MEMOIR OF JOHN JAMES AUDUBON, 



20P 



had divided the productions of his pencil into three different classes, 

 depending upon the magnitude of the objects which they represented. 

 He arranged these as well as he could into parcels of five, each of which 

 now forms a Number of his Illustrations. He coniinued to improve 

 the whole as much as was in his power, daily retiring farther from 

 the haunts of man, determined to leave nothing undone, which his 

 labour, time, and purse could reach. Eighteen months elapsed, while 

 he was thus ardently and arduously engaged. He then returned to 

 his family, at the time living in Louisiana, and after having explored 

 every portion of the vast woods around, sailed for the Old World. 

 But before following him to England, let us observe, what he him- 

 self has told about his mode executing the original drawings from 

 which the Illustrations have been taken. 



" Merely to say," he thus proceeds, " that each object of my Illus- 

 trations is of the size of Nature, were too vague, for, to many it might 

 only convey the idea that they are so, more or less, according as the 

 eye of the delineator may have been more or less correct in measure- 

 ment, simply obtained through that medium ;*'and of avoiding error 

 in this respect, I am particularly desirous. Not only is every object, 

 as a whole, of the natural size, hut also every portion of each object. 

 The compass aided me in its delineation, regulated, and corrected each 

 part, even to the very foreshortening, which now and then may be seen 

 in the figures. The bill, the feet, the legs, the claws, the very feathers, 

 as they project one beyond another, have been accurately measured. 

 The birds, almost all of them, were killed by myself, after I had ex- 

 amined their motions and habits, as much as the case admitted, and 

 were regularly drawn on or near the spot where I procured them. 

 The positions may, perhaps, in some instances, appear oiUre ; but 

 such supposed exaggerations can afford subject of criticism only to 

 persons unacquainted with the feathered tribes ; for believe me, 

 nothing can be more transient or varied than the attitudes or positions 

 of birds. The Heron, when warming himself in the sun, will some- 

 times drop its wings several inches, as if they were dislocated. The 

 Swan may often be seen floating, with one foot extended from the 

 body; and some Pigeons, you well know, turn quite over when play- 

 ing in the air. The flowers, plants, or portions of trees which are 

 attached to the principal objects, have been chosen from amongst those 

 in the vicinity of which the birds were found, and are not, as some 

 persons thought, the trees or plants upon which they always feed or 

 perch." It is this extreme fidelity in the minutest points, and asso- 

 ciations, together with his exquisite colouring, that renders Audubon's 

 delineations of the feathered tribes unsurpassed and unmatched. 



The admirer of the most fascinating works of man can never con- 

 ceive, without being particularly told (and this is impossible), how 

 much anxiety or whatdisheartening occurrences have been experienced 

 in the course of the labour, by him who produced them. Audubon 

 mentions one accident, which we must recount to the reader, as 

 an example of the sort of obstacles which such enthusiasts encounter ; 

 and surely nothing but a passion, which to tamer minds is unintelli- 

 gible, could meet and overcome similar annoyances and drawbacks. 

 Our naturalist had left a particular place situated on the banks of the 

 Ohio, to proceed to Philadelphia on business. He looked to his draw- 



