PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA 303 



That it was possible for one man to do so much excellent field work, 

 to write so many meritorious volumes, and to paint such a multitude 

 of remarkable pictures must be attributed in no small part to his rare 

 physical strength — for do not intellectual and physical vigor usually 

 go hand in hand and beget power of achievement? Audubon was noted 

 for these qualities. As a worker he was rapid, absorbed and ardent; 

 he began at daylight and labored continuously till night, averaging 

 fourteen hours a day, and, it is said, allowed only four hours for sleep. 



In American ornithology, in which he holds so illustrious a place, 

 it was not his privilege to be in the strict sense a pioneer, for before 

 him were Vieillot, Wilson and Bonaparte; and contemporaneous with 

 him were Richardson, Xuttall, Maximilian, Prince of Wied, and a 

 score of lesser and younger lights — some of whom were destined to 

 shine in the near future. 



Audubon was no closet naturalist — the technicalities of the pro- 

 fession he left to other — but as a field naturalist he was at his best and 

 had few equals. He was a born woodsman, a lover of wild nature in 

 the fullest sense, a keen observer, an accurate recorder, and, in addi- 

 tion, possessed the rare gift of instilling into his writings the freshness 

 of nature and the vivacity and enthusiasm of his own personality. 



His influence was not confined to devotees of the natural sciences, 

 for in his writings and paintings, and in his personal contact with 

 men of affairs, both in this country and abroad, he exhaled the fresh- 

 ness, the vigor, the spirit of freedom and progress of America — and 

 who shall attempt to measure the value of this influence to our young 

 republic ? 



Audubon's preeminence is due, not alone to his skill as a painter 

 of birds and mammals, nor to the magnitude of his contributions to 

 science, but also to the charm and genius of his personality — a per- 

 sonality that profoundly impressed his contemporaries, and which, 

 by means of his biographies and journals, it is still our privilege to 

 enjoy. His was a type now rarely met — combining the grace and cul- 

 ture of the Frenchman with the candor, patience, and earnestness of 

 purpose of the American. There was about him a certain poetic 

 picturesqueness and a rare charm of manner that drew people to him 

 and enlisted them in his work. His friend, Dr. Bachman, of Charles- 

 ton, tells us that it was considered a privilege to give to Audubon 

 what no one else could buy. His personal qualities and characteristics 

 appear in some of his minor papers— notably the essays entitled 

 ' Episodes.' These serve to reveal, perhaps better than his more formal 

 writings, the keenness of his insight, the kindness of his heart, the 

 poetry of his nature, the power of his imagination, and the vigor and 

 versatility of his intellect. 



