Audubon's " Birds." 101 



ful in describing the wonders of the South and 

 AVest. * * * * * * 



My wife begs me to thank you for your kind letter 

 which arrived to-day, and she has just given me a 

 little paper of messages, which I am to copy and 

 send to you. 



Look here, my friend, before I forget it, why are you 

 always talking of u a load of gratitude" now sup- 

 pose we say no more about this. Your visit to me 

 gave me new life, induced me to go carefully over 

 my favorite study, and made me and my family 

 happy. We have, therefore, been mutually obliged 

 and gratified. My wife, sister Maria, and the child- 

 ren, all beg to be remembered. Tell Henry Ward, 

 that I will never make an attempt at painting, but 

 that I am beginning to stuff birds, and my man, 

 Thomas, during my absence, has done the same. 

 My sister Maria, paints birds better every day ; she 

 fails only in setting them up. Your book,* however, 

 will soon be here, and she will study the attitudes 

 of your birds. She is all enthusiasm, and I need 

 not say to you that she is one of your warmest 

 admirers, and, were she not so closely allied to my 

 family, I would say, that the admiration of such a 

 person is a very high encomium. 

 Am I not a bore to send you such a long letter to a 



*The book alluded to is the First Volume of u Audabon's 

 Birds of America." This valuable gift, bound in fine 

 Russian leather, is still in the possession of the Bachmaii 

 family. It was the first impression struck from the copper- 

 plates, and is peculiarly clear-cut. It was Audubon's travel- 

 ling companion through England and France, when George 

 IV, and Charles X, placed their names at the head of his 

 subscription list, on which occasion, Cuvier, pronounced 

 Audubon's drawings, " the most splendid monument 

 which art had yet erected in honor of ornithology." It 

 was no wonder that the admiration of appreciative friends 

 kindled into enthusiasm. 



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