50 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



son; ^^ this intelligence induced him to abandon his con- 

 templated course through the woods of Quebec and 

 hasten back to the United States. The party finally 

 reached Eastport on August 31, after being out nearly 

 twelve weeks. When the Ripley had docked and their 

 collections were securely packed, all but Coolidge and 

 Lincoln returned to Boston, and on September 7 Audu- 

 bon was again in New York. 



The Labrador experience was in a measure disap- 

 pointing, but the naturalist brought back twenty-three 

 large drawings of birds, complete or nearly so, and sev- 

 enty-three bird skins, as well as considerable collections 

 of marine animals and plants. The expenses of the 

 journey had been heavy, amounting, as he told his son, 

 to "about $2,000," but one fine morning when they 

 had flushed a Black Poll Warbler from its nest, Audu- 

 bon felt that he was amply "refunded in the sight," 

 though this bird was later found to have a much wider 

 breeding range than he then supposed. 



The National Gazette of Philadelphia^^ published 

 a long editorial upon Audubon's return, as well as an 

 extended account of his journey, extracted from the 

 Boston Patriot. To quote the editor's comment : 



The distinguished naturalist returned from his north- 

 eastern excursion to Boston Wednesday last. We believe that 

 there is no one who will not be gratified to learn the progress 

 of his arduous and unremitted labors in a branch of science, 

 which he has made peculiarly his own; and he has kindly fa- 



^ As a memento of the Labrador experience, Audubon presented 

 Harris with his poclcet companion, The Genera of North American Birds 

 and a Synopsis of the Species, by Charles Lucien Bonaparte (New York, 

 1828), and inscribed it as presented to his friend at "Eastport, Sept. 1, 1833." 

 This volume, which saw much hard usage on this voyage and is fiUed with 

 Audubon's manuscript notes, is now in possession of Mr. Joseph Y. Jeanes. 



'^For Tuesday, September 10, 1833. 



