LETTER TO WILLIAM SWAINSON, ESQ. 521 



But with this chimerical rattlesnake before us, what must we think 

 of the artist who figured it, or of the critic who lauds it to the skies ? 

 With this thing of phantasy staring us in the face, what guarantee 

 have we for the correctness of one single production from the crayon 

 of John James Audubon, F.R.SS., L. & E., or what pledge for the 

 soundness of one line of criticism from the pen of William Swainson, 

 Esq., A.C.G., F.R.S., L.S.? 



When you meet Mr Audubon, you might just ask him whether this 

 outrageous group of his was the effect of sheer ignorance, or whether 

 he manufactured it through a mischievous inclination to play upon 

 the inexperience of his customers? But no, that won't do; for 

 your friend is acute enough in some things ; and he may possibly 

 put a similar question to yourself on the score of ignorance, or of 

 delinquency in criticism. This, you know, would throw you into 

 a quandary. Ah, well-a-day, how cruelly has this American snake 

 of Audubon's bitten our wise men of London and of Modern 

 Athens ! 



I have always been of opinion that it was your hand (see Loudon's 

 Magazine of Natural History, vol. vi., p. 550) which guided young 

 Audubon's pen against me in the affair of the vulture's nose; and I 

 have purposely introduced your unfortunate encounter with his father's 

 rattlesnake by way of balancing the account. 



Believe me, sir, you have a vast deal to learn before you become 

 an adept in ornithology. Fidelity and simplicity are all that is 

 wanted to render this pleasing study attainable to every one. But 

 you seem to think otherwise. However, let me tell you frankly that 

 the admeasurement of ten thousand dried bird-skins, with a subse- 

 quent and vastly complicated theory on what you conceive you have 

 drawn from the scientific operation of your compasses, will never 

 raise your name to any permanent altitude. You seem formerly to 

 have had a foresight of what I have just announced to you ; for, in 

 speaking of Wilson and Audubon, you exclaim, " Their writings will 

 be consulted when our favourite theories shall have passed into 

 oblivion." See your own review of Audubon, which he has appended 

 to his first volume of the " Biography of Birds." 



But it is now full time to draw to a close, and to leave other errors 

 for another day. 



