262 



EECEEATIYE SCIENCE. 



indeed; but that the same " chance" should 

 60 beautifully ornament the feather, so that 

 it should so delight the eye which looks upon 

 it, besides having an artistic power which 

 a long education alone can teach us to ap- 

 preciate, is manifestly absurd. Chance might 

 have made it brown, black, or green, of some 

 dun-coloured mixture; without chance it is 

 so beautiful that the most deeply-learned, 

 thoughtful, and skilful artist could not rival 

 it. Observe it even, and it will teach us 

 more. Whatever is wise and good in the 

 writings of M. de Chevreuil, or our own 

 Kuskin, upon the contrast and combination 

 of colour, may be proved by this feather, 

 nay, by a thousand others ; it comes from 

 the New World, and the first to reveal its 

 wondrous beauties to Europe was John James 

 Audubon. 



When the celebrated Buffon had finished 

 the ornithological portion of his history, it 

 was not unnatural that he should look at it 

 with pride. He believed that he had accu- 

 rately described every known species of bird. 

 " He announced," says an American writer, 

 "with unhesitating assurance, that he had 

 finished the history of the bird." Twenty 

 centuries had given to the ever-seeking know- 

 ledge of man only eight hundred difierent 

 specimens, but there was one yet to come 

 who would add to the list of the wonderful 

 works of Grod in this kind nearly half as 

 many more. 



Audubon was that man, and his intense 

 devotion to the portion of science which he 

 had determined to explore is so vivid, that it 

 yet throws its light upon the young when 

 daunted by danger, or deterred by difficulty. 

 He was born in Louisiana, in the year 1780, 

 and he died, after a long and useful life, in 

 1851. He was of French extraction, some 

 say the son of a French admiral, and his 

 parents were Protestant. In his earliest 

 youth he showed an extraordinary passion 

 for natural history. He was always observing 

 some animal, or attending some bird; he 



could scarcely control it, but in obedience to 

 his father's wish he went to Paris to finish 

 his education, and whilst there studied draw- 

 ing and painting under the well-known David. 

 After three years he returned to America, 

 and again experienced an ardent desire to 

 devote himself to ornithology. 



This passion his father sought to cure in, 

 perhaps, the most efiectual way one could 

 imagiae. He made his son a present of a 

 magnificent estate in Pennsylvania, and he 

 urged him to marry. Audubon was already 

 in love, and he took the advice ; but, says he, 

 naively, "The cares of my household, the 

 tender affection I felt for my wife, and the 

 birth of two children, did not by any means 

 diminish my passion for ornithology. I 

 longed to be wandering in the primaeval 

 forests of the American continent ; an invin- 

 cible attraction drew me towards them." 



The attraction loas invincible, and Audu- 

 bon yielded to it ; he left his home and his 

 wife, his children and his estate, and set 

 forth on long and perilous journeys. These 

 he accomplished absolutely alone. Clothed 

 in the leathern dress of the hunter, shod 

 with the moccasin of the Indian, depending 

 upon a few strips of dried venison, or the 

 chance meal which his rifle should bring him, 

 the bold naturalist wandered away from 

 friends and relations ; far away from the 

 haunts of man ; far and deep into the vast 

 and pathless forests of America ; far from the 

 track of the hunter, or the sound of the 

 axe-stroke of the first pioneer ; far away 

 into solitudes, where the bear hunted un- 

 harmed, or the beaver built his dam across 

 the silvery stream ; far away into such deeps 

 that the sun scarce warmed the rich and 

 virgin earth, and the light of the moon 

 scarcely penetrated the black solitudes at 

 night. 



Years rolled by, he tells us, whilst he was 

 away upon this passionate study of God's 

 works. The summers came and went, and 

 his wife saw him not. Deep in the woods 



