TheOologist'sfldvertiser 



Devoted to tlie Study of our Native Birds. 



JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 



John James Ardubon, afamous naturalist, 

 was born in the year 1781 in Louisiana, 

 where his parents, who were French Protes- 

 tants, had taken up their residence while it 

 was yet a Spanish Colony. 



From his early years he showed a marked 

 interest in observing the habits and appear- 

 ances of birds, and drawing sketches of them 

 from nature. At the age of fifteen he was 

 sent to Paris, where he remained for about 

 two years engaged somewhat in studying. 

 On returning to America his father estab- 

 lished him on a plantation in Pennsylvania, 

 and he soon after married. But nothing 

 could dampen his ardor for natural history. 

 For fifteen years he explored the depths of 

 the forests of America in long and hazardous 

 expeditions, far from his family and home. 

 In these excursions he acquired the facility 

 of making those spirited drawings of birds 

 that gives such value to his magnificent 

 work, "The Piirds of America. " He after- 

 wards removed with his family to the village 

 of Henderson on the banks of the Ohio 

 where he continued his studies in natural 

 history for several years, and at length set 

 out for Philadelphia with a port-folio con- 

 taining two hundred sheets filled with col- 

 ored delineations of about one thousand 

 birds. 



Business obliged him to quit Philadelphia 

 for some weeks, and he deposited his port- 

 folio in the warehouse of a friend ; but to 

 his intense dismay he found, on his return, 

 that the precious fruits of his labors and 

 wanderings had been totally destroyed by 

 rats. The shock threw him into a fever 

 that nearly proved fatal, but his native 

 energy returned with his increasing health, 



and he again resumed his gun and game bag, 

 his pencils and drawing book, and plunged 

 out into the sombre recesses of the back- 

 woods. 



In about three years he had again filled 

 his port folio, and then rejoined his family, 

 who had in the meantime, gone to Louisi- 

 ana. After a short sojourn there he set out 

 for the Old World to exhibit to the ornitholo- 

 gists of Europe the riches of America in 

 that department of natural history. 



He arrived at Liverpool in 1826, where 

 his works were immediatley recognized, and 

 he met with great success. He at last de- 

 cided to publish a work on the Birds of 

 America, the first volume of which was pub- 

 lished in New York at the end of the year 

 1830. During the preparation and publica- 

 tion of his great work, Audubon made sever- 

 al excursions from Great Britain. In the 

 Summer of 1828 he visited Paris, where he 

 made the acquaintance of Cuvier, Plumboldt 

 and other celebrated naturalists, and re- 

 ceived from them every mark of honor and 

 esteem. 



In 1839 Audubon bade a final adieu to 

 Europe and returning to his native country, 

 he published in a more popular form, his 

 Birds of America. The whole consists of 

 435 colored plates containing 1055 figures 

 of birds the size of life. It is a masterly 

 work and is to be praised for the neat man- 

 ner in which each page is arranged. 



In conversation Audubon was animated 

 and instructive, his manner unassuming, 

 and he always spoke with gratitude to 

 Heaven for the life he had been permitted 

 to enjoy. He died after a short illness in 

 his own residence on the bank of the Hud- 

 son in the seventieth year of his life, Jan. 27, 

 1851. 



