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3/ 



PREFACE 



The materials of this narrative have been derived 

 from Audubon's works, from the recollections of his 

 friends, and from fragments published in the United 

 States. The writer's object has been, exclusively, to 

 follow the adventurous American through those episodes 

 of romance and discovery which constituted his career 

 as a naturalist. 



Those unacquainted with tj»e enthusiasm which car- 

 ried him onward in the project of his life, may be at 

 times startled at the extreme vigour of his descriptions ; 

 but when it is recollected that his original language 

 was French, and that in rendering his thoughts and 

 feelings in English, he found it wanting in the sweet- 

 ness and vividness requisite for the expression of his 

 poetic imagination, and to illustrate the beauties of nature 

 as he felt them, then his style will be fully appreciated, 

 and the reader will follow him through his career, 



