112. AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
kinds of birds’ eggs, carefully blown out and strung on a 
thread. The chimney-piece was covered with stuffed squirrels, 
racoons, and opossums; and the shelves around were likewise 
crowded with specimens, among which were fishes, frogs, snakes, 
lizards, and other reptiles. Besides these stuffed varieties, 
many paintings were arrayed on the walls, chiefly of birds. 
He had great skill in stuffing and preserving animals of all 
sorts. He had also a trick in training dogs with great per- 
fection, of which art his famous dog, Zephyr, was a wonder- 
ful example. He was an admirable marksman, an expert swim- 
mer, a clever rider, possessed of great activity, prodigious 
strength, and was notable for the elegance of his figure and 
the beauty of his features, and he aided nature by a careful at- 
tendance to his dress. Besides other accomplishments he was 
musical, a good fencer, danced well, and had some acquain- 
tance with legerdemain tricks, worked in hair, and could plait 
willow baskets. 
