rised and gratified at the sight of his
volumes, and had taken a pen to add his name to the list of subscribers,
when his partner abruptly said to him in French, "My dear Audubon, what
induces you to do so? your own drawings are certainly far better, and
you must know as much of the habits of American birds as this gentleman.
"Wilson probably understood the remark, for he appeared not to be
pleased, and inquired whether Audubon had any drawings of birds. A large
portfolio was placed upon the table, and all its contents exhibited by
the amateur ornithologist. Wilson was surprised; he had supposed he was
himself the only person engaged in forming such a collection; and asked
if it was intended to publish them. Audubon replied in the negative: he
had never thought of presenting the fruits of his labors to the world.
Wilson was still more surprised; he lost his cheerfulness; and though
before he left Louisville Audubon explored with him the neighboring
woods, loaned him his drawings, and in other ways essayed to promote his
interests and happiness, he shook the dust from his feet when he
departed, and wrote in his diary that "literature or art had not a
friend in the place." Far be it from me to write a word in dispraise of
Alexander Wilson. He was a man of genius, enthusiasm, and patient
endurance; an honor to the country of his birth, and a glory to that of
his adoption; but he evidently could not bear the thought of being
excelled. With all his merits he was even then greatly inferior to
Audubon, and his heart failed him when he contrasted the performances
which had won fame for him with those of the unknown lover of the same
mistress, Nature, whom he thus encountered.

Audubon must soon have abandoned or neglected his day-books and ledgers,
for in 1811 we find him with his rifle and drawing paper among the
bayous of Florida, and in the following years making long and tedious
journeys, searching the forests and prairies, the shores of rivers,
lakes, gulfs, and seas, for the subjects of his immortal work, of the
publication of which, however, he had never yet had a thought.

On the fifth of April, 1824, he visited Philadelphia, where the late Dr.
Mease, whom he had known on his first arrival in Pennsylvania, presented
him to Charles Lucien Bonaparte, who in his turn introduced him to the
Lyceum of Natural History. He perceived that he could look for no
patronage in this city, and so proceeded to New-York, where he was
re