308 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
As their flatboat stopped at many towns and planta- 
tions on the rivers, Audubon could hunt game and birds 
to his heart’s content. Having resolved, as he said, 
never to draw from a stuffed specimen, he worked at 
every new bird with the greatest diligence. It seems 
almost incredible that he should never have met with 
the Hermit Thrush before this journey, yet under date 
of “Oct. 14, 1820,” there is this entry: “We returned 
to our boat with a Wild Turkey, a Telltale Godwit and 
a Hermit Thrush, which was too much torn to make a 
drawing of it; this was the first time I had met with this 
bird, and I felt particularly mortified at its condition.” ° 
Their visit to Natchez furnished Audubon with ma- 
terials for at least two of his “Episodes.” * This inci- 
dent of his generosity may be taken as characteristic; 
finding that one of his companions was down at the 
heel and as short of ready money as himself, he sought 
out a shoemaker and offered to do a portrait of the 
man and his wife for two pairs of boots; the proposal 
was accepted forthwith, and he set to work; the sketches 
were finished in the course of two hours, and Audubon 
Audubon and Wilson manuscripts and drawings in possession of Harvard 
University, having been once included in the estate of Joseph M. Wade. 
The collection embraces four early drawings by Audubon, presumably at 
one time in the hands of Edward Harris (see Note 9, Vol. I, p. 180); 73 of 
Audubon’s original letters, comprising largely his correspondence with Dr. 
John Bachman; 60 letters by Victor G. Audubon; and a few by other mem- 
bers of the naturalist’s family. See the Annual Report of the Curator of 
the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy for 1910-1911. 
Through the courtesy of Professor E. L. Mark, and the Director of 
the Museum, Dr. Samuel Henshaw, I have been permitted to examine 
these numerous documents. In any direct or casual reference to this 
valuable material, I have endeavored not to overstep the bounds of pro- 
priety, in view of the fact that the University contemplates publishing 
copious extracts from it at an early day. It should be noticed that 
excerpts from this journal have already appeared in print. See following 
Note. 
°See Ruthven Deane (Bibl. No. 41), The Auk, vol. xxi, pp. 334-338. 
*“Natchez in 1820” and “The Lost Portfolio,” Ornithological Biography 
(Bibl. No. 2), vol. iii, pp. 529 and 564. 
