134 Audubon''s Birds of America, 



son, after studying the pictures of Audubon, can look with much 

 pleasure on those of any other painter. 



After the first vc^me of the " Ornithological Biography" was 

 published, Mr Audubon returned to America, for the purpose 

 of obtaining additional information respecting the species repre- 

 sented in the second volume of his " Birds of America." Land- 

 ing at New York, he traversed the districts to the southward, 

 examined a considerable portion of the Floridas, sailed up the 

 sluggish and muddy stream, known by the name of St John's, 

 and visited most of the singular and beautiful low islets that 

 range along the dangerous shores of the peninsula. After this, 

 he followed the coast from the southern point of Florida to the 

 north-eastern extremity of the United States, travelled through 

 the British province of New Brunswick and State of Maine, and 

 returned to New York. His next excursion was, from that city to 

 Eastport in Maine, where he hired a schooner and sailed to 

 Labrador and Newfoundland, after examining the coast of which 

 he returned by Nova Scotia and the Northern States. Among 

 us a naturalist manifests his zeal by travelling from Edinburgh to 

 John o'Groats, or taking a passage in a steam-boat to St Kilda ; 

 but the men who march from Cape Sable to Mirimachi must 

 have tougher sinews or more enthusiasm. It is gratifying to 

 find, that in his investigations he has of late been greatly aided 

 by the liberality of the directors of affairs in his native country, 

 who have allowed him the use of the different revenue cutters 

 stationed along the coasts ; but even with this aid, the expense 

 incurred by him must be such as can scarcely be repaired by 

 the proceeds of his publications. The result of these wander- 

 ings has been the accumulation of much interesting information 

 respecting the habits and distribution of numerous species of 

 birds. The mud flats and coral reefs of the Floridas in parti- 

 cular, abounding as they do in Grallas and Palmipedes, have 

 afforded much important information regarding the Ardeae and 

 other genera of these orders ; and the granite and moss-clad 

 ridges of Labrador, have supplied numerous facts relative to the 

 birds which pass the summer in that desolate region. 



In these volumes are delineated and described eight new 

 species of birds, viz. Bachman's, Macgi!livray"'s, Lincoln's, and 

 Townsend's Finches; Bachman's and Swainson's Warblers; 



