IV 
PREFACE. 
attention to the duties assigned him ; and who has given as- 
surance of continuing his assistance until the whole is completed. 
With such a coadjutor, our labours, in this department, will be 
considerably lightened ; and, with deference, we hope that the pub- 
lic will not so readily perceive the absence of that hand whose de- 
licate touches imparted hues and animation to the pictured “ deni- 
zens of the air,” which might almost vie with the interesting 
originals themselves. 
The present volume contains much valuable matter; and when 
viewed as the last fruit of the philosophical mind of its amiable 
author, will be doubtless received with no ordinary degree of at- 
tention. In it we are presented with correct delineations of the 
greater part of that interesting and useful tribe that frequent our 
waters, tlie genus .inas, or the Ducks.* The histories of some are 
necessarily imperfect, as they are but partially known, and seldom 
permit an opportunity of investigation. Others, from their habits 
not exciting much interest, have been too much neglected by na- 
turalists ; and the biographer of their simple lives was condemned, 
however repugnant to his wishes and intentions, to pass them over 
in a brief and unsatisfactory manner. But the author has had it 
in his power to confer that justice on a y'ery, whose merits have been 
considered by ornithologists and connoisseurs as of the first order, 
to which they are fairly entitled ; and his faithful narratives, we 
^ Mr. Wilson omitted the Swan for the want of a good recent specimen. The White- 
fronted Goose, which inhabits the waters of the Missouri ; the Muscovy Duck, which is found 
in Louisiana, and sometimes as far north as Georgia ; and the King Duck, which occasionally 
visits Boston bay, he never had the good fortune to see. 
