Retrospective Criticism, I7I 



tance ; the peauHar motions of his wings, well known to those 

 of his own species, communicate to them the intelligence 

 that something good for them is perceived. These, hastening 

 to the place, give information to those who are still farther 

 off; and, in the course of an hour, a very great number are 

 guided to the spot. But it will scarcely be argued that this 

 great concourse of vultures has been attracted by the effluvia 

 of putrid flesh, since the animal has been killed but an hour 

 before. 



I come now to notice the most important enquiry, and one 

 which has been my principal inducement in taxing the pages 

 of [this] Journal, and the patience of [its] readers, with this 

 communication. Whether Audubon is the real author of the 

 book called Ornithological Biography. Probably this ques- 

 tion is already settled in Europe ; as his original manuscripts 

 are there, to which many of his friends have had access. 

 The September Number of this Magazine is the latest that 

 has been received in this part of America : perhaps [the] 

 subsequent Numbers may have shown that this voice from 

 his native land was unnecessary to establish a fact already 

 placed beyond the reach of suspicion. [The additional com- 

 munications on the matter occur in VI. 550., VII. QQJ^ Be 

 this as it may, I am unwilling that the lukewarmness or 

 the confidence of his friends should deprive this enterprising 

 ornithologist of the reputation which he has so laboriously 

 acquired. No naturalist in this country has ever bestowed 

 so much of his time, industry, and wealth, or made so many 

 sacrifices to a favourite pursuit, as he has done. To this he 

 has devoted the most active portion of his life ; to accomplish 

 this, he has traversed the whole of this wide-extended country, 

 from the Atlantic to the very foot of the Rocky Mountains ; 

 from the swamps of Florida and Louisiana to the snows of 

 Michigan and the rugged rocks of Labrador. 



For the last two years and a half, I have been intimately 

 acquainted with Audubon : he has resided in my family for 

 months in succession. From a similarity of disposition and 

 pursuits, he was my companion in my rambles through the 

 woods and fields, and the enlivener of my evening hours. 

 During his absence, we were constant correspondents ; and 

 his letters, amounting to nearly a hundred, are now lying 

 before me. His journals have been regularly submitted to 

 my inspection ; his notes and observations were made in my 

 presence ; and a considerable portion of the second volume 

 of his Ornithological Biography was written under my roof. 

 I have carefully compared his first volume with the forth- 

 coming one ; and, from all these opportunities which I have 



