Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-07-23

Durgh, but ultnCuttleS CCCuTTlhS thSiC, was transferred from the first engraver, MT II. H. Lizars, to Mir R. Havell, Jr. London artist The work was commenced in 1927, and the first volume, consisting of 100 plates | is completed. It will be followed by at least three of equal size, which is gigantic for book, being feet inches in length, and two i feet two inches in breadth. Many ot the birds are represented of size to fill their re- spectvc plates.
 | The critic says, that any man conVersant with birds will pronounce these plates, se- lected at random, the true representatives ot nature. The characteristics ct the species are present, the forms and attitudes are CO., pious, the occupations are disclosed, the i'm | agination of a poet has presided over the ar rangement. Thus. in plate XXI, Mocking Rirds:-I "The famed songstress of the American woods has formed her nest in bush over grown with Virginia jessamine. rattle snake has made his way to it. Twisted round the stem, his tail raised in the air, the horrl- ble reptile is stretching forward his distended jaws, hssing at the female bird, which, in her agony, almost suffers herself to become a prey to the monster. The male, full of ecu rage, has crept upon the foe, and is aiming | blow at his eve. A pair of neighbours, at- ltracted by the cries of the mrcklng birds, are evsing the snake from the tops of the twigs, and meditatine descent.
 Again, in Plate LXXVT. Hrpinia Par ltridges surhrispdbya Razvk:-"The savage ferocitv cf the bird of prev, manifested in the glare of his eye, the bill half open in antici- patton of carnage, and the outstretched ta- Ions with which he is about to seize his terri
 fled prey, seemingly perplexed in his choice
 by tie number of birds which have in their I.n, i. oth ic n
 subj ct, repugnant perhaps in itself, but ren-
 derd intensely interesting by the skill with
 whch it has been managed. Almost every
 possible attitude is exhibited in the group
 Some of the partridges are flying off with pal
 plating hearts; others are endeavorlng to
 eude the murderer's grasp by dashing side
 log along the ground; some arc beaten down
 am hampered by the rest; one upset, and
 dsperate, meets the foe with it's powcrless
 cliws and open bill. Terror and dismay are
 dpicted in every countenance. Never before dd we imagine that the passion fbirds could
 h expressed in manner so ineligible.
 l
 el GA peculiar charm is given to these re- pese entations. by the circumstance that the tees, plants, and flowers of the districts in
 which they occur, are all represented, gene
 raly with surprising accuracy, and always N1tH great tdStt. nC HbWnS iNotooho ''
 dimbing shrubs and creepers, hung with . lroad leaves, garlands of flowers, and clus- tired berries, the lichen-crusted branches of he forest trees, and the decayed stumps on which the wootlpeckers seek their food, are .. il themselves objects of admiration.
 s'It is enough to say that cur author has in- 'ented new style in the representation of na- ural objects for so true are his pictures, that 5 lc who has seen and examined them, can ne- l, fer again look with pleasure on the finest pro- luctions of other artists. To paint like Au- dubon, will henceforth mean to represent Ma ture as she is" MT Audubon seems to have been impelled to these pursuits, not with view to fame, but by pure passion for studying nature. His method was, to follow the bird he was de- srous of figuring, to steal on it unperceived, lobserve it's motions and attitudes, and then shoot it. He restores it to it's favorite orc har acteristc attitude by method of his own.
 "Observing nature with the eye of an en- thusiastic admrer, MT Audubon has travers- ed the dark forests of America, following the track of the discomhtted andd isconsolate In- dian, has penetrated her cane-brakes and cy-
 press swamps, ,teeming with the loathsome and dangerous forms of reptile life, visited her ocean lakes, wandered by the margins of her
 magnificent rivers, and padded his solitary canoe over the floods that have spread con
 sternaton and torror among the inhabitants of the alluvial plains of her midland regions. 7"
 Accompanying the first volume ofthe "Birds of America" appears another of smaller di- mensicns, but still somewhat Con the grand scale,' to which is given the title of "Orni- thclogical Biography, or all account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of
 America" It contains, as its title-page in- forms us, "Descrpticns of the objects repre- sented in the work, entitled, the Birds of Ame- rica, nterspersed with delineations of Ameri can Scenery and Manners.
 'sSnrelv," says the critic, eff orni.holog, so treated, does not excite so much interest as a novel or romance, it must be owing to the utter perversity of the human race."
 Translatrt from the Courier dps Etats Uuis