to New York in the Ship
Polly........................... S. Sammis
[In Rozier's (?) handwriting] New York May 28, 1806
[Indorsed by Rozier on back] Payé le 11 avril 1806
[116] The total population of Couëron, as given in the
official directory for 1913, was 2,035, but the total working
population is probably three times as great.
[117] There is also the _grand calvaire_, which stands on
an eminence in the village. This was erected in 1825 on the
foundations of the chateau of the dukes of Brittany, the last
of whom, Francis II, died at Couëron in 1488. His tomb is
in the nave of the cathedral at Nantes; the _grand calvaire_
was restored by two Couëron families in 1873, and is a very
elaborate structure.
[118] Mr. William Beer, who paid a visit to "La Gerbetière"
with Dr. Louis Bureau in 1910, writes me that the woodwork
was poor in quality, and that all the rooms had been altered
in size and appearance.
[119] But not related to M. L. Lavigne, to whom I am indebted
for extracts from the deed, a translation of which is given
below, as well as for many other references.
[120] That is, the landlord to receive one-half the produce.
[121] A "journal" of land being as much as a man could
cultivate in a day's labor.
[122] See Chapter XVII.
[123] For the privilege of examining Ferdinand Rozier's
copy of their "Articles of Association" I am indebted to the
kindness of Mr. Charles A. Rozier, of Saint Louis. This is
written on three sides of hand-made, hand-ruled Government
linen, small letter size, with printed revenue stamp (50
centimes) of the French Republic at top, and stamped with
the seal of the Department of Registration and Stamps ("ADM.
DES DOM. DE L'ENREG. ET DU TIMBRE REP. FRA.—_Administration
des domaines de l'enregistrement et du timbre, République
Française_"). The signature of "Jean Audubon" bears a close
resemblance to that of the father, Lieutenant Jean Audubon,
who was undoubtedly the author of the document. For the
"Articles" in full, in French and English, see Appendix I,
Documents Nos. 9 and 9a.
[124] Among the elder Rozier's papers was part of an old
letterbook belonging to his son; it is written in French,
and labeled "Correspondence of Ferdinand Rozier." On one
of the four sheets preserved this item occurs: "4 July,
1806, Philadelphia; record of an agreement with Mr. Dacosta
proprietor of one half of the Mill Grove farm,—at least of the
value of sale." The first entry is dated "19 février—1806, New
York," which, if correct, would imply that Rozier spent two
years instead of one in the United States when he visited this
country in 1804 (or came a second time), and that he returned,
with young Audubon, almost immediately after reaching France
(see Vol. I, p. 245); the last record is "August, 1807, New
York." (MS. in possession of Dr. Louis Bureau, Nantes.)
[125] According to the records of Montgomery County, as
collated for Mr. W. H. Wetherill, the remaining half interest
in "Mill Grove" was sold by J. J. Audubon (and Ferdinand
Rozier) to Francis Dacosta & Company, for a consideration of
$9,640.33. The business was conducted mainly by Rozier, acting
under the advice of their friend, Miers Fisher.
[126] Translated from the French of Ferdinand's copy, in
possession of Mr. Welton A. Rozier, to whom I am indebted for
the privilege of reproducing it.
[127] "_Gourdes_," that is, piasters or Spanish dollars.
[128] Claude François Rozier, at this time an aged man,
died at Nantes on September 7, 1807; he had two sons and
six daughters, of whom Ferdinand was the second son and the
fifth child; his wife, Renée Angelique Colas, died at Nantes,
February 9, 1824.
[129] This was issued, so the letter reads, to "their son,
John Audubon, and Ferdinand Rozier, both of the said city of
Philadelphia, Gentlemen," by "John Audubon, late of the city
of Philadelphia, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, now
residing in the commune of Couëron, near the city of Nantes
in France, Gentleman, and Anne Moynette, his wife," to apply
to all lands and other property belonging to them in the
United States, with the power to "raise or borrow money on
the whole or any part or parts of the said lands, tenements,
or hereditaments, to secure the repayment of said monies
by bond, warrant of attorney, to contest judgment of the
mortgage of the said lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or
any part or parts thereof...." Written in French and English;
signed by Jean Audubon, Anne Moynet, his wife, by Doctors
Chapelain and C. d'Orbigny as witnesses, by the mayor of
Couëron, the prefect of the arrondissement and the prefect of
the department; countersigned on December 4, 1806, by W. D.
Patterson, of the "Commercial Agency of the United States at
Nantes." For the favor of examining this paper, I am indebted
to the kindness of Miss Maria R. Audubon.
[130] For the privilege of examining these letters I am
indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Louis Bureau, Director of
the Museum of Natural History and Professor in the School of
Medicine at Nantes, maternal great-grandson of François, and
grandnephew of Ferdinand Rozier. The letters were found in
an old trunk that once belonged to his grandfather, François
Denis Rozier. Five were written in French (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6
and 7), and addressed from New York to François Rozier at
Nantes; one (No. 3) in English and another (No. 5) in French
were sent in care of Rozier, to his father, John Audubon,
Esq., Nantes, with the direction to be delivered as soon as
possible; all are on unruled foolscap, wafer-sealed, and each
also bears an outside seal in wax, stamped with Bakewell's
initial (B). It is not possible to say whether Lieutenant
Audubon ever received these letters of his son; if received,
it is not very obvious why they should have been left in the
old merchant's hands, unless his ill health at the time, and
subsequent death were the cause (see Note, Vol. I, p. 152).
I am further indebted to Mr. William Beer, for the perusal of
his copies, which have been followed to a large extent.
Since all of these early letters throw an interesting light
upon the times as well as upon Audubon's personal history, we
shall give them in full, rendering the French into English as
literally as practicable.
[131] This Philadelphia merchant was evidently in France and
intending to visit Nantes at this time.
[132] "Of the St. Domingo packet."
[133] "Mr. L. Huron did, a few days ago, receive some wines
on a/c of M. Rozier, and hopes they prove good," etc.
[134] Miers Fisher, for many years Jean Audubon's trusted
agent and attorney in America. See Vol. I, p. 100.
[135] Gabriel Loyen du Puigaudeau, his brother-in-law.
[136] That is a miniature or an old portrait of his father
in the uniform of a lieutenant-commander, which with its
companion, representing Mme. Jean Audubon, his stepmother,
then hung in the house of "La Gerbetière" at Couëron. The
original portraits, which are reproduced facing page 78,
measure 23½ by 18½ inches, and were painted probably between
1801 and 1806; they were inventoried in documents bearing
date of November 14, 15 and 17, 1821, shortly after Mme.
Jean Audubon's death. They were restored in Paris about ten
years ago for Monsieur Lavigne, to whom I am indebted for the
photographs and this information.
[137] Audubon's intimate friend, see Vol. I, p. 128.
[138] "_Serinettes_," the old time music boxes, or
bird-organs, of Swiss origin, that were very popular in
America down to the time of the Civil War, or even later. They
were manufactured at St. Croix as late as 1880; instruments
of similar type, with dancing figures, have been adapted to
the penny-in-the-slot machines common in Switzerland to-day.
[139] _Marchand_, or retail merchant.
[140] Initials of the head of his firm, Benjamin Bakewell.
[141] The reference was to Mme. Stephanie-Felicité de Genlis
(1746-1830), teacher of the children of the Duke of Orleans,
Philippe-Egalité, and authoress of many works on education,
once popular, but now known only to the antiquary and the
ragman.
[142] Meaning possibly his prospective brother-in-law, Thomas
W. Bakewell, a fellow clerk in the office.
[143] One Louis was equal to twenty francs, or four dollars.
[144] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No.
86), vol. i, p. 32.
[145] Especially his account current, from June 1, 1806, to
July 25, 1807, with the "Mill Grove" farm, and "John Audubon
of Nantz," drawn up and signed at Philadelphia on the latter
date. Dacosta then claimed a balance due him of $950.64 above
the returns from farm and mine, of which he was entitled to
one-half; this sum included his salary and numerous minor
expenditures. When his account was contested and taken out of
court for settlement, it was cut by the arbitrators to $530.
See Appendix I, Document 11a.
The following is a "copy of the Award given by John Laval &
Laurence Huron appointed referees by Francis Dacosta and John
Audubon the elder by a rule of reference in the Common Pleas
of this county to have their differences in accounts settled:"
"We the within named referees, having heard the
parties and examined their respective accounts
& vouchers, do award that there is due by the
defendant, John Audubon the elder, to the plaintiff,
Francis Dacosta, the sum of five hundred and thirty
dollars, which we find to be the full balance of all
current accounts between them, and we award that the
said ballance be paid by the said John Audubon the
elder to the said Francis Dacosta by defalking the
same from the account of the condition of the Bond
of Eight Hundred Dollars—mentioned in the within
rule of reference conformably to the agreement
endorsed on the said Bond."
"Witness our hands Philadelphia 1st August, 1807."
"Signed—JOHN LAVAL."
"LAURENCE HURON."
(Copy of original MS., in possession of Mr. Welton H. Rozier.)
[146] In 1811 "Mill Grove" was conveyed by Francis Dacosta &
Company, to Frederick Beates, who in 1813 sold it to Samuel
Wetherill, Jr., for $7,000, the property having shrunk to
less than one-half the value placed upon it in 1806. For the
enterprises of the Wetherills, see Note, Vol. I, p. 102.
[147] Since we have been obliged to enter rather minutely
into the history of "Mill Grove," in order to trace the
relations of the Audubons to it in an important period of
the naturalist's career, the reader may be interested in the
anticlimax which its famous mines reached at a later day. The
Ecton Consolidated Mining Company had been in operation at
"Mill Grove" for a considerable period, when, in 1848, the
Perkioming Association was formed and ten thousand dollars was
at once invested in machinery. In 1851 these two companies
were combined under the name of the Perkioming Consolidated
Mining Company, which issued 50,000 shares of stock, at six
dollars each, thus representing a capital of $300,000. A
mining settlement quickly sprang up on Audubon's old farm,
where numerous buildings of stone, a general store, and
miners' houses were to be seen. In the first annual statement
issued by this company, the buildings were said to represent
an outlay of $15,000, while $140,000 had been expended on
machinery, both above and below ground. A Cornish expert,
who was summoned from England, was paid $1,414 for a verbose
report, the substance of which, it was said, was expressed in
conveying the information, already known, that the "mineral
mined is copper ore" (copper pyrite occurring in association
with lead). This company closed its business in 1851, by
assessing its stockholders one dollar a share, thus bringing
the total loss in this final effort to $350,000, nearly
one-third of which had been drawn from Philadelphia. After
one, or two, further unsuccessful attempts had been made,
all the substantial buildings of the mining works became a
quarry, from which stone was sold by the perch, the ruins of
the old engine house alone remaining to this day as a witness
of the follies of the generations that are gone. (This account
is based upon reports which have appeared in the press of
Philadelphia or in other Pennsylvania newspapers.)
[148] Samuel Latham Mitchell (1764-1831), physician,
naturalist, politician and voluminous writer on many subjects.
In 1797 he founded, in association with Dr. Edward Miller
and Dr. Elihu H. Smith, the _New York Medical Repository_,
and was its chief editor. He began also, at the University
of New York, one of the earliest collections in natural
history, and in 1817 appealed to the Historical Society of
his city for the foundation of a Zoölogical Museum; in the
same year he organized the Lyceum of Natural History, and was
its first president, Joseph Le Conte serving as corresponding
secretary, and John Torrey as one of its curators. On April
9, the following subjects were assigned to different members
for investigation, "Ichthyology or fishes, Plaxology or
crustaceous animals, Apalology or mollusca, and Geology or the
earth" being reserved for the president; Samuel Constantine
Rafinesque (see Chapter XIX) took charge of "Helmintology
or worms, Polypoligy or polyps, Atmology or Meteorology,
Hydrology or waters, and Taxodomy or classification;"
John Torrey, who became a distinguished botanist, was more
modest, and assumed charge only of "Entomology or insects;"
while to John Le Conte were given "Mastodology or mammalia,
Erpetology or reptiles, and Glossology or nomenclature." See
the _American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review_ (New York)
for August, 1817, p. 272.
[149] See Vol. I, p. 185.
[150] Cuvier stated in his report on Audubon's _Birds_,
delivered at the Academy of Sciences, Paris, September 22,
1828, that the author had been twenty-five years before a
pupil in the school of David. This would place the date in
1803, but earlier than the autumn of that year, when Audubon
started for America. See Note, Vol. I, p. 99.
[151] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
viii.
[152] F. T. Verger, _Archives curieuses de la ville de Nantes
et des départements de l'ouest_ (Nantes, 1837-41); for further
references to David in this chapter I am mainly indebted to
Georges Cain, _Le Long des Rues_ (Paris, 1812), and Charles
Saunier, _Louis David_ (Paris, no date).
[153] The implication as to time, which is repeated above,
contradicts an earlier statement, which is probably more
nearly correct, for when Audubon returned to America in 1806
he was twenty-one.
[154] See R. W. Shufeldt, in _The Auk_ and the _Audubonian
Magazine_ (Bibliography, Nos. 184 and 190).
[155] Referring to the fire of 1835, in New York.
[156] See Chapter XXI.
[157] When it passed into the equally worthy hands of Mr.
Joseph Y. Jeanes, of Philadelphia. Mr. Jeanes purchased from
the estate of Mr. Edward Harris, 2d, directly or indirectly,
and at different times, about 110 of these early originals;
others were dispersed, four of early date being in the Museum
of Harvard University. Mr. Jeanes also possesses a large
section of the Audubon-Harris correspondence, which extended
over nearly a quarter of a century, and of which little
has been published; to his kindness I am indebted for the
privilege of reproducing some of the drawings, as well as
numerous extracts from the letters, in the present work.
[158] Audubon said that some of the originals of _The Birds of
America_ were "made as long ago as 1805," which may well have
been the case, but the earliest date which has been preserved
on the drawings is that of July 1, 1808, for "Rathbone's
Warbler," later recognized as an immature form of the Summer
Warbler. The Carbonated Warbler was drawn May 7, 1811.
Seven bear the date of 1812, namely: Yellow-rumped Warbler,
April 22; Le petit Caporal, April 23; Wood Pewee, April 28;
Blackburnian and Bay-breasted Warblers, May 12; Chestnut-sided
Warbler, May 17; and Cuvier's Wren, June 8.
[159] For a list of Audubon's early dated drawings see
Appendix II. Through the courtesy of Mr. Jeanes, I am able
to reproduce a fuller series of Audubon's early drawings of
French and American birds than has hitherto been published,
and have chosen the subjects to illustrate the development of
his style.
[160] See Vol. I, p. 125.
[161] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
354.
[162] See Appendix II.
[163] See Appendix I, Document No. 11.
[164] This diary was first brought to my attention by Mr.
Ruthven Deane, and for permission to reproduce it I am
indebted to the kindness of a great-grandson of Ferdinand, Mr.
Welton A. Rozier, of Saint Louis. Mr. Rozier writes that the
original French notes have been mislaid or lost, but that they
were closely followed in this translation, whenever complete.
Though numerous verbal changes have been made in the present
draft, these have not altered the meaning in any respect.
Ferdinand Rozier's narrative begins as follows:
"I left Nantes, France, in company with John James Audubon,
on Saturday, the 12th day of April, 1806, bound for the
city of New York, U. S. A., on an American ship named the
_Polly_, commanded by Captain Sammis, and arrived at New York
on Tuesday, the 27th day of May. While on the voyage across
the ocean our vessel was stopped, overhauled, searched, and
robbed by an English privateer, named the _Rattlesnake_, which
detained us a day and a night.
"We remained in New York City for a few days, and then
removed to Mill Grove, on Pickering [Perkioming] Creek, in
Pennsylvania, a tract of land owned by our fathers, and at
that time thought to contain valuable minerals."
[165] In the rich bottom-lands of the Ohio River basin the
hackberry or sugarberry (_Celtis occidentals_) sometimes
exceeds one hundred feet in height, and has a diameter of from
four to five feet.
[166] The population of the second city of Pennsylvania
in 1800 was 1,565; in 1840, 4,768; and in 1910, after the
annexation of Allegheny, 533,905.
[167] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No.
86), vol. i, p. 28.
[168] See Appendix I, Document No. 11.
[169] See Chapter XI, page 158.
[170] When Audubon was returning with his wife and infant son
from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in the autumn of 1810; see "The
Ohio," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
29.
[171] In 1800 the population of Louisville was 600, and in
1810 it had risen to 1,350; see Charles Cist, _Cincinnati in
1841_ (Cincinnati, 1841).
[172] For this and the letter of Thomas Bakewell's uncle,
William Bakewell, which follows later, I am indebted to Mr.
Tom J. Rozier; see Note, Vol. I, p. 133, and for accompanying
"Account Current" of Audubon & Rozier, Appendix I, Document
No. 11.
[173] See Note, Vol. I, p. 196.
[174] The lead mine at "Mill Grove," which with the remaining
Audubon and Rozier interests in the farm had been taken
over by Dacosta's company in September, 1806. The failure
of Dacosta followed in about a year after the date of this
letter.
[175] Victor Gifford Audubon, who was then nine months old.
[176] See Vol. I, p. 153.
[177] William Bakewell died at Philadelphia on March 6, of the
same year, after suffering from the effects of a sunstroke,
and was, eventually, buried at "Fatland Ford;" in 1822 his
farm, originally of 800 acres, passed into the hands of
Dr. William Wetherill. See Note, Vol. I, p. 99, and W. G.
Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_ (Bibl. No. 200).
[178] In a letter to Alexander Lawson, written from
Pittsburgh, on February 22, 1810; see Elliott Coues, "Private
Letters of Wilson, Ord, and Bonaparte," _Penn Monthly_, vol.
x, pp. 443-455 (Philadelphia, 1879).
[179] See Elliott Coues, _loc. cit._
[180] Letter to Alexander Lawson, dated at Lexington, April
4, 1810; see Grosart, _Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander
Wilson_, vol. i, p. 189.
[181] See Grosart, _Poems and Literary Prose of Alexander
Wilson_, vol. i, p. xxiv.
[182] For "The Shark, or Lang Mills Detected," a satire
directed against William Sharp, a manufacturer of Paisley;
Wilson was fined £12 13s. 6d.
[183] See Bibliography, No. 43.
[184] At Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on October 3, 1799,
Alexander Wilson sent George Simpson, Esq., a State
Treasurer's check in favor of Joseph Brown for $475, to be
entered to the credit of Mr. Brown as one installment on 38
shares of scrip in the new loan at eight per cent, in the
names of Thomas Eyes, 14 shares; Alexander Wilson, 14 shares;
and Kenneth Sewell, 10 shares.
[185] This was the American edition of Abraham Rees' revision
of Ephraim Chambers' _Cyclopædia_, which had appeared in
London in 1728; it was published at Philadelphia, in forty-one
quarto volumes of text and six volumes of plates, by Samuel F.
Bradford and the Messrs. Murray, Fairman & Company, 1810-1824.
[186] "The types," said Charles Robert Leslie, "which were
very beautiful, were cast in America, and though at that time
paper was largely imported, he [Mr. Bradford] determined that
the paper should be of American manufacture; and I remember
that Ames, the paper maker, carried his patriotism so far that
he declared that he would use only American rags in making
it." (_Autobiographical Recollections_, Boston, 1860.)
[187] The _American Ornithology: or, the Natural History
of the Birds of the United States_: Illustrated with Plates
Engraved and Colored from Original Drawings taken from Nature,
by Alexander Wilson, was published in nine imperial quarto
volumes by Messrs. Bradford and Inskeep, at Philadelphia,
1808-1814. Each volume contained nine plates and from 100 to
167 pages of text, exclusive of prefatory and other matter.
The eighth volume, which was nearly ready for press at the
time of the author's death, was edited by George Ord, Wilson's
friend and executor; the final volume, which was wholly
by Ord, and which was issued in the same year, contained a
life of Wilson. After the appearance of the initial volume,
the edition was extended to 500 copies and the first volume
was entirely reset. Ord's life of Wilson was expanded for a
three-volume edition of the _Ornithology_, and from oversheets
of this work was produced as a separate volume in 1828 (see
Note, Vol. I, p. 223).
Wilson's published lists of subscribers show 449 names,
calling for 458 copies, more than half of which were taken by
residents of Pennsylvania, New York and Louisiana; 70 were
subscribed for in Philadelphia, chiefly by business men,
artists, and "those in the middle class of society;" New
Orleans in seventeen days gave him 60 subscribers; Europe
supplied 15, among whom were William Roscoe, later a patron
of Audubon, and Benjamin West, the artist. Wilson figured and
described 278 species of American birds (within the limits of
the United States), of which 56 were supposed to be new, and
the total number, given by Wilson and Ord, is said to be 320.
Twenty-three species were erroneously supposed to be identical
with their European counterparts, yet all of Wilson's birds
except the "Small-headed Flycatcher," referred to at the end
of this chapter, have been identified. Considering the time
and the difficulties under which he labored, his mistakes were
remarkably few.
[188] See Vol. I, p. 340.
[189] See a letter to Professor S. S. Haldeman, dated February
6, 1879, in _Penn Monthly_, vol. x (Philadelphia, 1879).
[190] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
437.
[191] _Sketch of the Life of Alexander Wilson, Author of
the American Ornithology_, by George Ord, F. L. S. &c. pp.
i-cxcix, Philadelphia, 1828; taken from vol. i of an octavo
edition of Wilson, edited by Ord, and issued by Harrison Hall,
in three volumes, at Philadelphia in 1828-29, with folio atlas
of plates reproduced from the original work; see Note 187,
_supra_.
[192] See Ord's charge of plagiarism against Audubon (Bibl.
No. 145) in the _Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society_, vol. i (1840). So far as could be ascertained
in the summer of 1915, Wilson's diary of 1810 was not in
the possession of any library or scientific society in
Philadelphia, nor was it in the large collection of books
which was given by Ord to the College of Physicians and
Surgeons of that city at the time of his death in 1866.
[193] The bracketed lines are from Waterton, who once stated
that he had examined the original.
[194] This sentence is quoted from Burns' biographical
sketch of Wilson (Bibl., No. 161), but tenses are changed to
correspond with other entries.
[195] _Musicapa minuta_, which appears in Figure 5, Plate 50,
of volume vi of Wilson's _American Ornithology_ (pp. 62-63
of the text), and in Figure 2, Plate ccccxxxiv, of Audubon's
_Birds of America_ (_Ornithological Biography_, vol. v, pp.
291-3).
[196] Nevertheless so careful and discerning a naturalist
as Thomas Nuttall confidently asserted that his friend, Mr.
M. C. Pickering, had "obtained a specimen several years ago
near Salem (Massachusetts)"; see _A Manual of the Ornithology
of the United States and Canada_ (Cambridge, 1832). Dr.
Elliott Coues at one time thought that it might have been the
Pine-creeping Warbler, and Professor Baird identified it as
the female or young of the Hooded Warbler.
[197] Compare _Ornithological Biography_, vol. iii, p. 203,
where in Audubon's article on the Whooping Crane, there is
this note: "Louisville, State of Kentucky, March, 1810. I had
the gratification of taking Alexander Wilson to some ponds
within a few miles of town, and of showing him many birds of
this species, of which he had not previously seen any other
than stuffed specimens. I told him that the white birds were
the adults, and that the grey ones were the young. Wilson, in
his article on the Whooping Crane, has alluded to this, but,
as on other occasions, he has not informed his readers whence
his information came."
[198] What appear to be the original legends, written on
this drawing in ink, are as follows: "Chute de l'Ohio. July
1, 1808. No. 31. J. A. Que j'avais figuré [?] 12 pennes à
la queue." Above were later added, also in ink, the names,
"sylvia Trochilus delicata; Sylvia delicata, Aud."
[199] On this drawing, which with Audubon's other originals
is in the collections of the Historical Society of New York,
the legends are as follows: "Mississippi Kite, Male, Falco
mississippiensis; Drawn from nature by John J. Audubon,
Louisiana, parish of Feliciana, James Perrie's Esq.,
Plantation. June 28th, 1821. Length 14 inches; Breadth 3 feet,
½ inches; Weight 10¾ ounces; Tail feathers, 12." It is drawn
in his usual style of that period, in pastel, water color and
pencil, and has been dismounted.
[200] See Vol. I, p. 305.
[201] _American Ornithology_, vol. iii, p. 80.
[202] See Witmer Stone, "Some Letters of Alexander Wilson and
John Abbot," _The Auk_, vol. xxiii, 1906.
[203] In 1840, by W. B. O. Peabody, naturalist; author of a
_Life_ of Wilson; see Bibliography, No. 105.
[204] Vincent Nolte, _Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres_ (Bibl.
No. 176).
[205] The first steamboat on the Ohio was the _Orleans_, a
vessel of 200-400 tons, built at Pittsburgh in the summer and
fall of 1811, by Robert Fulton and Robert M. Livingston; her
first voyage, when she touched at Henderson, was signalized,
as it seemed to many, by the great earthquakes of that year.
The first Kentucky steamer was built at Henderson in 1817, the
same year that a small vessel was constructed by Samuel Bowen
and J. J. Audubon at the same place (see Chapter XVI). Compare
Edmund L. Starling, _History of Henderson County, Kentucky_
(Bibl. No. 186).
[206] Known first as Redbank or Redbanks, to distinguish
it from Yellowbank, or Owensboro, on a similar bend farther
upstream; called also Hendersonville, but this term had no
official standing. The population of Henderson in 1810 is
given as 159, and that of the entire county, then larger than
at present, as 5,000. See Starling, _op. cit._
[207] See Vol. I, p. 235.
[208] See translations from copies of the originals, in
French, in possession of the Louisiana Historical Society,
New Orleans, in Appendix I, Document No. 21.
[209] Boat for the exchange of prisoners of war.
[210] Compare Note, Vol. I, p. 152.
[211] See Note, Vol. I, p. 148.
[212] For this characterization of Ferdinand Rozier I am
indebted mainly to an account by his son, Firman A. Rozier,
at one time mayor of Ste. Geneviève and member of the State
Legislature; see his _History of the Early Settlement of the
Mississippi Valley_ (Bibl. No. 202) (St. Louis, 1890).
[213] For a photograph of the old Rozier store at Ste.
Geneviève, as well as for the likeness of Rozier, made in
1862, when he was in his eighty-fifth year, I am indebted to
the kindness of Mr. Ruthven Deane, who received them from a
son of Ferdinand, Felix Rozier, in November, 1905, when the
latter had attained his eighty-third year.
[214] While living at Henderson the Audubons lost their two
daughters, Rosa and Lucy, both of whom died when very young.
[215] "The Earthquake," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No.
2) vol. i, p. 280.
[216] This journey was probably made in February, though the
date is given as April (see Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his
Journals_, vol. i, p. 44), if the legends of four drawings of
this time are to be trusted; all are labeled Pennsylvania, and
bear the following dates: Swamp Sparrow, March, 1812; Spotted
Sandpiper, April 22, 1812; White-throated Sparrow, April 24,
1812; and Whippoorwill, May 7, 1812.
[217] _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p.
81. In his biographical sketch of 1835 Audubon said that this
occurred on his first return from Ste. Geneviève to Henderson
(in 1811), a contradiction characteristic of his manner of
dealing with biographical and historical details. For an
account of this "Episode," see Chapter XVIII.
[218] For early references to Henderson I am indebted mainly
to Edmund L. Starling, _History of Henderson County, Kentucky_
(Bibl. No. 186), who had access to all the town and county
records.
[219] In 1819, the year of Audubon's departure, 129 town lots
had been sold, while 29 had been given to privileged persons
or to prospective settlers.
[220] According to the town records, as quoted by Starling,
on December 22, 1813, Audubon purchased lots numbers 95
and 96, which were one-half of the square lying on the west
side of Third Street and between Green and Elm Streets, from
General Samuel Hopkins, agent of the Messrs. Richard Henderson
& Company; on September 3, 1814, he bought lots numbers 91
and 92, or one-half of the square on the west side of Second
Street, between Green and Elm. The mill site on the Ohio River
was a part of the land given to Henderson by the Transylvania
Company, the original owners of a large part of Kentucky;
this site was leased for 99 years to J. J. Audubon, was sold
and resold, but reverted to the city of Henderson in 1915.
In the latter year the project was broached of obtaining the
original mill site, together with adjoining property along the
river, and converting the whole into a public park dedicated
to Audubon.
[221] At a somewhat later time the naturalist occupied a
one-story frame house, built in 1814, which stood at the
corner of Fourth and Main Streets; see Starling, _op. cit._
[222] See Note 15, Vol. I, p. 124.
[223] A Henderson correspondent of Joseph M. Wade, under the
signature of "W. S. J.," August 8, 1883, gave the following
account of the structure. The original mill covered forty-five
by sixty-five feet, and consisted of four stories and
basement; the basement walls of stone stood four feet thick,
while at the third story the thickness was three feet; the
three upper stories were in frame. The studding measured
three by six, and the rafters four by eight, inches. Many
of the large timbers that could then be seen were sound
and apparently good for a century or more. Parts of the old
machinery that had been used in the grist mill were lying
about under the eaves; the building was then used as a tobacco
stemmery. See Joseph M. Wade (Bibl. No. 182), _Ornithologist
and Oölogist_, vol. viii, p. 79 (1883).
The old Audubon mill in more recent times was incorporated
into a warehouse for the storage of leaf tobacco; it was
burned to the ground on March 18, 1913.
[224] The mill is supposed to have cost about $15,000; of this
sum Thomas Pears is said to have contributed from $3,000 to
$4,000, and William Bakewell a similar amount in the interest
of his son, while Audubon presumably furnished the balance.
[225] Maria R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 47.
[226] In his journal of 1820 Audubon said that after the
withdrawal of Bakewell, "men with whom I had long been
associated offered me a partnership. I accepted, and a
small ray of light appeared in my business, but a revolution
occasioned by a numberless quantity of failures put all to an
end."
[227] One of J. J. Audubon & Company's bills is here
reproduced from Starling, _op. cit._
"To the President and Directors of the Bank of Henderson to
Henderson steam mill:
"To three pieces of scantling, 56 feet, 4½ c $2.52
"To ten pieces of scantling, 34 feet ——
"To sixty rafters, 714 feet, at 4 c 28.56
"To five pieces scantling, 40 feet, at 3 c 1.20
"To fifteen joists [?], 278½ feet, at 6 c 16.71
———
"J. J. Audubon & Co." $48.99
[228] According to W. G. Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_
(Bibl. No. 200), Thomas Bakewell sold his interest in the
store and mill to Audubon in 1817, but this is contradicted
by other accounts. For the incident which follows, see Maria
R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 34.
[229] See Dixon L. Merritt (Bibl. No. 226a), "Audubon in
Kentucky," _The Taylor-Trotwood Magazine_, vol. 10 (1909), p.
293.
[230] Thomas Bakewell later became a successful builder of
steamboats, first at Pittsburgh, and after 1824 at Cincinnati,
where he was an important factor in the rising commerce of the
Ohio Valley, and where he left his mark on the history of that
city. As a theoretical mechanic in iron and wood he is said to
have had no superior; his business was nearly destroyed in the
panic of 1837, and he never regained his financial position.
To his credit also it must be added that in 1860, at the age
of seventy-two, he began at the bottom of the ladder again by
engaging as a clerk with a paper company at Cincinnati, and,
refusing the proffered aid of his children, he did not give up
work until his eightieth year, seven years before his death
in 1874. See W. G. Bakewell, _Bakewell-Page-Campbell_ (Bibl.
No. 200).
[231] Audubon was not so accurate when in his biographical
sketch of 1835 he said: "Finally I paid every bill, and
at last left Henderson probably forever...," for when at
Charleston with Bachman in 1834, one of his former creditors
attempted to sue him for debt and apparently carried his case
to court. When Bachman asked for an explanation, Audubon wrote
from New York, April 5, 1834, as follows: "Respecting the
suit let me tell you ... that I went to Gaol at Louisville
after having given up all to my creditors, and that I took
the benefit of the act of insolvency at the Louisville
Court House, Kentucky, before Judge Fortunatus Crosby & many
witnesses, and that a copy of the record of that step can
easily be had from that court.... I wish friend Donkin to
do all he can to put a _Conclusion_—stop to this matter, for
it makes me sick at heart." The lawyer here referred to was
probably Judge Dunkin, friend of Bachman and distinguished
in his profession, who had a plantation at Waccamaw, near
Charleston, South Carolina (see Chapter XXVII, Vol. II, p. 64.)
[232] See Chapter IX, p. 63.
[233] For complete text of these wills, in the original, See
Appendix I, Documents 13-18.
[234] See Note 4, Vol. I, p 27. The suit brought by these
plaintiffs was based upon a French law, which at that time
debarred a natural child from inheriting property.
[235] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No.
86), vol i, pp. iii and 130.
[236] Lucy B. Audubon, ed., _The Life of John James Audubon_
(Bibl. No. 73), p. 55.
[237] See Chapter VIII, p. 121.
[238] See Chapter II, pp. 33 and 34.
[239] From G. L. du Puigaudeau's copy of his letter to John
James Audubon (at Henderson), dated "Couëron, August 15,
1819," translated from the French. (Lavigne MSS.)
[240] See Vol. I, p. 64.
[241] This, and the letter to follow, translated from Gabriel
du Puigaudeau's copies. (Lavigne MSS.)
[242] This reference is evidently to the litigation over
Lieutenant Audubon's will and the final disposition of his
estate.
[243] It was thought that Victor had come to settle the
family's financial affairs, and his uncle and aunt asked
if this were the case; he replied that it was not, that the
children of Jean Audubon who were in America had taken their
[share of the] property in that country, while those in France
had theirs in France; he considered that all was settled,
but if Rosa's children wished for any money, they had but to
ask for it, and the heirs in America would send them what
they desired; the subject was then dropped. A considerable
correspondence followed this visit, but the letters were
all destroyed about twenty-five years ago by Monsieur du
Puigaudeau, when putting his effects in order. This account
is given on the authority of Monsieur Lavigne.
[244] These passages, which were shown to me by his
granddaughter, Miss Maria R. Audubon, in 1914, but not for
publication, occur in his journals under the following dates;
June 4, 1826, at sea; March 15, 1827, at Edinburgh, after
describing a visit of Lady Selkirk and her daughter; again
on the 18th of March of the same or the following year; and
on October 8, 1828, when writing to his wife from Paris and
reflecting on the advisability of visiting his old home at
Nantes. While these extraordinary passages are not quoted,
out of deference to the wishes of his granddaughters, it
seems only just to Audubon, in view of the revelations that
have already been made, to add this brief reference to the
incidents in question.
[245] This statement was made to me in 1914 by Miss Maria R.
Audubon.
[246] See Note, Vol. I, p. 27.
[247] In the first three volumes only of the _Ornithological
Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), being omitted from the last two on
account of the exigencies of space.
[248] _Ornithological Biography_, vol. iii, p. 270.
[249] While the object of this visit is not mentioned in the
"Episode," it is stated in the second biographical sketch;
the ambiguities connected with the sale of this farm, in which
others besides Audubon were then interested, are discussed in
Chapter XI.
[250] Vincent Nolte, _Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres_ (Bibl.
No. 176).
[251] See Chapter XXI, p. 352.
[252] Limestone or, as it was later called, Maysville, was on
the left bank of the river, in Kentucky, and about a hundred
miles east of Cincinnati.
[253] "The Earthquake," _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i,
p. 239.
[254] These historic earthquakes, which were most destructive
of life and property in the lower Mississippi Valley, began
on December 16, 1811, and therefore before Audubon and Nolte
had reached the western country. They were noted for their
remarkable frequency and persistence, 221 shocks having been
recorded in a single week at Henderson, Audubon's home at
that time; though their force was mostly spent after the first
three months, they did not wholly die away in the Ohio Valley
until December 12, 1813, when the last feeble vibration was
recorded by Dr. Daniel Drake at Cincinnati; the worst shocks
at this point were experienced on December 16, 1811, on
January 23 and February 7, 1812. See Daniel Drake, _Natural
and Statistical View of Cincinnati, and the Miami Valley; with
an appendix, containing observations on the late Earthquakes_,
(Cincinnati, 1815); and Edmund L. Starling, _History of
Henderson County, Kentucky_ (Bibl. No. 186).
[255] "The Hurricane," _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i, p.
262.
[256] James Hall (Bibl. No. 123), _Western Monthly Magazine_,
vol. ii (1834).
[257] "The Regulators," _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i,
p. 105.
[258] "Colonel Boone," _ibid._, vol. i, p. 503.
[259] See Chapter V, p 88.
[260] "The Prairie," _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i, p.
81.
[261] John Burroughs, _John James Audubon_ (Bibl. No. 87), p.
37.
[262] "See _History of Sutton, New Hampshire_, compiled by
Augustus Harvey Worthen, pt. I (Concord, 1890).
[263] "The Eccentric Naturalist," _Ornithological Biography_
(Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. 455.
[264] For the characterization of Rafinesque given in the
present chapter I am chiefly indebted, aside from his own
writings, to his two most sympathetic biographers, Richard
Ellsworth Call and T. J. Fitzpatrick, as well as to David
Starr Jordan; see Bibliography, Nos. 198, 228, and 183.
Fitzpatrick gives photographic reproductions from Rafinesque's
exceedingly diversiform and scattered works; his bibliographic
titles extend to 939, and "Rafinesquiana" to 134.
[265] "At Palermo," said Swainson, "I had the pleasure of
meeting ... Rafinesque Schmaltz, whose first name is familiar
to most zoölogists. In the society of such congenial minds, I
passed many happy hours, and made many delightful excursions
... by the inducement of the latter, I was led to investigate
the ichthyology of the western coast." (See Bibliography, No.
170.)
[266] See Vol. I, pp. 171 and 336.
[267] See David Starr Jordon (Bibl. No. 183), _Popular Science
Monthly_, vol. xxix (1886). "The true story of this practical
joke was told me by the venerable Dr. Kirtland, who in turn
received it from Dr. Bachman;" the latter, I might add, was
the friend and correspondent of the "Sage of Rockport" after
a visit at his home near Cleveland in the summer of 1852.
In the private notebooks of Rafinesque copies of Audubon's
drawings are still to be seen, and "a glance at these," said
Dr. Jordon, "is sufficient to show the extent to which science
through him has been victimized."
Audubon was also responsible for a number of extraordinary
"new species" of birds, the most notorious of which was the
Scarlet-headed Swallow, of which Rafinesque published the
following account in 1820: "_Hirundo phenicephala_. Head
scarlet, back gray, belly white, bill and feet black. A fine
and rare swallow seen only once by Mr. Audubon near Henderson,
Kentucky...." See Samuel N. Rhoads, "Constantine S. Rafinesque
as an Ornithologist," _Cassinia_, No. XV (Philadelphia, 1911).
[268] _The Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine_,
Lexington, 1819-20.
[269] _Ichthyologia Ohiensis, or Natural History of the Fishes
inhabiting the River Ohio and its tributary Streams, preceded
by a physical description of the Ohio and its branches._ By
C. S. Rafinesque, Professor of Botany and Natural History in
Transylvania University, Author of the Analysis of Nature,
&c. &c. Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of
New-York, the Historical Society of New-York, the Lyceum of
Natural History of New-York, the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia, the American Antiquarian Society, the Royal
Institute of Natural Sciences of Naples, the Italian Society
of Arts and Sciences, the Medical Societies of Lexington and
Cincinnati, &c. &c.
"The art of seeing well, or of noticing and distinguishing
with accuracy the objects which we perceive, is a high faculty
of the mind, unfolded in few individuals, and despised by
those who can neither acquire it, nor appreciate its results."
Lexington, Kentucky: printed for the author by W. G. Hunt.
(Price one dollar.) (Pp. 1-90. Lexington, 1820.)
Fitzpatrick (see Bibliography, No. 228) gives a list of 14
copies of this work, the whereabouts of which are known; we
can add another from the library of Dr. Jared P. Kirtland,
now in the collections of Western Reserve University; it is
bound up with Dr. Kirtland's notebook on birds and fishes, and
labeled "Scraps of Natural History. My Note Book;" a written
notice on the inside of the cover, imploring the finder to
return the volume to its owner if lost, is signed by Dr.
Kirtland and dated "Cleveland, O., Oct. 16th, 1839." Probably
fewer than 20 original copies of the work now exist. It was
reproduced in a limited edition, with a sketch of Rafinesque's
life and works by Richard Ellsworth Call, published by the
Burrows Brothers' Company of Cleveland in 1899.
[270] Probably not before October of that year, when Audubon
first met John Bachman, at Charleston, South Carolina.
[271] Reply to a criticism of G. W. Featherstonhaugh
(_The Monthly American Journal of Geological Science_), in
Rafinesque's _Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge_, No.
3, p. 113 (Philadelphia, 1832). Rafinesque occasionally spoke
of meeting "my friend Audubon," who, he declared, had invited
him to join his expedition to Florida in 1831-32.
[272] Isaac Lea, in _A Synopsis of the Family of Naiades_,
pp. 8-9 (Philadelphia, 1836).
[273] See Bibliography, No. 204.
[274] The landlord, to whom Rafinesque had been in arrears for
rent, had locked his body in the room and refused permission
for its burial, thinking to find a market for it in one of the
medical schools of the city. Rafinesque was buried in a little
churchyard, then outside of the limits of the city, known as
Ronaldson's cemetery, now at Ninth and Catharine Streets. See
Call and Fitzpatrick, Bibliography, Nos. 198 and 228.
[275] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No.
86), vol. i, p. 36.
[276] _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 49.
[277] Dr. Daniel Drake (1785-1852) was one of the most
versatile and prolific writers on medicine which the West has
ever produced, and Cincinnati owed to him much, for he was
instrumental in organizing in that city a church, a literary
society, a museum, a hospital, a college, and a school of
medicine, while he enjoyed a large medical practice, lectured
on botany, and was a partner in two mercantile establishments.
We might also add that his "Notice concerning Cincinnati" (pp.
1-28, i-iv. Printed for the author at Cincinnati, 1810), of
which only three copies are known to exist, is the earliest
and rarest published record of that city. This little pamphlet
included a "Flora" of the city for 1809, and from it we
transcribe this interesting extract (p. 27): "May 10. Black
locust in full flower.
"It is highly probable that the flowering of this beautiful
tree, the Robinia pseudocacia of Linnæus, indicates the proper
time for planting the important vegetable the Indian corn. For
several successive years I have observed our farmers generally
to plant corn during some stage of its flowering. This from
the 10th to the 20th of May."
For the privilege of examining one of the original copies of
this paper, I am indebted to Mr. Wallace H. Cathcart of the
Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland.
[278] See Audubon's letter to Thomas Sully, reproduced in Vol.
II, p. 68. In his Ohio and Mississippi Rivers Journal Audubon
wrote on April 5, 1821: "Cap. Cumming left us on the 10 for
Phila; the poor man had not _one_ cent with him."
[279] This early journal fills a large unruled book, measuring
about 13 by 8 inches, of 201 pages, beginning with Oct.
12, 1820, and closing with December 31, 1821; it forms a
part of the John E. Thayer collection of Audubon and Wilson
manuscripts and drawings in possession of Harvard University,
having been once included in the estate of Joseph M. Wade. The
collection embraces four early drawings by Audubon, presumably
at one time in the hands of Edward Harris (see Note, Vol. I,
p. 180); 73 of Audubon's original letters, comprising largely
his correspondence with Dr. John Bachman; 60 letters by Victor
G. Audubon; and a few by other members of the naturalist's
family. See the _Annual Report of the Curator of the Museum
of Comparative Zoology for 1910-1911_.
Through the courtesy of Professor E. L. Mark, and the Director
of the Museum, Dr. Samuel Henshaw, I have been permitted to
examine these numerous documents. In any direct or casual
reference to this valuable material, I have endeavored not to
overstep the bounds of propriety, in view of the fact that the
University contemplates publishing copious extracts from it
at an early day. It should be noticed that excerpts from this
journal have already appeared in print. See following Note.
[280] See Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 41), _The Auk_, vol. xxi,
pp. 334-338.
[281] "Natchez in 1820" and "The Lost Portfolio,"
_Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. iii, pp. 529
and 564.
[282] The original of this admirable drawing had been shot
at New Madrid, on the Ohio, on November 23, and Audubon, who
immediately began to work on it, recorded his conviction that
the White-headed or Bald Eagle and the "Brown Eagle," which
he later called "The Bird of Washington," were two different
species; he thought that the young of the former, which was
also brown, was much smaller in size. See Vol. I, p. 241.
[283] These drawings were as follows:
"Common gallinule; Not described by Willson;
Common gull; Not described by Willson;
Marsh hawk;
Boat tailed grackle; Not described by Willson;
Common Crow;
Fish Crow;
Rail or Sora;
Marsh Tern;
Snipe; Not described by Willson;
Hermit Thrush;
Yellow Red poll Warbler;
Savannah Finch;
Bath Ground Warbler; Not described by Willson;
Brown Pelican; Not described by Willson;
Great Footed Hawk;
Turkey Hen; Not described by Willson;
Cormorant;
Carrion Crow or Black Vulture;
Imber Diver;
White Headed or Bald Eagle."
[284] Vanderlyn, like Audubon, had been a pupil of David at
Paris; he produced historical paintings of merit, as well as
panoramas, then coming into vogue; some of the latter were
exhibited in the "Rotunda" which he erected for that purpose
in City Hall Park, New York, but this enterprise failed, and
his building was seized by the city for debt. Vanderlyn died
in absolute want in 1852. See Samuel Isham, _The History of
American Painting_ (New York, 1915).
[285] "Bayou," in Louisiana, is a term commonly applied to any
slow-running stream. According to the tradition gathered on
the spot by Mr. Stanley C. Arthur, both stream and settlement
were formerly called "New Valentia," while the present name
was derived from an old woman called "Sara," who many years
ago lived at the mouth of the Bayou, where she practiced
some sort of spurious physic. St. Francisville, on the hill,
received its name from the circumstance that the brothers
of St. Francis, who had a mission at Pointe Coupée, on the
opposite bank, were in the habit of ferrying their dead
over the river, in order to bury them on the high ground;
"Bayou Sara" and "St. Francisville" are used interchangeably
by the inhabitants. See S. C. Arthur (Bibl. No. 230),
_Times-Picayune_, New Orleans, August 6, 1916.
[286] On the original drawing of the Pine-creeping Warbler,
_The Birds of America_ (Plate cxl), the following legends
appear in Audubon's autograph: "Drawn from Nature by John J.
Audubon, James Pirrie's Plantation, Louisiana, July 10, 1821.
Plant, J. R. Mason."
Sixteen of Audubon's originals, which still bear the
designations of time and place, were produced during this
interval, in the year 1821; they embrace the Mississippi Kite
(Plate cxvii, see Vol. I, p. 228), June 28; Yellow-throated
Vireo (Plate cxix), July 11; Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Plate
ccclxxxix), July 29; American Redstart (Plate xl), August
13; Summer Red-bird (Plate xliv), August 27; Prairie Warbler
(Plate xiv), Sept. 3; and the Tennessee Warbler (Plate cliv),
Oct. 17.
[287] _The Birds of America_, Plate xxi.
[288] See Chapter XXVIII, p. 72.
[289] The vivacious Miss Pirrie did not marry the young
doctor, but eloped to Natchez with the son of a neighboring
planter, who died within a month in consequence of a cold,
said to have been contracted when he waded a deep stream
with his lady-love in his arms. Audubon's pupil was thrice
married, and bore five children; she died April 20, 1851, and
her ashes now rest by the side of her second husband, the
Reverend William Robert Bowman, the parish minister at St.
Francisville. See Arthur (Bibl. No. 230), _loc. cit._
[290] Mistakenly written "Brand" by Audubon's biographers,
according to Mr. Stanley C. Arthur, who writes that "Braud"
is a very common name in New Orleans.
[291] Father Antonio de Sedella, popularly known as "Père
Antoine," after 1791 pastor of St. Louis Cathedral; an idol
of the people, but execrated by historians.
"This seditious priest is a Father Antoine; he is a great
favorite of the Louisiana ladies; has married many of them,
and christened all their children; he is by some citizens
esteemed an accomplished hypocrite, has great influence
with the people of color, and, report says, embraces every
opportunity to render them discontented under the American
Government." _Executive Journal of Governor Claiborne._ See
Charles Gayarré, _History of Louisiana_, vol. iv, pp. 154-155
(New Orleans, 1903).
[292] This item occurs in Audubon's journal for October 25;
"Rented a house in Dauphine street at seventeen dollars per
month, and determined to bring my family to New Orleans."
[293] See Audubon's letter to Sully, Vol. II, p. 69.
[294] Now in the collection of Mr. John E. Thayer, Lancaster,
Mass.
[295] Mr. Stanley C. Arthur, whose recent visit to this region
has already been noticed, gathered there from the lips of
old residents, some of whom were descendants of those who
had known the Audubons, a store of reliable data by which
the history of the naturalist at this important phase of his
life is revealed in its true light; to him I am indebted for
a series of excellent photographs of the region, its historic
houses and people, as well as for much needed information.
See Arthur (Bibl. No. 230), _loc. cit._
[296] One of the early steamboats on the Ohio that had been
built at Pittsburgh, in 1821, by Thomas W. Bakewell, his
brother-in-law and former partner.
[297] See "A Tough Walk for a Youth," _Ornithological
Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. iii, p. 371; and "The
Hospitality of the Woods," _ibid._, vol. i, p. 383.
[298] This lady had a remarkable history. She was the widow
of the Marquis de Saint Pie, and was at one time a _dame
d'honneur_ of Queen Marie Antoinette; like many others of
noble birth, she had fled from Paris during the Revolution,
and emigrated to America, where with her husband she assumed
the name of Berthoud. Her son, Nicholas Augustus, had married
Mrs. Audubon's sister, Eliza Bakewell, in 1816.
[299] See Chapter XIV.
[300] This was the third edition of the _American
Ornithology_, issued by Messrs. Collins & Company in New York
and by Harrison Hall of Philadelphia, in three octavo volumes,
with an atlas of 76 plates colored by hand, in 1828-9. Mr.
Hall, who appears to have been the person most interested
financially in this edition, was a brother of James Hall,
author of a notorious review in which this work was praised
at the expense of Audubon, who was viciously attacked (see
Bibliography, No. 123). Friends of Audubon repeatedly asserted
that as soon as his popularity and success began to check
the sales of Wilson's work, Ord and a few others, aided by
interested publishers, began a systematic series of attacks,
some notice of which is taken in Chapter XXVIII.
[301] See Chapter XIV.
[302] Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, Prince of
Canino and Musignano, the eldest son of Lucien, and nephew
of Napoleon, Bonaparte, was born at Paris in 1803, and died
there in 1857. At this time he was settled with his uncle
and father-in-law, Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Spain,
at Philadelphia, and there and at Bordentown, New Jersey,
where Joseph had an estate, he undertook the study of
American birds. His best known scientific works are: _American
Ornithology, or the Natural History of the Birds of the United
States, not Given by Wilson_, 4 volumes, quarto, with 27
colored plates, Philadelphia, 1825-1833; and _Iconographica
della Fauna Italica_, Rome, 1833-1841. In 1828 he retired
to Italy, where he was devoted to literary and scientific
pursuits. He was an early subscriber to Audubon's _Birds of
America_, but their relations were somewhat strained on the
publication of the _Ornithological Biography_ in 1831 (see
Chapter XXIX). Bonaparte later entered politics in Italy,
and was leader of the republican party at Rome in 1848 and
1849; after having been expelled from France by the order of
Louis Napoleon, he was permitted to return in 1850, and became
director of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.
He was a closet naturalist rather than a field student, but
did much for the reform of nomenclature. In his _Ornithology_
the number of American birds was raised to 366, nearly one
hundred having been added since the work of Wilson was revised
by Ord, but he added only two that were new, Cooper's Hawk,
(_Accipiter cooperi_), named after William Cooper of New
York, and Say's Phœbe (_Sayornis saya_), dedicated to Thomas
Say, and first procured by Titian R. Peale in the Rocky
Mountain districts of the Far West. Perhaps his most important
technical work, the _Conspectus Generum Avium_, begun in 1850,
was incomplete at the time of his death.
[303] William Dunlap, _History of the Rise and Progress of the
Arts of Design in the United States_ (Bibl. No. 59), vol. ii,
p. 402 (New York, 1834).
[304] The Boat-tailed Grackle, vol. i, plate iv.
[305] He seems, however, to have supplied Bonaparte liberally
with notes, for after devoting fifteen pages to the biography
of the Wild Turkey, Audubon said: "A long account of this
remarkable bird has already been given in Bonaparte's American
Ornithology, volume I. As that account was in a great measure
derived from notes furnished by myself, you need not be
surprised, good reader, to find it often in accordance with
the above." _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i,
p. 16.
[306] Edward Harris was born at Morristown, New Jersey, in
1799, where he died in 1863. Without the incentive to earn
money or the ambition to acquire fame, he lived the life of
a gentleman of leisure, devoted to natural history, to sport
and to the cultivation of his paternal acres. He had the gift
of friendship, was widely traveled, wrote charming letters,
and kept careful records of his observations, but rarely
published anything. The breeding of fine stock was one of
his hobbies, and as a result of a journey to Europe in 1839,
when he visited a horse fair in Normandy, he is credited with
having first introduced the Norman breed into America. "The
beneficent results of his quiet, unobtrusive life," says an
appreciative biographer, "reach down to our time, and, after
half a century, we are glad that Edward Harris lived." See
biographical sketch by George Spencer Morris, in _Cassinia_,
vol. vi (Philadelphia, 1902).
[307] See Chapter XII, p. 179.
[308] Written by Dr. Edmund Porter of Frenchtown, New Jersey,
to Dr. Thomas Miner of Haddam, Connecticut, on October 25,
1825. See Witmer Stone, "Some Philadelphia Ornithological
Collections and Collectors, 1784-1850," _The Auk_, vol. xvi
(New York, 1899).
[309] Thomas Sully (1783-1872), Englishman by birth, who had
come to America at an early age, and like Audubon had waged
a bitter struggle before success was achieved, became one of
the first portrait painters of the early American School.
In 1831 Sully wrote to Audubon that his success in England
and France had charmed all of his friends in America, that
it was like a personal triumph to them, and that it would
soon silence his few remaining enemies; "Be true to yourself,
Audubon," he added, "and never doubt of success." It has been
said that when Audubon first came to Philadelphia in 1824 he
applied to Sully for instruction, saying that he wished to
become a portrait painter (see Dunlap, _op. cit._); again that
he was ready to sell his drawings to the highest bidder; but
the records of his journals from 1820 onward are sufficiently
consistent to show what his purpose really was.
[310] For the favor of examining a collection of interesting
autograph letters written to Audubon in Europe and America,
some of which are here reproduced, I am indebted to the
kindness of Mr. Henry R. Howland, secretary of the Buffalo
Society of Natural Sciences. This note was written on a narrow
strip of manila-colored drawing paper.
[311] See Chapter XI.
[312] See Bibliography, Nos. 15 and 16.
[313] See Lucy Audubon, ed., _Life of John James Audubon, the
Naturalist_ (Bibl. No. 73), p. 107.
[314] See Vol. I, p. 219.
[315] Probably first published in a newspaper, and reprinted
in pamphlet form, dated "April 9, 1846"; see Bibliography,
No. 42.
[316] Miss Jennett Benedict in 1836 became Mrs. Butts; the
crayon portrait which Audubon made at this time was carefully
treasured by her daughter, the late Mrs. Frederick A.
Sterling, of Cleveland, Ohio, to whose kindness I am indebted
for the privilege of reproducing it. This original drawing,
which is presumably a fair specimen of Audubon's itinerant
portraiture, was made on a sheet of buff, water-marked paper,
14½ by 10½ inches in dimensions; it was outlined in pencil,
and carefully finished in crayon-point; its legend "J. J.
Audubon-1824," was inserted in pencil, in a very fine hand
at the lower margin of the sketch. The Colson store was at
the corner of Water Street and south of Cherry Alley. For an
account of this incident I am indebted to Mrs. Sterling, and
to an article in the _Tribune Republican_, of Meadville, for
February 7, 1907.
[317] _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i, p. xi.
[318] The Jeanes MSS.; see Note, Vol. I, p. 180.
[319] "Shipping Port," as the village below the rapids or
falls of the Ohio was then called, was joined to Louisville by
the Louisville and Portland Canal, a channel two and one-half
miles long, in 1830, two years after the city received its
charter. The "Louisville" or "Portland" cement, a name now
applied to the product of a considerable district, was first
manufactured at Shipping Port, in 1829, for the construction
of this canal.
[320] Audubon's 1826 manuscript journal, which I examined
through the courtesy of Miss Maria R. Audubon in 1914, was
written, mostly in pencil, in a ruled blank book, of similar
size and quality to that used on the Ohio River in 1820-21
(see Note, p. 307), and was illustrated with a number of
pencil sketches, chiefly of fishes. On page 2 was a rough
outline sketch of first mate Sam L. Bragdon, of Wells, Maine,
reading in the booby hatch; to his kindness Audubon paid
a written tribute; there was also a drawing of a "Balacuda
[Barracouta] Fish, June 17, 1826;" of a "Shark, 7 ft. long;
off Cuba, Jn. 18" (see reproduction); and of a "Dolphin;
Gulph of Florida, May 28;" other sketches were of a line or
"thread-winder," a Flying Fish, and outlines of the Cuban
coast.
Audubon presented a sketch of the "Dolphin" to Captain Hatch,
whose vessel, the _Delos_, went down on the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland in the summer of 1831, but not until her crew and
valuables had been transferred to another boat that stood by.
(For this note I am indebted to Miss Maria R. Audubon.)
[321] Addressed "_General Lafayette_,
Paris ou Lagrange."
Translated from the French original, kindly sent to me by Mr.
Ruthven Deane.
[322] For an account of Audubon's meeting with Nolte see
Chapter XVIII.
[323] Dr. Thomas Stuart Traill, after whom one of our common
flycatchers was named, was a founder of the Royal Institution
at Liverpool, and later a professor of medical jurisprudence
at Edinburgh. When the keepership of the Department of
Natural History in the British Museum became vacant through
the resignation of Dr. Leech in 1822, Dr. Traill supported
William Swainson for the position; when George J. Children
received the appointment, he was disinclined to accept defeat,
and entered upon a crusade against the Museum's trustees in a
series of anonymous articles contributed to the _Edinburgh_
and _Westminster_ Reviews. Traill's exposure of the neglect
which the natural-history collections had suffered in the
custody of the British Museum paved the way to a separate
Department of Zoology, which in the able hands of John E.
Gray, and later in those of Sir Richard Owen, led to the
present great Museum of Natural History at South Kensington.
[324] In dedicating the _Sylvia rathbonia_ Audubon said: "Were
I at liberty here to express the gratitude which swells my
heart, when the remembrance of all the unmerited kindness
and unlooked-for friendship which I have received from the
Rathbones of Liverpool comes to my mind, I might produce a
volume of thanks. But I must content myself with informing
you, that the small tribute of gratitude which it is alone in
my power to pay, I now joyfully accord, by naming after them
one of those birds, to the study of which all my efforts have
been directed. I trust that future naturalists, regardful of
the feelings which have guided me in naming this species, will
continue to it the name of the _Rathbone Warbler_."
[325] Named after John Stevens Henslow, Professor of Botany
in the University of Cambridge, whom Audubon had met in 1828,
when Charles Darwin was still his pupil.
[326] This seal, the design of which has since been adapted
for a bookplate, was long in use, and though at one time lost,
is still in possession of the family. A copy of the large
original, which was to serve as his first plate, was presented
to the Royal Institution of Liverpool as an acknowledgment of
its hospitality, for it had refused remuneration in any other
form.
[327] See Note, Vol. I, p. 375.
[328] The plates as issued, untrimmed, measured 39½ by 29½
inches; see Bibliography, No. 1.
[329] See Note, Vol. II, p. 197. Incidentally it may be
noticed that the "tiger swallowtail" in this plate was
possibly added for effect, for few of our birds, which
habitually hunt moths, ever prey upon butterflies. I have
seen the cabbage butterfly and a few of the smaller kinds
brought to the nests of the Chebec and Wood Pewee but never
a "monarch" or "papilio"; yet some affirm that the Kingbird
will attack the "monarch."
[330] Translated from _Études sur la Littérature et les
Mœurs des Anglo-Americains au XIXe siècle_, "Audubon," pp.
66-106 (Paris, 1851). Philarète-Chasles, who wrote chiefly on
American, English and European authors and books, has seventy
volumes credited to him in the National Library at Paris.
[331] P. A. Cap, in _L'Illustration_ for 1851. Cap's hint was
taken by Eugène Bazin, who translated copious selections from
the _Ornithological Biography_, which were published in two
volumes in Paris in 1857 (see Bibliography, No. 38).
[332] See Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl.
No. 86).
[333] Audubon's copy of this oil painting remained in the
possession of his family until a few years ago, when it was
sold for a much greater amount. It now adorns the beautiful
ornithological museum of Mr. John E. Thayer, at South
Lancaster, Massachusetts; it represents a cock and hen turkey
in life size, adapted from the subjects of his two most famous
plates, and is in an admirable state of preservation. Mr.
Thayer's collection also embraces Audubon's large canvas of
the Black Cocks, from the Edward Harris estate, a charming
study of the Hen Turkey, with landscape setting, and, also
in oils, several smaller panels of Flickers and Passenger
Pigeons, which, if not the work of the naturalist, are copies
after his originals, and possibly made by Joseph B. Kidd.
(See Vol. I, p. 446; and for a notice of Mr. Thayer's other
Audubonian drawings, Vol. II, p. 227, and Appendix II.)
[334] Basil Hall (1788-1844), noted for his travels in China,
Korea, and on the coasts of Chili, Peru and Mexico, visited
the United States in 1827-28; his _Travels in North America_
appeared in 1829.
[335] See Chapter XXVIII.
[336] Maria R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 204.
[337] Which I owe to the kindness of his granddaughter,
Miss Maria R. Audubon; it is superscribed "Mrs. Audubon, St.
Francisville, Bayou Sarah, Louisville, p Wm Penn;" it reached
New Orleans on June 13, and is endorsed as answered on June
23.
[338] John Woodhouse Audubon at this time was in his fifteenth
year, and this injunction regarding the internal anatomy of
birds, to which ornithologists had hitherto paid but little
attention, was given three years before his father made the
acquaintance of MacGillivray. (See Chapter XXX.)
[339] See Chapter XXV.
[340] The work, as originally announced, was to appear in
parts of 5 plates each, at 2 guineas a part, and in order to
distribute the expense to purchasers it was expected to issue
but 5 parts a year. The plates, to be engraved on copper, were
of double elephant folio size, and printed on paper of the
finest quality, all the birds and flowers to be life-size,
and to be carefully colored by hand, after the originals;
any subscriber was at liberty to take a part or the whole.
It was stated in the prospectus of 1829, when 10 parts had
been published: "There are 400 Drawings, and it is proposed
that they shall comprise Three Volumes, each containing 133
Plates, to which an Index will be given at the end of each,
to be bound up with the volume.... It would be advisable for
the subscriber to procure a Portfolio, to keep the Numbers
till a volume is completed." To avoid the expense entailed
by copyright regulations in England, indices and all other
letterpress were eventually omitted; the number of parts was
extended to 87, or 435 plates, and the number of volumes to
4, a necessity imposed by the discovery of many new birds,
even after the omission of the figures of the eggs, which
Audubon had reserved for the close, and the undue crowding
of many of his final plates. The "Prospectus" issued with the
first volume of the text in 1831 contained a list of the first
100 plates, together with extracts of reviews by Cuvier and
Swainson, and a list of subscribers to the number of 180. For
further details, see Bibliography, No. 1, and Appendix III,
No. 2.
[341] _Illustrations of British Ornithology_, by Prideaux
John Selby. The British Museum copy of this work is in two
large folio volumes (measuring about 25½ by 20½ inches),
and was issued originally in numbers which appeared at
irregular intervals. Vol. I, plates i-iv (of bills, heads,
and feet), i-c (of land birds); most of the plates are by
Selby, and many were etched by him and autographed, 1819-1821;
plates xiv, xvi, and xx are by Captain R. Mitford, whose
home, "Mitford Castle," near Morpeth, Northumberland, was
visited by Audubon in April, 1827; published at Edinburgh
by Archibald Constable & Co., and by Hurst, Robinson & Co.,
London, 1825(?)-1827. Volume II, plates i-ciii; printed for
the Proprietor & published by W. H. Lizars, Longman, Rees,
Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, London; and W. Curry, Junr.
& Co., Dublin, MDCCCXXXIV. Quaritch, in offering a copy in
1887, at £55, stated that there were 383 figures, in 221
colored plates, and that the published price was £105. Newton
(_Dictionary of Birds_, p. 27) says that the first series of
these "Illustrations" was published in coöperation with Sir
William Jardine, in 3 volumes of 150 plates, in 1827-1835,
after which a second series was started by them, and completed
in a single volume of 53 plates, issued in 1843. This was the
"job book" mentioned earlier in this chapter (see p. 358),
but neither Jardine's nor Jameson's name is mentioned in the
volumes which I have examined.
In a letter to Audubon, dated "Sept. 13h 1830 Twizel [l?]
House," and postmarked "Belford," Selby said: "I expect to
bring my own work to a conclusion during the course of this
winter having only the plates of another Number to finish. I
am happy to add that the Work is doing well & is more than
paying itself. The second Vol: of letter press will appear
with the last No."
Two volumes of text were published in 1825 and 1833
respectively; the first, after readjustment to fit the
"quinarian doctrine," to which Selby was a temporary convert
(see Vol. II, p. 94), was issued in a second edition at
London, in 1841; the second volume bore the imprint of Lizars,
who soon after began to work for Audubon.
Selby's plates were for the most part rather crudely drawn,
etched and colored, and could be commended only as the work
of amateurs who strove for accuracy.
[342] Among the sixty or more persons to whom Audubon carried
written credentials at this time were the following: the Duke
of Northumberland, Robert Peel, Sir Humphry Davy, Sir J. D.
Aukland, Albert Gallatin, the American Minister, Sir Thomas
Lawrence, David Wilkie, Dr. Buckland, Dr. Holland, Dr. Roget,
Dr. Wollaston, William Swainson, Sir William Herschel, and
his son, afterwards Sir John Herschel, John George Children,
R. W. Hay, N. A. Vigors, Captain Cook, John Murray and Robert
Bakewell (see Vol. II, p. 134).
[343] Probably the same that is referred to in his journals
as "Mr. Hays, the antiquarian."
[344] J. G. Children (1777-1852) was early interested in
chemistry, and at Tunbridge built a good laboratory, in which
Humphry Davy conducted many of his early experiments, and
while there was seriously injured in October, 1812. In 1824
Children discovered a method of extracting silver without the
use of mercury. When Mr. Children, Senior, became insolvent
through the failure of his bank, his son obtained a position
at the British Museum; in 1816 he was librarian in the
Department of Antiquities, but in 1823 he was transferred to a
post in zoölogy which was eagerly sought by William Swainson;
he was secretary of the Royal Society in 1826-27, and again
in 1835-37. He resigned his position at the Museum in 1840,
when Swainson was again an unsuccessful candidate, and was
succeeded by J. E. Gray (see Note, Vol. I, p. 353). Children was not
a productive zoölogist, but has been described as a lovable
soul, who was never soured by illness or other misfortunes,
and who was as zealous in his friendships as in science. See
"A. A." (Anna Atkins), _Memoir of J. G. Children, Esq._ (Bibl.
No. 175).
[345] In the account which follows, as well as in numerous
instances in Chapter XXXII, I am most indebted to George
Alfred Williams, who in "Robert Havell, Junior, Engraver
of Audubon's _The Birds of America_," (Bibl. No. 232)
(_Print-Collectors Quarterly_, vol. vi, no. 3, pp. 225-259,
Boston, 1916), has given the only satisfactory account of the
Havell family and the best analysis of the work of the great
engraver.
[346] Mr. Charles E. Goodspeed, who recently sent me two of
the original plates of the Prothonotary Warbler, one bearing
the legend "Engraved by W. H. Lizars Edinr," and the other,
"Engraved, Printed & Coloured, by R. Havell Junr," called
attention to the identity of the two engravings. That these
two impressions are absolutely identical in aquatint and
line is proved by applying a magnifying glass to any part
of their surfaces, and by counting and comparing the lines
or dots within any selected area whatsoever; in short, they
differ only in their legends, and in the coloring which was
applied by different hands. That such methods should have been
adopted for excluding Lizars' name is certainly surprising.
In the first or Edinburgh impression of Lizars' original
plate, the artist's legend reads: "Drawn by J. J. Audubon
M. W. S.," and names of bird and plant appear at the bottom
of the plate in three lines: "PROTHONOTARY WARBLER. _Dacnis
protonotarius._ Plant Vulgo Cane Vine." In the London edition
the corresponding designations are: "Drawn from nature by
J. J. Audubon F, R, S. F, L, S.," and PROTHONOTARY WARBLER.
_Sylvia Protonotarius._ Lath, Male. 1. Female, 2. Cane
Vine.," in four lines.
[347] See Chapter XXXII.
[348] See _ibid._
[349] See Sir Walter Besant, _London in the Nineteenth
Century_ (London, 1909).
[350] See Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl.
No. 86), vol. i, p. 342, where the "Eagle and the Lamb" is
reproduced.
[351] See Vol. I, p. 436.
[352] See Chapter XXVIII.
[353] The seventh which he had contributed to the scientific
press of Europe, entitled "Notes on the Bird of Washington
(Falco Washingtoniana), or Great Sea Eagle," now believed
to have been mistaken by him for an immature stage of the
true "bird of freedom," the White-headed Eagle. It was
dated "London, April, 1828," and was published in Loudon's
_Magazine_ for July of that year. See Bibliography, No. 23.
[354] From the originals in possession of the Linnæan Society
of London. Swainson's scientific correspondence was taken
with him to New Zealand, where it remained fifty years, until
returned by his daughter, who sent it to Sir Joseph Hooker; it
was finally purchased by a number of Fellows of the Society,
and presented to its historical collections. It consists of
934 letters written by 236 correspondents, from 1806 to 1840.
Of the 24 letters written by Audubon, and dated 9 April, 1829,
to 11 January, 1838, none has been previously published. Dr.
Albert Günther, who has given a summary of their contents
(_Proceedings of the Linnæan Society_, 112th Session, 1900;
Bibliography, No. 204) found them rather disappointing, since
they dealt mainly with personal and domestic matters, and were
written in a style characterized as "fantastic and unnatural."
Through the kindness of my esteemed friend, George E. Bullen,
Esq., of the Hertfordshire County Museum, St. Albans, and
through the courtesy of the Council of the Linnæan Society
and its secretary, Dr. Daydon Jackson, I am able to reproduce
transcripts of the most interesting of these letters, which
readers in America will, I believe, find interesting because
of their personal details. I am indebted also for their good
offices to John Hopkinson, F.L.S., and to William Rowan, Esq.
From the context of the nine letters which are here reproduced
without change, it is evident that Audubon paid little
attention to grammar, syntax, or orthography, but if the
reader will compare the letters written before and after 1830,
or before and after his first serious discipline in English
composition (see Chapters XXIII and XXIX), he will find marked
improvement in all these respects.
[355] Swainson's house has been kindly identified by my
friend, Mr. George E. Bullen, to whom I am indebted also
for an interesting photograph, taken from an old print. Mrs.
Swainson, who died February 12, 1835, was buried in the parish
church, with which she was closely identified, at London
Colney, and a tablet to her memory is still to be seen there.
Swainson probably preferred the historic associations of
Tyttenhanger, a name originally applied to the manor and manor
house of the Abbot of St. Albans, a famous abbey property
acquired before the Conquest, with a history extending over
six hundred years, but he did not live there. The oldest
resident now on the spot, a man over ninety, told Mr. Bullen
that as a boy he often collected butterflies, moths and other
specimens of natural history which he took to "Highfield
Hall," and was always paid by one of the Swainson children.
Since Swainson's time the original house, which was approached
by a long walk, has become almost unrecognizable, having
received an addition to one side; the grass land which then
surrounded it has been converted into beautiful lawns.
[356] See Bibliography, No. 95.
[357] See Chapter XXIX.
[358] See Vol. II, p. 130.
[359] See Note, Vol. I, p. 364.
[360] _Fauna Boreali-Americana; or the Zoology of the northern
parts of British America_; Part Second, "The Birds;" by
William Swainson and John Richardson (London, 1831).
[361] Maria R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 306.
[362] See Vol. I, p. 3.
[363] Maria R. Audubon, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 323.
[364] See Bibliography, No. 93a.
[365] The three volumes of this series bear date of 1832-33,
but the preface is inscribed "Tittenhanger Green St. Albans,
24th July, 1829."
[366] Mary F. Bradford, _Audubon_ (Bibl. No. 85).
[367] Published originally by Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 218),
_The Auk_, vol. xxii, 1905.
[368] See "The Great Pine Swamp," and "Great Egg Harbour,"
_Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. 52, and
vol. iii, p. 606.
[369] Though the year is not usually indicated on the
originals, the following drawings probably belong to this
period:
Black Poll Warbler, New Jersey, May.
Wood Pewee Flycatcher, New Jersey, May.
Small Green-crested Flycatcher, New Jersey, May.
Golden-crowned Thrush, New Jersey, May.
Warbling Flycatcher, _Vireo gilvus_, New Jersey, May 23.
Yellow-breasted Chat, New Jersey, June 7.
Sea Side Finch, Great Egg Harbour, June 14.
Marsh Wren, New Jersey, June 22.
Bay-winged Bunting, Great Egg Harbour, June 26.
Canada Flycatcher, Great Pine Swamp, August 1.
Pine Swamp Warbler, Great Pine Swamp, August 11.
Black and Yellow Warbler, Great Pine Swamp, August 12.
Hemlock Warbler, Great Pine Swamp, August 12.
Autumnal Warbler, Great Pine Swamp, August 20.
Connecticut Warbler, New Jersey, September 22.
Mottled Owl, New Jersey, October.
[370] Though Audubon said that he spent only six weeks in
the forest, the indications upon his drawings imply a longer
period.
[371] At this time Audubon intended to figure, in full size
and natural colors, the eggs of the "Birds of America," for
which the concluding numbers of his plates had been reserved,
but when the time came, these numbers had to be given over to
new acquisitions, so the eggs were eventually crowded out.
[372] At one time in possession of Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, who
received it from Mrs. Audubon; given verbatim by Elliott Coues
(Bibl. No. 43), _Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club_,
vol. v, 1880.
[373] Harlan's Hawk, or the Black Warrior, is now regarded as
a southern variety of the Red-tailed Hawk, and is designated
under the trinomen, _Buteo borealis harlani_.
[374] Published by Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 217), _The Auk_,
vol. xxii, 1905.
[375] Thomas B. Thorpe (Bibl. No. 64), _Godey's Lady's Book_,
vol. xlii, 1851.
[376] While in Paris in 1828, Audubon wrote on October 26 that
he had received a call from "a M. Pitois, who came to look at
my book, with a view to becoming my agent here; Baron Cuvier
recommended him strongly, and I have concluded a bargain with
him. He thinks he can procure a good number of subscribers.
His manners are plain, and I hope he will prove an honest
man." See Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl.
No. 86), vol. i, p. 339.
[377] Henry Augustus Havell, a younger brother of Robert
Havell, Junior; see Vol. II, p. 191.
[378] See Lucy B. Audubon, ed., _Life of John James Audubon,
the Naturalist_ (Bibl. No. 73), p. 203. Since black slaves
were the only domestics available in the South at that time,
it is probable that the "servants" referred to were employed
by Mrs. Audubon at her "Beechgrove" school.
[379] See Vol. I, p. 396.
[380] See Vol. II, p. 38.
[381] His correspondence with William Swainson from this
point, and the history of his letterpress so far as that
naturalist was concerned, will be unfolded later (see Chapter
XXIX).
[382] See Chapter XXVIII, p. 87.
[383] See Chapter XXX.
[384] The first volume of the _Ornithological Biography_ in
the European edition bears the imprint of "Adam Black, 55
North Bridge, Edinburgh;" in the four subsequent volumes this
was changed to "Adam and Charles Black," while the entire
work was printed by "Neill & Co., Printers, Old Fish Market,
Edinburgh." See Bibliography, No. 2.
[385] _American Ornithology, or the Natural History of
the Birds of the United States._ By Alexander Wilson and
Charles Lucien Bonaparte. Edited by Robert Jameson ... Regius
Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh.
Appearing as vols. lxviii-lxxi of _Constable's Miscellany_, 4
vols., 18mo., Edinburgh and London, 1831. This was the fourth
(?) edition of Wilson's work, and the first (?) to appear
in Europe; with portrait of Wilson and vignettes on titles
engraved by Lizars, memoir of Wilson by W. M. Hetherington,
and extracts from Audubon, Richardson, and Swainson.
The plates of this edition were issued in numbers, under
title of _Illustrations of American Ornithology_; reduced from
the work of Wilson; 18mo., Edinburgh and London (1831). In a
notice of the first number which appeared in the _Caledonian
Mercury_ (Edinburgh) for Oct. 29, 1831, it was stated that
the plates were issued in small size to be bound up with
Jameson's edition of the text, and that they were intended
"for a different class of purchasers from those likely to take
the folio edition, then being brought out by the publishers of
Constable's Miscellany. The plates were engraved in line and
executed in a very superior style, both plain and colored."
[386] _American Ornithology; or Natural History of the
Birds of the United States_, by Alexander Wilson, with a
Continuation by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano.
The Illustrative Notes and Life of Wilson by Sir William
Jardine, 3 vols., 8vo., London and Edinburgh, 1832.
The second (?) European edition of Wilson and Bonaparte, with
97 hand-colored plates engraved by Lizars. The _Caledonian
Mercury_ in noticing the work, October 29, 1831, said: "It
must be highly gratifying to the friends and connections of
poor Sandy Wilson to see such honor, at last, paid to his
memory in his native land."
[387] _Illustrations of the American Ornithology of Alexander
Wilson and Charles Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano._
With the addition of numerous Recently Discovered Species,
and Representations of the Whole Sylva of North America. By
Captain Thomas Brown [etc., etc.]. Folio, with engraved title,
engraved dedication, index, and 124 engraved and hand-colored
plates. Edinburgh, Frazer & Co., 54 North Bridge, William
Curry, Jun'r & Co., Dublin & Smith, Elder & Co., 65 Cornhill,
London, MDCCCXXXV.
It is stated by the editor of this extraordinary work that
he had added 161 birds, and that 87 have been considerably
enlarged. There are 167 representations of American trees
and shrubs, said to have been copied for the most part from
Michaux' _Silva_. The striking _Hibiscus grandiflorus_ (plate
xli) was taken without acknowledgment from Audubon's drawing
of the Blue-winged Warbler (_The Birds of America_, plate xx).
For the most part the figures of birds are redrawn from Wilson
and Bonaparte and given new positions and backgrounds. A few
of the plates, as that of the California Vulture (no. 1), bear
the legend, "Drawn by Captn. Tho. Brown;" all are uneven, and
many extremely poor in execution, the fourteen by W. H. Lizars
being the best. J. B. Kidd, for a time associated with Audubon
(see Vol. I, p. 446) is credited with four plates; other
engravers employed on the work were James Turvey, who executed
the elaborate title, Samuel Milne, James Mayson, R. Scott, J.
& J. Johnstone, E. Mitchell, William Davie, S. A. Miller, John
Miller, Audw. Kilgour, Wm. Warwick, and W. McGregor. Plate
xiv, the Snowy Owl, _Strix nyctea_, engraved by the editor,
has the interest of a caricature. Some plates show as many
as fourteen birds in a medley of brilliant foliage, flowers
and fruits. The violence of the coloring is often such as to
destroy the effect of the best plates, and gaudy butterflies
flit through the pages as if they were the common food of
every species, not excluding the American grouse (see Note,
Vol. I, p. 359).
Captain Brown's _Illustrations_ were said by a writer in
the _Edinburgh Literary Journal_ for April 9, 1831, "to form
a companion to the letterpress in _Constable's Miscellany_
(see Note, Vol. I, p. 442); price, colored, 15 shillings;
plain, 10s. 6d. A few in elephant folio (same size as Selby's
_British Ornithology_); colored, 1 guinea. To be completed in
10 parts, each containing 5 colored plates; 22 inches long by
17 inches broad, being considered more than double the size of
the original work." The first number of this work was reviewed
in the _London Literary Gazette_ for October 8, 1831, when
it was said that in it were represented 25 birds, 13 forest
trees, and 12 insects; the completed work would comprehend
"all the forest trees of America, with their fruits, together
with the principal insects of the country," as well as all
the birds that had been discovered up to the time of issue.
Brown's piratical work must have had a very limited
circulation, since it is now so rare that not even the
British Museum possesses a copy, and, so far as known, it
is not found in any public library of the United States. I
was told at Wheldon's, the London shop devoted to works on
natural history, that but two copies had ever been handled,
and that they commanded a high price. The work was originally
sold at £26. The only copy known to me is in the library
of the Zoological Society in London, from which the present
citation is made; on one of its fly-leaves is written this
note: "I have seen the wrapper of No. 1 of this work. It
is dated 1831. There is no information as to its contents.
C. Davis Sanborn. 22.5.05." This copy was referred to by
Dr. Theodore Gill; see _The Osprey_, vol. v, pp. 31 and 109
(Washington, 1900 and 1901). Dr. Walter Faxon has traced two
other copies, one formerly in possession of Professor Alfred
Newton, and another, but very imperfect set, in a private
library at Tarrytown, New York. According to Faxon, a single
brown paper wrapper preserved in the Tarrytown copy bears a
full printed title, which differs, however, from that which
was subsequently engraved for the completed work; for fuller
citation, see "A Rare Work on American Ornithology," _The
Auk_, vol. xx (1903), pp. 236-241.
Mr. Ruthven Deane has written me that several years ago he
secured in New York a fragment of this work, consisting of
the paper wrappers of four Parts, Nos. 1-4, the last three of
which contained five plates each; there were in addition 10
scattered plates, making 25 plates in all; the price of "21
Shillings" is printed on each of the wrappers, which also bear
the date "1831," but no titles.
Another pirated work, _Illustrations of the Genera of Birds_,
by the same author, was begun in 1845, but met with even less
success, and was never completed; this was taken from _A List
of the Genera of Birds_, published in 1840 by George Robert
Gray, and according to Alfred Newton (_A Dictionary of Birds_,
London, 1896, p. 30, note) was "discreditable to all concerned
with it."
[388] See Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 209), _The Auk_, vol. xviii
(1901). The extract is from a letter dated "Edinburgh, 22
Warriston Crescent 7th May, 1831."
[389] Kidd, who was twenty-three at the time he began to
work for Audubon, died in 1889, when he had attained his
eighty-first year.
[390] See Chapter XXVII, p. 62.
[391] An indication of the time of this visit is given by the
following inscription written in the copy of the first volume
of the _Ornithological Biography_, which was presented to
Cuvier at this time:
To
Baron G. Cuvier,
with the highest respect of the
author.—
Paris—17 th. May, 1831.
[392] On Wednesday evening, July 27, 1831, Audubon sent the
following note to Mr. Harris: "Come to meet me _tomorrow,
precisely_ at _twelve_ o'clock, at our lodgings, 121 Great
Portland street."
[393] For the perusal of this letter the reader is indebted,
as in so many other instances, to Mr. Ruthven Deane.