4 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 70. 



commenced, — and not many were commenced by him. There 

 used to be in existence an unfinished painting in water colors 

 of an Arcadian Owl of his, but it is a poor thing, and does not 

 promise much, e'en had it ever been completed. 



By far the most interesting paintings discovered by me, at 

 the time and place mentioned, consisted in two or three large 

 canvasses done in oil by the father, John James Audubon, the 

 author of the " Birds of America," and these were, among 

 other dust-covered relics, stored away in the attic of the Sa- 

 lem house. 



Only one of these canvasses was in any condition to be pho- 

 tographed, for, being upwards of a century old, it was dull, 

 and cracked, or rather cracked like old china, and, withal, 

 more or less dim. Then, my photographic experience was 

 somewhat limited in those days, and old oil paintings are dif- 

 ficult subjects for the camerist at the best. 



However, this painting was dusted off and placed in the 

 attic in as favorable a light as possible, and two dry plate ex- 

 posures (5x8) were made that made pretty fair negatives af- 

 ter they had been submitted to intensification. The reproduc- 

 tion of a photograph made by me from the better of these two. 

 illustrates the present contribution. It will be observed that 

 Audubon painted here three barn-yard fowls in rather spirited 

 attitudes. One of these fowls is evidently a common cock, 

 while the other two are hens, apparently of the Polish breed, 

 or perhaps Houdans. This scene is one to be observed upon 

 almost any day in any hen-yard, or upon the farm, and or- 

 iginally the painting must have been one of some considerable 

 merit. 



It is not generally known that Audubon was ever given to 

 producing such subjects as this in oil, — life size, for in this 

 particular picture the fowls are life size. To the best of my 

 recollection it was painted by him in Philadelphia. It belongs 

 to a class of work that he did purely to make quick sales in 

 order to support himself while engaged in painting and 

 describing birds for his volumes on American ornithology. 



