126 JOHN JAMES AUDUBOST 



or the gesticulations of the yellow 

 breasted chat, or the nervous and em- 

 phatic character of the large-billed 

 water thrush, or the many pretty atti- 

 tudes of the great Carolina wren ; but 

 to give the same dramatic character to 

 the demure little song sparrow, or to the 

 slow moving cuckoo, or to the pedestrian 

 cowbird, or to the quiet Kentucky 

 warbler, as Audubon has done, is to 

 convey a wrong impression of these 

 birds. 



"Wilson errs, if at all, in the other 

 direction. His birds, on the other hand, 

 reflect his cautious, undemonstrative 

 Scotch nature. Few of them are shown 

 in violent action like Audubon' s cuckoo ; 

 their poses for the most part are easy 

 and characteristic. His drawings do 

 not show the mastery of the subject 

 and the versatility that Audubon' s do ; 

 they have not the artistic excellence, 

 but they less frequently do violence to 

 the bird's character by exaggerated 

 activity. 



