230 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



and all the smaller animals can be forwarded in an earthern 

 jar immersed in good Yankee Rum. The larger kinds can be 

 skinned, preserving the skull entire, and also the legbone and 

 the clavicles. One fore & one hind foot ought to be pinned 

 on a board or cork until perfectly dried, and actual measure- 

 ments and weights forwarded with the specimens. Nos. accord- 

 ingly with the notes of localities and dates. Young and old 

 are wanted. The Cat Squirrel is now and then procured about 

 you of a very large size the Woodchuck &c. but it is unneces- 

 sary for me to give you a list as we are anxious to procure 

 every thing we can from every portion of the Union with the 

 view to ascertain their geographical range. 



The expense involved in producing the early num- 

 bers of the small edition of his Birds must have been 

 great, and Audubon was feeling the strain, when the 

 letter, 11 dated "New York April 29, 1841," from which 

 the following extract is taken, was sent to his Boston 

 agent: "I doubt much if you are actually aware that 

 we have at this moment in this city and at Philadelphia 

 upwards of Seventy persons employed upon the present 

 work, and that all these . . . are to be paid regularly 

 each Saturday evening, and that when we are out of 

 temper it is not without cause." 



When Baird visited the Audubons, in New York, in 

 January, 1842, he was fascinated by the masterly draw- 

 ings of birds and quadrupeds which were then being 

 produced, and was determined to pay more attention 

 himself to an art for which presumably he had little 

 natural aptitude; he seems also to have received a hint 

 for the improvement of his somewhat loose chirography. 

 Upon leaving, Audubon presented his pupil with a 

 copy of the Biography of Birds. After returning to his 



"Addressed to Messrs. Little & Brown, booksellers, acknowledging the 

 receipt of a check for $214.20. 



