318 Bemarks on Audubon^ s Birds of America^ 



mass of the globe, or the flower glowing in the delicately pen- 

 cilled hues of its summer splendour, or the animal instinct with .^ 

 life, and impelled to action by passions and emotions excited by 

 the communication of external existences through the medium 

 of his senses, that is to him the magnet of his versatile mind, it, 

 matters not. The universe is full of objects, the entire nature 

 of any one of which no man has ever comprehended, and of 

 which, no one is unworthy of the most intense regard of the' *. 

 brightest intellect, seeing it is the manifestation of an infinitely^ 

 brighter. But of the numerous groups of objects that consti- 

 tute the garniture of our planet, none is a more general favour- 

 ite than the class of birds. The school-boy, when his irksome 

 task is over, hies him to the greenwood to search for the cu- 

 riously constructed nest in which the mellow-piped blackbird, 

 or the gaudy finch, or the little cheerful wren, has deposited its ' 

 cluster of painted eggs. The young savage views with delight 

 the airy forms that flutter and flit on the forest boughs, and 

 prepares his pop-gun and tiny arrows. Man immured in cities, 

 seeks to bring around him the freshness of nature ; and, while 

 he decorates his habitation with the flowers of distant climes, 

 forgets not to hang up a gilded prison for the little warbler of 

 the woods, that it may delight his ear with its music, or his eye • 

 with the brilliancy of its varied plumage. Man roaming the wilds, 

 decorates his person with the spoils of the aerial wanderers ; and 

 vain woman, gliding along in the gay saloon, loves the graceful 

 waving of the costly plume, with which she seeks to add to her 

 attractive powers. But enough : — every body knows that birds 

 are universal favourites. 



In every department of natural history, knowledge has made 

 slow progress. For ages, men have been contented with a su- 

 perficial idea of its objects. Unfortunately, as some might say, 

 for its progress, it seems to most people so simple a science, 

 that they imagine they have nothing more to do, in contributing 

 to its advancement, than to see and describe. Hence, Ornitho- 

 logy has too often been in the hands of men ill qualified for the 

 task which they had undertaken. One is fond of birds, as 

 every body is, and fond of shooting them, as many persons are ; 

 and he fancies, that an account of the colours of their feathers, 

 however vague, may benefit the world. So he prepares his 

 book, and is forthwith immortalized. Another is fond of draw- 



