22 JOHN JAMES ATJDUBON 

 for France, I had begun a series of 

 drawings of the birds of America, and 

 had also begun a study of their habits. 

 I at first drew my subject dead, by which 

 I mean to say that after procuring a 

 specimen, I hung it up, either by the 

 head, wing, or foot, and copied it as 

 closely as I could. " Even the hateful 

 Da Costa had praised his bird pictures 

 and had predicted great things for him 

 in this direction. His words had given 

 Audubon a great deal of pleasure. 



Mr. William Bakewell, the brother of 

 his Lucy, has given us a glimpse of 

 Audubon and his surroundings at this 

 time. " Audubon took me to his house, 

 where he and his companion, Eozier, 

 resided, with Mrs. Thomas for an at- 

 tendant. On entering his room, I was 

 astonished and delighted that it was 

 turned into a museum. The walls were 

 festooned with all sorts of birds' eggs, 

 carefully blown out and strung on a 

 thread. The chimney piece was covered 



