Audubon, John

JAMES, a distinguished American ornithologist, B. in Louisiana, about 1780. His parents, who were of French origin, and in wealthy circumstances, sent him to Paris to finish his education, and he there studied design under the painter David. After his return to America, A.'s father presented him with a large and valuable plantation; he married, and might have lived a life of ease and comfort in the bosom of a happy domestic circle; but it was the nature of A. to find home in the unreclaimed solitudes of his native continent, and companions in the wild denizens of the prairie and the forest. The study of birds had, beyond everything else, an irresistible charm for A. He began to devote his life to the ornithology of N. America. For years he spent many consecutive months in long and quite solitary journeys through the untrodden wilderne ; not even returning to shelter and civilization for the purpose of sketching the subjects of his pursuit, but executing those colored designs which have since become so famous, on the spot where the originals were obtained, and where the proper environment for each subject was immediately under his eye. Hence the wonderful fidelity and life-like truth, not only of A.'s bird-portraits, but of the acce ories in each picture. These excursions, commencing about 1810, were continued during 15 years, his family residence having been latterly fixed at Henderson, a village on the Ohio. A. was doomed to lose the precious results of these 15 years of adventurous toil. Having gone to Philadelphia with 200 designs representing 1000 different birds, he deposited them in the house of a relative, and left the city for some weeks. He returned to find his drawings destroyed by A severe and lengthened fever was the consequence of this heavy blow; but A. had physical and mental elasticity enough to recover from the shock. He again shouldered his fowling-piece, and resumed his former mode of life. After four years and a half of uninterrupted devotion to his purpose, the damage was made good, and the naturalist was again in a position to impart the fruits of his labor to the world. Finding, however, that proper facilities for bringing out the extensive and costly publication which he had in view, could not be afforded him in his native country, A., in 1826, went over to England, where, as in France, he was received with the utmost distinction. About the close of 1830 appeared in London the 1st volume of The Birds of America, in folio, containing 100 colored plates, each subject being represented of life-size. The English and French sovereigns had headed the list of subscribers. rats. It was not till 1839, that the appearance of the 4th volume completed this splendid work, which contains in all 1065 figures of birds. Parallel with the publication of the volume of plates at London, had proceeded at Edinburgh the i ue of the nece ary complement to these, Fig . 235.- AUDUBON. the Ornithological Biography , or an Account of the Habits of the Birds of the U. States of America, accompanied by a description of the objects represented in the Work entitled "The Birds of America ," the 1st volume of which appeared in 1831,- the 5th and last, in 1839. The same year, A. returned finally to his native country; not yet, however, to lead a life of repose. He now, along with his two sons, and two other companions, undertook a series of excursions, which resulted in his work entitled "Quadrupeds of America," published at Philadelphia between the years 1846 and 1850, and accompanied, as in the case of the "Birds," by a parallel i ue of Biogra phies, a title which, as applied by A. to the description of the favorite objects of his study, serves to indicate the dignity with which these objects were invested in his eyes, and the almost human interest with which they inspired him. These biographies are singularly entertaining, being full of the romance of that wild and solitary life which enabled him to compile them. A. died in 1851. - A Life of A., compiled from his journal by his widow, was published in 1869. Au'dub on, in Iowa , a S.W. central county, watered by the Nish nab at on a river, an off-shoot of the Mi ouri. Cap. Audubon. This county has an area of about 432 sq. m., and was named after the distinguished naturalist Audubon. Pop . in 1880, 7,448; in 1890, 12,572; in 1895, 12,836. Au'dub on, in Tenne ee, a village of Montgomery co. Auenbrug/ger, or Avenbrug'ger, LEOPOLD, an eminent German physician, the inventor of percu ion as a means of discovering diseases of the chest. B. at Gratz, 1722; D. at Vienna, 1798. Auerbach, a town of Saxony, on the Golzsch, 12 m. E. of Plauen; pop . 5,258. Au'erbach, BERTH OLD, a popular German novelist, B. at Nordstetten, on the Suabian side of the Black Forest, on the 28th Feb., 1812. Of Jewish extraction, he was reared in poverty and obscurity, and destined by his parents to the service of the synagogue. While completing his studies at the universities of Tübingen, Munich, and Heidelberg, he abandoned the study of Hebrew theology for the more congenial fields of history, philosophy, and general literature. His earliest work, Spinoza , was published in 1837. In 1843 appeared the first series of his Dorfgeschichten, ("Village Stories,") which at once stamped him a master in the German school of fiction. These have been translated into the English, Dutch, and Swedish languages. A second series, published in 1849, more than sustained the reputation of the first. Bar fü le ("Little Barefoot") was given to the world in 1836; and is one of the most exquisite idyls of humble life in any language. On the Heights , published in 1867, The Villa on the Rhine, in 1869, Die Feindlichen Schwestern, ("The Hostile Sisters,") in 1878, and Landolin , in 1879, may be cited as among his many valuable writings. D. Feb. 8, 1882. Au'erstadt, a small village of Pru ian Saxony, reg. Merseberg, 6 m. W. of Naumberg. Here, on the 14th of October, 1806, the main body of the Pru ian army, under the Duke of Brunswick and the king in person, was defeated by the division of the grand French army commanded by Marshal Davoust. The former lost 10,000 men, including the Duke of Brunswick, and the French 7,500. On the same day, Napoleon defeated at Jena the right wing of the Pru ian army under General Mollendorff. The combined action has been called the battle of "Jena," (see JENA.) Davoust received from Napoleon the title of Duke of Auerstadt . Au fait, ( o -fa,) [Fr.] ( Lit. ) Expert; skilful; to be master of an accomplishment; able to perform a thing:vulgarly, up to the mark.