10 



plated Nature as she really is, not as she is represented in books ; they 

 sought her in her sanctuaries. The shore, the mountain, and the 

 forest were alternately their study, and there they drank the pure 

 stream of knowledge at its fountain-head. The observations of such 

 men, are the corner-stones of every attempt to discover the system of 

 nature. Their writings will be consulted when our favourite theories 

 shall have passed into oblivion. Ardently, therefore, do I hope, that 

 M. Audubon will alternately become the historian and the painter of 

 his favourite objects, that he will never be made a convert to any sys- 

 tem, but instruct and delight us as a true and unprejudiced biographer 

 of natui'e. 



I am now to speak of M. Audubon more particularly as a painter. 



1 shall, therefore, view the work before me as a specimen of the fine 

 arts, and judge of it by those rules which constitute pictorial criticism. 

 The size of the plates exceeds any thing of the kind I have ever seen 

 or heard of; they are no less than 3 feet 3 inches long by 2 feet 



2 inches broad. On this vast surface every bird is represented in its 

 fuU dimensions. Large as is the paper, it is sometimes (as in the Male 

 Wild Turkey, pi. I.) barely suflScient for the purpose. In other cases, 

 it enables the painter to group his figures, in the most beautiful and 

 varied attitudes, on the trees or plants they frequent. Some are 

 feeding, others darting, pursuing, or capturing their prey ; all have 

 life and animation. The plants, fruits and flowers which enrich the 

 scene are alone still. These latter, from their critical accuracy, are 

 as valuable to the botanist as the birds are to the ornithologist. 



Such is the general character of the work, but it is of a nature to 

 demand a more particular notice. What I have said might, in a ge- 

 neral way, be repeated of others. This, as I shall presently shew, is 

 perfectly unique, both in its conception and execution. To explain 

 this, I shall call the reader's attention to the following plates, or 

 rather pictures. 



Turtle-Daves of Carolina. (Plate 17.) It is quite impossible to 

 treat this subject with greater truth or delicacy of conception, than it 

 has here received. In a thicket of the beautiful Stuartia Malacoden- 

 drmi, (whose white blossoms are emblematic, like the dove, of chaste- 

 ness and purity), a pair of turtles have built their nest. The fe- 

 male is sitting, and, their union being consummated, she is receiving 

 the caresses of the male. Above is another pair -, their love is in its 

 infancy. The male, seated on the same branch with his intended 

 partner, is eagerly pressing forwards to reach a " stolen kiss," but the 



