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