THE OOLOGIST. 



335 



Notes from Audubon's Biography. 

 Fred W. Parkhurst. 



Part VI. 



On the first day of August, 1836, Au- 

 dubon and his son took passage on the 

 American Packet ship the "Gladiator," 

 commanded by Thomas Britton, Esq., 

 aud proceeded on their voyage to New 

 York. Arriving in New York they 

 went directly to the house of Audubon's 

 brother-in-law Nicholas Berthoud. 

 Leaving his son in New York Audubon 

 went on to Boston, where under the 

 roof of his generous friend Dr. George 

 C. Shattuck he enjoyed life for a while. 

 Through the kindness of Dr. Shattuck 

 Audubon secured several more subscrib- 

 ers in Boston, and made the acquaint- 

 ance of Thomas M. Brewer, from whom 

 he leceivied many kindnesses. Push- 

 ing on to Salem he secured a few more 

 subscribers and formed a number of 

 acquaintances. Soon after he returned 

 to Boston and heard of the arrival of 

 Thomas Nuttall from an extended 

 journey over the Rocky Mountains to 

 the Pacific Coast. Nuttall generously 

 gave Audubon from the store of speci- 

 mens which he brought with him all of 

 which Audubon was unfamiliar with 

 and which he desired to figure in the 

 "Birds of America." 



From New York Audubon went to 

 Philadelphia, where Dr. Townsend's 

 collection was, which he was very anx- 

 ious to examine. On his arrival there 

 he found Dr. Townsendout of the city, 

 but obtained access to the collection. 

 Thomas Nuttall had not yet returned, 

 and loud murmurs were uttered by the 

 soidisant friends of Science, who object- 

 ed to Audubon's examination of the col- 

 lection, and would not consent that he 

 should portray and describe those spec- 

 imens which were not included in the" 

 list of American Fauna. It was agreed 

 at last that he might purchase dupli- 

 cates, provided the specific names agreed 



upon by Audubon and Nutall were pub- 

 lished in Dr. Townsend's name. The 

 latter part of the agreement was satis- 

 factory to Audubon, as he was never 

 eager to be the discoverer of new spe- 

 cies. Of his treatment by those so-call 

 ed scientists in Philedelphia Audubon 

 remarks; "Let me assure you, reader, 

 that seldom, if ever, in my life have I 

 felt more digusted with the conduct of 

 opponents of mine than I was with the 

 unfriendly boasters of their zeal for the 

 advancement of ornithological science, 

 who at the time existed in the fair city 

 of Philadelphia." 



On a journey from Louisville to Hen- 

 derson, performed during very severe 



weather, in company with Mr. T. , 



a foreigner, Audubon's companion, spy- 

 ing a beautiful animal marked with black 

 and pure yellow, and having a long 

 bushy tail, exclaimed, "Mr. Audubon, 

 is not that a beautiful squirrel ?" 

 "Yes," replied Audubon, "and of a 

 kind that will suffer you to approach it 

 and lay hold of it if you are gloved." Mr. 



T. , dismounting, took up a dry stick 



and advanced toward the animal, with 

 his large cloak floating in the breeze. He 

 approached the auimal carefully and 

 gently laid his stick across the skunk, 

 for such the "beautiful squirrel" was. 

 The pole-cat raised its fine bushy tail and 

 showered such a discharge of the fluid 

 given him by nature as a defence, that 



Mr. T. , dismayed and infuriated, 



began to belabor the poor brute. The 

 swiftness and good management of the 

 skunk, however, saved its bones ; and 

 as it made its retreat toward its hole, it 

 kept up at every step a continued eject- 

 ment, which fully convinced the gentle- 

 man that the pursuit of such squirrels 

 as these was at the best an unprofit- 

 able employment. 



From Philadelphia Audubon bent his 

 course toward Baltimore, where he 

 spent a few days. Before leaving Phil- 

 adelphia Audubon's friend Edward Har- 

 ris had promised to meet him in Char- 



