foe VUDUBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
Big NOLS AUDUBON SOCLE TY 
2001 NorTH CLARK STREET, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
Number 42 June, 1942 
Benjamin True Gault 
By EDWARD R. ForD 
IT 1s probable that you who read this will have, as I do, a special remem- 
brance of your first meeting with Benjamin True Gault. He would be likely 
to ask you about something near to you—not as a polite gesture, but out of 
the courtesy of his heart. My first meeting with him occurred more than 
thirty years ago. His name was familiar to me, as to all bird-life observers 
in the Chicago region, and I had gone to see him at the old Gault house, 
built by his parents when they came to Glen Ellyn, about 1890. I wanted to 
know where, in the neighborhood of Glen Ellyn, I might meet with the 
prairie chicken. I had come to an authority. Following his directions several 
birds were seen that day and two nests were found. 
At the time of this visit Mr. Gault was preparing specimens of downy 
young of the short-eared owl, a nest of which he had recently found—one 
of the few nesting records of the species for the Chicago area. His imme- 
diate interest in his visitor and his friendliness were no less impressive than 
the skill and care which were manifest in the manipulation of the skins on 
which he was at work. It was characteristic of Gault that he tried to do 
well everything he undertook. Even post cards sent to friends were written 
in a hand so small that its legibility was remarkable. 
Mr. Gault’s devotion to his mother was often spoken of by his friends. 
He never married and mother and son were fond companions until the day 
of her death. Once I remember, when he wanted to photograph the nest of 
a woodcock which I had found, I called at his home, at that time in Chicago. 
As we were about to leave on our little expedition, his mother, who was 
then nearly ninety years old, begged us to be careful. He smiled and so 
did I, thinking of expeditions he had made to Guiana and other far places. 
Throughout her last illness Mr. Gault would not allow himself to think 
that she could not recover. 
Our friend often talked at public meetings, but I think he made no 
pretension to the title of public speaker. It seemed to me, indeed, that he 
was diffident by nature and that it was only his consuming interest in his 
subject that prevailed upon him to speak at all. I remember, especially, a 
time when, addressing a large gathering on the subject of the proposed 
bird sanctuary in Glen Ellyn (later named in his honor), his enthusiasm 
and fervor transformed his extemporaneous remarks to impressive elo- 
quence. And I remember, too, that the applause which followed seemed at 
once to confuse and please him. 
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