404 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



printed in one of the Scotch journals, are as valuable to the 

 scientific world, as they are delightful to the general reader. 

 They give us a rich foretaste of what we may hope and expect 

 from such a man. There is a freshness and an originality 

 about these essays, which can only be compared to the animated 

 biographies of Wilson. . . . To represent the passions and the 

 feelings of birds, might, until now, have been well deemed chi- 

 merical. Rarely, indeed, do we see their outward forms repre- 

 sented with any thing like nature. In my estimation, not more 

 than three painters ever lived who could draw a bird. Of these 

 the lamented Barrabaud [Barraband], of whom France may 

 be justly proud, was the chief. He has long passed away; but 

 his mantle has at length been recovered in the forests of 

 America. 



Audubon spent four days with Swainson and his 

 family at Tyttenhanger, from May 28 to June 1, 1828, 

 when they talked birds and made drawings; Audubon 

 also showed Swainson "how to put up birds in his style, 

 which delighted him." The friendship between these 

 men, though very intimate while it lasted, received a 

 sudden check two years later, when Audubon was about 

 to publish the letterpress to his plates, as will be related 

 farther on. 16 



Though his hands were already more than full at 

 this time, Audubon seems to have played with the idea 

 of publishing a work on the birds of Great Britain, but 

 on May 1 he wrote to Swainson that the plan did not 

 meet with favor, and later he relinquished all claims in 

 such a project to his assistant, William MacGillivray. 17 



In the spring of 1828 Audubon began to think of 

 returning to the United States, to renew or revise his 

 drawings and extend his researches. "I am sure," he 



16 See Chapter XXIX. 



17 See Vol. II, p. 130. 



