5G6 THE LOST PORTFOLIO.
of the wind, which blew with violence. We landed, and presently made
our way to the swamps, where we shot a number of those beautiful birds
called Boat-tailed Grakles. The mocking birds on the fence-stakes saluted
us with so much courtesy and with such delightful strains, that we
could not think of injuring them; but we thought it no harm to shoot a
whole covey of partridges. In the swamps we met with warblers of various
kinds, lively and beautiful, waiting in these their winter retreats for
the moment when Boreas should retire to his icy home, and the gentle
gales of the south should waft them toward their breeding places in the
north. Thousands of swallows flew about us, the cat-birds mewed in
answer to their chatterings, the cardinal grosbeak elevated his glowing
crest as he stood perched on the magnolia branch, the soft notes of the
doves echoed among the woods, nature smiled upon us, and we were
happy.
On the fourth of January we stopped at Bonnet Carre, where I entered
a house to ask some questions about birds. I was received by a
venerable French gentleman, whom I found in charge of about a dozen
children of both sexes, and who was delighted to hear that I was a student
of nature. He was well acquainted with my old friend CHARLES
CARRE', and must, I thought, be a good man, for he said he never suffered
any of his pupils to rob a bird of her eggs or young, although, said he
with a smile, " they are welcome to peep at them and love them." The
boys at once surrounded me, and from them I received satisfactory answers
to most of my queries respecting birds.
The sixth of January was so cold that the thermometer fell to 30°,
and we had seen ice on the running boards of our keel boat. This was
quite unlooked for, and we felt uncomfortable; but before the middle of
the day, all nature was again in full play. Several beautiful steamers
passed us. The vegetation seemed not to have suffered from the frost;
green pease, artichokes and other vegetables were in prime condition.
This reminds me that on one of my late journeys, I ate green pease in
December in the Floridas, and had them once a-week at least in my course
over the whole of the Union, until I found myself and my family feeding
on the same vegetable more than a hundred miles to the North of the St
John's River in New Brunswick.
Early on the seventh, thousands of tall spars, called masts .by the
mariners, came in sight; and as we drew nearer, we saw the port filled
with ships of many nations, each bearing the flag of its country. At