THE OOLOGIST. 



143 



the cataract or the distant evening 

 songs of the warbler and sparrow as 

 their onty society for weeks at a time. 

 But kind reader I must refrain from 

 further digression, and return to our ■ 

 friend as we left him at Danville, Ken- 

 tucky making preparations for his im- 

 mediate departure for the far south. 

 Not to go iuto details as regards his 

 equipment, suffice is to say that at this 

 day we would regard his bagffage very 

 insufficient for an overland journey of 

 oue hundred and eighty miles. The 

 spriug was particularly backward and 

 it was only \\ hen he was far ou his way 

 toward Nashville that the latent life of 

 vegetation began to unfold, and, with 

 the return of the warm south wind most 

 delightful wonders were produced in 

 the woods and fields. The budding 

 sassafras, the large white petals of the 

 dog-wood contrasted with the deep 

 green of the poplar ,aud buckeye, gave 

 to the landscape on every side a rich- 

 ness of the most pleasiug relief to the 

 eye of Wilson. But that which engag- 

 ed our traveller's attention the most 

 was the multitude of new and strange 

 birds that were flitting and warbling 

 among the branches of- the verdant 

 freshness overhead. Here and there at 

 extended intervalsa pioneer had broken 

 the wilderness, aud wheu Wilson emerg- 

 ed from the deep recesses of the solitary 

 forest, the rich green of the fields, the 

 the farmhouse and cabins, embosomed 

 amidst orchards of glowing purple and 

 white, all lent to the scenery a strange 

 charm of the sweetest relief to the 

 senses of our traveller Near the foot 

 of a high mountain, called Mulder's hill 

 he overtook one of those family cara- 

 vans so common in that country, mov- 

 ing westward to some agreeable spot 

 where they would halt and hew a home 

 out of the stubborn wilderness. He 

 was informed that the caravan was from 

 Washington Country, Kentucky, and 

 was going as far as the Cumberland riv- 

 er in Tennessee. "The singular ap- 



pearance of this moving group, the 

 mingled music of the bells, and the 

 shouting of the drivers, mixed with the 

 echoes of the mountains, joined to the 

 picturesque solitude of the place, aud 

 that the various reflections that hurried 

 through my mind, interested me greatly, 

 and 1 kept company with them for some 

 time." The 25th of April he spent the 

 night at the house of Isaac Walton, 

 thirteen miles from Nashville. After 

 breakfasting at an early hour, Wilson 

 was prepariug to start when the hospi- 

 .table landlord refused to take any pay, 

 and replied, ''you seem to be travelling 

 for the good of the world, aud I cannot 

 — I will not charge you any thing. 

 Whenever you come this way, call and 

 stay with me, you shall be welcome." 

 Wilsou remarks that this was the first 

 instance of such hospitality he ever met 

 with iu his travels in the United States. 



The spring was now well advanced 

 iu that climate and the multitude of un- 

 known birds everywhere passing north- 

 ward, was a constant source of interest 

 and delight to our traveller. His gun 

 and pencil were actively engaged aud 

 many drawings were forwarded to Mr. 

 Lawson, his engraver, but which unfor- 

 tunately never reached him. Wilson 

 had the good fortune to pass through 

 an extensive pigeon roost, or breeding 

 place, about fifty miles from Dauville. 

 He estimates it to have extended three 

 miles in width, and more than forty in 

 length. The trees were principally 

 beech, and loaded with nests, and he 

 says, that in different places he counted 

 more than ninty nests on a single tree. 



From Nashville his next point was 

 Natchez, Miss., a distance of four hun- 

 dred and eighty miles, the whole waste 

 being through the vast wilderness in- 

 habited only by Chicksaw and Chock- 

 taw Indians. This long journey through 

 a savage counti-y was the most fatigu- 

 ing ever undertaken by our ornitholo- 

 gist, and added to the usual hardships 

 of out door life he was frequently at- 



