ART. II.— REMARKS IN DEFENCE OF THE AUTHOR OF 

 THE "BIRDS OF AMERICA.'' By the Rev. 3ouy Bachman, 

 Charleston, South Carolina. Read before the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, Feb. 5, 1834/ 



Sir: 



I have observed in your interesting and valuable Journal 

 a number of remarks calculated to impeach the veracity of 

 Mr. Audubon as a traveller and naturalist, and to injure 

 him in the estimation of the community as an author. 

 Although from my profession and habits I feel no disposi- 

 tion to enter into controversy, yet having had opportuni- 

 ties which few others possess, of becoming acquainted with 

 the occupations and literary acquirements of that gentle- 

 man, and being prompted, not by feelings of private friend- 

 ship alone, but by a desife that full justice should be 

 awarded him for those expenses, sacrifices and privations 

 which he has undergone, I take the liberty of stating what 

 I know on this subject, and I have reason to believe, from 

 the characters of the writers, who have doubted his 



* This article was originally written for Loudon's Magazine, ia 

 order that the attacks upon the veracity of Mr. Audubon might be 

 met, in the land where it was first questioned. It was, at the same 

 time, communicated to this Society, with permission to make such 

 use of it as we should think proper. It has been thought desirable to 

 pnbHsh it in our own country; for although the naked fact, that Mr. 

 Audubon's statements have been questioned by the learned in for- 

 eign lands, may easily gain extensive currency, the experiments, by 

 which his statements and views have been so triumphantly vindicat- 

 ed, may not be so readily brought to public knowledge by means of 

 an English Journal. We have confined ourselves almost entirely to 

 what is valuable in a scientific point of view, omitting several por- 

 tions of the original paper, of a personal nature, which would be su- 

 perfluous to an American reader. (P«B. Comm.) 



