52 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Nov. 5, 
died. In this work the naturalist associated with himself as co- 
author, the Rev. Dr. John Bachman, of Charleston, South 
Carolina, who is responsible for the scientific portion, and, like 
McGillivray in the Birds of America, proved to be of the 
greatest possible assistance in the construction of the text, and 
scientific arrangement. 
In this hasty sketch of the naturalist’s life, I have touched 
upon some of the most important or interesting incidents of his 
career, exhibiting in various lights the impulsive, mercurial dis- 
position of the man, which urged him often to enter upon 
impracticable and unwise undertakings, and yet permitted him 
never to remain steadfast in the pursuit of material advantages, 
even though the necessity for close application to gain them 
was paramount. He was born to accomplish a certain task, 
and no matter what the condition of his life may have been, 
nothing could divert his mind from the subject with which his 
whole nature was imbued, nor any privation discourage him 
from following the pursuit and study of his beloved birds. — 
He was a woodsman, not a scientific naturalist, according to 
the ideas prevalent to-day. He loved to go into the forests and 
watch the creatures that dwelt among the leafy lanes and thick- 
ets; to study the birds in their time of love-making, nesting and 
migration, and to draw their forms upon the canvas. But of 
books he was no student; of the intricate scientific details of 
his mighty subject he was unconcerned and indifferent; suf- 
ficient for him it was, to learn where and how his feathered 
friends lived and moved, and to produce their portraits. 
He was possessed of a most indomitable resolution and per- 
severance in following his life work. It is almost sublime the 
courage he displayed, and the indifference to those things which 
are generally first considered by his fellow-men, as exemplified 
by him at the commencement of the publication of the Birds of 
America. He was on the verge of failure, with but one sove- 
reign in his pocket, and knew not a single individual from 
whom he could borrow another, and yet he extracted himself 
from his difficulties by rising at four in the morning, working 
hard all day, and disposing of his pictures, ‘‘at a price that a 
common laborer would have thought little more than a suf- 
ficient remuneration for his work.” And yet, during the publi- 
cation of his first volume, about forty thousand dollars passed 
through his hands. While the book was in progress, no less 
than fifty subscribers abandoned him, representing a total sum 
of fifty-six thousand dollars and to replace them he was obliged 
to tramp through the provinces in quest of others. 
From his French extraction he inherited the impulsive char- 
