Audubon and His Journals, Volume 1Audubon, John James
History
Audubon and His Journals, Volume 1
Audubon, John James
Audubon, John James, 1785-1851 -- Diaries; Birds -- North America; Naturalists -- United States -- Diaries
[35] Almost the only other enemy Audubon appears to have ever had in
public print was Charles Waterton, who vehemently assailed him in
"Loudon's Magazine of Natural History," vi. 1833, pp. 215-218, and
vii., 1834, pp. 66-74. Audubon was warmly defended by his son Victor
in the same magazine, vi. 1833, p. 369, and at greater length by "R.
B.," _ibid._, pp. 369-372. Dr. Coues characterizes Waterton's attack
as "flippant and supercilious animadversion," in "Birds of the
Colorado Valley," 1878, p. 622.
The present is hardly the occasion to bring up the countless reviews
and notices of Audubon's published life-work; but a few references I
have at hand may be given. One of the earliest, if not the first,
appeared in the "Edinburgh Journal of Science," vi. p. 184 (1827). In
1828, Audubon himself published "An Account of the Method of Drawing
Birds," etc., in the same Journal, viii., pp. 48-54. The "Report of a
Committee appointed by the Lyceum of Natural History of New York to
examine the splendid work of Mr. Audubon," etc., appeared in
"Silliman's Journal," xvi., 1829, pp. 353, 354. His friend William
Swainson published some highly commendatory and justly appreciative
articles on the same subject in "Loudon's Magazine," i., 1829, pp.
43-52, and in the "Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal," x., 1831, pp.
317-332, under the pseudonym "Ornithophilus." Another anonymous
review, highly laudatory, appeared in the same Journal, xviii., 1834,
pp. 131-144. Dr. John Bachman defended the truthfulness of Audubon's
drawings in the "Journal of the Boston Society of Natural History," i.
1834, pp. 15-31. One of the most extended notices appeared anonymously
in the "North American Review," July, 1835, pp. 194-231; and another
signed "B," in "Loudon's Magazine," viii., 1835, PP. 184-190. In
Germany, "Isis von Oken" contained others, xxx., 1837, pp. 922-928,
xxxv., 1842, pp. 157, 158; and xxxvii., 1844, pp. 713-718. "Silliman's
Journal" again reviewed the work in xlii., 1842, pp. 130-136.--E. C.
[36] That is the species now known as Wilson's Snipe, _Gallinago
delicata_.
[37] Dr. Richard Harlan is the author of the well-known "Fauna
Americana," 8vo, Philadelphia, 1825, and of many scientific papers.
Audubon dedicated to him the Black Warrior, _Falco harlani_, a large,
dark hawk of the genus _Buteo_, shot at St. Francisville, La., Nov.
18, 1829.
[38] Charles Alexandre Le Sueur, 1778-1846, distinguished French
naturalist. Best biography in Youman's "Pioneers of Science in
America," 8vo, N.Y., 1896, pp. 128-139, with portrait. The same volume
contains a biographical sketch of Audubon, pp. 152-166, with portrait
after the oil painting by George P. A. Healy, belonging to the Boston
Society of Natural History.--E. C.
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