258 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



his power of vision must have been singularly acute, to have dis- 

 tinguished that it was a Fox Squirrel ; for only one other per- 

 son . . . detected the creature at all. 



The second Mrs. Victor G. Audubon '' said that on 

 the day the naturalist returned, "the whole family, with 

 his old friend, Captain Cummings, were on the piazza 

 waiting for the carriage to come from Harlem . . . He 

 had on a green blanket coat with fur collar and cuffs; 

 his hair and beard were very long, and he made a fine 

 striking appearance. In this dress his son John painted 

 his portrait."* This interesting portrait, which is still 

 in possession of the family, and which is reproduced by 

 his granddaughter in the work from which we have just 

 quoted, shows a man whose apparent age, as suggested 

 by his flowing white hair and grayish white beard, over- 

 shoots the clearer testimony of his smooth face and 

 bright eye; as already noticed, Audubon had not then 

 attained his sixtieth year. 



Upon his return at this time Audubon is said to 

 have been mistaken for a Dunker, or member of a sect 

 of Quakers noted for their ample beards. On Novem- 

 ber 29 Bachman wrote: "I am glad to hear that your 

 great beard is now cut off. I pictured you to myself, as 

 I saw you in my home, when you came from Florida, via 

 Savannah. You jumped down from the top of the 

 stage. Your beard, two months old, was as gray as a 

 Badger's. I think a grizzly-bear, forty-seven years old, 

 would have claimed you as 'par nobile fratrum.' " Bach- 

 man was apparently disturbed about Audubon's per- 

 sonal habits at this time, for he added in the letter just 

 quoted : "I am a teatotaler. I drink no wine:, and do not 



'See Vol. II, p. 294. 



* See Maria R. Audubon, op. cit., vol. il, Note on pp. 17S-6. 



