THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATI(3N 



29 



had a happy temperament, great indus- 

 try, and such a love for nature that he 

 made no complaints. 



Audubon was an artist as well as an 

 ornithologist. He spent a number of 

 years in Paris, studying with David, 

 and afterwards exercised his talent a 

 great deal. He has told the history of 

 birds as accurately on canvass as in 

 words. Some of the large original 

 drawings prepared for his great work 

 The Birds of North America are in the 

 Museum of the Louisville Public Lib- 

 rary. They are highly prized and are 

 worthy of the admiration they com- 

 mand. They speak eloquently of the 

 infinite patience and love of the artist 

 as well as of his skill in faithful por- 

 trayal of bird life. 



]\Iiss Audubon dwelt upon the cour- 

 age of her grandfather in the face of 

 three misfortunes that at different 

 times befell his beloved drawings. 

 On one occasion on a steamboat trip 

 to Mississippi, gunpowder defaced sev- 

 eral hundred of them. x\t another time 

 rats got into the box where others were 

 placed for safe keeping and utterly des- 

 troyed the labor of years. And again 

 great damage was done by a fire which 

 broke out in a store room where Audu- 

 bon had left the larger part of his draw- 

 ings while absent on .a trip abroad. 

 Each time the great man set about re- 

 pairing the loss as best he could and re- 

 mained unsatisfied until he had dupli- 

 cated as far as possible the drawings 

 destroyed. 



Audubon was much appreciated in 

 Europe. On one occasion he had the 

 pleasure of visiting Sir Walter Scott, 

 whom he much admired. At all times 

 Audubon kept a most careful journal 

 and he tells in it with how much en- 

 thusiam Scott received him and how 

 much attention he gave to his draw- 

 ings. 



For a large part of his life Audubon 

 had the help of a noble wife who under- 

 stood him and worked with him through 

 every misfortune that came to them. 

 And Audubon acknowledges her com- 

 radeship in many loving tributes in 

 letters and journal. But for it perhaps 

 he could not have been to such a degree 

 the brave and dauntless soul who stud- 

 ied nature for the love of her and not 

 for profit nor for the world's approval. 



Miss Audubon has promised to go 

 with us on some of our excursions this 

 spring. Her own love for nature as 



well as her very considerable knowledige 

 of birds will make her a most welcome 

 and valuable companion. 

 Sincerely yours, 



M.\RV RosK SiiI';lle;y^ Pres. 



Eiviz.MiETii Pi^CK, Treas. 



Dorothy Shelley, Cor. Sec'y. 



ViRGiNLx Wheeler, Librarian. 



Methods of Seed Distribution. 



BY thk reverend MANLEY b. townsend, 



SECRETARY AUDUBON SOCIETY OF NEW 

 HAMPSHIRE, NASHUA, NEW HAMPSHIRE 



The interesting letter by Mr. H. Stu- 

 art Dove in the February number of 

 The Gl'IDE to Nature, in which he de- 

 scribes the occurrence of two small 

 trees growing on the island of Tas- 

 mania, two hundred miles from their 

 native habitat in Australia, brings up 

 the subject of the wonderful methods 

 by which seeds are transported to a 

 distance. Undoubtedly Mr. Dove is 

 right in attributing the planting of 

 these special seeds to the agency of 

 birds, this method being probably more 

 common and important than is gener- 

 ally supposed. Seeds are widely scat- 

 tered by birds that have transported 

 them in their feathers or on their feet 

 or legs, especially if the seed be cov- 

 ered with a sticky substance or be pro- 

 vided with hooks for "catching on." In 

 one of his investigations, Charles Dar- 

 win raised eighty-two plants from 

 seeds found in a clot of earth adhering 

 to the leg of a partridge — a truly as- 

 tonishing thing. 



One of the most interesting meet- 

 ings of our Nashua Chapter of The 

 Agassiz Association was spent in 

 studying typical seeds and their meth- 

 ods of distribution. Let me commend 

 the subject to our Chapters. 



It will be found that some seeds are 

 tramps. Like all hoboes they steal 

 rides. Typical examples are the bur- 

 dock. Beggar-ticks, agrimony and bed- 

 straw. Others are balloons, like those 

 of the dandelion, thistle, milkweed, as- 

 ter, willow and goldenrod. Still others 

 are airships, as for instance, the wing- 

 ed seeds of maple, pine, elm, ash, birch 

 and hornbeam. These are either mon- 

 oplanes or biplanes — winged argosies 

 of the sky. 



There are seeds that are shot vio- 

 lently from the seed vessels by explo- 

 sive force. The witch-hazel hurls its 

 seeds to a considerable distance. The 

 snapdragon is a catapult, as are the 



