Retrospective Criticism, 69 



ornithologico, Lausus, son of Mezentius, was my prototype 

 in the olden time, as far as regards the dignity of my demise. 

 " Be comforted, poor Lausy," said the Trojan, " for be- 

 hold, 't is the hand of the great ^neas that fells thee to the 

 ground !" 



" Hoc tamen, infelix, miseram solabere mortem ; 

 -^neae magni dextra cadis." Virg. 



I will now proceed to give Mr. Audubon, jun., proof sufficient 

 that I can detect a fable from genuine ornithology, without 

 having recourse to the pages of Azara, in order to learn my 

 lesson. Ere I commence, however, I must just hint to 

 Mr. Audubon, jun., that he has not succeeded in convincing 

 me of his father's " fair fame." I myself, with mine own 

 eyes, have seen Wilson's original diary, written by him at 

 Louisville ; and 1 have just now on the table before me the 

 account of the Academy of Sciences indignantly rejecting 

 Mr. Audubon as a member, on that diary having been pro- 

 duced to their view. — Charles Waterton. 



Aerial Eiicounter of the Eagle and the Vulture. (See Audu- 

 bon's Biography of Birds, p. 163.) — Next to the adventure 

 of the rattlesnake and squirrel, I am of opinion that this pre- 

 sents the toughest morsel ever offered to the proverbially wide 

 gullet of Mr. Bull. Audubon says : — '* Many vultures were 

 engaged in devouring the body and entrails of a dead horse, 

 when a white-headed eagle accidentally passing by, the vul- 

 tures all took to wing, one, amongst the rest, with a portion of 

 the entrails, partly swallowed, and the remaining part, about 

 a yard in length, dangling in the air. The eagle instantly 

 marked him, and gave chase. The poor vulture tried, in vain, 

 to disgorge, when the eagle, coming up, seized the loose end 

 of the gut, and dragged the bird along for twenty or thirty 

 yards, much against its will, till both fell to the ground ; 

 when the eagle struck the vulture, and in a few moments 

 killed it, after which he swallowed the delicious morsel." In 

 his strange paper oq the habits of the turkey buzzard, Mr. 

 Audubon tells us " that if the object discovered is large, 

 lately dead, and covered with a skin too tough to be ate and 

 torn asunder (cart before the horse), and afford free scope to 

 their appetites, they remain about it and in the neighbour- 

 hood." Now, reader, observe, that, the dead horse being a 

 large animal, its skin, according to this quotation, must 

 have been too tough to be torn asunder by the vultures, 

 until putrefaction took place. If, then, these vultures really 

 commenced devouring the dead animal while it was yet fresh, 

 Mr. Audubon's theory, just quoted, is worth nothing. If, on 



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