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Audubon, 



verified, by personal examination, the accuracy of " A Subscri- 

 ber," in relation to the errors and omissions it adverts to. 

 Much praise is due to those through whose enterprise this trans- 

 lation has been undertaken; and every naturalist is aware, that 

 a translation of the Regne Animal is a very arduous undertaking ; 

 one that could scarce be completed without some deficiencies. 

 It appears to us, to have been sent to the press with too much 

 haste, and that if the translator had required of some intelligent 

 friend, to revise it before it was printed, he would have been 

 spared these remarks, which will perhaps give him pain. The 

 greater portion of the work is well done, and bears testimony 

 both to the intelligence and industry of the translator. We feel 

 exceedingly, that we cannot accord to it all the praise, we had 

 hoped it would deserve at our hands ; but justice must be done, 

 and we shall never shrink at the performance of any act, by 

 which the cause of science may be substantially advanced. We 

 think that the remarks of " A Subscriber" will be permanently 

 beneficial, both to the public, and to the parties themselves. 



Editor. 



AUDUBON, 



Author of " THE BIRDS OF AMERICA," and "ORNITHOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY." 



John James Audubon, of French descent, was born in the State 

 of Louisiana : — but as no words can tell his early history so elo- 

 quently as his own, we shall proceed to select such passages 

 from the " Introductory Address," to his Ornithological Biogra- 

 phy, as cannot fail to excite in our readers, a deep interest for 

 the writer of this most interesting, but too short auto-biographical 

 sketch. After calling himself an * " American woodsman," he 

 proceeds : 



"I received life and light in the New World. When I had hardly yet 

 learned to walk, and to articulate those first words always so endearing- to 

 parents, the productions of Nature that lay spread all around, were constantly 

 pointed out to me. They soon became my playmates ; and before my ideas 

 were sufficiently formed to enable me to estimate the difference between the 

 azure tints of the sky, and the emerald hue of the bright foliage, I felt that 

 an intimacy with them, not consisting of friendship merely, but bordering on 

 phrenzy, must accompany my steps through life ; — and now, more than ever, 

 am I persuaded of the power of those early impressions. They laid such 



