Chapter XI.

[250] Vincent Nolte, _Fifty Years in Both Hemispheres_ (Bibl. No. 176).

[251] See Chapter XXI, p. 352.

[252] Limestone or, as it was later called, Maysville, was on the left bank of the river, in Kentucky, and about a hundred miles east of Cincinnati.

[253] "The Earthquake," _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i, p. 239.

[254] These historic earthquakes, which were most destructive of life and property in the lower Mississippi Valley, began on December 16, 1811, and therefore before Audubon and Nolte had reached the western country. They were noted for their remarkable frequency and persistence, 221 shocks having been recorded in a single week at Henderson, Audubon's home at that time; though their force was mostly spent after the first three months, they did not wholly die away in the Ohio Valley until December 12, 1813, when the last feeble vibration was recorded by Dr. Daniel Drake at Cincinnati; the worst shocks at this point were experienced on December 16, 1811, on January 23 and February 7, 1812. See Daniel Drake, _Natural and Statistical View of Cincinnati, and the Miami Valley; with an appendix, containing observations on the late Earthquakes_, (Cincinnati, 1815); and Edmund L. Starling, _History of Henderson County, Kentucky_ (Bibl. No. 186).

[255] "The Hurricane," _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i, p. 262.

[256] James Hall (Bibl. No. 123), _Western Monthly Magazine_, vol. ii (1834).

[257] "The Regulators," _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i, p. 105.

[258] "Colonel Boone," _ibid._, vol. i, p. 503.

[259] See Chapter V, p 88.

[260] "The Prairie," _Ornithological Biography_, vol. i, p. 81.

[261] John Burroughs, _John James Audubon_ (Bibl. No. 87), p. 37.

[262] "See _History of Sutton, New Hampshire_, compiled by Augustus Harvey Worthen, pt. I (Concord, 1890).

[263] "The Eccentric Naturalist," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. i, p. 455.

[264] For the characterization of Rafinesque given in the present chapter I am chiefly indebted, aside from his own writings, to his two most sympathetic biographers, Richard Ellsworth Call and T. J. Fitzpatrick, as well as to David Starr Jordan; see Bibliography, Nos. 198, 228, and 183. Fitzpatrick gives photographic reproductions from Rafinesque's exceedingly diversiform and scattered works; his bibliographic titles extend to 939, and "Rafinesquiana" to 134.

[265] "At Palermo," said Swainson, "I had the pleasure of meeting ... Rafinesque Schmaltz, whose first name is familiar to most zoölogists. In the society of such congenial minds, I passed many happy hours, and made many delightful excursions ... by the inducement of the latter, I was led to investigate the ichthyology of the western coast." (See Bibliography, No. 170.)

[266] See Vol. I, pp. 171 and 336.

[267] See David Starr Jordon (Bibl. No. 183), _Popular Science Monthly_, vol. xxix (1886). "The true story of this practical joke was told me by the venerable Dr. Kirtland, who in turn received it from Dr. Bachman;" the latter, I might add, was the friend and correspondent of the "Sage of Rockport" after a visit at his home near Cleveland in the summer of 1852. In the private notebooks of Rafinesque copies of Audubon's drawings are still to be seen, and "a glance at these," said Dr. Jordon, "is sufficient to show the extent to which science through him has been victimized."

Audubon was also responsible for a number of extraordinary "new species" of birds, the most notorious of which was the Scarlet-headed Swallow, of which Rafinesque published the following account in 1820: "_Hirundo phenicephala_. Head scarlet, back gray, belly white, bill and feet black. A fine and rare swallow seen only once by Mr. Audubon near Henderson, Kentucky...." See Samuel N. Rhoads, "Constantine S. Rafinesque as an Ornithologist," _Cassinia_, No. XV (Philadelphia, 1911).

[268] _The Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine_, Lexington, 1819-20.

[269] _Ichthyologia Ohiensis, or Natural History of the Fishes inhabiting the River Ohio and its tributary Streams, preceded by a physical description of the Ohio and its branches._ By C. S. Rafinesque, Professor of Botany and Natural History in Transylvania University, Author of the Analysis of Nature, &c. &c. Member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York, the Historical Society of New-York, the Lyceum of Natural History of New-York, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the American Antiquarian Society, the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Naples, the Italian Society of Arts and Sciences, the Medical Societies of Lexington and Cincinnati, &c. &c.

"The art of seeing well, or of noticing and distinguishing with accuracy the objects which we perceive, is a high faculty of the mind, unfolded in few individuals, and despised by those who can neither acquire it, nor appreciate its results."

Lexington, Kentucky: printed for the author by W. G. Hunt. (Price one dollar.) (Pp. 1-90. Lexington, 1820.)

Fitzpatrick (see Bibliography, No. 228) gives a list of 14 copies of this work, the whereabouts of which are known; we can add another from the library of Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, now in the collections of Western Reserve University; it is bound up with Dr. Kirtland's notebook on birds and fishes, and labeled "Scraps of Natural History. My Note Book;" a written notice on the inside of the cover, imploring the finder to return the volume to its owner if lost, is signed by Dr. Kirtland and dated "Cleveland, O., Oct. 16th, 1839." Probably fewer than 20 original copies of the work now exist. It was reproduced in a limited edition, with a sketch of Rafinesque's life and works by Richard Ellsworth Call, published by the Burrows Brothers' Company of Cleveland in 1899.

[270] Probably not before October of that year, when Audubon first met John Bachman, at Charleston, South Carolina.

[271] Reply to a criticism of G. W. Featherstonhaugh (_The Monthly American Journal of Geological Science_), in Rafinesque's _Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowledge_, No. 3, p. 113 (Philadelphia, 1832). Rafinesque occasionally spoke of meeting "my friend Audubon," who, he declared, had invited him to join his expedition to Florida in 1831-32.

[272] Isaac Lea, in _A Synopsis of the Family of Naiades_, pp. 8-9 (Philadelphia, 1836).

[273] See Bibliography, No. 204.

[274] The landlord, to whom Rafinesque had been in arrears for rent, had locked his body in the room and refused permission for its burial, thinking to find a market for it in one of the medical schools of the city. Rafinesque was buried in a little churchyard, then outside of the limits of the city, known as Ronaldson's cemetery, now at Ninth and Catharine Streets. See Call and Fitzpatrick, Bibliography, Nos. 198 and 228.

[275] Maria R. Audubon, _Audubon and his Journals_ (Bibl. No. 86), vol. i, p. 36.

[276] _Ibid._, vol. i, p. 49.

[277] Dr. Daniel Drake (1785-1852) was one of the most versatile and prolific writers on medicine which the West has ever produced, and Cincinnati owed to him much, for he was instrumental in organizing in that city a church, a literary society, a museum, a hospital, a college, and a school of medicine, while he enjoyed a large medical practice, lectured on botany, and was a partner in two mercantile establishments. We might also add that his "Notice concerning Cincinnati" (pp. 1-28, i-iv. Printed for the author at Cincinnati, 1810), of which only three copies are known to exist, is the earliest and rarest published record of that city. This little pamphlet included a "Flora" of the city for 1809, and from it we transcribe this interesting extract (p. 27): "May 10. Black locust in full flower.

"It is highly probable that the flowering of this beautiful tree, the Robinia pseudocacia of Linnæus, indicates the proper time for planting the important vegetable the Indian corn. For several successive years I have observed our farmers generally to plant corn during some stage of its flowering. This from the 10th to the 20th of May."

For the privilege of examining one of the original copies of this paper, I am indebted to Mr. Wallace H. Cathcart of the Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland.

[278] See Audubon's letter to Thomas Sully, reproduced in Vol. II, p. 68. In his Ohio and Mississippi Rivers Journal Audubon wrote on April 5, 1821: "Cap. Cumming left us on the 10 for Phila; the poor man had not _one_ cent with him."

[279] This early journal fills a large unruled book, measuring about 13 by 8 inches, of 201 pages, beginning with Oct. 12, 1820, and closing with December 31, 1821; it forms a part of the John E. Thayer collection of Audubon and Wilson manuscripts and drawings in possession of Harvard University, having been once included in the estate of Joseph M. Wade. The collection embraces four early drawings by Audubon, presumably at one time in the hands of Edward Harris (see Note, Vol. I, p. 180); 73 of Audubon's original letters, comprising largely his correspondence with Dr. John Bachman; 60 letters by Victor G. Audubon; and a few by other members of the naturalist's family. See the _Annual Report of the Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology for 1910-1911_.

Through the courtesy of Professor E. L. Mark, and the Director of the Museum, Dr. Samuel Henshaw, I have been permitted to examine these numerous documents. In any direct or casual reference to this valuable material, I have endeavored not to overstep the bounds of propriety, in view of the fact that the University contemplates publishing copious extracts from it at an early day. It should be noticed that excerpts from this journal have already appeared in print. See following Note.

[280] See Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 41), _The Auk_, vol. xxi, pp. 334-338.

[281] "Natchez in 1820" and "The Lost Portfolio," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. iii, pp. 529 and 564.

[282] The original of this admirable drawing had been shot at New Madrid, on the Ohio, on November 23, and Audubon, who immediately began to work on it, recorded his conviction that the White-headed or Bald Eagle and the "Brown Eagle," which he later called "The Bird of Washington," were two different species; he thought that the young of the former, which was also brown, was much smaller in size. See Vol. I, p. 241.

[283] These drawings were as follows:

"Common gallinule; Not described by Willson; Common gull; Not described by Willson; Marsh hawk; Boat tailed grackle; Not described by Willson; Common Crow; Fish Crow; Rail or Sora; Marsh Tern; Snipe; Not described by Willson; Hermit Thrush; Yellow Red poll Warbler; Savannah Finch; Bath Ground Warbler; Not described by Willson; Brown Pelican; Not described by Willson; Great Footed Hawk; Turkey Hen; Not described by Willson; Cormorant; Carrion Crow or Black Vulture; Imber Diver; White Headed or Bald Eagle."

[284] Vanderlyn, like Audubon, had been a pupil of David at Paris; he produced historical paintings of merit, as well as panoramas, then coming into vogue; some of the latter were exhibited in the "Rotunda" which he erected for that purpose in City Hall Park, New York, but this enterprise failed, and his building was seized by the city for debt. Vanderlyn died in absolute want in 1852. See Samuel Isham, _The History of American Painting_ (New York, 1915).

[285] "Bayou," in Louisiana, is a term commonly applied to any slow-running stream. According to the tradition gathered on the spot by Mr. Stanley C. Arthur, both stream and settlement were formerly called "New Valentia," while the present name was derived from an old woman called "Sara," who many years ago lived at the mouth of the Bayou, where she practiced some sort of spurious physic. St. Francisville, on the hill, received its name from the circumstance that the brothers of St. Francis, who had a mission at Pointe Coupée, on the opposite bank, were in the habit of ferrying their dead over the river, in order to bury them on the high ground; "Bayou Sara" and "St. Francisville" are used interchangeably by the inhabitants. See S. C. Arthur (Bibl. No. 230), _Times-Picayune_, New Orleans, August 6, 1916.

[286] On the original drawing of the Pine-creeping Warbler, _The Birds of America_ (Plate cxl), the following legends appear in Audubon's autograph: "Drawn from Nature by John J. Audubon, James Pirrie's Plantation, Louisiana, July 10, 1821. Plant, J. R. Mason."

Sixteen of Audubon's originals, which still bear the designations of time and place, were produced during this interval, in the year 1821; they embrace the Mississippi Kite (Plate cxvii, see Vol. I, p. 228), June 28; Yellow-throated Vireo (Plate cxix), July 11; Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Plate ccclxxxix), July 29; American Redstart (Plate xl), August 13; Summer Red-bird (Plate xliv), August 27; Prairie Warbler (Plate xiv), Sept. 3; and the Tennessee Warbler (Plate cliv), Oct. 17.

[287] _The Birds of America_, Plate xxi.

[288] See Chapter XXVIII, p. 72.

[289] The vivacious Miss Pirrie did not marry the young doctor, but eloped to Natchez with the son of a neighboring planter, who died within a month in consequence of a cold, said to have been contracted when he waded a deep stream with his lady-love in his arms. Audubon's pupil was thrice married, and bore five children; she died April 20, 1851, and her ashes now rest by the side of her second husband, the Reverend William Robert Bowman, the parish minister at St. Francisville. See Arthur (Bibl. No. 230), _loc. cit._

[290] Mistakenly written "Brand" by Audubon's biographers, according to Mr. Stanley C. Arthur, who writes that "Braud" is a very common name in New Orleans.

[291] Father Antonio de Sedella, popularly known as "Père Antoine," after 1791 pastor of St. Louis Cathedral; an idol of the people, but execrated by historians.

"This seditious priest is a Father Antoine; he is a great favorite of the Louisiana ladies; has married many of them, and christened all their children; he is by some citizens esteemed an accomplished hypocrite, has great influence with the people of color, and, report says, embraces every opportunity to render them discontented under the American Government." _Executive Journal of Governor Claiborne._ See Charles Gayarré, _History of Louisiana_, vol. iv, pp. 154-155 (New Orleans, 1903).

[292] This item occurs in Audubon's journal for October 25; "Rented a house in Dauphine street at seventeen dollars per month, and determined to bring my family to New Orleans."

[293] See Audubon's letter to Sully, Vol. II, p. 69.

[294] Now in the collection of Mr. John E. Thayer, Lancaster, Mass.

[295] Mr. Stanley C. Arthur, whose recent visit to this region has already been noticed, gathered there from the lips of old residents, some of whom were descendants of those who had known the Audubons, a store of reliable data by which the history of the naturalist at this important phase of his life is revealed in its true light; to him I am indebted for a series of excellent photographs of the region, its historic houses and people, as well as for much needed information. See Arthur (Bibl. No. 230), _loc. cit._

[296] One of the early steamboats on the Ohio that had been built at Pittsburgh, in 1821, by Thomas W. Bakewell, his brother-in-law and former partner.

[297] See "A Tough Walk for a Youth," _Ornithological Biography_ (Bibl. No. 2), vol. iii, p. 371; and "The Hospitality of the Woods," _ibid._, vol. i, p. 383.

[298] This lady had a remarkable history. She was the widow of the Marquis de Saint Pie, and was at one time a _dame d'honneur_ of Queen Marie Antoinette; like many others of noble birth, she had fled from Paris during the Revolution, and emigrated to America, where with her husband she assumed the name of Berthoud. Her son, Nicholas Augustus, had married Mrs. Audubon's sister, Eliza Bakewell, in 1816.

[299] See Chapter XIV.

[300] This was the third edition of the _American Ornithology_, issued by Messrs. Collins & Company in New York and by Harrison Hall of Philadelphia, in three octavo volumes, with an atlas of 76 plates colored by hand, in 1828-9. Mr. Hall, who appears to have been the person most interested financially in this edition, was a brother of James Hall, author of a notorious review in which this work was praised at the expense of Audubon, who was viciously attacked (see Bibliography, No. 123). Friends of Audubon repeatedly asserted that as soon as his popularity and success began to check the sales of Wilson's work, Ord and a few others, aided by interested publishers, began a systematic series of attacks, some notice of which is taken in Chapter XXVIII.

[301] See Chapter XIV.

[302] Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, Prince of Canino and Musignano, the eldest son of Lucien, and nephew of Napoleon, Bonaparte, was born at Paris in 1803, and died there in 1857. At this time he was settled with his uncle and father-in-law, Joseph Bonaparte, former King of Spain, at Philadelphia, and there and at Bordentown, New Jersey, where Joseph had an estate, he undertook the study of American birds. His best known scientific works are: _American Ornithology, or the Natural History of the Birds of the United States, not Given by Wilson_, 4 volumes, quarto, with 27 colored plates, Philadelphia, 1825-1833; and _Iconographica della Fauna Italica_, Rome, 1833-1841. In 1828 he retired to Italy, where he was devoted to literary and scientific pursuits. He was an early subscriber to Audubon's _Birds of America_, but their relations were somewhat strained on the publication of the _Ornithological Biography_ in 1831 (see