324 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



In March, 1823, Audubon and friend Stein bought 

 a horse and wagon, and in the hope of raising money 

 through their joint efforts as itinerant portrait painters, 

 set out with Victor on a tour of the Southern States. 

 This venture, however, did not succeed, and after visit- 

 ing Jackson and a number of other towns, they disband- 

 ed at New Orleans. Audubon then started north with 

 his son for Louisville, but upon paying a visit to his wife 

 at the "Beech woods" school, he was invited by the Percys 

 to remain there for the summer and "teach the young 

 ladies music and drawing." According to a tradition 

 which has survived among the Percy descendants, Audu- 

 bon spent most of his time in roaming through the woods, 

 but he also taught his wife's pupils to swim in the large 

 spring house at "Weyanoke," where the water could be 

 deepened at pleasure. It was also said that he painted 

 the Wild Turkeys in the woods of Sleepy Hollow near 

 by, but I have already given Audubon's own record in 

 regard to one of these pictures, and, as Mr. Arthur re- 

 marks, the places in Louisiana where he drew these 

 famous subjects are as numerous as the beds in which 

 Lafayette slept when at New Orleans. 



Audubon remained with the Percys during the 

 greater part of the summer, or until some misunder- 

 standing arose, when he was again adrift and upon a sea 

 of difficulties. While visiting a plantation near Natchez, 

 both he and Victor were stricken with fever ; his faithful 

 wife hastened to them, and after nursing both back to 

 health, she returned with them to the Percy plantation, 

 where they remained from the 8th to the 30th of Sep- 

 tember. 



In the autumn of 1823 Audubon was determined to 

 visit Philadelphia, in the hope of finding a sponsor for 

 his "Ornithology." Although the work was then far 



