324 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 
In March, 1823, Audubon and friend Stein bought 
a horse and wagon, and in the hope of raising money 
through their joint efforts as itinerant portrait painters, 
set out with Victor on a tour of the Southern States. 
This venture, however, did not succeed, and after visit- 
ing Jackson and a number of other towns, they disband- 
ed at New Orleans. Audubon then started north with 
his son for Louisville, but upon paying a visit to his wife 
at the “Beechwoods” school, he was invited by the Percys 
to remain there for the summer and “teach the young 
ladies music and drawing.” According to a tradition 
which has survived among the Percy descendants, Audu- 
bon spent most of his time in roaming through the woods, 
but he also taught his wife’s pupils to swim in the large 
spring house at ““Weyanoke,” where the water could be 
deepened at pleasure. It was also said that he painted 
the Wild Turkeys in the woods of Sleepy Hollow near 
by, but I have already given Audubon’s own record in 
regard to one of these pictures, and, as Mr. Arthur re- 
marks, the places in Louisiana where he drew these 
famous subjects are as numerous as the beds in which 
Lafayette slept when at New Orleans. 
Audubon remained with the Percys during the 
greater part of the summer, or until some misunder- 
standing arose, when he was again adrift and upon a sea 
of difficulties. While visiting a plantation near Natchez, 
both he and Victor were stricken with fever; his faithful 
wife hastened to them, and after nursing both back to 
health, she returned with them to the Percy plantation, 
where they remained from the 8th to the 30th of Sep- 
tember. 
In the autumn of 1823 Audubon was determined to 
visit Philadelphia, in the hope of finding a sponsor for 
his “Ornithology.” Although the work was then far 
