774 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 



month to draw for him, but a fixed engagement could not be entered 

 upon. 



At New Orleans Audubon made the acquaintance of Jarvis, the painter. 

 Jarvis told him that he did not know how to paint birds, but perhaps might 

 be useful in the studio for filling-in backgrounds. He returned again to the 

 painter, willing to undertake this task, but Jarvis received him coolly, had 

 no use for him, and in Audubon's opinion seemed to fear his rivalry. He 

 again sought portraits to paint. Time passed sadly in seeking ineffectually 

 for employment, but a lucky hit With the likeness of a prominent citizen 

 brought a few orders that relieved his immediate necessities. He describes 

 himself as spending his time in " vain endeavors to obtain a sight of 

 Alexander Wilson's ' Ornithology,' which is very high-priced," and was 

 successful in procuring some new birds. He writes in March : " Of late 

 I have been unable to make many entries in my journal. Near our lodg- 

 ings, on the south angle of a neighboring chimney-top, a mocking-bird 

 regularly resorts, and pleases us with the sweetest notes from the rising 

 of the moon until about midnight, and every morning from about eight 

 o'clock until eleven, when he flies away to the convent gardens to feed. 

 I have noticed that bird always in the same spot and same position, and 

 have been particularly pleased at hearing him imitate the watchman's cry of 

 ' All's well ! ' which comes from the fort, about three squares distant ; and so 

 well has he sometimes mocked it that I should have been deceived, if he had 

 not repeated it too often, sometimes several times in ten minutes." 



But his fortunes did not mend in New Orleans ; his unconquerable rest- 

 lessness stood in his path. His spirits never flagged. In his sorest penury 

 and direst distress he resumed his gaiety when he had got a few dollars 

 for the likeness of some patron. He had some pupils also, and accepted 

 a situation in the family of Mrs. Perrie, at Bayou Sara, where he had 

 to teach drawing during the summer months to Mrs. Perrie's daughter. 

 His salary was sixty dollars a month, and board and lodging for himself and 

 his friend Mason. The arrangement, in fact, seems to have been proposed 

 by the lady to give an opportunity to carry on his favorite pursuits. The 

 lessons were short, and the rest of his time was free for hunting. Here he 

 remained from June to October, in a country the aspect of which was 

 entirely new to him. "Since I left Cincinnati, Oct. 12, 1820," he writes, "I 

 have finished sixty-two drawings of birds and plants, three quadrupeds, two 

 snakes, fifty portraits, and have subsisted by my humble talents, not having 

 had a dollar when I started." In the month of October he returned to New 

 Orleans, rented a house, and began life there " with forty-two dollars, health 



