REVIEWS 189 



REVIEWS. 



AUDUBON AND HIS JOURNALS. By Maria R. Audubon. With 

 Zoological and other Notes by Elliott Coues. In two volumes. 

 (London: John C. Nimmo, 1898.) 



In the literature of the American people there is no name which 

 justly ranks higher than that of the brilliant French-American 

 naturalist John James Audubon. 



Now nearly half a century since his death his grand-daughter 

 Maria R. Audubon has given his scientific admirers in many lands 

 two large octavo volumes, excellent of their kind, and has for the first 

 time brought together a most carefully prepared biography of the 

 great naturalist, his life and works, as well as the full text of those 

 famous " Journals " and the " Episodes." 



In this now standard work the Missouri Journal is nearly new, 

 the Labrador and European ones largely so. The second volume 

 contains the " Episodes," and these have not been before collectively 

 printed in English. 



The zoological notes by Dr. Elliott Coues, who has greatly 

 assisted with the work, add much to its value and interest. 



Audubon's fame as a naturalist rests on his great and magnificent 

 work Birds of America, in four massive folio volumes, containing 

 435 plates, the first part of which appeared in London in 1827, 

 finally to be concluded in 1838. This was subsequently followed 

 by quite a distinct octavo edition in seven volumes, published 

 1840-44. The price at which the Birds of America was issued 

 made the work an article of luxury, and precluded its appearance in 

 libraries except those of the most wealthy, thus placing the varied 

 information beyond the reach of the great body of working naturalists. 



Audubon, although a most accurate observer of nature, had 

 little claim to be considered a scientific naturalist. His great powers 

 consisted in his skill with pen and brush in describing and depicting 

 bird life as he saw it out of doors. He was a painter first, a natur- 

 alist afterwards. Perhaps, judging by the standard of recent days, his 

 magnificent plates fail through defective drawing, and he has chosen 

 an exaggerated attitude and position for his subjects, such as are not 

 seen in nature, or are not in accord with the ideas of the ornitho- 

 logical artists of the present day. 



In 1826 Audubon visited Europe, landing in Liverpool in July 

 of that year, and it was then that he became acquainted with the 

 Rathbone and Roscoe families, from whom he received much 

 kindness. 



Afterwards in Edinburgh and the North of England he became 

 intimate with Professor Jameson, John Prideaux Selby of Twizel, 

 Lizars the engraver, Sir William Jardine, Bewick, Sir Walter Scott, 



