JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 



1780-1851 



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THE Fourth day of May is the anniversary birthday of John 

 James Audubon, the world's greatest naturalist and bird lover. 

 Although of French lineage, Audubon was born in Louisiana but 

 was educated in France and at the age of eighteen years returned 

 to America. He always had a passionate love for this country. In 

 1808, he had his residence in ^Louisville, Kentucky, and when he 

 attended to his business, everything went well, but the feathered 

 choristers of the woods persistently called him and his passion for 

 wild life drew him frequently near to Nature's great throbbing 

 heart. 



Leaving Louisville he went to Hendersonville where he became 

 involved in debt. Failing in business, he surrendered everything to 

 his creditors except his gun. He made diligent efforts to strangle 

 his wandering tendencies and earn a support for his family but 

 failed on account of his lack of business capacity. In the meanwhile 

 he had been making original drawings of birds. In 1821, he accepted 

 a position as tutor with a family near New Orleans; and in 1836, 

 the proceeds from a dancing class, amounting to two thousand 

 dollars, enabled him to sail to England with his beloved drawings. 



Audubon had never looked into an English grammar and had 

 forgotten most of what he had learned in French and Spanish. He 

 always felt shy in the presence of strangers. He was a man habitu- 

 ated to ramble alone with his thoughts bent on the beauties of 

 nature. Imagine this man seated opposite Prof. Brewton, of Eden- 

 borough, and by his puny efforts trying to describe the habits of 

 birds. His pictures were exhibited and he was made a member of 



