52 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [NOV. 5, 



(lied. In this work the naturalist associated with himself as co- 

 author, the Rev. Dr. John Bachman, of Charleston, South 

 Carolina, who is responsible for the scientific portion, and, like 

 McGillivray in the Birds of America, proved to be of the 

 greatest possible assistance in the construction of the text, and 

 scientific arrangement. 



In this hasty sketch of the naturalist's life, I have touched 

 upon some of the most important or interesting incidents of his 

 career, exhibiting in various lights the impulsive, mercurial dis- 

 position of the man, which urged him often to enter upon 

 impracticable and unwise undertakings, and yet permitted him 

 never to remain steadfast in the pursuit of material advantages, 

 even though the necessity for close application to gain them 

 was paramount. He was born to accomplish a certain task, 

 and no matter what the condition of his life may have been, 

 nothing could divert his mind from the subject with which his 

 whole nature was imbued, nor any privation discourage him 

 from following the pursuit and study of his beloved birds. 



He was a woodsman, not a scientific naturalist, according to 

 the ideas prevalent to-day. He loved to go into the forests and 

 watch the creatures that dwelt among the leafy lanes and thick- 

 ets ; to study the birds in their time of love-making, nesting and 

 migration, and to draw their forms upon tlie canvas. But of 

 books he was no student ; of the intricate scientific details of 

 his mighty subject he was unconcerned and indifferent; suf- 

 ficient for him it was, to learn where and how his feathered 

 friends lived and moved, and to produce their portraits. 



He was possessed of a most indomitable resolution and per- 

 severance in following his life work. It is almost sublime the 

 courage he displayed, and the indifference to those things which 

 are generally first considered by his fellow-men, as exemplified 

 by him at the commencement of the publication of the Birds of 

 America. He was on the verge of failure, with but one sove- 

 reign in his pocket, and knew not a single individual from 

 whom he could borrow another, and yet he extracted himself 

 from his difficulties by rising at four in the morning, working 

 hard all da^^ and disposing of his pictures, " at a price that a 

 common laborer would have thought little more than a suf- 

 ficient remuneration for his work." And yet, during the publi- 

 cation of his first volume, al)out forty thousand dollars passed 

 through his hands. While the book was in progress, no less 

 than fifty subscribers abandoned him, representing a total sum 

 of fifty-six thousand dollars and to replace them he was obliged 

 to tramp through the provinces in qnest of others. 



From his French extraction he inherited the impulsive char- 



