218 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



in Audubon's published lists was 1,198, of which 198 

 are credited to Boston, 164 to Baltimore, 141 to New 

 York, sixty-five to Philadelphia, and forty-three to for- 

 eign countries, ten of which went to England; Mr. 

 George Oates of Charleston subscribed for seven copies. 

 Such a reception for an expensive work on natural his- 

 tory was unprecedented in the United States, and has 

 had few parallels in any country. 



At the very beginning of this new undertaking, the 

 hand of disease and bereavement rested heavily on the 

 Audubon and Bachman families; they were obliged to 

 see first one and then another of their daughters 

 swept by the same terrible malady, tuberculosis, to an 

 early grave. Mrs. John Woodhouse Audubon died at 

 her old home in Charleston, whither she had gone for 

 the benefit of her health in the previous winter, on 

 September 15, 1840, at the age of twenty-three; and 

 Mrs. Victor Audubon, after a long sojourn in Cuba, and 

 shortly after returning to her home in New York, died 

 there on May 25, 1841, at the age of twenty-two. Au- 

 dubon was very fond of his daughters-in-law, and his 

 "beloved Rosy," as Victor's wife was familiarly called, 

 is said to have been a particular favorite and the life 

 of "his family circle. If work at this time brought no 

 pleasure, it at least afforded him relief from painful 

 thoughts. 



In June, 1840, a boy who lived in Carlisle, Pennsyl- 

 vania, mustered up courage to write to the naturalist 

 and give him an account of a new bird, the Yellow- 

 bellied Flycatcher, which he and his brother had dis- 



1,000 copies that of No. 2, and of successive numbers to No. 23. With 

 No. 24, the edition was increased to 2,000, and in February, 1841, the 

 earlier numbers were reprinted, thus forming a second edition of these 

 parts, and affording a chance for correction of errors. (See Audubon's 

 letter quoted above.) 



