170 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



We will now return to the story of Audubon's life 

 in New York. While he was supposed to be learning 

 the exporting business with Benjamin Bakewell, his 

 heart was in the woods and fields, and every hour that 

 could be snatched from the counting-room found him 

 in the pursuit of birds or drawing their portraits. He 

 used the pencil and black crayon point combined with 

 pastels, and while much of his artistic work at this time 

 was hastily done, he was capable of producing excellent 

 likenesses. A very delicate drawing of the Wood 

 Thrush, signed with his initials, and dated at "Mill 

 Grove, Pennsylvania, 14 aout, 1806," is numbered 209, 

 showing that his collection of American birds was al- 

 ready extensive, even if it did not include many that 

 were well known. In the winter of 1806-7, while in 

 New York, Audubon paid most attention to the water- 

 fowl, frequently visiting the shore and the markets for 

 his subjects. The sketches which he then made were 

 all in full size, and, as an evidence of the rapidity with 

 which he worked, it may be noticed that he would often 



name of the Perkioming Consolidated Mining Company, which issued 

 50,000 shares of stock, at six dollars each, thus representing a capital of 

 $300,000. A mining settlement quickly sprang up on Audubon's old farm, 

 where numerous buildings of stone, a general store, and miners' houses 

 were to be seen. In the first annual statement issued by this company, 

 the buildings were said to represent an outlay of $15,000, while $140,000 

 had been expended on machinery, both above and below ground. A Cornish 

 expert, who was summoned from England, was paid $1,414 for a verbose 

 report, the substance of which, it was said, was expressed in conveying 

 the information, already known, that the "mineral mined is copper ore" 

 (copper pyrite occurring in association with lead). This company closed 

 its business in 1851, by assessing its stockholders one dollar a share, 

 thus bringing the total loss in this final effort to $350,000, nearly one- 

 third of which had been drawn from Philadelphia. After one, or two, 

 further unsuccessful attempts had been made, all the substantial build- 

 ings of the mining works became a quarry, from which stone was sold 

 by the perch, the ruins of the old engine house alone remaining to this 

 day as a witness of the follies of the generations that are gone. (This 

 accQunt is based upon reports which have appeared in the press of Philadel- 

 phia or in other Pennsylvania newspapers.) 



