526 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 

 affinity, distinguishable at sight in any one of them. 

 The Pewees, which I knew by experience were positively 

 Flycatchers, led me to the discovery that every bird truly 

 of that genus, when standing, was usually in a passive 

 attitude ; that they sat uprightly, now and then glancing 

 their eyes upwards or sideways, 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., etc. 



Gallinaceous birds I saw were possessed of movements 

 and positions peculiar to them. Amongst 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 be- 

 came able to represent them in what I hoped were natural 

 positions. The bird once fixed with wires on squares, I 

 studied as a lay iigure before me, its nature, previously 

 known to me as far as habits went, and its general form 

 having been frequently observed. Now I could examine 

 more thoroughly the bill, nostrils, eyes, legs, and claws, 

 as well as the structure of the wings and tail ; the very 

 tongue was of importance to me, and I thought the more 

 I understood all these particulars, the better representa- 

 tions I made of the originals. 



