t felicitate himself upon the completion of his
gigantic task. He had spent nearly half a century "amid the tall grass
of the far-extended prairies of the west, in the solemn forests of the
north, on the heights of the midland mountains, by the shores of the
boundless ocean, and on the bosoms of our vast bays, lakes and rivers,
searching for things hidden since the creation of this wondrous world
from all but the Indian who has roamed in the gorgeous but melancholy
wilderness." And speaking from the depth of his heart he says, "Once
more surrounded by all the members of my dear family, enjoying the
countenance of numerous friends who have never deserted me, and
possessing a competent share of all that can render life agreeable, I
look up with gratitude to the Supreme Being, and feel that I am happy."

In 1839, having returned for the last time to his native country and
established himself with his family near the city of New-York, Audubon
commenced the publication of The Birds of America in imperial octavo
volumes, of which the seventh and last was issued in the summer of 1844.
The plates in this edition, reduced from his larger illustrations, were
engraved and colored in the most admirable manner by Mr. Bowen of
Philadelphia, under the direction of the author, and excepting The Birds
of America in folio, there has never been published so magnificent a
work on ornithology.

Audubon was too sincere a worshipper of nature to be content with
inglorious repose, even after having accomplished in action more than
was ever dreamed of by any other naturalist; and while the "edition for
the people" of his Birds of America was in course of publication, he was
busy amid the forests and prairies, the reedy swamps of our southern
shores, the cliffs that protect our eastern coasts, by the currents of
the Mexican gulf and the tide streams of the Bay of Fundy, with his
sons, Victor Gifford and John Woodhouse, making the drawings and writing
the biographies of the _Quadrupeds of America_, a work in no respect
inferior to that on our birds, which he began to publish about five
years ago. The plates, on double imperial folio paper, engraved and
colored by Mr. Bowen after the original drawings made from nature by
Audubon and his sons, are even more magnificent than those of the Birds
of America, which twenty years ago delighted and astonished the
naturalists of Europe.

The Biography of American Quadrupeds, accompanying these plates, and