PRELIMINARY NOTICES. 



same size as the Birds, must here be mentioned, [t is enti- 

 tled Birds of America, from Drawings tnade during a resi- 

 dence of twenty 'five years in the United States and its Terri- 

 tories. TV^t wMwi6e/'5 have already appeared. The Plates 

 wxc three feet three inches long, by two feet two inches wide: 

 " a size," says Mr. Svvainson, in his notice of the work, in 

 the Magazine of Natural Historyt " which exceeds any 

 thing of the kind I have ever seen or heard of; on this vast 

 surface, every bird is represented in its full dimensions ;" 

 the whole are also correctly coloured, according to nature. 



In allusion to two ornithological narratives by Mr. 

 Audubon, printed in one of the Scotch Journals, Mr. 

 Svvainson says, " There is a freshness and originality about 

 these Essays which can only be compared to the animated 

 biographies of Wilson. Both these men contemplated 

 Nature as she really is, not as she is represented in books. 

 The observations of such men are the corner-stones of every 

 attempt to discover the natural system. Their writings will be 

 corisulted when our favourite theories shall have passed into 

 oblivion. Ardently, therefore, do I hope that Mr. Audubon 

 will alternately become the h.istorian, and the painter, of his 

 favourite objects ; that he will never be made a convert to 

 any system, but instruct and delight us, as a true and un- 

 prejudiced biographer of Nature. The largeness of the 

 paper has enabled Mr. Audubon to group his figures, in the 

 most beautiful and varied attitudes, on the trees or plants 

 which they frequent. Some are feeding, others darting, 

 pursuing or capturing their prey ; all have life and anima- 

 tion ; the plants, fruits, and flowers, which enrich the spetie, 

 are alone still." 



There has been, as yet, no letter-press description pub- 

 lished of Mr. Audubon's Drawings; but it is designed that 

 every bird shall be suitably described; the number of which 



