.50 AiiduhorCs Birds of America, 



halfway in the entrance : two others, who seem to have 

 been on the look-out, are eagerly receiving the produce of 

 the chase. The female bird has just returned from a dis- 

 tance with a ripe berry ; the male is on the trunk of the 

 tree, holding forward, in his bill, a caterpillar, which one of 

 the young birds is impatient to seize. This happily illus- 

 trates the frugivorous and insectivorous food of this species, sa 

 different from those of the typical woodpeckers. The figure of 

 the male bird will remind the painter of that sideshortening 

 (to coin a new phrase), so common in the pictures of Paul 

 Veronese, and which gives such a graceful turn to many of 

 his best figures. 



Many of the excellencies which I have already dwelt 

 upon, will be found in the less imposing subjects ; but 

 these need not be enumerated. Nothing in this world can 

 be perfect ; and, that my judgment may not be deemed par- 

 tial, I shall touch on two or three, in which I think the 

 painter has not been equally happy. The lower figure of 

 PI. 23. has the bill too much inclined upwards for the di- 

 rection of the head. The form of the bird in PL 30. may 

 be natural, but is, to me, thick and displeasing. The colour- 

 ing of PL 15. is harsh and much too vivid ,* and there is a hea- 

 viness in the figure of PL 24. which is a solitary exception 

 to my preceding remarks. Were I, however, taxed for 

 further criticisms, I could not increase the list, while they 

 are so insignificant in themselves, as scarcely to deserve 

 notice. 



I have heard that M. Audubon resided twenty-five 

 years in the woods of America, devoted to this one pursuit. 

 Without any other testimony than the plates before me, I 

 can well believe the fact. He must have lived with a note- 

 book in his pocket, and a pencil in his hand. Nothing short 

 of such a period, and of such enthusiasm, could have 

 achieved what he has done. The same devotedness to his 

 darling object seems to have brought him to Europe, 

 under the hope of accomplishing what no individual fortune 

 could do, without the support of liberality and wealth ; 

 namely, the publication of his works. As yet I feel per- 

 fectly convinced that this is done with a heavy and a serious 

 loss to himself. Each of the numbers, of which six have 

 appeared, contain no less than five plates, and are sold at 

 two guineas, being an average of little more than eight shil- 

 lings each ! Let this price be compared with the usual 

 charge for either publications or prints, and it becomes com- 

 paratively nothing. I can only wonder at the disregard 

 of the author, for a remuneration even of his own expenses. 



