TO EUROPE AND SUCCESS 373 
My Dear Jonn— 
I am very thankfull to you for your Letters con- 
tinue to write from time to time, draw, and study music 
closely, there is time for all things—I give you my Gun 
with all my Heart best wishes, but earn it at your Dear 
Mamma’s will—God bless You— 
Your Father and Friend— 
Joun J. AupuBON 
At Edinburgh Audubon met a young landscape 
painter, Joseph B. Kidd, and the two worked together 
for some time, Kidd receiving instruction in animal 
painting and Audubon hints on the treatment of his 
landscapes, which had always been a source of trouble 
to him. Kidd was Audubon’s Edinburgh agent for a 
time, and later entered upon the ambitious project of 
reproducing all of his birds in oils, as will be noticed 
later.”° 
On March 17, 1827, when the second number of his 
Birds was in preparation, Audubon boldly issued his 
“Prospectus,” contrary to the advice of some of his 
friends, who could see only egregious folly in such an 
undertaking and regarded it as foredoomed to failure. 
As everybody knows, it is easier to say things than to 
do them, but all these friendly critics sang a different 
tune later on, when they had seen more of the indom- 
itable will and self-reliance of the man, who was to 
carry steadily forward to a successful issue a work 
which was in press nearly twelve years and which cost 
over $100,000 to produce. In Audubon’s original 
prospectus of The Birds of America the specifications 
as to the form, size, and cost of the work, which had 
been determined for some months, underwent little 
2 See Chapter XXV. 
