Walter Deane papers

21 Concord, Mass. 1901 June 1–2 (3)

Dendroica blackberniae Heard & saw one. Peculiar song. Dendroica virens Frequent. Dendroica castanea one ♀ [female] back of Ball's Hill. Dendroica vigorsii Heard back of Ball's Hill. Mniotilta varia Heard. Seiurus aurocapillus Heard constantly. I flushed one from her next of 5 eggs in Blakemore Woods. Geothlypis trichas. Abundant. Setophaga ruticilla Abundant. Galeoscoptes carolinensis Frequent. Harporhynchus rufus Heard one. Parus atricapillus Heard. Hylocichla mustelina Heard one at Barrett Farm. Hylocichla fuscescens Heard and seen. Merula migratoria Common. Sialia sialis Several. 59 species.

Besides these, W. Brewster heard {Ardea virescens Coccyzus erythropthalmus Wilsonia canadensis } June 2.

23 Cambridge, Mass. 1901 July 1

Another year has closed and three months are before me. The months have slipped by very rapidly and pleasantly. I have completed a card catalogue of the mounted collection of birds and entered all the facts I could gather. Will Brewster has told me a good many things that were not recorded. The catalogue is on library cards in a tin box. It is the first separate record of the entire collection, and has been many weeks' labor. Will has been pushing his list of the Cambridge Region birds with energy. He has had many duties to attend to since his three months stay with Dr. J.G. Gehring in Bethel, Me. About twenty five birds remain to be done. There he will finish in Lancaster, Mass. Then comes the long introduction – I have spent much of my leisure moments in correcting my lists of Ericaceae & Umbelliferae (Rhodora I, 1899) to date. The Ericaceae with come out in the July number in a few days. The Umbelliferae in the August number. It has taken a good deal of labor though it doesn't show for very much.

We go to Salem, N.Y. to-morrow to visit the Misses Audubon for a week. Temp. for a week frightfully high, above 90 a low part of the day.

24 Trip to Salem, New York. 1901 July 2

The long-expected trip occurred to-day to the home of Miss Marcia R. & Miss Florence Audubon. The intense heat of the past week was as fierce as ever. We left Boston at 9.30 A.M. reaching Eagle Bridge (Fitchburg RR) by 2.33 nearly. The mercury in the parlor car ranged between 95° & 100° during all this time. It was first 100° in the tunnel and it ranged nearly 100° most of the time. At Eagle Bridge we changed and ran north for an hour through Cambridge and Shushan to Salem. While waiting at the Bridge I heard a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Indigo Bird. West of Greenfield three plants were very abundant, the Wild Parnsip (Pastinaca sativa), Bugloss, (Echium vulgare) and (Melilotus alba) White Melilot. There was a beautiful contrast of color. I saw a rounded hill white with the wild Daisy and sprinkled evenly over with Bugloss, the stalks arising above the Daisies. It was a very beautiful sight.

At Salem Miss Maria Audubon met us at the station and we walked through the village streets to the house. The building is of brick painted creamy white, standing near the street on a lot of about two acres. The house is over 100 years old, and a few years ago Miss Audubon made an addition containing a large sitting room with rooms overhead. We shall examine the house later. We had a hearty welcome from Miss Florence, Miss Harriet Audubon a half sister, and Miss Young, the two latter

25 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 2 (2)

visitors. After a talk and a rest we supped and then wandered over the place examining the flower & vegetable beds. Miss Maria takes charge of the flowers and Miss Florence of the vegetables. The ground slopes towards the end to a beautiful brook in which even in this drought, much clear water is running. Where we stood the brook was at least 10 ft. broad bordered by trees & shrubs.

Large Rock Maples and Elms shade the house, behind which is a large stretch of lawn. The elms on the lawn are 3 to 4 feet through and over 100 years old. The Rock Maples are nearly 3 feet through.

We sat under the trees in the clear moonlight and talked. When we reached the house, the mercury was 94° in the shade, but the air was fresh. We shall retire early as we have had a rather hard day.

In our room overlooking the lawn behind the house is the famous original oil painting by the great John W. Audubon of the White Wolf. The canvas is about 2 feet square. It is a fascinating piece of work. There are oils on the walls by John W., the son J.J. Audubon, a large picture of two cows by John W., a deer by John W., a squirrel John W., & some palms by Victor, and by Victor also a tropical scene of palms and a river, with two herons. The White Fox is crouching & snarling over a bone by an abandoned camp fire. What a privilege to look and look at this.

26 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 3

Very hot day, mercury ranging one or two degrees on either side of 90° during the day. No clouds no signs of rain — Drop to 74° in the evening —

We have spent the day almost entirely in the house. It has been very delightful, looking at the pictures and hearing the stories about them by the sisters. At one time we sat in the front hall getting a little air that came in through the open door from the north and enjoying delightful talk. In the large library over the fireplace is the original oilpainting of James J. Audubon sitting, with gun and dog (See ). This picture was sent to New York at the time of the unveiling of the Statue of Audubon. In the same room hangs an oil painting of Scott copied from an original, by John W. Audubon who painted the picture of his father, above mentioned. John was father of Miss Maria & Miss Florence. Near the fireplace is an original water color of the American or Black Rat, by John J. Audubon. In the parlor leading off from the hall and connecting with the library by a small room call the "Alcove", are more valuable works. [1] The Wolverine an original water color by J.J. Audubon etc. a large oil [2] by John & Victor. The former painted the cows and the later the landscape, and there is also a colored [3] portrait about a foot square of John. J. Audubon by the great Cruikshank who inscribed on the back. There is also an original water color of a Fox (head pointed up) by J.J. Audubon.

27 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 3 (2)

In the hall is another original water color by V.J. Audubon of a WildCat, and on the stairway hangs framed a large copper plate of Ardea occidentalis, Great White Heron, one of the few plates rescued from a fire years ago and presented to Miss Audubon by Mr. Cowles [Coles] of Ansonia, Conn., who secured about eighteen of them and inlaid them in one of his rooms. From this plate all the impressions of this bird were taken for the great elephant folio Birds of North America. These plates were stored with the set in a storehouse in New York City.

In the dining room which connects with the parlor is an original water color of the Canada Lynx by John J. Audubon and beneath hangs a frame containing the original water color by J.J. Audobon of birds, each size of life, Evening Grosbeak, Townsends' Bunting, Ground Dove & Amer. [American] Dunlin. Here also is an oil by John W. Audubon of his father. This picture is reproduced as a frontispiece by Miss Audubon in her Journals of her grandfather. An oil of two deer by John W. Audubon hangs over the side board. We have not examined yet the 2d story except our room which I shall describe later. The birds I shall describe later also.

After tea this evening we took a walk along Oudawa Creek and back along Broadway. By the brook grow Echinus, Veratrum, Lilium canadense, yellow & red forms, Lysimachia ciliata , Angelica atropurpurea , etc. Then Miss Florence, M. & I walked through the village shopping.

28 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 4

The mercury dropped last night and early this morning it was 62°, risen to 84° in the afternoon Clear in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon. As on yesterday we spent most of the day in the house for the sun was very hot after breakfast. I am glad to be so much in the house. I forgot to mention in my sketch of yesterday that in the dining room in another sketch of John Audubon by Cruikshank who inscribed on the back "to the merriest companion I even knew." Miss Audubon says her father was always full of humor. In the hall is a very large oil painting made by an artist at the order of King Geroge III of England. The painting was made in India of an Indian Rajah of high rank and as King George did not pay for it, it was finally offered for sale and bought by J.J. Audubon who admired it. On each side of the picture hangs a pistol inlaid with Indian work given him in Texas. I have compared the originals of Audubon on the lower floor with the illustrations in Audubon & Bachman's Quadrupeds of {North} America. The Black Rat, Wolverine , Canada lynx & Wild bat works of the grandfather John J. Audubon.

I walked with Miss Florence to the Post Office this morning and saw the Hand Steam Fire Engine.

29 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 4 (2)

Our room is in the second story at the back of the main house and faces due south, overlooking the beautiful lawn studded with large elms and rock maples. A pair of red squirrels live in a hole in one of the maples and are constantly seen. Beyond the lawn comes the garden filled with old fashioned flowers Centaurea cyanus (Bachelor's Button), C. moschata (Sweet Sultan) white, Eschscholzia californica (California Poppy), Papaver of different {species}, Lilium of various sps. white, Paeonia of various kinds, Roses, Honeysuckles, Fraxinella, Larkspurs, Hollyhocks, Day lilies [?]. The vegetable garden lies beyond. Around and beyond the garden is a grass field sprinkled with trees, a linden, chestnut, two or three pines introduced sps. cut leaved maples, and beyond the land slopes to Ondawa on White Creek bordered by trees & shrubs and the most attractive being an elm with five or six large trunks diverging below the surface of the ground. Seats are built between them.

The lot contains two acres and is about 2 1/2 times as deep as broad. The house sits about 30 feet back from the street. A row of rock maples is just inside the wooden fence. A little church adjoins the lot on the east, and on the west there is an open lot of some extent with a house on the further side.

We had a steady rain this evening beginning after dark. It is still raining. Terrible [?] in the village [?] to the 4th.

30 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 5

It rained last evening from about 9 to 11. The rain entering the ground for but a very short distance. To-day has been cloudy and threatening with mercury around 80°, air sultry.

Miss Florence and I walked to the village this A.M. It was too nearly raining to drive to–day but we have had a very nice morning in the garden and looking over one of the large portfolios of original watercolors by J.J. & J.W. Audubon. It was a rare treat of great delight and we sat about the large dining room table listening to what the ladies said as we examined picture after picture. I noted the following original watercolors by J.J. Audubon, and reproduced in Audubon & Bachman's Quadrupeds of North America :–

Lepus americanus (winter dress), one water color of the scenery and mere outline of the hare, sent to the engravers who wanted to work on the picture, and a later water color of the hare without the scenery. Lepus americanus (summer dress). Two water colors same as above Canis (Vulpus) cinereo-argentatus. Swift Fox. Histrix dorsata. Porcupine. Tamias quadrivittatus. Four white-lined ground squirrel. 2 ads [adults], 2 young on separate sheets but brought on as one sheet in the Quadrupeds The sheet with young is dated, May 20, 1841, N.Y. The sheet with ads [adults] is dated Nov. 16, 1841, N.Y. Tamias townseadi, dated May 16, 1841.

31 Salem, N.Y. 1901 July 5 (2)

Spermophilus parryii ♂ [male], dated Sept. 15, 1841, New York. Spermophilus franklinii dated Nov. 27, 1845 Procyon lotor (young), dated Sept. 10, 1841 Sciurus lanigunosus, Fort Simpson, N.W. coast of America, Nov. 1835. from Capt. W. Brotchie J.J.A., New York, 1841, May 24. Lepus townsendii, Townsends Rocky Mt. Hare

There were sketches of birds by J.W. Audubon in 1834 when he was a young man in England and there were drawings whose authorship was doubtful. I compared all the originals of J.J. Audubon's animals with the plates in the Quadrupeds, and I can see how much is lost in the reproduction of the delicate tone and color of the originals. At the [?] of John J. Audubon & his wife the hosts of original drawings were scattered among different branches of the family and many of them got destroyed. It is very fortunate that so many are preserved here.

In our room described before are the following water colors oils by John W. Audubon, reproduced in the Quadrupeds.–

The White Wolf. The Dusky Squirrel, and The Black-tailed Deer. There is a large oil by John W. representing a landscape with two cows in the foreground. The foreshortening of one of the cows secured for John W. his election into the National Academy of Science in New York.

There are also two oils by Victor, representing Cuban tropical scenes, palms and in one two Herons.