before my departure, placed them carefully in a wooden box, and gave them in charge of a relative, with injunctions to see that no injury should happen to them.  My absence was of several months; and when I returned, after having enjoyed the pleasures of home for a few days, I inquired after my box, and what I was pleased to call my treasure.  The box was produced and opened; but, reader, feel for me,—­a pair of Norway rats had taken possession of the whole, and reared a young family among the gnawed bits of paper, which, but a month previous, represented nearly a thousand inhabitants of air!  The burning heat which instantly rushed through my brain was too great to be endured without affecting my whole nervous system.  I slept not for several nights, and the days passed like days of oblivion;—­until, the animal powers being recalled into action through the strength of my constitution, I took up my gun, my note-book, and my pencils, and went forth to the woods as gayly as if nothing had happened.  I felt pleased that I might now make better drawings than before; and ere a period not exceeding three years had elapsed, my portfolio was again filled.”

[Illustration:  J.J.  AUDUBON.]

In 1826 he sailed for Europe to exhibit his newly collected treasures to foreign ornithologists.  He succeeded in obtaining pecuniary aid in publishing the work, and plates were made in England.  The book was published in New York in four volumes (elephant folio) in 1830-39.  The birds are life-size.  ‘The American Ornithological Biography,’ which is the text for the plates, was published in Edinburgh, 1831-39, in five octavo volumes.  Accompanied by his two sons he started on new excursions, which resulted in ‘The Quadrupeds of America,’ with a ‘Biography of American Quadrupeds,’ both published at Philadelphia, beginning in 1840.  During that year he built a house for himself in the upper part of New York, in what is now called Audubon Park, and died there January 27th, 1851.

Audubon’s descriptive text is not unworthy of his plates:  his works are far from being mere tenders to picture-books.  He is full of enthusiasm, his descriptions of birds and animals are vivid and realizing, and his adventures are told with much spirit and considerable literary skill, though some carelessness of syntax.

A DANGEROUS ADVENTURE

From ‘The American Ornithological Biography’

On my return from the Upper Mississippi, I found myself obliged to cross one of the wide prairies which, in that portion of the United States, vary the appearance of the country.  The weather was fine, all around me was as fresh and blooming as if it had just issued from the bosom of nature.  My knapsack, my gun, and my dog, were all I had for baggage and company.  But although well moccasined, I moved slowly along, attracted by the brilliancy of the flowers, and the gambols of the fawns around their dams, to all appearance as thoughtless of danger as I felt myself.