102 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
natul@ for refreshing, and, ascending that noble stream, the 
Hudson, glided over our broad lakes, to seek the wildest soli- 
tudes of the pathless and gloomy forests. 
It was in these forests that, for the first time, I communed 
with myself as to the possible event of my visiting Europe 
again; and I began to fancy my work under the multiplying 
efforts of the graver. Happy days, and nights of pleasing 
dreams! I read over the catalogue of my collection, and 
thought how it might be possible for an unconnected and un- 
aided individual like myself to accomplish the grand scheme. 
Eighteen months elapsed. I returned to my family, then 
in Louisiana, explored every portion of the vast woods around, 
and at last sailed towards the Old World. But before we 
visit the shores of hospitable England, I have the wish, good- 
natured reader, to give you some idea of my mode of executing 
the original drawings, from which the illustrations have been 
taken; and I sincerely hope that the perusal of these lines 
may excite in you a desire minutely to examine them. 
Merely to say that each object of my illustrations is of the 
size of nature, were too vague—for to many it might only 
convey the idea that they are so, more or less, according as 
the eye of the delineator may have been more or less correct 
in measurement simply obtained through that medium; and 
of avoiding error in this respect I am particularly desirous. 
Not only is every object, as a whole, of the natural size, but 
also every portion of each object. The compass aided me in 
its delineation, regulated and corrected each part, even to the 
very fore-shortening which now and then may be seen in the 
figures. The Dill, the feet, the legs, the claws, the very 
feathers as they project one beyond another, have been accu- 
rately measured. The birds, almost all of them, were killed 
by myself, after I had examined their motions and habits, as 
much as the case admitted, and were regularly drawn on or 
near the spot where I procured them. The positions may, 
perhaps, in some instances appear outre ; but such supposed 
