52 Mr Audubon's Account of his 



collections of stuffed specimens are entirely useless. On the con- 

 trary, I think them extremely well fitted to enhance (in youths 

 particularly) the desire of examining afterwards the same sub- 

 jects at large in all their beauty, the only means of detecting 

 errors. But in forming works entirely with a view to distin-^ 

 guish the true from the false, nature must be seen first alive, 

 and well studied, before attempts are made at representing it. 

 Take such advantages away from the naturalist, who ought to 

 be artist also, and he fails as completely as Raphael himself must 

 have done, had he not fed his pencil with all belonging to a 

 mind perfectly imbued with a knowledge of real forms, mus- 

 cles, bones, movements, and, lastly, that spiritual expression of 

 feelings that paintings like his exhibit so beautifully. 



Among the naturalists of the time, several who are distin- 

 guished have said that representations of subjects ought to be 

 entirely devoid of shades in all their parts ; that the colouring 

 of the figure, that must be precisely profile, cannot be under- 

 stood by the student if differently represented. Why then 

 should the best artists of the same age give us pictures with 

 powerful breadth of lights and shades ? and why, still more 

 strange, should every individual who looks on such paintingsfeel 

 not only pleased, but elevated at the grand conception of the 

 painter, and at the nobleness of the subjects being so much like 

 through their effect ? My opinion is, that he who cannot con- 

 ceive and determine the natural colouring of a shaded part, 

 need not study either natural history or. any thing else con- 

 nected with it. 



,rr,J[f I have joined to many of my drawings plants, insects, 

 reptiles, or views, it has been with the hope to render them all 

 more attractive to the generality of observers ; and as I can as- 

 isure you that all these were copied with the same exactness with 

 which all the birds are represented, you will no doubt view them 

 with as much pleasure. 



Do not be surprised at finding that I have trampled upon 

 many deeply-rooted prejudices and opinions attached to the 

 habits of several individuals by men who had only heard and not 

 seen. My wish to impart truths has been my guide in every 

 instance ; — all the observations respecting them are my own. 



All the authors who have formed works of natural history have 



