woods and marshes in quest of their material. Audubon's rambles were much
wider, and extended over a much longer period of time. Wilson, too,
contemplated a work upon our quadrupeds, but did not live to begin it.
Audubon was blessed with good health, length of years, a devoted and
self-sacrificing wife, and a buoyant, sanguine, and elastic disposition. He
had the heavenly gift of enthusiasm--a passionate love for the work he set
out to do. He was a natural hunter, roamer, woodsman; as unworldly as a
child, and as simple and transparent. We have had better trained and more
scientific ornithologists since his day, but none with his abandon and
poetic fervour in the study of our birds.

Both men were famous pedestrians and often walked hundreds of miles at a
stretch. They were natural explorers and voyagers. They loved Nature at
first hand, and not merely as she appears in books and pictures. They both
kept extensive journals of their wanderings and observations. Several of
Audubon's (recording his European experiences) seem to have been lost or
destroyed, but what remain make up the greater part of two large volumes
recently edited by his grand-daughter, Maria R. Audubon.

I wish here to express my gratitude both to Miss Audubon, and to Messrs.
Charles Scribner's Sons, for permitting me to draw freely from the "Life
and Journals" just mentioned. The temptation is strong to let Audubon's
graphic and glowing descriptions of American scenery, and of his tireless
wanderings, speak for themselves.

It is from these volumes, and from the life by his widow, published in
1868, that I have gathered the material for this brief biography.

Audubon's life naturally divides itself into three periods: his youth,
which was on the whole a gay and happy one, and which lasted till the time