TO AMERICA IN SEARCH OF BIRDS 427 



began to receive when traveling in his adopted land 

 must have gratified his heart. He paused at Louisville 

 to visit his two boys, the elder of whom, Victor, was 

 then a clerk in the office of his uncle, William G. Bake- 

 well, while John was with another uncle, Nicholas A. 

 Berthoud. Hastening on he reached Bayou Sara on 

 November 17, where he finally joined his wife, who was 

 living at the home of William Garrett Johnson, in West 

 Feliciana Parish, near Wakefield. Some account of 

 this journey is given in the following letter, 7 written 

 on the eighteenth to Dr. Richard Harlan; in the post- 

 script Audubon gives the first reference to a new hawk 

 which he proposed to name after his friend, and which 

 has given no little trouble to ornithologists ever since : 8 



Audubon to Dr. Richard Harlan 



[Superscribed] Rich d Harlan Esq r . M. D. &c &c &c 



Philadelphia Pens a 



S T Francisville Louisiana Novembr 18^ 



1829— 



My Dear Friend. — 



You will see by the data of this the rapidity with which I 

 have crossed two thirds of the United States. I had the happi- 

 ness of pressing my beloved wife to my breast Yesterday morn- 

 ing; saw my two sons at Louisville and all is well. — from 

 Philadelphia to Pittsburgh I found the Roads, the Coaches, 

 horses Drivers and Inns all much improved and yet needing a 

 great deal to make the traveller quite comfortable — The slow- 

 nesse of the stages is yet a great bore to a man in a hurry — I 

 remained part of a day at Pittsburgh where of course I paid 

 my respects to the Museum! I was glad to sec the germ of 



7 At one time in possession of Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, who received it 

 from Mrs. Audubon; given verbatim by Elliott Coues (Bibl. No. 43), 

 Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, vol. v, 1880. 



8 Harlan's Hawk, or the Black Warrior, is now regarded as a southern 

 variety of the Red-tailed Hawk, and is designated under the trinomen, 

 Bueto borealis harlani. 



