220 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



smaller species for me, and thereby assist me considerably. 

 Please write to me again soon, as I must resume my travels in 

 8 or 10 days. Have you seen a copy of the small edition of 

 The Birds of America which I am now publishing? Believe 

 me, dear sir, 



With good wishes, your obt. sert., 



John J. Audubon 



Thus began a correspondence between the youth of 

 fifteen and the veteran of fifty-five, which led to an 

 intimate friendship that lasted during Audubon's active 

 career, and was an undoubted stimulus to young Baird, 

 whose talents, enthusiasm and industry were quickly ap- 

 preciated by the older naturalist. Baird answered Au- 

 dubon's letter on June 20, and proff^ered his services 

 in collecting mammals, saying that while they were more 

 difficult to find than birds, he hoped "by increased exer- 

 tion to make up the diff'erence"; he also added: "I have 

 seen some numbers of your work now publishing, and 

 admire them very much. I have no doubt that it will do 

 more to spread a love of Natural history, than any work 

 ever published. For my part I read the description of 

 birds and the episodes in your Ornithological Biography 

 with the same motive of pleasure as I used to read a 

 favorite novel." In Audubon's immediate reply of the 

 22nd, he said: 



It is impossible at present for me to give you any precise 

 idea of the work on our quadrupeds which I have in con- 

 templation to publish, any further than to say to you, that it 

 is my intention, as well as that of my friend, the Rev"^ John 

 Bachman, of Charleston, S. C, assisted by several others of 

 our best naturalists, to issue a work on the Mammalia of North 

 America worthy of the naturalist's attention, both at home and 

 abroad. — Through our joint efforts, and assisted as we hope 

 and trust to be, by numerous friends and acquaintances in 



