230 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



not draw one, and determined," as he then wrote in his 

 journal, "never to draw from a stuffed bird." "I first 

 saw the Mississippi Kite," he added, when "ascending 

 in the steamboat Paragon, in June, 1819." Wilson, 

 on the other hand, in his knowledge of this interesting 

 bird was far in advance of his later rival, for his first 

 observations were made in 1810, "in the Mississippi ter- 

 ritory, a few miles below Natchez, on the plantation of 

 William Dunbar, esquire, when the bird represented in 

 the plate was obtained, after being slightly wounded; 

 and the drawing made with great care from the living 

 bird." "For several miles, as I passed near Bayo Man- 

 chak," Wilson continues, "the trees were swarming with 

 a kind of cicada, or locust, that made a deafening noise ; 

 and here I observed numbers of the Hawk now before 

 us sweeping about among the trees like Swallows, evi- 

 dently in pursuit of these locusts; so that insects, it 

 would appear, are the principal food of this species." 24 

 Wilson never succeeded in procuring the female of this 

 graceful hawk, and his editor, George Ord, evidently 

 continued the quest, for we find his correspondent, John 

 Abbot, writing him from "Scriven County Georgia Mar. 

 1814": "Are you acquainted with the female yet of 

 the Louisiana Kite?" 25 



We have entered into the detailed history of this plate 

 because of the unfavorable comment which it has pro- 

 voked, but it is easier to be critical than to be either just 

 or correct, and without more definite knowledge than 

 we possess, it would be unfair to censure Audubon too 

 much or to shift the blame too completely upon the 

 shoulders of another. 



24 American Ornithology, vol. iii, p. 80. 



20 See Witner Stone, "Some Letters of Alexander Wilson and John 

 Abbot," The Auk, vol. xxiii, 190G. 



