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" The varying modes of flight exhibited by our diurnal birds of prey have always been to me a subject of great interest, especially as by means of them I have found myself enabled to distinguish one species from another, to the farthest extent of my power of vision. "

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" The Fur Company may be called the exterminating medium of these wild and almost uninhabitable regions, which cupidity or the love of money alone would induce man to venture into. Where can I now go and find nature undisturbed? "

John James Audubon

Nature

Alone

Love

" The best recommendation I can have is my own talents, and the fruits of my own labors, and what others will not do for me, I will try and do for myself. "

" I looked long and carefully at the picture of a stag painted by Landseer - the style was good, and the brush was handled with fine effect; but he fails in copying Nature, without which the best work will be a failure. "

" My wife determined that my genius should prevail, and that my final success as an ornithologist should be triumphant. "

" To be a good draftsman was to me a blessing. "

John James Audubon

Blessing

Good

" Ah! How often when I have been abroad on the mountains has my heart risen in grateful praise to God that it was not my destiny to waste and pine among those noisome congregations of the city. "

" There is the morass, wherein you plunge up to your knees, or the walking over the stubborn, dwarfish shrubbery, whereby one treads down the forests of Labrador; and the unexpected bunting or sylvia which perchance, and indeed as if by chance alone, you now and then see flying before you, or hear singing from the ground creeping plant. "

" I wish I had eight pairs of hands, and another body to shoot the specimens. "

" A few days of idleness have completely sickened me, and given me what is called the blue-devils so severely, that I feel that the sooner I go to work and drive them off, the better. "

John James Audubon

Drive

" I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could. "

" I can scarcely manage to scribble a tolerable English letter. I know that I am not a scholar, but meantime I am aware that no man living knows better than I do the habits of our birds. "

" Patiently and with industry did I apply myself to study, for although I felt the impossibility of giving life to my productions, I did not abandon the idea of representing nature. "

" Would it be possible that I should not in any degree succeed? I can scarcely think so. Ah delusive hope, how much further wilt thou lead me? "

John James Audubon

Hope

Think

" The eggers destroy all the eggs that are sat upon, to force the birds to lay fresh eggs, and by robbing them regularly compel them to lay until nature is exhausted, and so but few young ones are raised. "

" Travelling through the breeding places of our species is far from being as interesting to me as it is to inspect the breeding places of the feathery tribes of our country. "

John James Audubon

Places

Interesting

" One day I caught four Dolphins, how much I have gazed at these beautiful creatures... as they changed their hue in twenty varieties of richest arrangement of tints. "

" If I can procure three hundred good substantial names of persons, or bodies, or institutions, I cannot fail to do well for my family, although I must abandon my life to its success, and undergo many sad perplexities and perhaps never see again my own beloved America. "

" I feel fully decided that we should all go to Europe together and to work as if an established Partnership for Life consisting of Husband Wife and Children. "

" But Hopes are Shy Birds flying at a great distance seldom reached by the best of Guns. "

" I waged war against my feelings. "

" July 2. A beautiful day for Labrador. Went ashore and killed nothing, but was pleased with what I saw. The country is so grandly wild and desolate that I am charmed by its wonderful dreariness. "

" I cannot help but think a curious event is this life of mine. "

" The worse my drawings were, the more beautiful did the originals appear. "

John James Audubon

Art

Beautiful

" Reader, persons who have never witnessed a hurricane, such as not unfrequently desolates the sultry climates of the south, can scarcely form an idea of their terrific grandeur. One would think that, not content with laying waste all on land, it must needs sweep the waters of the shallows quite dry to quench its thirst. "

" Almost every day, instead of going to school, I made for the fields, where I spent my day. "

" I feel I am strange to all but the birds of America. "

John James Audubon

Strange

I Am

" The fact is I am growing old too fast, alas! I feel it, and yet work I will, and may God grant me life to see the last plate of my mammoth work finished. "

John James Audubon

God

Growing Old

" In America, business is the first object in view at all times, and rightly it should be so. "

" On the 17th of May, the Delos put out to sea. I was immediately affected with sea-sickness, which, however, lasted but a short time. I remained on deck constantly, forcing myself to exercise. "

" In my deepest troubles, I frequently would wrench myself from the persons around me and retire to some secluded part of our noble forests. "

John James Audubon

Myself

Retire