AN ECCENTRIC NA TURALIST. \ 6 1 



" His attire struck me as exceedingly remarkable. A 

 long, loose coat of yellow nankeen, much the worse for 

 the many rubs it had got in its time, hung about him 

 loosely, like a sack. A waistcoat of the same, with enor- 

 mous pockets and buttoned up to the chin, reached below 

 over a pair of tight pantaloons, the lower part of which 

 was buttoned down over his ankles. His beard was long, 

 and his lank black hair hung loosely over his shoulders. 

 His forehead was broad and prominent, indicating a mind 

 of strong power. His words impressed an assurance of 

 rigid truth ; and as he directed the conversation to the 

 natural sciences, I listened to him with great delight. 



" That night, after we were all abed, I heard of a sudden 

 a great uproar in the naturalist's room. I got up and 

 opened the door, when to my astonishment I saw my 

 guest running naked, holding the handle of my favorite 

 Cremona, the body of which he had battered to pieces in 

 attempting to kill the bats which had entered the open 

 window ! I stood amazed ; but he continued jumping 

 and running around and around till he was fairly exhausted, 

 when he begged me to procure one of the animals for him, 

 as he felt convinced that they belonged to a new species. 

 Although I was convinced of the contrary, I took up the 

 bow of my demolished violin, and giving a smart tip to each 

 bat as it came up, we soon had specimens enough." 



A part of the story of this visit, which Audubon 

 does not tell, may be briefly related here : Audubon 

 was a great artist, and his paintings of birds and 

 flowers excited the wonder and admiration of Rafi- 

 nesque, as it has that of the generations since his 

 time. But Audubon was something of a wag 

 withal, and some spirit of mischief led him to 

 revenge the loss of his violin on the too ready 

 credulity of his guest. He showed him gravely 



ii 



