JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 49 
in New Orleans, he first met a painter 
whom he thus describes: ‘‘ His head was 
covered by a straw hat, the brim of 
which might cope with those worn by 
the fair sex in 1830; his neck was ex- 
posed to the weather ; the broad frill of 
a shirt, then fashionable, flopped about 
his breast, whilst an extraordinary col- 
lar, carefully arranged, fell over the top 
of his coat. The latter was of a light 
green colour, harmonising well with a 
pair of flowing yellow nankeen trousers, 
and a pink waistcoat, from the bosom of 
which, amidst a large bunch of the 
splendid flowers of the magnolia, pro- 
truded part of a young alligator, which 
seemed more anxious to glide through 
the muddy waters of a swamp than to 
spend its life swinging to and fro 
amongst folds of the finest lawn. The 
gentleman held in one hand a cage full 
of richly-plumed nonpareils, whilst in 
the other he sported a silk umbrella, on 
which I could plainly read ‘Stolen from 
