1'i-vri- ccxbl 



The Louisiana heron, plate CCXVll (217). Although the background {by George Lehman, one of Audubon's assistants) may be 

 somewhat fanciful as a representation of the Florida Keys, the engraving and coloring of the bird show the engraver Havell at his best. 



England — At all events we have a fine sett of all that is 

 published for you u 



On 18 November there followed the note to Harris: "I 

 will leave your Copy of my Work unbound until you 

 come...."" 



It was evidently at some time between the shipment 

 of Harris's volume 3 in June 1836 and the letter concern- 

 ing his "new entire Copy" in August 1837, that Au- 

 dubon, Harris, and Phillips hatched the plan of binding 

 up their copies of The Birds of America in Synopsis order. 

 Confirmation of their plan comes from Audubon's letter 

 to Harris on 7 July 1839: 



My Dear Friend, 



You will along with this receive a copy of my Synopsis of 

 our Birds which I hope will please you, and answer your 

 purpose, not only in the arranging your plates of the 



Birds of America, but also in here after detecting what- 

 ever New species may be discovered in our country; and 

 which no doubt will amount to a goodly number in a 

 score of years. 14 



Available documentary sources offer little detailed 

 information about Phillips's receipt of the plates for his 

 copy and no evidence that, like Harris, he first received 

 bound volumes which were later replaced by a new set of 

 loose prints. He seemed instead to have received only 

 loose plates. One of Audubon's business ledgers lists 

 Phillips's payment for "Vols. 1,2,3 (unbound).' 5 There 

 can be little doubt that Phillips, too, received his copy of 

 the Synopsis and he, like Harris, probably chose to 

 arrange his own plates in systematic order. This is all the 

 more likely since the arrangement of the plates in the 

 Field Museum copy departs at several points from the 



19 



