[Illustration: EARLY UNPUBLISHED DRAWINGS OF FRENCH BIRDS: ABOVE, "LE FRIQUET MÂLE DE BUFFON. THE SEDGE SPARROW. NO. 13. NEAR NANTZ, 1805. J. J. A."; BELOW, "LE ROSSIGNOL DE MURAILLES—DE BUFFON—THE REDSTART. NO. 50. NEAR NANTZ, AUGUST, 1805. J. L. F. A." Published by courtesy of Mr. Joseph Y. Jeanes.] In later life the elder D'Orbigny seems to have fallen on evil times. He appeared as a debtor to Lieutenant Audubon's estate, and the cordial relations that had long existed between the two families were broken; this is shown only too plainly by the following sharp letter[109] written by Gabriel du Puigaudeau and addressed to the doctor, on August 3, 1819, when the family had become reduced in means: _Gabriel du Puigaudeau to Charles M. d'Orbigny_ Your letter of the twenty-fifth of January reached me in due time. I am grieved to see that you are annoyed because I addressed you through the voice of the mayor of the town in which you live, since I had not the honor of knowing the mayor any more than the enmity which may exist between you; I was in duty bound to find out where you were; I heard it said that Esnaudes was your home and I wrote you more than a year ago; when I received no reply, the supposition was that I must have been misinformed. I wrote to the mayor of Esnaudes and he had the kindness to reply that you were practicing in his commune. I am writing to you under this cover, persuaded that my last will not have the same fate as my first, which surely had not reached you.