THE HABITS OF OUR BIRDS. 121 
His warmth and gratification have a touch of true poet- 
ry. But when we know that Mr. Audubon’s whole par- 
ty started in the expedition from Eastport, in Maine, 
where they also spent several days before they commenc- 
ed their voyage to Labrador, and that one of his party 
was a near resident to Eastport; and when we further 
know that all around Eastport, and especially on the 
islands, the Black-Poll Warbler is one of the most com- 
mon birds, we must see at once how far a vivid imagina- 
tion has supplied the material for his conclusions, and 
that they had but little foundation in reality. 
We will not dwell here any further upon the state- 
ments occurring in Mr. Audubon’s writings, not consis- 
tent with the facts, as now known to us, for our limits do 
not permit, and the instance given above will sufficiently 
answer as an example of the mistakes into which his over- 
sanguine temperament occasionally led him. His errors, 
we are sure, are never intentional; his statements of facts, 
when he tells us they are his own, we can rely upon: but 
when he accepts the information of others, or draws infer- 
ences from insufficient data, it is then that his accounts 
must be received with more caution, and that he exposed 
himself to the unkind and bitter attacks, in which those 
who do not appreciate his real excellences, or who are 
too intolerant of what are, after all, only venial faults, 
spots on the face of a great luminary, have too often in- 
ppa worde on our own iira, and we will 
close these desultory remarks. The Oölogy of North 
America, Part I., gives several illustrations which sub- 
sequent investigations show to have been not so well au- 
thenticated as they were supposed to be when published. 
They are: The egg given as that of the Goshawk (Astur 
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 16 
