28 Biology in America 



distance of the party on the opposite side, when they again 

 fired, and I saw the water covered with birds floating with 

 their backs downwards, and their heads sunk in the water, 

 and their legs kicking in the air. When the sport was over 

 we counted more than fifty of these beautiful birds, whose 

 skins were intended for the ladies in Europe. There were 

 plenty of geese and ducks, but no one condescended to give 

 them a shoot. A conch was sounded, and after a while 

 the squaws came dragging the canoe, and collecting the dead 

 game, which was taken to the river's edge, fastened to the 

 canoe, and before dusk we were again landed at our camping 

 ground. I had heard of sportsmen in England who walked 

 a whole day, and after firing a pound of powder returned in 

 great glee bringing one partridge ; and I could not help won- 

 dering what they would think of the spoil we were bearing 

 from Swan Lake." 



His picture of the Mississippi in flood is wonderfully im- 

 pressive. 



"I have floated on the Mississippi and Ohio when thus 

 swollen, and have in different places visited the submerged 

 lands of the interior, propelling a light canoe by the aid of a 

 paddle. In this manner I have traversed immense portions 

 of the country overflowed by the waters of these rivers, and 

 particularly whilst floating over the Mississippi bottom lairds 

 I have been struck with awe at the sight. Little or no current 

 is met with, unless when the canoe passes over the bed of a 

 bayou. All is silent and melancholy, unless when the mourn- 

 ful bleating of the hemmed-in deer reaches your ear, or the 

 dismal scream of an eagle or a heron is heard, or the foul bird 

 rises, disturbed by your approach, from the carcass on which 

 it was allaying its craving appetite. Bears, cougars, lynxes, 

 and all other quadrupeds that can ascend the trees, are ob- 

 served crouched among their top branches; hungry in the 

 midst of abundance, although they see floating around them 

 the animals on which they usually prey. They dare not ven- 

 ture to swim to them. Fatigued by the exertions which they 

 have made in reaching dry land, they will there stand the 

 hunter 's fire, as if to die by a ball were better than to perish 

 amid the waste of waters. On occasions like this, all these 

 animals are shot by hundreds." 



In his journeys Audubon fell in with many interesting 

 characters. One of these was the naturalist Rafinesque. Dur- 

 ing Audubon 's residence in Kentucky, Rafinesque visited 

 him, presenting a letter of introduction in which he was 

 described as an "odd fish" as yet undescribed in published 

 works. Audubon 's innocent inquiry as to where the "odd 

 fish" was, led to much amusement and a cordial entente 



