32 IN THE DATS OF AUDUBON 



destroyed, and after a time I laid down what I was pleased 

 to call a constitution of my manner of drawing birds, 

 formed upon natural principles, which I will try to put 

 briefly before you. 



" The gradual knowledge of the forms and habits of 

 the birds of our country impressed me with the idea that 

 each part of a family must possess a certain degree of affin- 

 ity, distinguishable at sight in any one of them. The pe- 

 wees, which I knew by experience were positively fly- 

 catchers, led me to the discovery that every bird truly of 

 that genus when standing was usually in a passive atti- 

 tude; that they sat uprightly, now and then glancing their 

 eyes upward or sidewise, to watch the approach of their 

 insect prey; that if in pursuit of this prey their movements 

 through the air were in each and all of that tribe the 

 same, etc. 



" Gallinaceous birds I saw were possessed of movements 

 and positions peculiar to them. Among the water birds 

 also I found characteristic manners. I observed that the 

 herons walked with elegance and stateliness; that, in fact, 

 every family had some mark by which it could be known; 

 and, after having collected many ideas and much material 

 of this kind, I fairly began, in greater earnest than ever, 

 the very collection of birds of America which is now being 

 published. 



" The better I understood my subjects, the better I 

 became able to represent them in what I hoped were natu- 



