INTRODUCTION. xi 



severance. The Land Bird flits from bush to bush, runs before 

 you, and seldom extends its flight beyond the range of your 

 vision. It is very difFerent with the Water Bird, which sweeps 

 afar over the wide ocean, hovers above the surges, or betakes it- 

 self for refuge to the inaccessible rocks on the shore. There, 

 on the smooth sea-beach, you see the Uvely and active Sand- 

 piper ; on that rugged promontory the Dusky Cormorant ; un- 

 der the dark shade of yon cypress the Ibis and Heron ; above 

 you in the still air floats the Pelican or the Swan ; while far 

 over the angry billows scour the Fulmar and the Frigate bird. 

 If you endeavoiu- to approach these birds in their haunts, they 

 betake themselves to flight, and speed to places where they are 

 secure from your intrusion. 



But the scarcer the fruit, the more prized it is ; and seldom 

 have I experienced greater pleasures than when on the Florida 

 Keys, under a burning sun, after pushing my bark for miles over 

 a soapy flat, I have striven all day long, tormented by myriads 

 of insects, to prociu*e a heron new to me, and have at length suc- 

 ceeded in my eiforts. And then how amply are the labours of 

 the naturalist compensated, when, after observing the wildest 

 and most distrustful birds, in their remote and almost inacces- 

 sible breeding places, he returns from his joiu*neys, and relates 

 his adventures to an interested and friendly audience. 



I look forward to the summer of 1838 with an anxious hope 

 that I may then be able to present you with the last plate of 

 my Illustrations, and the concluding volume of my Biographies. 

 To render these volumes as complete as possible, I intend to un- 

 dertake a journey to the southern and western limits of the 

 Union, with the view of obtaining a more accurate knowledge 

 of the birds of those remote and scarcely inhabited regions. 



