56 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 
A small rap on each of the bats from Auda 
bon, brought him specimens enough. The con 
test thus arrived at a successful issue, Audubon 
departed, not without a wondering glance at the 
scene of warfare the room presented. The re 
mains of the stricken birds were strewn over it, 
und a confused heap of plants which, a little 
while since, carefully selected into groups, were 
now in irrevocable disorder. 
De Thouville remained some days under the 
hospitable roof of his new friend, during which 
these fellow-labourers diligently pursued their 
respective occupations. He naturally desired, 
before departing, some memorial of the time and 
place, which might also assist his researches in 
vegetation, and enrich his possessions. The Cane 
Brakes, which formerly spread over the Ken- 
tucky State, interspersed with plants of every 
description, tempted the imagination of the na- 
turalist. Little was he aware of the difficulties 
of effecting a passage through those formidable 
mazes, where the hunters cut a pathway with 
their knives, and underwood, heavy perhaps 
with sleet or rain, which comes down to the dis- 
comfort of the poor traveller, as he bends the 
foliage, and presses his way through. At De 
Thouville’s urgent request, however, the com- 
panions set forth, Audubon not without a sly 
and somewhat malicious resolve to gratify his 
