VI • Introduction, 



such were most needed ; never failing for a moment in her 

 faith that Audubon was destined to'be one of the great work- 

 ers of the earth. 



" The man's heart was restless ; otherwise he would never 

 have achieved so much. He must wander, he must vagabon- 

 dize, he must acquire ; he was never quite easy at the hearth. 

 His love for Nature was passionate indeed, pursuing in all re- 

 gions, burning in him to the last. Among the most touch- 

 ing things in the diary, are the brief exclamations of joy when 

 something in the strange city — a flock of wild ducks overhead 

 in London, a gathering of pigeons on the trees of Paris — re- 

 minds him. of the wild life of wood and plain. He was boy-like 

 to the last, glorying most when out of doors. 



" Of the work Audubon has done, nothing need be said 

 in praise here. Even were I competent to discuss his merits 

 as an ornithologist and ornithological painter, I should be si- 

 lent, for the world has already settled those merits in full. I 

 may trust myself, however, to say one word in praise of Au- 

 dubon as a descriptive writer. Some of his reminiscences of 

 adventure, some of which are published in this book, seem to 

 me to be quite as good, in vividness of presentment and care- 

 ful coloring, as anything I have ever read." 



J. G. W. 

 SI St. Mark's Place, 



New York, April, 1869. 



