fAuk 



402 Deane, Audubon's Copper-plates of ' Birds of America.' [q"j 



The probabilities are that the majority of the plates were shipped 

 from the New York warehouse to the Ansonia Brass and Copper 

 Company, Ansonia, Conn., of which company Mr. Dodge was 

 president, and I am indebted to ]\Ir. Charles A. Cowles, Ansonia, 

 for a most interesting account of how he was the means of saving 

 several of these plates from being thrown into the smelting furnace 

 and converted into copper bars. I cjuote from Mr. Cowles letter 

 of ]March 7, 1907: "The story of the saving of these plates from a 

 smelting furnace will probably interest you. Some time about the 

 year 1873, there was found a number of the Audubon copper-plates 

 among the scrap copper sent to the refinery of the Ansonia Brass 

 & Copper Company, at Ansonia, Conn., to be converted into 

 copper bars. I am of the opinion that the number included the 

 complete set of plates engraved by Robert Ha veil for the 'Birds 

 of America.' 



"At that time I was about fourteen years old. I was beginning 

 the study of taxidermy, and was naturally deeply interested in 

 birds. I happened to be at the refinery watching the process of 

 loading one of the furnaces, and noticed on one of the sheets of 

 copper that a man was throwing into the furnace, what appeared 

 to me to be a picture of a bird's foot. I took the plate from him, 

 cleaned it with acid, and thereupon discovered the engraving, or 

 as I termed it, the picture, of a bird (Plate CVI, Black Vulture). 

 I made an immediate but unsuccessful request to the foreman of 

 the furnace not to melt the plates; and then I appealed to the 

 superintendent, but without avail. I next brought the matter to 

 the general manager of the concern, my father, from whom I re- 

 ceived no encouragement. This sort of treatment was evidently 

 what I needed, for I hastened back to the works in a state of mind 

 so determined that I succeeded in having all of the plates that had 

 not been melted removed to a place of safety. This occurred in 

 the spring of the year; and the plates remained undisturbed until 

 the annual inventory was taken the first of the following year. At 

 that time the question of the disposition of the plates was brought 

 up. I appealed to my mother and interested her to such an extent 

 that she drove to the factory and looked at one of the plates. She 

 of course recognized that they were Audubon plates; and instruc- 

 tions were given by my father to keep them intact. The plates 



