PREFACE. 
Tue materials of this narrative have been derived 
from Audubon’s works, from the recollections of his 
friends, and from fragments published in the United 
States. The writer's object has been, exclusively, to 
follow the adventurous American through those episo les 
of romance and discovery which constituted his ca:eer 
as a naturalist. 
Those unacquainted with the enthusiasm which cay- 
nied him onward in the project of his life, may be at 
times startled at the extreme vigour of his descriptions ; 
but when it is recollected that his original language 
was French, and that in rendering his thoughts and 
feelings in English, he found it wanting in the sweet- 
nesa and vividness requisite for the expression of his 
poetic imagination, and to illustrate the beauties of nature 
as he felt them, then his style will be fully appreciated, 
and the reader will follow him through his career 
