28 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



CHAPTER III. 



A UDUBON continued to make valuable ad- 

 -^-^ ditions to his collection, until his portfo- 

 lio was enriched by nearly two hundred draw- 

 ings. He received the most friendly assistance 

 from Gait, the botanist, Ferguson and others. 

 Thus welcomed and encouraged, perhaps no 

 epoch of his life was happier ; nor can we imag- 

 ine pleasanter pictures than those afforded by 

 the hours of hospitable entertainment, fiiendly 

 intercourse, and communings of love at Louis- 

 ville. One circumstance which occurred during 

 his residence there, in 1810, seems to have been 

 especially remembered by him. He was sur- 

 prised by a visit from the celebrated Alexander 

 Wilson, author of the American Ornithology, 

 of whose existence even he had been in igno- 

 rance until then. The peculiarity of Wilson's 

 countenance and appearance was vividly retained 

 in Audubon's memory, impressed probably more 

 particularly from the strangeness of the con- 

 nected circumstances. 



His long hooked nose, keen eyes and promi- 



