MEMOIR OF JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 203* 



and ocean, are also the varying scenes of his researches and discovered 

 treasures. It is not long since we heard of him from the icy regions 

 of Labrador, and again from the burning sands of Florida — countries 

 sufficiently distant from each other in reality, but standing side by 

 side in the history of this unwearied traveller, who seems to have sur- 

 rendered his soul to one pursuit. The wild sort of delight which the 

 sight of Nature in her happiest aspects awakens in his bosom, is wor- 

 thy of being marked by the reader of his works. In one of his late 

 volumes, he speaks of the cheering trills of the winter Wren, of the 

 clear notes of the Kobin, and the rolling melody of the Rose-breast, 

 filling him with such emotions that he burned with the thirst of 

 knowledge, and longed to learn from their own lips what every one 

 could teach of the Avondrous works of Heaven. When he saw the 

 water birds, towering on firm and graceful wing, away to regions 

 where none have followed, he' longed to " take the wings of the morn- 

 ing" and pursue them to the lands where the presence of man has 

 never disturbed their quiet abodes. It is curious to observe what an 

 ornithological aspect his favourite taste gives to most of his descrip- 

 tions. In the second volume of his Biography of Birds, there are 

 such passages as the following: — " The prudent Raven spread her 

 pinions, launched from the crag, and flew away before us; the golden 

 Eagle, soaring aloft, moved majestically in wide circles; the Guillemots 

 set on their eggs on the shelvy precipices, or plunging in the water, 

 dived and rose again at a great distance ; the broad-breasted Eider- 

 duck covered her eggs among the grassy tufts." " Far away stood the 

 bold shores of Nova Scotia, gradually fading in the distance, of which 

 the grey tints beautifully relieved the wing-like sails of many a fishing 

 bark." At one place he found the nests ot Gulls on almost every tree 

 of a wood that covered several acres; and he exclaims, " What a 

 treat, reader, was it, to find birds of this kind, lodged in fir-trees and 

 sitting comfortably on their eggs !" He gives an account of the 

 breeding habits of the tree and the fox-coloured Sparrows, two beau- 

 tiful way-farers so well known in the United States of America, but 

 which remain only a short season there, indulging in little more of song 

 than a plaintive farewell ; yet in the northern regions they are over- 

 flowing with melody. Of the latter species, Audubon says — " Would 

 that I could convey to your mind the effect which it produced on my 

 feelings, when wandering on the desolate shores of Labrador ! That, 

 I could intelligibly tell you, of the cheerful notes of its unaffected 

 warble, as it sat perched on the branch of some stunted fir ! There 

 for hours together, was continued the delightful serenade, which kept 

 me lingering near the spot. The brilliancy and clearness of each 

 note, as it flowed through the air, were so enchanting, the expression 

 and emphasis of the song so powerful, that I never tired of listening." 

 Audubon has of late years introduced to the notice of his readers, 

 several birds which were never known before to visit the United 

 States. He has also added much to what was known of certain spe- 

 cies previously described. The architecture of the feathered tribes 

 has much engaged his attention ; and, as in every other branch of his 

 pursuit, he has here given many new as well as highly satisfactory and 

 interesting particulars. Indeed, from what has been stated above re- 

 garding his ardour, and from the quotations inserted, there cannot 



