my could save went to purchase birds; and it was a
picturesque sight to see the then unknown naturalist surrounded by his
wild confederates, who, by the gratification of their natural habits,
brought him many of the rich-plumaged aquatic birds that first formed
subjects of his pencil. At this time, the courtly language of the
Tuileries was his familiar tongue; and although, with the heartfelt
approbation of the literary world, Audubon has placed himself among the
most pleasing and original of the 'prose writers of America,' yet his
first written descriptions were in a language foreign to that identical
with his fame, and many of these earliest and most happy essays were so
complete, that the finished student easily rendered them into our common
language, and, without effort, retained that freshness and beauty that
have since distinguished the English compositions of Audubon himself."

"In everything," said another of Audubon's most observing friends, "did
Audubon follow nature. If he shot a duck, the grasses and the weeds
among which it was found formed the accessories of his drawing. If he
brought an eagle down from his eyrie, the very deadened limb that last
bore the impress of his talons was secured at any sacrifice, and the
bird reappeared just as he first attracted the eye of the naturalist.
This care extended to the humblest of the feathered tribe; the
apple-tree blossom, the thorn, the ripe fruit, the gigantic caterpillar,
the variegated spider, the interlaced horse-hair, the soft down, the
fragrant woodbine, myrtle, and jasmine, the honeysuckle and sweet pea,
and a thousand other hints of rural life crowd in profusion the drawings
of his birds, until they appear complete pictures, stories perfectly
told."

Audubon, in jotting down his thoughts, has sometimes gone beyond the
office of ornithologist, and given us glimpses of life in the backwoods
that many have deemed exaggerations. Respectable authorities in other
matters have cautioned too ready credence to these strange tales, and
denied the truth of them, because not in the circle of his favorite
pursuit. Let these skeptics come to Louisiana and visit, as we have
done, among those who now remember his habits, and they will admit that
Audubon, by his solitary journeys, his long residence in the forests,
his keen eyes, and his intense industry, would unfold phases of the
great book of creation unrevealed to the less studious mass of mankind.

In the hospitable