JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 49 



in New Orleans, he first met a painter 

 whom he thus describes : ' ' His head was 

 covered by a straw hat, the brim of 

 which might cope with those worn by 

 the fair sex in 1830 ; his neck was ex- 

 posed to the weather ; the broad frill of 

 a shirt, then fashionable, flopped about 

 his breast, whilst an extraordinary col- 

 lar, carefully arranged, fell over the top 

 of his coat. The latter was of a light 

 green colour, harmonising well with a 

 pair of flowing yellow nankeen trousers, 

 and a pink waistcoat, from the bosom of 

 which, amidst a large bunch of the 

 splendid flowers of the magnolia, pro- 

 truded part of a young alligator, which 

 seemed more anxious to glide through 

 the muddy waters of a swamp than to 

 spend its life swinging to and fro 

 amongst folds of the finest lawn. The 

 gentleman held in one hand a cage full 

 of richly-plumed nonpareils, whilst in 

 the other he sported a silk umbrella, on 

 which I could plainly read ' Stolen from 



