In the same journal also, for August 25, occurs a record which throws light on one of Audubon's most discussed and questionable pictures, that of the mocking-birds defending their jessamine-embowered nest from the sinister designs of a rattlesnake;[287] little did he think at the time how much discord this venomous reptile, when coiled in the branches of a tree, could later breed.[288] The entry was:
Finished drawing a very fine specimen of a rattlesnake, which measured five feet and seven inches, weighed six and a quarter pounds, and had ten rattles. Anxious to give it a position most interesting to a naturalist, I put it in that which the reptile commonly takes when on the point of striking madly with its fangs. I had examined many before, and especially the position of the fangs along the superior jaw-bones, but had never seen one showing the whole [of the fangs] exposed at the same time.
He then described the generous provision which nature has made to keep the rattlesnake in fighting trim, by giving it a dental arsenal on which it can draw in case of loss; he added that the heat of the day was such that he could devote only sixteen hours to the drawing.
At this time Audubon was a handsome and attractive man; his pupil, who did not enjoy the best of health, was attended by a young physician who was also her lover. It is not surprising therefore to learn that jealousy on the part of the doctor led to a misunderstanding, and that the naturalist suddenly made his departure and returned to New Orleans. In recording this incident Audubon could not repress his amusement at the prescription of the physician, who ordered the young lady to abstain from all writing and drawing for a period of four months, but meanwhile permitted her to eat anything which pleased her fancy, in spite of the relapses of fever that occasionally occurred. Audubon was allowed to see her only at appointed hours, as if, he said, he were an extraordinary ambassador to some distant court, and was obliged to preserve the utmost decorum of manner; he expressed the belief that he had not once laughed in the presence of the young lady during the entire term of his tutorial engagement, which lasted from the 18th of June to the 21st of October. Later, in December of the same year, when his former pupil passed him without recognition in the streets of New Orleans, he indulged in the reflection that she had apparently quite forgotten the great pains with which at her own request he had done her portrait in pastels, but, thanks to his talents, he thought that he could run the gauntlet of the world without her help.[289]
At New Orleans Audubon soon found new pupils, particularly through the aid of Mr. R. Pamar and Mr. William Braud,[290] who came to his assistance, Mrs. Braud and her son paying him at the rate of three dollars for a lesson of one hour. On November 10, 1821, he wrote:
Continued my close application to my ornithology, writing every day, from morning until night, omitting no observations, correcting, re-arranging from my notes and measurements, and posting up; particularly all my land birds. The great many errors I found in the work of Wilson astonished me. I try to speak of them with care, and as seldom as possible, knowing the good will of that man, and the vast many hearsay accounts he depended on.
ROAD LEADING FROM BAYOU SARA LANDING TO THE VILLAGE OF ST. FRANCISVILLE, WEST FELICIANA PARISH, LOUISIANA.