OF AUDUBON. 



33 



birds whose tints are of the most dazzling 

 brightness, it will be admitted to be no easy- 

 task. When Mr Kidd has completed this 

 undertaking, he will perhaps be the best orni- 

 tliologieal painter that ever the world produced. 

 Already he has made a distinguished figure as 

 a landscape painter, and, for his standing, may- 

 be considered as one of the first in Scotland. 



" To those who are unacquainted with the 

 magnitude of Audubon's great work, it may 

 appear singular that he should speak of ' one 

 subscriber.' It may be mentioned, that his 

 work is perhaps the largest ever published; 

 every species of bird, male, female, and young, 

 being engraved on separate sheets of nearly 

 four feet in length ; and although not a third of 

 it has yet appeared, the price amounts to 

 upwards of forty pounds. The death, therefore, 

 of such a man, would be an incalculable loss to 

 science. Already has he discovered many birds 

 which our distinguished countryman, Wilson, 

 had not met with ; and although Audubon is 

 now a man beyond the meridian of human life, 

 he scruples not once more to penetrate the 

 trackless and immeasurable woods of America, 

 so that he may add, if possible, a few new 

 species to the Fauna of his native country. 

 With a buoyant spirit, such a pure passion for, 

 and ardent zeal in the cause of the physical 



