INTRODUCTION 9 



Robinson Crusoe, feels within him a new ardor, in this 

 instance, for hunting and studying birds and for leading 

 a life of adventure in the wilderness. It would be as 

 unjust to judge of Audubon's rare abilities as a de- 

 scriptive writer from the letters, journal jottings and 

 miscellaneous extracts given in this work, as to weigh 

 his accomplishments as an artist from his itinerary por- 

 traits or his early sketches of animals in crayon point 

 and pastel. Those cruder products of his pen and brush, 

 however, as the reader will find, possess a high degree 

 of interest from the light which they throw on the de- 

 velopment of his character and art, as well as from 

 their personal and historical associations. His best and 

 only finished literary work, the Ornithological Biog- 

 raphy, in five large volumes, with the revisions and 

 additions which later appeared, abound in animated 

 pictures of primitive nature and pioneer life in America 

 as well as vivid portraits of the birds and other charac- 

 teristic animals. 



A good illustration of Audubon's habit of blending 

 his own experiences with his biographies of birds is 

 found in the introduction to his account of the Common 

 Gannet : 



On the morning of the 14th of June 1833, the white sails 

 of the Ripley were spread before a propitious breeze, and 

 onward she might be seen gaily wending her way towards the 

 shores of Labrador. We had well explored the Magdalene 

 Islands, and were anxious to visit the Great Gannet Rock, 

 where, according to our pilot, the birds from which it derives 

 its name bred. For several days I had observed numerous files 

 proceeding northward, and marked their mode of flight while 

 thus travelling. As our bark dashed through the heaving bil- 

 lows, my anxiety to reach the desired spot increased. At 

 length, about ten o'clock, we discerned at a distance a white 



