276 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Wild Cat, Ground Hog, Lepus Sylvaticus, Neotoma 

 Floridana and others. I have got a Camera Lucida now 

 and intend trying to draw with it. Anything I can do 

 for you in this way will be cheerfully done." When he 

 wrote again, towards the close of this year, some impor- 

 tant events had happened, as shown by this letter: 



Spencer Fullerton 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, and how yourself is par- 

 ticularly, but have put it off from time to time for various rea- 

 sons. I can do so no longer, and 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, the sec- 

 ond, settling down steadily in my Professional chair. 16 My 

 wife is the only daughter of Col. Churchill Inspector Gen. of 

 the Army, now with Gen. Wool in Mexico. She suits me ex- 

 actly, being as fond of birds & snakes & fishes etc. as myself. 

 I have even given her a lesson or two in taxidermy. 



My duties as professor consist in teaching Animal Physi- 

 ology, Natural Theology & Mathematics. My salary is small 

 $400 but I hope will be larger hereafter. I have to work hard, 

 but that is good for me. 



Please let me know how the quadrupeds get along. Is the 

 first vol. published? How does John get along in England? 

 What has become of his Texas birds? 



Please to tell me the address of your friend Ayres. I 

 have been collecting fishes for some weeks, and wish to corre- 



19 In the summer of 1846 Baird's nominal position in Dickinson College 

 had been changed to an active one by his election to a professorship of 

 chemistry and natural history, and his marriage had followed in August. 

 The college had about one hundred students enrolled at that time, and the 

 grammar, or preparatory, school attached to it, about half as many more. 

 See Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 51), The Auk, vol. xxiv, p. 65 (1907). 



