MERCANTILE PURSUITS. 59 



CHAPTER y. 



TTpOR many years subsequent to his marriage, 

 -■- Audubon engaged in various branches of 

 commerce, doubtless from a conscientious sense 

 of the obligation his new position imposed. 



That they should have proved unprofitable, 

 is scarcely matter of surprise, with one whose 

 whole mind was enamoured of entirely opposite 

 pursuits. Nevertheless his enterprise was not 

 unproductive of advantage; for it was while 

 ascending the upper Mississippi on a trading 

 voyage, during the month of February, 1814, 

 that Audubon first caught sight of the beautiful 

 Bird of Washington. His delight as he did so 

 was extreme. Not even Herschel, he says, when 

 lie discovered the planet which bears his name, 

 could have experienced more rapturous feelings. 

 Convinced that the bird was extremely rare, if 

 not altogether unknown, Audubon felt particu- 

 larly anxious to learn its species. He next ob- 

 served it whilst engaged in collecting cray fish 

 on one of the flats of the Green river, at its 

 junction with the Ohio, where it is bounded by 



