V ° 1 i907 :iV ] Deane > Letters or J. J. Audubon and S. F. Baird. 65 



I have made drawings of the sculls of several of our quadrupeds 

 which are at your service if you want them. They are Mink, Wild 

 Cat, Ground Hog, Lepus Sylvaticus, 1 Neotoma Floridana and 

 others. I have got a Camera Lucida now and intend trying to 

 draw with it. Anything I can do in this way for you will be cheer- 

 fully done. 



Yours Sincerely 



Spencer F. Baird. 

 John J. Audubon Esq. 

 77 William St. 

 New York. 



Baird to Audubon. 



Carlisle Nov. 4, 1846. 

 Dear Mr. Audubon 



I have been intending to write for a long time, to find out how 

 you all are at Minnie's Landing, 2 and how yourself is particularly, 

 but have put it off from time to time for various reasons. I can 

 do so no longer, but must beg you to let me know these particulars. 



Since my last visit to you, two pretty important events have 

 happened to me. The first was getting married, 3 the second, 

 settling down steadily in my Professional chair. 4 My wife is the 

 only daughter of Col. Churchill 5 Inspector Gen. of the Army, now 

 with Gen. Wool 6 in Mexico. She suits me exactly, being as fond 



1 Lepus floridanus mallurus Thomas. 



2 "Minniesland," now known as Audubon Park, in the present limits of New York 

 City. "The name came from the fact that my father and uncle always used the 

 Scotch name ' Minnie ' for mother. The land when bought was deeded to her, and 

 always spoken of as Minnie's land." (See Audubon and his Journals, Vol. I, p. 71.) 



3 The following is taken from a file of Carlisle, Pa., papers: "Married: Aug. 8, 

 1846, in Carlisle, by the Rev. John McClintock, Prof. Spencer F. Baird of Dickinson 

 College, to Mary Helen Churchill, daughter of Col. S. Churchill, Inspector General 

 U. S. Army." 



4 "In 1845 he was chosen professor of natural history in Dickinson College, and in 

 1846, his duties and emoluments were increased by election to the chair of natural 

 history and chemistry in the same institution." In 1846 there were about one 

 hundred students in Dickinson College. There was under the immediate super- 

 vision of the college faculty a perparatory department or "Grammar School," as it 

 was called, with about half that number of students. 



5 Col. Ss'lvester Churchill, born about 1783, died Dec. 1862. Became Inspector 

 General of the Army in 1841. 



6 General John E. Wool, American General, born about 1789, died about 1869. 



