INTRODUCTION 9 
Robinson Crusoe, feels within him a new ardor, in this 
instance, for hunting and studying birds and for leading 
a life of adventure in the wilderness. It would be as 
unjust to judge of Audubon’s rare abilities as a de- 
scriptive writer from the letters, journal jottings and 
miscellaneous extracts given in this work, as to weigh 
his accomplishments as an artist from his itinerary por- 
traits or his early sketches of animals in crayon point 
and pastel. Those cruder products of his pen and brush, 
however, as the reader will find, possess a high degree 
of interest from the light which they throw on the de- 
velopment of his character and art, as well as from 
their personal and historical associations. His best and 
only finished literary work, the Ornithological Biog- 
raphy, in five large volumes, with the revisions and 
additions which later appeared, abound in animated 
pictures of primitive nature and pioneer life in America 
as well as vivid portraits of the birds and other charac- 
teristic animals. 
A good illustration of Audubon’s habit of blending 
his own experiences with his biographies of birds is 
found in the introduction to his account of the Common 
Gannet: 
On the morning of the 14th of June 1833, the white sails 
of the Ripley were spread before a propitious breeze, and 
onward she might be seen gaily wending her way towards the 
shores of Labrador. We had well explored the Magdalene 
Islands, and were anxious to visit the Great Gannet Rock, 
where, according to our pilot, the birds from which it derives 
its name bred. For several days I had observed numerous files 
proceeding northward, and marked their mode of flight while 
thus travelling. As our bark dashed through the heaving bil- 
lows, my anxiety to reach the desired spot increased. At 
length, about ten o’clock, we discerned at a distance a white 
