AUDUBON AND MACGILLIVRAY
In London once more—MacGillivray's assistance
continued—Return to Edinburgh—MacGillivray's character
and accomplishments—Audubon's acknowledgments—Tributes
of "Christopher North"—Results of overwork—Fusilades
from "Walton Hall"—Progress of the large plates.
Audubon's return voyage, begun in mid-April, lasted twenty days, and
was one of the uneventful, "not unpleasant sort." Liverpool was reached
in early May, and later in the month the Audubons were again settled in
London, where on June 1, 1834, the naturalist wrote to Edward Harris:
We found Victor at home in the evening of our arrival; I
thought that the very sight of him was a restoration of
life to me, and our happiness was as complete as it may
ever be expected on _this Earth_.
After all, I long to be in America again, nay, if I can
go home to return no more to Europe, it seems to me that
I shall ever enjoy more peace of mind, & even Physical
comfort than I can meet with in any portion of the world
beside.[118]
While at Charleston in the previous winter, Audubon had worked
diligently at his letterpress, and no doubt, before returning to
Europe had his "biographical" materials well in hand. We have seen
that at Edinburgh in the autumn of 1830 he entered upon a businesslike
arrangement with William MacGillivray to assist him with the technical
portions of the _Ornithological Biography_. The part which his young
assistant played in this work was long a subject of dispute, until
letters of both which showed the precise character of the relations
between them were finally published.
Immediately upon his return to England Audubon again applied to his
young friend, and received from him the following letter:[119]
_William MacGillivray to Audubon_
EDINBURGH, 11 GILMORE PLACE.
_28th May 1834._
DEAR SIR,
I am glad to hear of your safe arrival, which I did
not expect so soon, and pleased to find you in good
health and high spirits. As you have the kindness to
inquire respecting myself and family, I am happy to
inform you that we are all very well, contented and
busy. My head and hands are quite full—abundance of work
and sufficient pay—time to ramble now and then for the
purpose of hammering rocks, pulling plants, and shooting
birds.
You say you have accumulated a mass of materials which
you are desirous of seeing in print, and propose that I
should revise it as before. I shall be glad to do so, if
you please, and willing that you confer the benefit on
another, if you find it expedient. As to the terms, let
them be such as you please with respect to money; but as
time is valuable to me, I should like that arrangements
be made so as to prevent unnecessary loss of it, by
letting me have manuscripts, books, &c. in due array.
The skins of which you speak I apprehend cannot be
disposed of here to any great extent; but I believe
shells might be sold to advantage, and bring higher
prices than in London.
You ask if I draw Birds yet, with a view to publish.
My answer is that I dissect, describe, and draw Birds,
Quadrupeds, whales, reptiles, and fishes, with view of
astonishing the world, and bettering my condition. I
have about a hundred drawings, all the size of life,
excepting two dolphins. But I have determined nothing
as yet respecting publication. Some time ago a friend
of mine called on Mr. Havell with a letter in which
I desired that person to engrave for me a few of my
drawings, for the purpose of being exhibited at the
meeting of naturalists. I had no answer, and so Mr.
Havell may go to Jerico, or elsewhere, as he lists; but
further your correspondent saith not.
I am decidedly of opinion that, although you should
continue the publication of the Ornithological
Biography, you might bring out various other works which
could not fail to be popular; for example a biography of
yourself, and sketches of American scenery. But of these
matters it is impossible to speak to purpose unless I
had the pleasure of seeing you, a pleasure which I hope
I shall have at the time of the general assembly of the
naturalists.
With best respects to Mrs. Audubon, and best wishes for
the prosperity of all that bear that name, I have the
honour to be, Dear Sir, yours in sincerity,
W MACGILLIVRAY.
[Superscribed] JOHN J. AUDUBON, ESQR. MR. HAVELL,
77 Oxford St. London.
[Illustration: AUDUBON
AFTER THE ENGRAVING BY H. B. HALL OF THE PORTRAIT PAINTED BY
HENRY INMAN IN 1833.]
A satisfactory arrangement was made and MacGillivray set to work on
Audubon's second volume. On the 16th of June he wrote from Edinburgh:
If you send me twenty or twenty-five articles, I can
revise them without the books to which you refer, and
without your own presence, provided your descriptions be
full, and the drawings or plates sent to me. The skins
and books might be consulted afterwards, when we might
go over the articles in company. Should you come here
for the purpose, it would not, I believe, be necessary
for you to stay more than three weeks or so.... To be
methodical I should like twenty-five birds, that is
description of birds, by your first parcel; but I cannot
state precisely at what time they might be revised, only
I think were you to send them, you might make a trip to
France and be back before I should be done.[120]
By the 9th of July MacGillivray had received the twenty-five
descriptions of birds called for, and on the 18th of that month he
wrote to report progress as follows:
I commenced my operations on the 1st of July, and have
transcribed and corrected eighteen articles, one _for_
each day, but not one _on_ each, the work of Sunday
being transferred to Monday. This volume will certainly
be much richer and more interesting.... You wish to know
my opinion as to the improvement of your style. It seems
to me to be much the same as before, but the information
which you give is more diversified & more satisfactory.
On more than one occasion MacGillivray urged Audubon to reduce the
size of his text, and in the letter just quoted he said: "Had it been
of the post 8vo size, in two volumes it would have gone off in style;
but your imperial size and regal price do not answer for radicals, or
republicans either. Could you _sacrifice_ the first volume, reprint
it of a small size and continue the series to the end?" He remarked
that if twenty woodcuts or engravings were added to each volume, "it
would spread over the land like a flock of migratory pigeons. Even
without the embellishments it would fly, but were you to give it those
additional wings, it would sweep along in beautiful curves, like the
nighthawk or the purplebreasted swallow." "I have often thought," he
continued, "that your stories would sell very well by themselves, and I
am sure that with your celebrity, knowledge, and enthusiasm, you have
it in your power to become more _popular_ than your glorious pictures
can ever make you of themselves, they being too aristocratic and
exclusive."
Audubon kept MacGillivray supplied with materials, while he remained
in London during the summer of 1834. On the 25th of August he wrote
Bachman that he had sold bird skins to the British Museum to the amount
of fifty-two pounds sterling, and again for twenty-five pounds, while
Havell had disposed of a goodly number more, so that "he would not be
a loser in that way"; he added: "My own double collection I have in
drawers at home." Acting evidently upon Swainson's advice, Audubon
began to accumulate a large and valuable collection of the skins of
American birds, which he brought with him to America in 1839.[121]
Though rightly criticized for not having deposited in some museum
a complete series of the forms which he described, Elliott Coues
certainly was not justified in remarking that his interest in a bird
ceased from the moment he had made a drawing of it; on the contrary,
he spent no end of time and lavished large sums of money on collections
to illustrate variation in every description, as well as for anatomical
dissection.
A hint thrown out by MacGillivray seems to have been well taken, for in
the letter just quoted Audubon said: "This coming winter I will spend
at writing my _own_ Biography, to be published as soon as possible, and
to be continued, as God may be pleased to grant me life." As already
noticed,[122] this effort resulted only in a fragmentary sketch, which
was not published for over half a century.
Audubon started for Edinburgh in September of 1834. He wrote to
Edward Harris from Liverpool, on the 15th of that month, to inquire
into the truth of a report, which had circulated in London, of the
failure of the house in New Orleans "in which our friend N. Berthoud is
concerned." "I wish you would have the kindness to inform me," he adds,
"if he is a sufferer by this mishap, and I wish you to keep this quite
_entre nous_."
At a slightly earlier day Audubon had entertained the idea of
illustrating the birds of Great Britain on a scale commensurate with
his work on those of America, but on May 1, 1828, he wrote Swainson
that no one favored the project, and it was quickly given up. The
subject is referred to by MacGillivray, in a letter written from
Edinburgh, May 7, 1831: "As I understand your proposals respecting the
Birds of Britain to have ended in nothing, and as you do not allude
to the subject, I shall suppose all your ideas to have dispersed, and
shall think of the matter myself." The first volume of MacGillivray's
_History of British Birds_ appeared six years later.[123] It is evident
that he wished to obtain Audubon's criticism of some of the drawings
subsequently used in this work when he sent the following formal
note[124] to his lodgings at Edinburgh:
[Illustration: LETTER OF WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY TO AUDUBON, OCTOBER
22. 1834.
From the Howland MSS.]
_William MacGillivray to Audubon_
EDINBURGH, _22d. october, 1834_.
DEAR SIR,
I take the liberty of sending you a collection of
drawings made by myself, and intended for a work on the
vertebrate animals of Great Britain. The astonishing
success with which you have depicted a whole class of
the productions of your native land, as evinced in the
incomparable delineations of your "Birds of America,"
renders your opinions respecting ornithological
drawings of the very highest authority; and I have
been anxious to submit my attempts to your decision,
which, if unfavourable, will induce me to remedy my
defects, or, if otherwise, will encourage me to proceed
with an undertaking, which by its arduousness and
extent, is precisely suited to my disposition. I shall
therefore feel grateful for the expression of your
ideas respecting the Drawings, and I request that should
you favour me with it, you will not scruple to censure
freely, should you find occasion.
I have the honour to be, Dear Sir,
your most obedient servant,
W. MACGILLIVRAY.
[Addressed] To J. J. AUDUBON, Esqe.
Edinburgh.
Audubon and MacGillivray finished their work in November, and by
the first of December the manuscript of the second volume of the
_Ornithological Biography_ was in the printer's hands. On the 10th of
the latter month Audubon wrote to Bachman from Edinburgh: "I am quite
sure I never have been half as anxious as I am at this moment to do
all in my power to _compleat_ my vast enterprise, and sorrowful indeed
would be my dying moments if this book of mine were not finished ere my
eyes are for ever closed." The naturalist was thinking of materials for
new "Episodes" for the work when he added:
Try to study the habits of the alligator, the time of
its propagation, number of eggs, form of the nest, &c.,
&c., &c. I long to possess all respecting this reptile
(amphibian) [sic] for my article of the Wood Ibis and
Sand Hill Crane, for it will make a fine picture on
paper, and I can show Waterton the _bold_ astride of
one's bare back in great style.
By now Docr. Parkman has at least a portion of the
letter press and I hope has begun printing the second
vol. of Biog. 750 copies for America, and the same
number are printing here. I wish you would cut out from
all newspapers the pros and cons about me.
[Illustration: PART OF THE ORIGINAL DRAFT OF AUDUBON'S MANUSCRIPT
FOR THE INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME II OF THE "ORNITHOLOGICAL
BIOGRAPHY," GIVING NAMES OF PERSONS TO WHOM HE CARRIED LETTERS OF
INTRODUCTION ON HIS FIRST VISIT TO LONDON IN 1827. From the Howland
MSS.]
We thus have from Audubon himself a definite statement in regard to
the publication of his _Biography_ of Birds in America, and as to the
number of copies issued.
MacGillivray immediately agreed to "revise and correct" Audubon's
forthcoming third and fourth volumes, and that he was quite satisfied
with their method of cooperation is shown by the following definite
statement of his contract:
_William MacGillivray to Audubon_
EDINBURGH _15th December 1834_.
DEAR SIR,
Agreeably to your request I hereby bind and oblige
myself to revise and correct the third and fourth
volumes of your work entitled "Ornithological Biography"
at the same rate as the two first volumes, namely at Two
Pounds Two Shillings per sheet; as well as to revise,
for a sum to be subsequently determined, any other work
which you may intend to publish.
I have the honour to be Dear Sir,
your most obedt. Servant
W. MACGILLIVRAY.
To JOHN J. AUDUBON Esq.
When William MacGillivray first met Audubon, in the autumn of 1830, he
was an enthusiastic naturalist of four and thirty, young, but, as we
have seen, a thorough anatomist, who stood firmly on his own feet and
was destined to advance his favorite study in a notable degree. Audubon
at this time was forty-five, but in anatomy the older man gladly sat at
the feet of the younger and acknowledged him master; while this young
anatomist was dissecting, Audubon in the _rôle_ of student was seated
by his side, and we may be sure that little escaped his penetrating
eye and keen intelligence. To MacGillivray, on the other hand, Audubon
was master of his art, and to him he looked for criticism of his own
artistic efforts; after him he named a son, and to him dedicated a
child of his brain.[125] In short, MacGillivray looked upon Audubon
as his best friend in the world, and the latter fully appreciated
his indebtedness to this able assistant. MacGillivray continued to
aid Audubon with his letterpress, revising and probably contributing
most of the technical details; in the fourth and concluding volumes,
published in 1838 and 1839, the large store of anatomical matter and
many excellent drawings were duly acknowledged as coming from his
hand. His own writings were varied and numerous, but were generally
characterized by a high degree of excellence. His _History of British
Birds_, in five volumes (1837-1852), was too extended and too technical
ever to become popular, but in that work, for the first time in the
history of science, classification was placed on a strictly anatomical
basis. MacGillivray even followed Audubon to some extent by introducing
into this work "delineations of British scenery and character," but
under another head. The sixth of his "Lessons in Practical Ornithology"
recounts in dialogue form the experiences of two friends in tramping
the Pentland Hills together; says "Physiophilus" [himself], "You must
have many fine songsters in America"; to which "Ornithologus" [Audubon]
replies:
That we have indeed. The Mocking Bird, of course, stands
first in my opinion, and is unrivalled. Then, perhaps
on account of my own sensitive nature, I would place
next the Wood Thrush, although the Cat Bird is far its
superior in many points, as is also the Turdus rufus.
Think of our Rose-breasted Pine and Blue Grosbeaks, how
mellow and sweet their continuous songs are, whether by
day or during calm nights. Watch the varied ditties of
the Orchard Oriole, and the loud and more musical notes
of its brother, the Golden Hangnest. You have never
heard the Tawny Thrush or the Hermit Thrush, otherwise,
believe me, you would have enjoyed much delicious
pleasure....
William MacGillivray was a man of the finest character and an honor
to the best traditions of British scholarship; in his enthusiasm and
indefatigable energy he was fully a match to Audubon. For nearly twelve
years (1841-1852) he was an honored lecturer and professor in Marischal
College and University, Aberdeen, where he died, probably as a result
of overwork in the field, in 1852, thus outliving his older friend
but one year. His last completed work, _Natural History of Deeside and
Braemar_, was published under the patronage of Queen Victoria and by
her command privately printed, under the editorship of E. Lancaster, in
1855. MacGillivray's surviving son, whose career as a field naturalist
was also cut short by too strenuous work, accompanied Huxley, then an
assistant surgeon in the Royal Navy, on the memorable voyage of the
_Rattlesnake_ under Captain Owen Stanley in 1842. MacGillivray was
honored when alive, and though dead has not been forgotten; in 1890 a
beautiful tablet was dedicated to him in Aberdeen, and at the same time
a worthy monument was raised to his memory at Edinburgh.[126]
In authorship the public is mainly interested in seeing merit duly
acknowledged. Said Audubon, in the introductory address to his first
volume:
There are persons whose desire of obtaining celebrity
induces them to suppress the knowledge of the assistance
which they have received in the composition of their
works. In many cases, in fact, the real author of the
drawings or the descriptions in books on Natural History
is not so much as mentioned, while the pretended author
assumes to himself all the merit which the world is
willing to allow him. This want of candour I could
never endure. On the contrary, I feel pleasure in here
acknowledging the assistance which I have received from
a friend, Mr. William MacGillivray, who being possessed
of a liberal education and a strong taste for the study
of the Natural Sciences, has aided me, not in drawing
the figures of my Illustrations, nor in writing the book
now in your hand, although fully competent for both
tasks, but in completing the scientific details, and
in smoothing down the asperities of my Ornithological
Biographies.
In the introduction to Volume IV he added that the
anatomical descriptions, as well as the sketches by
which they are sometimes illustrated, have been executed
by my learned friend, William MacGillivray, who in the
most agreeable manner consented to undertake the labour,
by no means small, of such a task, and to whom those
who are interested in the progress of Ornithological
science, as well as myself, must therefore feel
indebted.
Audubon evidently believed that this printed acknowledgment was just;
MacGillivray was as plainly satisfied, so that complaints which have
been made against the naturalist on this score seem to have been
rather groundless. It might be noticed that bookmaking at that time
was regarded as more of a trade than at present; as Sir Walter Besant
remarks, a traveler would often give his notes to a bookseller, who in
turn would hand them over to a literary hack to be cast into suitable
form.
[Illustration: AUDUBON'S INSCRIPTION IN THE COPY OF THE
"ORNITHOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY" PRESENTED TO WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY]
A fine token of the friendship which existed between these two men was
discovered in the summer of 1903 in a London bookshop, where it was
found reflected in the pages of a handsomely bound copy of Audubon's
_Biography of Birds_; on the title pages were inscribed the autographs
of William MacGillivray, while on the first page of the introduction to
the first volume the hand of Audubon had written this dedication:
These volumes are presented to William MacGillivray with
sentiments of the highest esteem and best wishes by his
truly and sincerely attached friend
JOHN J. AUDUBON
Edinburgh July 1 t 1839.
Professor John Wilson gave the third volume of the _Ornithological
Biography_ a very handsome notice in _Blackwood's Magazine_, and on New
Year's Day, 1836, Audubon acknowledged the compliment in the following
letter:[127]
_Audubon to John Wilson_ ("_Christopher North_")
MY DEAR FRIEND:—
The first hour of this new year was ushered to me
surrounded by my dear flock, all comfortably seated
around a small table in middle-sized room, where I
sincerely wished you had been also, to witness the
flowing gladness of our senses, as from one of us
"Audubon's Ornithological Biography" was read from your
ever valuable Journal. I wished this because I felt
assured that your noble heart would have received our
most grateful thanks with pleasure, the instant our
simple ideas had conveyed to you the grant of happiness
we experienced at your hands. You were not with us,
alas! but to make amends the best way we could, all of
a common accord drank to the health, prosperity, and
long life, of our generous, talented, and ever kind
friend, Professor John Wilson, and all those amiable
beings who cling around his heart! May those our
sincerest wishes reach you soon, and may they be sealed
by Him who granted us existence, and the joys heaped
upon the "American woodsman" and his family, in your
hospitable land, and may we deserve all the benefits we
have received in your ever dear country, although it
may prove impossible to us to do more than to be ever
grateful to her worthy sons.
Accept our respectful united regards, and offer them to
your family, whilst I remain, with highest esteem, your
truly thankful friend and most obedient servant,
JOHN J. AUDUBON.
Wilson had said in his earlier review:
We do not believe that till within these few years,
he had any practice in composition.... Yet Genius,
if from circumstances behindhand in any common
accomplishment, soon supplies it—soon makes up its
lee-way—or rather, it has only to try to do what it has
never done before, and it succeeds in it to admiration.
Audubon, who had written but little even in his native
tongue—French—under a powerful motive, took to writing
English; and he was not long in learning to write it
well, not only with fluency, but eloquence, as the fine
extracts we have quoted show in unfading colours.
The following comment on Audubon's second volume of the _Biography_
appeared in the _Athenæum_ for 1835:
If only considered as evidence that it is in the power
of man to achieve whatever he _wills_, and that no
obstacles are too great to be overcome by energy and
devotion of purpose, it would claim our good will and
best wishes.
He has told what he has seen and undergone, not perhaps
in the smooth nicely balanced periods of a drawing-room
writer ... but with unstudied freedom, rising at times
to eloquence, nor been ashamed to utter the thousand
affectionate and benevolent feelings which a close and
enthusiastic communion with nature must nourish. The
work is full of the man.
The winter and spring of 1835 were spent in London, and though
suffering from the strain of overwork, Audubon kept doggedly at his
tasks. On April 20 he wrote to Bachman:
Immediately on my arrival in London I set to writing,
and finished in one month, one 4th. of the Biographies
of my 3d. vol. This rendering me _puffy_, I could
scarcely breathe—my appetite was gone—my digestion
bad—in other words I was attacked by Dyspepsia as bad as
ever. Then I thought of a change of work—for in change
of labour the body and the mind undergo sure and certain
relief. I took to Drawing! and what do you think—I have
positively finished 33 drawings of American birds in
England. This has enabled me to swell my 3d. vol. of
Illustrations with 57 species not given by Wilson and
therefore forestalling my friend Charles Bonaparte.
On the 28th of April Audubon wrote to Edward Harris, begging him
to send specimens of certain birds which he needed, as well as a
circumstantial account of the shad fisheries of the Delaware River
as material for an "Episode" for the third volume of his _Biography_;
the fiftieth number of his illustrations was then in the hands of the
colorist. He continued:[128]
I thought better to push my publication on account of
the woeful dulling of the times in this country, where
political strife engrosses the mind of every person so
much that arts and sciences are, as it were, put on
the shelves. Ministers are beings of six weeks lives
now-a-days. The Reformers are struggling against the
Tories, and vice versa. The Churchmen are aghast at the
prospect of the future, and all this puts a complete
stoppage to business, independent of such matters. Even
since my return to England I have obtained only two or
three subscribers, and have lost more than a dozen;
nay, I may safely say, two dozen. In America, on the
contrary, things appear to go on more prosperously.
May God's will grant a long continuation of this to our
_only Land_ of Liberty. France, you will have heard, has
at last passed an order for the payment of her debts
to the citizens of the United States, and I hope that
this may prove amply sufficient to save us from having
a war with that powerful nation.... I wrote you that
Dr. George Parkman, of Boston, would have my 2d. volume
of Biographies reprinted in his city. I have seen 100
pages of this reprint here, but do not know if the Vol.
(American Ed.) has appeared before the Public?
My—Friends—erton, Ord & Co. keep up their curious
animadversions against me still—methinks they must
be shockingly mortified at my stubborn silence toward
them. Some unknown friends now & then reply to their
absurdities.
His persistent heckler, Charles Waterton, was quite busy at this time,
four articles having been directed against Audubon or his friends in
1835, though this was not his most prolific year. A similar reference
occurs in a letter written to Bachman from Edinburgh on the 20th of
July: "As to the rage of Mr. Waterton, or the lucubrations of Mr. Neal,
who by the bye is a subscriber to the Birds of America (bona fide), I
really care not a fig—all such stuffs will soon evaporate, being mere
smoke from a Dung Hill."
In the summer of 1835 Audubon was again established in Edinburgh and
working with unremitting vigor at his _Biography_; some idea of the
speed which he maintained when able to devote himself unreservedly to
this task can be gathered from the fact that after the issue of his
second volume, of 620 large pages, in December, 1834, the third, of 654
pages, was published in just a year from that time. He wrote to Edward
Harris from Edinburgh on the 5th of July, when engaged in this work:
I intend to write a few ["Episodes"] of such
extraordinary men, now deceased, with whom I have been
acquainted—Thomas Bewick, and Baron Cuvier, for example.
We receive no new subscribers in Europe. The taste
is passing for Birds like a flitting shadow—Insects,
reptiles and fishes are now the rage, and these fly,
swim or crawl on pages innumerable in every Bookseller's
window. When this is also passed, naturalists will
have to turn over a new leaf and commence afresh, or go
to the antipodes in search of materials to please the
taste for novelty's sake.—However my work will I hope be
finished ere I leave this world, and must be appreciated
in years to come, when perhaps my childrens' children
will feel proud of their gone ancestor, "The American
Woodsman." You see my Dear Friend how far enthusiasm
and a portion of the like for standing fame carries
even your humble servant a man with no other means
than his industry and prudence as a means of support,
and one with scarce the motive of education. There are
moments, and they are not far between, when thinking
of my present enormous undertaking, I wonder how I have
been able to support the extraordinary amount of monies
paid for the work alone, without taking cognizance
of my family and my expeditions, which ever and anon
travelling as we are from place to place and country
to country are also very great. When I publish my Life
and let the world know that Audubon like Wilson, was at
Phila. without the half of a Dollar, and that had it not
been for benevolent generosity of a certain Gentleman
whose name is Edward Harris, Audubon must have walked
off from one of the fairest of our Cities like a beggar
does in poor Ireland, left destitute of all things save
his humble talents, and his determination to produce
something worthy of the soul of man: I say my dear
Harris will not the world stare! Poor Wilson was only
better off than I on account of his superior talents
over me at driving the goose quill, but much similarity
still seems to have [existed] in both of us, as I could
drive the pencil, the brush, the Fiddle bow and even the
"Fleuret" [better] than he.
Audubon wrote to Harris again from Edinburgh, on September 5, when he
said:
Between you and I the measurements of different Birds
given by Wilson are hardly to be depended upon, as I
constantly discover a great deficiency in this part
of his descriptions which indeed in some cases are
otherwise slack, and given as if when fatigued or vexed.
Nay I even think at times that he has copied _Authors_
and not nature? as in the instance of the Oyster
Catcher, which I fear he made & figured from a European
one in the Philadelphia museum, took the descriptions
from _Latham_, and described the Habits of Palliartus
which is our own Bird and it seems the only species
to be met with in America, at least on our Atlantic
coast. Wilson committed the same blunder with the Rallus
elegans which he _figured_ and described the habits of
the R. capitans for it! I could enumerate more instances
of carelessness, but poor Wilson is dead and may God
bless his soul!
The third volume of his letterpress,[129] which dealt with the water
birds of America, made its appearance at the close of 1835; in the
introduction he said:
I look forward to the summer of 1838 with an anxious
hope that I may then be able to present you with the
last plate of my Illustrations, and the concluding
volume of my Biographies. To render these volumes as
complete as possible, I intend to undertake a journey to
the southern and western limits of the Union, with the
view of obtaining a more accurate knowledge of the birds
of those remote and scarcely inhabited regions. On this
tour I shall be accompanied by my youngest son, while
the rest of my family will remain in Britain to direct
the progress of my publication.
[Illustration: EARLY UNPUBLISHED DRAWINGS OF AMERICAN BIRDS: ABOVE,
"CAPRIMULGUS VOCIFERUS. WHIPPOORWILL FEMELLE. A. W. MAY 7TH, 1812.
PENNSA. NO. II"; BELOW, "ROBIN A. WILLSON. TURDUS MIGRATORIUS.
LITORNE DU CANADA—MALE—BUFFON—DRAWN BY J. J. AUDUBON JANY. 4,
1807—NEW YORK. NO. 102."
Published by courtesy of Mr. Joseph Y. Jeanes.]
Audubon returned to London with his family early in 1836, visiting
Newcastle, York, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield by the way, and took a
house at Number 4, Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square. As Mrs. Audubon's
health was anything but good, they were fortunate in having as a
neighbor in this street an eminent surgeon, Benjamin Phillips,[130] and
this friend was also a subscriber to _The Birds of America_. "Were I to
mention," said Audubon,
the many occasions on which he has aided me by his
advice and superior knowledge of the world, you would
be pleased to find so much disinterestedness in human
nature. His professional aid too, valuable as it has
proved to us, and productive of much inconvenience to
him, has been rendered without reward, for I could never
succeed in inducing him to consider us his patients,
although for upwards of two years he never passed a day
without seeing my wife.
In the spring of 1836 Audubon's two sons made a tour of France and
Italy; on the 9th of March he wrote to Harris that they expected
to leave England in a week, be gone three and a half months, visit
Paris, Rome and Messina, and return by way of Marseilles and Paris.
With the passage of 1836 he had completed 70 numbers, of 350 plates,
of his larger work, leaving but 85 plates yet to be engraved. Though
anxious to see this greatest of his tasks brought to an end, he still
looked with longing eyes to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast,
and began preparations for his last journey to obtain materials and
subscribers in the United States.