The Audubon Magazine. 



Vol. I. 



AUGUST, 1887. 



No. 7. 



JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 



IN September, 1828, the naturalist left 

 London for Paris. One of his first 

 acts on reaching that city was to call, in 

 company with Swainson, on the great 

 Cuvier, whose advice and recommendation 

 were of the greatest service to him. He 

 also met Geoffroy St. Hilaire. Cuvier's 

 report on Audubon's work to the Academy 

 of Sciences was extremely favorable — even 

 laudatory. Coming from the pen of so 

 learned a man, it carried the greatest pos- 

 sible weight. Audubon soon found, how- 

 ever, that the price of the work was so large 

 that there was little hope of obtaining many 

 subscribers in France. 



At the end of October, 1828, he returned 

 to London, and settled down to a winter of 

 hard work, during which he painted among 

 other things the large picture of the eagle and 

 the lamb, and the dog and pheasants. Mean- 

 time the work on his plates had been going on 

 without interruption. For some time, how- 

 ever, his thoughts had been turned toward 

 America, and in the early spring he decided 

 to revisit this country, and after a long and 

 stormy voyage in the packet ship Columbia 

 he arrived in New York in April. Most of 

 the summer and autumn was occupied in 

 excursions to New Jersey and Pennsylvania 

 for the purpose of studying the birds of the 

 different regions, and then crossing the 

 Alleghanies he went by steamboat to Louis- 

 ville, where he saw his son Victor, and then 



to Bayou Sara, where his wife was. Here 

 he remained until January, always busily 

 occupied in studying the habits of birds, 

 looking for new species, and making draw- 

 ings of those birds and mammals which 

 were needed to complete his series. His 

 earnestness and energy excited the wonder 

 of those to whom the delights of studying 

 nature were unknown. Having made many 

 needed additions to his collections, he began 

 to think of returning to England to look 

 after the progress of his work there. Early 

 in January he started for Louisville, accom- 

 panied by Mme. Audubon, and after a short 

 stay there, went to Washington, where he 

 met President Jackson and many other well- 

 known men of the time. Stopping on the 

 way at Baltimore and Philadelphia, he went 

 on to New York, where he and his wife em- 

 barked for England. In London he found 

 his work progressing to his satisfaction, and 

 learned that his subscription list had fallen 

 away scarcely at all. There, too, he learned 

 that he had been elected a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society, an honor which he highly 

 appreciated. 



Now money began to be needed to push 

 on the work of engraving his plates, for 

 some of his subscribers failed to pay their 

 subscriptions promptly. Audubon, there- 

 fore, had recourse once more to his facile 

 pencil, and soon obtained the necessary 

 funds. Then, with Mme. Audubon, he 



