CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 93 



From John J. Audubon to S. F. Baird. 



MINNIE'S LAND, (N. YORK) November 3, 1843. 

 MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND, 



I have your kind letter of the 24th Inst., to which I would have 

 answered sooner had I not been exceedingly engaged in arranging 

 sundry affairs of considerable importance. 



You may well regret the difficulties thrown in your way through 

 the fears of your good friends. Why, only think that / saw not one 

 Rattlesnake and heard not a Word of bilious fever, or of anything 

 more troublesome than Muschietoes and of those by no means many! 

 No, our Trip was a pleasant one. Abundance of the largest Game 

 was killed, and much more could have been procured had we wished 

 for it; but when a fat buffalo weighing some 1500 pounds or upwards 

 is dead and the camp is prepared and the beast is roasting by large 

 Juicy pieces, who could have the heart to kill more for the sake of 

 the Tongue, or for that of the Wolves? Why, not I, I assure you. 

 I have brought home alive a Deer which we thought may prove 

 new. A Swift Fox and an American Badger. All these are doing 

 quite Well; 15 New Species of Birds, and a Certain Number of Quad- 

 rupeds. We met with many of the Birds procured on the Western 

 side of the Big Rocky Hills by Nuttall and Townsend. Yet I feel 

 quite assured that much remains to be done, and all I regret is that 

 I am not what I was 25 Years ago, Strong and Active, for willing 

 I am as much as ever. 



Pray what are you Doing at Washington? How long do you 

 expect to remain there, &c, &c, &c. ???? I cannot write to you at 

 this time at such length as I wish but will give you an Idea of the 

 Birds brought home very soon. Health and prosperity, believe me 

 always, Your sincere friend & servt. 



JOHN J. AUDUBON. 



Collecting and correspondence with William Baird 

 continued energetically, as the following correspondence 

 will show. 



Meanwhile the two brothers decided to offer their 

 paper on the two supposed new species of Flycatchers 



