54 



Bird- Lore 



biography may be employed to equal 

 advantage in the study of the biography 

 of an ornithologist. His work is charac- 

 terized by keen, patient, persistent, 

 thorough search for information bearing 

 directly or indirectly on his theme, by 

 breadth of knowledge, both ornithological 

 and historical, which gives him a clear 

 perception of the significance and relations 

 of facts and events, by facility of expres- 

 sion, and by a sympathy with his subject 

 which does not, however, handicap his 

 judgment or predetermine his point of 

 \iew. 



Add to this equipment an evident 

 interest in his task which has made it a 

 labor of love, and it is clear that the fruit 

 of this labor must be given high rank in 

 the literature of biography. Taken in 

 connection with Audubon's 'Journals,' 

 published by his granddaughter, Maria R. 

 Audubon (Scribner, 2 vols.), Professor 

 Herricks' scholarly memoir gives us as 

 complete, adequate, and faithful a history 

 of Audubon's life as we may ever expect 

 to have. 



Among the surprising amount of new 

 information concerning Audubon's early 

 life which Professor Herrick has unearthed, 

 the discovery of the place and date of 

 Audubon's birth of course stands pre- 

 eminent. 



Heretofore the evidence available has 

 led to the generally accepted belief that 

 Audubon was born at Mandeville, La., 

 on May 5, 1780. Professor Herrick, how- 

 ever, presents data which prove that the 

 great naturalist first saw the light at Les 

 Cayes, Haiti, April 26, 1785. 



From this date to the day of his death, 

 January 27, 1851, Professor Herrick gives 

 us a detailed history of the remarkable 

 life of this remarkable and lovable man. 



Through it all runs the exhibition of 

 those traits which are shown only by the 

 man born with that intense interest in 

 birds which gives them at all times and in 

 all places first claim to his attention. 

 Whether as a schoolboy in France, as a 

 youthful farmer in Pennsylvania, as a 

 merchant in Kentucky, or as a teacher 

 of drawing in Cincinnati, Audubon's 



inherent love of birds is constantly in 

 evidence. There were no fellow ornith- 

 ologists, no one to stimulate or encourage 

 him — indeed, his ornithological pursuits 

 were the immediate cause of disaster in his 

 commercial ventures — nor had he up to 

 this time (1820) conceived the idea of 

 his stupendous undertaking. But the 

 germ was there, nothing could prevent its 

 growth, and it finally carried him trium- 

 phant through all the hardships and difli- 

 culties of ornithological exploration and 

 the even greater trials of ornithological 

 publication. 



To everyone the history of Audubon's 

 life must possess the combined fascina- 

 tion of biography and romance; but to the 

 ornithologist it is a thrilling demonstra- 

 tion of the impelling power contained in 

 an inborn love of bird-life. No manual or 

 textbooks of ornithology can ever teach 

 him the lesson which he may read in 

 every chapter of this work, the lesson 

 that, given a geniune love of birds, he has 

 stored within him a potential force which 

 will enable him to develop his talents to 

 the utmost limit of achievement. — F. M. C. 



The Ornithological Magazines 



The Condor. — The number of 'The 

 Condor,' for November, 191 7, contains two 

 general articles, several brief notes and 

 editorials, and the index of the volume. 

 The principal articles comprise 'The 

 Birds of Molly Island, Yellowstone 

 National Park,' by M. P. Skinner, and a 

 description of 'A New Subspecies of Gco- 

 Ihlypis beldingi' by Harry C. Oberholser. 

 Molly Island is a small island in the south- 

 eastern arm of Yellowstone Lake, 20 miles 

 off the usual tourist route, and consequentl}- 

 not often visited. The birds include 

 about 700 White Pelicans and 1,000 

 California Culls which utilize the island 

 as a nesting-ground, and a few Caspian 

 Terns which have been observed in spring 

 but thus far not found actually breeding. 

 Yellowstone Lake, while one of the im- 

 portant breeding-places of the White 

 Pelican and California Gull, is not the 

 most eastern nesting-ground as intimated. 



