Viii INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 



me by my father ! My pencil gave birth to a family of cripples. 

 So maimed were most of them, that they resembled the man- 

 gled corpses on a field of battle, compared with the integrity of 

 living men. These difficulties and disappointments irritated 

 me, but never for a moment destroyed the desire of obtaining 

 perfect representations of nature. The worse my drawings were, 

 the more beautifid did I see the originals. To have been torn 

 from the study would have been as death to me. My time was 

 entirely occupied with it. I produced hundreds of these rude 

 sketches annually ; and for a long time, at my request, they 

 made bonfires on the anniversaries of my birth-day. 



Patiently, and with industry, did I apply myself to study, 

 for, although I felt the impossibility of giving life to my pro- 

 ductions, I did not abandon the idea of representing nature. 

 Many plans were successively adopted, many masters guided 

 my hand. At the age of seventeen, when I retmned from 

 France, whither I had gone to receive the rudiments of my 

 education, my drawings had assumed a form. David had 

 guided my hand in tracing objects of large size. Eyes and 

 noses belonging to giants, and heads of horses represented in 

 ancient sculpture, were my models. These, although fit sub- 

 jects for men intent on pursuing the higher branches of the art, 

 were immediately laid aside by me. I returned to the woods of 

 the New World with fresh ardour, and commenced a collection 

 of drawings, which I henceforth continued, and which is now 

 publishing, under the title of " The Birds of America." 



To these Illustrations I shall often refer you, good-natured 

 reader, in the sequel, that you may judge of them yourself. 

 Should you discover any merit in them, happy would the ex- 

 pression of your approbation render me, for I should feel that I 



