THE INVITATION. 275 



may indeed have been the winter-wren, but 

 from my own observation I believe the 

 golden-crowned kinglet quite capable of 

 such a performance. 



But I must leave this part of the subject 

 and hasten on. As to works on ornithology, 

 Audubon's, though its expense puts it be- 

 yond the reach of the mass of readers, is, 

 by far the most full and accurate. His 

 drawings surpass all others in accuracy and 

 spirit, while his enthusiasm and devotion to 

 the work he had undertaken have but few 

 parallels in the history of science. His 

 chapter on the wild goose is as good as a 

 poem. One readily overlooks his style, which 

 is often verbose and affected, in considera- 

 tion of enthusiasm so genuine and purpose 

 so single. 



There has never been a keener eye than 

 Audubon's, though there have been more 

 discriminative ears. Nuttall, for instance, is 

 far more happy in his descriptions of the 

 songs and notes of birds, and more to be re- 

 lied upon. Audubon thinks the song of the 

 Louisiana water-thrush equal to that of the 

 European nightingale, and as he had heard 

 both birds, one would think was prepared to 

 judge. Yet he has no doubt overrated the 



