138 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 



phies seems to have been only secondary 

 with him. 



He had the lively mercurial tempera- 

 ment of the Latin races from which he 

 sprang. He speaks of himself as { i warm, 

 irascible, and at times violent.' 7 



His perceptive powers, of course, led 

 his reflective. His sharpness and quick- 

 ness of eye surprised even the Indians. 

 He says: "My observatory nerves never 

 gave way." 



His similes and metaphors were 

 largely drawn from the animal world. 

 Thus he says, " I am as dull as a beetle," 

 during his enforced stay in London. 

 While he was showing his drawings to 

 Mr. Eathbone, he says : "I was panting 

 like the winged pheasant." At a din- 

 ner in some noble house in England he 

 said that the men servants " moved as 

 quietly as killdeers." On another oc- 

 casion, when the hostess failed to put 

 him at his ease: " There I stood, mo- 

 tionless as a Heron." 



