xii INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.
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 Illustrations 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,
regulated and corrected each part, even to the very foreshortening
which now and then may be seen in the figures.
The bill, the feet, the legs, the claws, the very feathers as they
project one beyond another, have been accurately measured.
The birds, almost all of them, were killed by myself, after I had
examined their motions and habits, as much as the case admitted,
and were regularly drawn on or near the spot where 1
procured them. The positions may, perhaps, in some instances,
appear outre; but such supposed exaggerations can afford subject
of criticism only to persons unacquainted with the feathered
tribes; for, believe me, nothing can be more transient or varied
than the attitudes or positions of birds. The Heron, when
warming itself in the sun, will sometimes drop its wings several
inches, as if they were dislocated; the Swan may often be seen
floating with one foot extended from the body; and some Pigeons,
you well know, turn quite over, when playing in the air.
The flowers, plants, or portions of trees which are attached to
the principal objects, have been chosen from amongst those in
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. xiii
the vicinity of which the birds were found, and are not, as some
persons have thought, the trees or plants upon which they always
feed or perch.
An accident which happened to two hundred of my original
drawings, nearly put a stop to my researches in ornithology.
I shall relate it, merely to show you how far enthusiasm—for
by no other name can I call the persevering zeal with which I
laboured—may enable the observer of nature to surmount the
most disheartening obstacles. I left the village of Henderson,
in Kentucky, situated on the bank of the Ohio, where I resided
for several years, to proceed to Philadelphia on business. I
looked to all my drawings before my departure, placed them
carefully in a wooden box, and gave them in charge to a relative,
with injunctions to see that no injury should happen to
them. My absence was of several months; and when I returned,
after having enjoyed the pleasures of home for a few
days, I inquired after my box, and what I was pleased to call
my treasure. The box was produced, and opened;—but,
reader, feel for me—a pair of Norway rats had taken possession
of the whole, and had reared a young family amongst the
gnawed bits of paper, which, but a few months before, represented
nearly a thousand inhabitants of the air ! The burning
heat which instantly rushed through my brain was too great to
be endured, without affecting the whole of my nervous system.
I slept not for several nights, and the days passed like days of
oblivion,—until the animal powers being recalled into action,
through the strength of my constitution, I took up my gun,
my note-book, and my pencils, and went forth to the woods as
gaily as if nothing had happened. I felt pleased that I might
now make much better drawings than before, and, ere a period