His Accomplishments. 27 



where he and his companion Rosier resided, with Mrs. 

 Thomas for an attendant. On entering his room, I was 

 astonished and delighted to find that it was turned into a 

 museum. The walls were festooned with all sorts of 

 birds' eggs, carefully blown out and strung on a thread. 

 The chimney-piece was covered with stuffed squirrels, 

 racoons, and opossums ; and the shelves around were 

 likewise crowded with specimens, among which were 

 fishes, frogs, snakes, lizards, and other reptiles. Besides 

 these stuffed varieties, many paintings were arrayed upon 

 the walls, chiefly of birds. He had great skill in stufting 

 and preserving animals of all sorts. He had also a trick 

 of training dogs with great perfection, of which art his 

 fomous dog Zeph}^ was a wonderful example. He was 

 an admirable marksman, an expert swimmer, a clever 

 rider, possessed great activity, prodigious strength, and 

 was notable for the elegance of his figure and the beauty 

 of his features, and he aided nature by a careful attend- 

 ance to his dress. Besides other accomplishments, he 

 was musical, a good fencer, danced well, had some ac- 

 quaintance with legerdemain tricks, worked in hair, and 

 could plait willow-baskets." He adds further, that 

 Audubon once swam across the Schuylkill river wititv 

 him on his back, — no contemptible feat for a young ath- 

 lete. 



The naturalist was evidently a nonpareil in the eyes 

 of his neighbors, and of those who were intimate enough 

 to know his manifold tastes. But love began to interfere 

 a little with the gratification of these Bohemian instincts. 

 On expressing his desire of uniting himself to Miss 

 Bakewell, Audubon was advised by Mr. Bakewell to ob- 

 tain some knowledge of commercial pursuits before get- 

 ting married. With this intention, Audubon started for 

 New York, entered the counting-house of Mr. Benjamin 

 Bakewell, and made rapid progress in his education by 



