52 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 
“My dear Audubon, 
“T send you an odd Ssh, which may prove to 
be undescribed. If so, I hope you will let me 
have an account in your next letter. 
Believe me always your friend, B. 
With an amusing simplicity worthy this Cin- 
cinuatus of science, Audubon unhesitatingly 
asked the bearer “where the odd fish was?” 
Perplexity was now his, when, with perfect 
good humour and self-possession, Monsieur de 
Thouville, in whose presence he was, replied, 
“T am that.odd fish, I presume, Mr. Audubon.” 
To their mutual relief, the house of his host was 
soon reached. Audubon, desirous to put his 
friend at ease, was on the point of ordering a 
vervant to the boat for Monsieur de Thouville’s 
luggage, who prevented him, however, with the 
remark, that he had none but what he brought 
on his back; at the same time loosening the pack 
of weeds which had first attracted Audubon’s 
attention. 
The stranger naturalist then, while engaged 
in pulling his stockings, not up but down, to 
cover the holes about his heels, indulged his 
loquacity in the gayest manner imaginable. 
After relating the distance he had walked, and 
his passage on board the ark, he expressed also 
his regret that his apparel should have suffered ; 
