Under a Wild Sky (57 page)

  
98
   
Shotguns in Audubon's time
Carmichael (ed.),
The Story of American Hunting and Firearms
, pages 119–22.

  
98
   
They typically had two barrels
Ibid. I also examined and measured Alexander Wilson's gun, which is at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Additionally, some of the discussion of firearms and wingshooting is based on my own experience.

  
98
   
Care had to be exercised
Carmichael (ed.),
The Story of American Hunting and Firearms
, pages 119–22.

  
98
   
A more life-threatening
Ibid.

  
98
   
Around 1825, percussion firing caps
O'Connor,
The Shotgun Book
, page 4.

  
99
   
Modern ornithologists still collect
Personal communication, Nate Rice, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. I discussed ornithology generally with Rice on several occasions in April and September of 2002.

  
99
   
Although Audubon spent
Ford,
John James Audubon
, pages 200–201.

  
99
   
In Kentucky, where his technique matured
Blaugrund and Stebbins (eds.),
John James Audubon
, pages 7–8.

100
   
Audubon most likely never used
Audubon did not write about his field equipment in detail, and this assessment is necessarily somewhat conjectural. He did, however, indicate many times the importance of his wiring technique, and it seems unlikely that the large boards he needed for this purpose would have been carried on routine excursions into the woods.

100
   
He liked to sleep in the open
Audubon, “The Wood Thrush,”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. I, page 372. In this lyrical account of one of his favorite birds, Audubon speaks of spending a stormy night in the forest beneath his “slender shed.” Whether this was, strictly speaking, a lean-to or some other type of shelter he fashioned for himself, it is clear that Audubon did not indulge himself with elaborate protection from the elements.

100
   
Several collections of
Personal observation, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Nate Rice generously allowed me to examine many of Audubon's specimens in the collection in April and September of 2002.

100
   
Methods varied—everyone tended to
Personal communication, Nate Rice. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Rice invited me to observe him as he skinned a duck and explained the process to me on September 18, 2002.

102
   
Once, Audubon and a group of friends
Clark,
The Rampaging Frontier
, pages 211–12.

102
   
In the quiet hours he spent
Blaugrund and Stebbins (eds.),
The Watercolors for
The Birds of America, pages 3–25. Theodore E. Stebbins Jr.'s superb essay on Audubon's life and art is a definitive study of the evolution of Audubon's drawing style.

102
   
Audubon destroyed his
Ibid., page 3.

102
   
A sign of what was to come
Ibid., pages 7–8.

102
   
Later, when Audubon recalled
Audubon, “Kentucky Barbicue on the Fourth of July.”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. II, pages 576–79.

103
   
In the spring of 1810
Herrick,
Audubon the Naturalist
, vol. I, page 198.

103
   
Lucy's father, complaining
Ibid., page 199. Herrick quotes a letter from William Bakewell to Audubon and Rozier, dated April 10, 1810, in which Bakewell discussed the terms of the sale and the disposition of the proceeds. Bakewell went on
to report that a “considerable quantity of ore” had been extracted from the lead mine, but it had yet to produce income—a hint, perhaps, that Lucy's father thought the sale unwise until the true value of the property was known. The mine was eventually purchased by a Philadelphia paint manufacturer, who operated it profitably for many years.

8. MR. WILSON'S DECADE

104
   
Wilson told Bartram about
Wilson to William Bartram, April 8, 1807. In Hunter,
The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson
, pages 260–61.

104
   
In 1807, Samuel Bradford's company
Cantwell,
Alexander Wilson
, pages 140–41.

105
   
One of the species formerly unknown
Ibid., page 141.

105
   
Wilson called on
Wilson to Samuel Bradford, October 2, 1807. In Hunter,
The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson
, pages 265–66.

105
   
In New York, where he met
Wilson to Daniel Miller, October 12, 1808. Ibid., pages 275–84.

105
   
His reception was not always warm
Wilson, undated journal fragment. Ibid., pages 291–92. This recovered section of Wilson's travel diary during his tour of the Northeast is short—but chock-full of bitterness and sharp rebukes of the people he called on. One official in a state health office idly thumbed through a few pages of
American Ornithology
and declared the $120 price tag outrageous. Another public official said bluntly that he never bothered with books about “animals, fishes, plants or birds,” but that Wilson's work was indeed beautiful. Wilson called the man a “reptile.”

105
   
He found New York and Boston cramped and dirty
Wilson to Daniel Miller, October 12, 1808. In Hunter,
The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson
, pages 275–84.

105
   
He was surprised and offended
Wilson to Daniel Miller, February 22, 1809. Ibid., pages 296–304.

105
   
White women stayed out of sight
Ibid.

105
   
It was rare
Ibid.

105
   
The general features of North Carolina
Ibid.

106
   
Wilson didn't care for
Ibid.

106
   
In South Carolina
Ibid.

106
   
But plantation owners were
Ibid.

106
   
Near Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilson,
American Ornithology
, vol. I, pages 134–35. The alert reader will wonder how it can be that Wilson's account of this bird appears in the first volume of
American Ornithology
when the episode in question occurred while Wilson was on a sales trip with the already-completed first volume under his arm. The answer is that Wilson's species accounts were later rearranged for the text-only 1831 Edinburgh edition cited here.

106
   
Wilson's shot only wounded the bird
Ibid.

107
   
There is a charm, a melody
Wilson to Samuel Bradford, March 8, 1809. In Hunter,
The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson
, pages 309–12. The original of this letter, which is in the archives at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, does not show an addressee, and while most modern scholars believe—based on the
date and content—that it was to Bradford, Alexander Grosart indicated that it was to William Bartram.

107
   
Wilson later calculated the cost
Wilson to Daniel Miller, March 5, 1809. Ibid., pages 305–7.

107
   
He was victimized by innkeepers
Ibid.

107
   
Sometimes he was forced to advertise
Ibid.

107
   
Despite the many difficulties
Wilson to William Bartram, March 5, 1809. Ibid., pages 307–9.

107
   
That same month
Wilson to Alexander Lawson, February 22, 1810. Ibid., pages 320–25.

108
   
Near the town of Carlisle
Ibid.

108
   
Wilson—in one of his moods
Ibid.

108
   
Later that evening
Ibid.

108
   
In Pittsburgh, Wilson was struck
Ibid.

108
   
Wilson sold nineteen subscriptions
Ibid.

108
   
Wilson bought a one-man skiff
Ibid.

108
   
He left near the end of February
Wilson to Alexander Lawson, April 4, 1810. Ibid., pages 326–39.

108
   
When he rowed
Ibid.

109
   
It was as if all these human beings
Ibid.

109
   
It was the breeding time for owls
Ibid.

109
   
On the morning of the seventeenth
Ibid.

109
   
Wilson found a room
Audubon, “Louisville in Kentucky,”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. I, pages 437–40. And here we go. Audubon's account of Wilson's visit—later disputed by Ord and contradicted by the Wilson journal entry Ord produced for the ninth volume of
American Ornithology
—is nonetheless brimming with fascinating and perhaps fabulous details. Audubon wrote that Wilson was a solitary, melancholy figure at the hotel, and that the moody tunes Wilson played on his flute made Audubon sad himself. If Audubon in fact heard Alexander Wilson play the flute, he seems to be the only person who ever said so. On one point, at least, the two naturalists agreed. Wilson
did
stay at the Indian Queen. Since Audubon, Lucy, and Victor were living there at the time, it would seem indisputable that some kind of contact must have occurred.

109
   
The dining room at the Indian Queen
Yater,
Two Hundred Years at the Falls of the Ohio
, page 31.

110
   
A day or two after his arrival
Audubon, “Louisville in Kentucky,”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. I, pages 437–40.

110
   
Audubon, who claimed Wilson
Audubon, “The Whooping Crane,”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. III, pages 203–4.

111
   
In fact, Wilson stated
Wilson,
American Ornithology
, vol. III, page 25.

111
   
A few days later
Wilson to Alexander Lawson, April 4, 1810. In Hunter,
The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson
, pages 326–39.

111
   
Audubon said that when he compared
Audubon, “Louisville in Kentucky,”
Ornithological Biography
, vol. I, pages 437–40.

111
   
Audubon also maintained
Ibid.

111
   
Audubon told these stories
Ibid.

111
   
There was not a single subscriber
Ibid. To the extent that we can read Audubon's mind long after the fact, his quotation of the offending Wilson journal text, dated March 23, 1810, is, I think, a telling argument in favor of Audubon's version of events. Audubon was famous for rarely offering formal responses to his critics. The fact that he does so here suggests that he felt this was an egregious misrepresentation on Wilson's part—or, more sinisterly, on the part of George Ord, who chose to publish Wilson's alleged comments.

111
   
In a journal Wilson kept
Extracts quoted in Herrick,
Audubon the Naturalist
, vol. I, pages 224–25. It seems George Ord put out a slightly different version of Wilson's Louisville journal entry for each of the various editions of
American Ornithology
published in America and abroad in the years after Wilson's death. In what appears to be the fullest excerpt from the lost journal, Wilson writes that two days after he got to Louisville, he examined “Mr.—'s drawings in crayons—very good. Saw two new birds he had . . .” Then, two days after that, “Went out shooting this afternoon with Mr. A.” Herrick believed this fuller excerpt clarified the record and supported Audubon's story. So do I.

111
   
There is evidence that Wilson had been alerted
Ford,
John James Audubon
, page 75. And we might also consider the reverse possibility: Did Audubon know of Wilson before Wilson showed up in Louisville? In his account of the meeting, Audubon suggests that Wilson and his
American Ornithology
were a revelation to him when Wilson walked into the store in March 1810. Theodore E. Stebbins Jr., however, points out that Audubon cited Wilson for the scientific name of the indigo bunting, on a drawing Audubon made of the bird in June 1808. Wilson did, in fact, include the indigo bunting—or “indigo bird” as he called it—in the first volume of
American Ornithology
. But that was not published until September 1808. So Audubon must have added the name some time after he drew the bird. Whether that was before he met Wilson is impossible to say.