JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 87 



youth, friend of humanity, and one whose religion was the golden 

 rule." His kindness to young ornithologists is 'again attested by 

 the letters and journal of Spencer F. Baird, who as a student in 

 New York City, saw a great deal of the then venerable naturalist 

 and received much kindly instruction and encouragement from 

 him. 



While it has been his reputation as an artist and a student of the 

 habits of birds, that has made the name of Audubon famous, there 

 is one characteristic which we can trace through his whole eventful 

 life, which was primarily responsible for his success and without 

 which he would probably never have achieved notoriety. This 

 was__the indomitflhlf "f^g ^"^ proM^fon/'o w jth which he 

 carried out the gigantic publication mat had early become estab- 

 lished in his mind as his life-work. In spite of hardship, poverty 

 and actual want he persevered until success crowned his efforts. 

 And if, we see here and there exaggeration in his plates or if pas- 

 sages in his writings seen to personify the subjects or to tend toward 

 egotism, we must remember the character of the man, whose 

 pencil was striving to present to us the action and life of the crea- 

 tures he loved to watch ; whose pen could not describe their habits 

 without telling us also of the feelings that arose within him as his 

 mind reverted to the scenes of which he wrote, and who could not 

 help looking upon them as fellow-beings. This was no museum 

 savant but a painter-naturalist, who holds a distinct place in the 

 history of Ornithology. 



And of his work we can truly say that no paintings have inspired 

 more men to follow on the path he trod, and no text on bird life 

 has been read with more consuming interest. 



