438 Life of Audubon, 



tiful creatures, that seemed as docile as any of their tame 

 companions. 



" * Is the master at home ? '" I asked of a pretty maid- 

 servant, who answered my tap at the door ; and who, af- 

 ter informing me that he was, led me into a room on the 

 left side of the broad hall. It was not, however, a par- 

 lor, or an ordinary reception-room that I entered, but evi- 

 dently a room for work. In one corner stood a painter's 

 easel, with a half finished sketch of a beaver on the pa- 

 per ; in the other lay the skin of an American panther. 

 The antlers of elks hung upon the walls ; stuffed birds 

 of every description of gay plumage ornamented the 

 mantel-piece ; and exquisite drawings of field-mice, ori- 

 oles, and woodpeckers, were scattered promiscuously in 

 other parts of the room, across one end of which a long 

 rude table was stretched to hold artist materials, scraps 

 of drawing-paper, and immense folio volumes, filled with 

 delicious paintings of birds taken in their native haunts. 



" ' This,' said I to myself, * is the studio of the natu- 

 ralist,' but hardly had the thought escaped me, when the 

 master himself made his appearance. He was a tall, thin 

 man, with a high arched and serene forehead, and a bright 

 penetrating gray eye ; his white locks fell in clusters upon 

 his shoulders, but were the only signs of age, for his form 

 was erect, and his step as light as that of a deer. The 

 expression of his face was sharp, but noble and com- 

 manding, and there was something in it, partly derived 

 from the aquiline nose and partly from the shutting of the 

 mouth, which made you think of the imperial eagle. 



" His greeting, as he entered, was at once frank and 

 cordial, and showed you the sincere, true man. ' How 

 kind it is,' he said, with a slight French accent, and in a 

 pensive tone, *,to come to see me ; and how wise, too, to 

 leave that crazy city ! ' He then shook me warmly by the 

 hand. *Do you know,' he continued, 'how I wondei 



