lo Bird -Lore 



who, in that stage, if he can refrain from growing garrulous, may per- 

 haps make himself present!}^ interesting. 



"In the year 1826 there appeared in England an unknown man. This 

 man was already turned of fifty. We may say that he had more years 

 than the popular date of his birth would assign him to here. He was a 

 man of striking personal appearance ; he v/as a man of most engaging 

 manners; he was a man who, in the short space of five years, leaped 

 from obscurity into imperishable renown. 



"How could that be? It happened in this wise: That unknown 

 man who appeared in Great Britain and on the continent in 1826 

 carried abroad the efforts of a lifetime of ornithological study with him 

 that were placed before the public with the result that the nameless 

 John James Audubon, a person, became an illustrious personage. 



"These efforts which I have just mentioned as a lifework were hardly 

 to be carried in any very small compass. But the fruits of his work, 

 which were outside of his own head, he had with him on paper. 



"How did he present the originals of those drawings which have 

 never ceased from that day to this to excite our wonder and our admira- 

 tion? He presented them in a certain portfolio. When he went upon 

 a reconnoissance he was in the habit of taking the portfolio under 

 his arm — I trust that he did not long feel poor; when he became a little 

 richer he probably hired a cab ; but by whatever means the portfolio was 

 carried in those days, some younger and weaker members of the ornitho- 

 logical fraternity have transported by their efforts the same into the room 

 this morning, and if the secretary will be kind enough to help me for a 

 moment I will show you the portfolio. This (exhibiting a large brown 

 portfolio, worn and faded) is the original portfolio which John James 

 Audubon carried with him through the continent and Great Britain. 

 [Applause.] 



"There are a number of other portfolios and a greater variety of Au- 

 duboniana in the possession of the family in Salem, New York; but upon 

 the kind ofiers of Miss Maria Audubon, descendant of the great orni- 

 thologist, I suggested this portfolio. You will observe that it has been 

 much worn and some of the brass corners and metal bindings are lost ; | 

 but portfolios are not carried empty — not even to a meeting of the Orni- 

 thologists' Union ; let us open it. 



"Audubon's engaging manners and fine personal appearance won 

 him friends everywhere among persons in high places in England and 

 elsewhere on the continent, and while his plates of the birds of North 

 America were being engraved by Mr. Robert Havell, of London, and 

 others, the question of text to these great plates came up. We are all 

 familiar with the print of the first volume; but who ever saw the manu- 

 script in the handwriting of John James Audubon? Audubon, besides 



