MERCANTILE PURSUITS. F9 
CHAPTER V 
et many years subsequent to his marriage, 
“ Audubon engaged in various branches of 
commerce, doubtless from a conscientious sense 
of the obligation his new position imposed. 
That they should have proved unprofitable, 
is scarcely matter of surprise, with one whose 
whole mind was enamoured of entirely opposite 
pursuits. Nevertheless his enterprise was not 
unproductive of advantage; for it was while 
ascending the upper Mississippi on a trading 
voyage, during the month of February, 1814, 
that Audubon first caught sight of the beautiful 
Bird of Washington. His delight as he did so 
was extreme. Not even Herschel, he says, when 
he discovered the planet which bears his name, 
could have experienced more rapturous feelings. 
Convinced that the bird was extremely rare, if 
not altogether unknown, Audubon felt particu- 
larly anxious to learn its species. He next ob- 
served it whilst engaged in collecting cray fish 
on one of the flats of the Green river, at its 
junction with the Ohio, where it is bounded by 
