CHAPTER XL 



EAGLES AND ART. 



MINNIE'S LAND, the residence of the late Mr. Audubon, 

 the illustrious ornithologist, was situated near the high- water 

 level of the Hudson, at the foot of a deep range of shelving 

 hills, which form the Manhattan shore, and commence nearly 

 opposite the foot of the noted Palisades. 



Here, in the midst of a grove of native forest trees, and at 

 some fifty paces from the water's edge, stood, embowered in 

 characteristic seclusion, like the nest of one of his own fa- 

 vorite, solitude-haunting wild-birds, the simple and taste- 

 ful family mansion of the great illustrator of the feathered 

 tribes. 



You entered this hospitable home by a wide hall, which, 

 opening upon a spacious portico fronting the river, divided 

 the lower apartments into two ranges of rooms those on 

 the right hand consisting of atelier, library, and museum of 

 specimens those on the left being, with a beautiful propri- 

 ety, dedicated to the rights of hospitality dining-room, par- 

 lors, etc. 



The main hall of entrance was hung on both sides with 

 pictures ; among them all that most attracted my attention 

 in frequent visits, were two large oil paintings, one an origi- 

 nal Salvator Kosa terrible as all that I had ever dreamed 

 of that drear and mighty genius of desolation. A leaden, 

 clouded sky, hurled by the drifting storm against the sharp 

 peaks of pinnacled cliffs, seemed falling, shattered in huge 

 eddied flakes about the head of a poor wayfarer, whose thin 



