CHAPTER XL 
EAGLES AND AET. 
Minnie's Land, the residence of the late Mr. Audubon, 
the illustrious ornithologist, was situated near the high-water 
level of the Hudson, at the foot of a deep range of shelving 
hills, which form the Manhattan shore, and commence nearly 
opposite the foot of the noted Palisades. 
Here, in the midst of a grove of native forest trees, and at 
some fifty paces from the water's edge, stood, embowered in 
characteristic seclusion, like the nest of one of his own fa- 
vorite, solitude-haunting wild-birds, the simple and taste- 
ful family mansion of the great illustrator of the feathered 
tribes. 
You entered this hospitable home by a wide hall, which, 
opening upon a spacious portico fronting the river, divided 
the lower apartments into two ranges of rooms — those on 
the right hand consisting of atelier, library, and museum of 
specimens — those on the left being, with a beautiful propri- 
ety, dedicated to the rights of hospitality — dining-room, par- 
lors, etc. 
The main hall of entrance was hung on both sides with 
pictures ; among them all that most attracted my attention 
in frequent visits, were two large oil paintings, one an origi- 
nal Salvator Kosa — terrible as all that I had ever dreamed 
of that drear and mighty genius of desolation. A leaden, 
clouded sky, hurled by the drifting storm against the sharp 
peaks of pinnacled cliffs, seemed falling, shattered in huge 
eddied flakes about the head of a poor wayfarer, whose thin 
