20 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



" Eighteen months elapsed. I returned to my 

 family, then in Louisiana, explored every por- 

 tion 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 Illus- 

 trations 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, regu- 

 lated and corrected each part, even to the very 

 fore-shortening which now and then may be 

 seen in the figures. The bill, the feet, the 

 legs, the claws, the very feathers, as they pro- 

 ject one beyond another, have been accurately 

 measured. The birds, almost all of them, were 

 killed by myself, after I bad examined their 



