BIRDS. 



Illustrated by COLOR PfiOTOGRflPfiY. 



Vol. II. 



NOVEMBER. 



No. 5. 



JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 



OHN JAMES AUDUBON has 

 always been a favorite with 

 the writer, for the invincible- 

 ness of his love of Nature and 

 of birds is only equaled by 

 the spontaneous freshness of his style, 

 springing from an affectionate and joy- 

 ous nature. Recently there was found 

 by accident, in an old calf-skin bound 

 volume, an autobiography of the 

 naturalist. It is entitled " Audubon's 

 Story of his Youth,'' and would make 

 a very pretty book. As introductory 

 to the diaries and ornithological 

 biographies of the birds, it would be 

 very useful. 



Two or three incidents in the life of 

 this fascinating character are interest- 

 ing as showing the influence of the 

 accidental in ultimate achievement. 



"One incident," he says, "which is 

 as perfect in my memory as if it had 

 occured this very day, I have thought 

 thousands of times since, and will now 

 put on paper as one of the curious 

 things which perhaps did lead me in 

 after times to love birds, and to finally 

 study them with pleasure infinite. My 

 mother had several beautiful parrots, 

 and some monkeys ; one of the latter 

 was a full-grown male of a very large 

 species. One morning, while the 

 servants were engaged in arranging 

 the room I was in, ' Pretty Polly ' 

 asking for her breakfast as usual, 

 ' Dii pain an lait pour le perroqitct 

 Mignonne^^ (bread and milk for the par- 

 rot Mignonne,) the man of the woods 



probably thought the bird presuming 

 upon his rights in the scale of nature ; 

 be this as it may, he certainly showed 

 his supremacy in strength over the 

 denizen of the air, for, walking 

 deliberately and uprightly toward the 

 poor bird, he at once killed it, with 

 unnatural composure. The sensations 

 of my infant heart at this cruel sight 

 were agony to me. I prayed the 

 servant to beat the monkey, but he, 

 who for some reason, preferred the 

 monkey to the parrot, refused. I 

 uttered long and piercing cries, my 

 mother rushed into the room ; I was 

 tranquilized ; the monkey was forever 

 afterward chained, and Mignonne 

 buried with all the pomp of a cherished 

 lost one. This made, as I have said, a 

 very deep impression on my )outhful 

 mind." 



In consequence of the long absences 

 of his father, who was an admiral in 

 the French navy, the young naturalist's 

 education was neglected, his mother 

 suffering him to do much as he pleased, 

 and it was not to be wondered at, as 

 he says, that instead of applying closely 

 to his studies, he preferred associating 

 with boys of his own age and dis- 

 position, who were more fond of going 

 in search of bird's nests,fishing,or shoot- 

 ing, than of better studies. Thus almost 

 every day, instead of going to school, 

 he usually made for the fields where 

 he spent the day, returning with his 

 little basket filled with what he called 

 curosities, such as birds' nests, birds' 



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