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

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.

As I grew up I was fervently desirous of becoming acquainted with Nature.

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

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.

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.