102 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



nature for refreshing, and, ascending that noble stream, the 

 Hudson, glided over our broad lakes, to seek the wildest soli- 

 tudes of the pathless and gloomy forests. 



It was in these forests that, for the first time, I communed 

 with myself as to the possible event of my visiting Europe 

 again ; and I began to fancy my work under the multiplying 

 efforts of the graver. Happy days, and nights of pleasing 

 dreams ! I read over the catalogue of my collection, and 

 thought how it might be possible for an unconnected and un- 

 aided individual like myself to accomplish the grand scheme. 



Eighteen months elapsed. I returned to my family, then 

 in Louisiana, explored every portion of the vast woods around, 

 and at last sailed towards the Old World. But before we 

 visit the shores of hospitable England, I have the wish, good- 

 natured reader, to give you some idea of my mode of executing 

 the original drawings, from which the illustrations have been 

 taken ; and I sincerely hope that the perusal of these lines 

 may excite in you a desire minutely to examine them. 



Merely to say that each object of my illustrations is of the 

 size of nature, were too vague for to many it might only 

 convey the idea that they are so, more or less, according as 

 the eye of the delineator may have been more or less correct 

 in measurement simply obtained through that medium; and 

 of avoiding error in this respect I am particularly desirous. 

 Not only is every object, as a whole, of the natural size, but 

 also every portion of each object. The compass aided me in 

 its delineation, regulated and corrected each part, even to the 

 very fore-shortening which now and then may be seen in the 

 figures. The bill, the feet, the legs, the claws, the very 

 feathers as they project one beyond another, have been accu- 

 rately measured. The birds, almost all of them, were killed 

 by myself, after I had examined their motions and habits, as 

 much as the case admitted, and were regularly drawn on or 

 near the spot where I procured them. The positions may, 

 perhaps, in some instances appear outre; but such supposed 



