126 JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 
or the gesticulations of the yellow 
breasted chat, or the nervous and em- 
phatic character of the large-billed 
water thrush, or the many pretty atti- 
tudes of the great Carolina wren; but 
to give the same dramatic character to 
the demure little song sparrow, or to the 
slow moving cuckoo, or to the pedestrian 
cowbird, or to the quiet Kentucky 
warbler, as Audubon has done, is to 
convey @ wrong impression of these 
birds. 
Wilson errs, if at all, in the other 
direction. His birds, on the other hand, 
reflect his cautious, undemonstrative 
Scotch nature. Few of them are shown 
in violent action like Audubon’s cuckoo ; 
their poses for the most part are easy 
and characteristic. His drawings do 
not show the mastery of the subject 
and the versatility that Audubon’s do; 
—they have not the artistic excellence, 
but they less frequently do violence to 
the )bird’s character by exaggerated 
activity. 
