274 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



to humor his fancy, disregarding dates as readily as 

 he did the accents on French words. This tendency is 

 particularly apparent in the accounts of some of his 

 early adventures in the western country, such as "Louis- 

 ville in Kentucky" (1808-10), "The Prairie" (1812), 

 "A Wild Horse" (1811-13), and "The Eccentric Nat- 

 uralist" (1818), the history of which is detailed in the 

 following chapter. We shall examine some of these 

 stories at this point, though their composition belongs to 

 a later period, in order to reach a just conclusion in 

 regard to the author's method, as well as for the intrinsic 

 interest of the narratives themselves. 



During Audubon's early life in Kentucky, as we 

 have seen, he frequently visited the East, whether in the 

 interest of birds or business, traveling by way of the 

 river and the forest roads. Incidents of these journeys 

 frequently occur in the "Episodes," but since dates com- 

 monly are omitted and the order of events is liable to be 

 blended or confused, they cannot be trusted always for 

 historical accuracy. Thus, "The Wild Horse" episode 2 

 professes to be an account of a single journey from 

 Henderson, in Kentucky, to Philadelphia and back 

 again, whereas some of the events recorded occurred in 

 reality at least two years apart, such as the meeting with 

 Nolte at the Falls of the Juniata River in December, 

 1811, and the naturalist's return from Pennsylvania 

 with the proceeds of "Mill Grove," which could not have 

 been earlier than 1813, the date of its sale to Mr. Samuel 

 Wetherill, Junior. 3 



Audubon visited Philadelphia in November, 1811, 



2 Ornithological Biography, vol. iii, p. 270. 



3 While the object of this visit is not mentioned in the "Episode," it 

 is stated in the second biographical sketch; the ambiguities connected 

 with the sale of this farm, in which others besides Audubon were then 

 interested, are discussed in Chapter XI. 



