364 



THE OOLOGIST. 



between Audubon and Dr. Bachman 

 was still more firmly cemented by the 

 marriage of Audubon's youngest son 

 with the doctor's eldest daughter. 



In the course of their long journeys 

 over land, along the shores, and on the 

 bayous, Audubon and his party did not 

 discover a single bird not previously 

 figured by Audubon Whether this 

 was because thei'e were but very few 

 more to figure, or their lack of s access, 

 is hard to tell. 



Leaving Charleston they reached Nor- 

 folk after a short and pleasant journey, 

 and proceeded at once to Washington, 

 wiiere Audubon presented himself to 

 the President, Martin VanBuren, to 

 whom he had letters of introduction 

 from his good friend Washington Ir- 

 ving. They then passed rapidly 

 through Baltimore and Philadelphia, it 

 being Audubon's wish to reach New 

 York as soon as possible. There he re- 

 mained a fortnight while his sou and 

 daughter-in-law visited the Falls of Ni- 

 agara. After their return the three 

 went on board the American packet-ship 

 the"England," bound for Liverpool, and 

 arrived there seventeen days later They 

 made a Hying visit to their friends, and 

 immeditately went on to London, 

 where, on the 7th of August, Audubon's 

 whole family was united once more. 



Audubon found the publication of 

 the "Birds of America" in a satisfactory 

 state of progression, but received the 

 disagreeable news that a number of his 

 British patrons had discontinued their 

 subscriptions, and that the most of 

 those who still received their numbers 

 as they came ont were desirous of see- 

 ing the work finished in eighty num- 

 bers, as was expected. The price of a 

 single copy of the "Birds of America" 

 was one thousand dollars at that time, 

 although they can be purchased now 

 for less than a fifth of that sum. 



(to be continued.) 



Some Queer Habits of Urinator imber. 

 By Tyro. 



There is at least one small piece of 

 our country that has not as yet been 

 carefully ex^jlored by the Naturalist. 

 Within this limited locality is the 

 northern boundary of the range of 

 more than one species peculiar to the 

 counti'y west of the Rockies. I speak 

 of northern Idaho. 



The northern part of the state is not 

 moi'e than forty-five miles across. 

 About fifty miles south of the northern 

 boundary, the state is crossed by the 

 Pend d'Oreille or C'ark's Fork of the 

 Columbian River. The people know it 

 as the Fond de May . Tributary to this 

 is Priest River which fiows from Lake 

 Kauiksu. This lake is north of the 

 Pend d' Oreille. It is a very beautiful 

 lake, surrounded by mountains. It is 

 about thirty-five miles long and ten 

 miles wide. Small tributaries carry 

 the snow-water fi"om the mountains 

 to Lake Kaniksu and Priest River. 

 The landscape of this locality is widely 

 beautiful; savagely grand. 



I attempt this brief description of the 

 country because its very wildness has 

 something to do with the habits of the 

 bird of which I wish to write — Urinator 

 imber. The bird is in perfect harmony 

 with the surroundings and the surroun- 

 ings are congenial to him. 



We were camped at Blue Lake, a 

 small sheet of water, with mountains 

 on every side; John and Bob were 

 coming north to join us. They intend- 

 ed to pursue the festive deer and catch 

 mountain trout while we were observ- 

 ing the life about us and preserving an 

 occasional specimen. 



The gentlemen referred to were fol- 

 lowing our route by means of certain 

 signs which we left along the trail. 

 The last note which they dug up near 

 the roots of a large pine, read, "Turn 

 to the right — follow the blazed trail for 



