12 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



ute's walk from the spot where most of Audubon's 

 Birds were engraved. Both had seen the naturalist 

 walk the streets of London and had known him in busi- 

 ness relations. He occasionally strolled into the old 

 naturalist's shop, which has been occupied by father and 

 son for nearly a century. The son, then a young clerk, 

 is now (1913) the crabbed veteran who still waits on 

 customers but never waits long; should you hazard a 

 question before making a purchase, he will roar like 

 the captain of a ship and leave you to your own devices ; 

 but show him money and the change in his demeanor 

 is wonderful; his hearing improves, his tone softens, 

 and he may recount for you what he remembers of 

 times long past, which is not much. Audubon in the 

 thirties seemed to him like an aged man, an impression 

 quite natural to a youth. He also remembered seeing 

 Charles Waterton, Audubon's declared enemy and 

 supercilious critic, William Swainson, his one-time 

 friend, and William MacGillivray, his eminent assist- 

 ant; that they were great rivals expressed the sum of 

 his reflections. He recalled the time when Oxford 

 Street was filled, as he expressed it, with horses and 

 donkeys, and of course knew well the old Zoological 

 Gallery, No. 79 Newman Street, in which for a time 

 Robert Havell & Son conducted a shop in connection 

 with their printing and engraving establishment. The 

 latter, when moved by Robert Havell, Jr., to No. 77 

 Oxford Street, was nearly opposite the old Pantheon, 

 which still lingers, and not far from the corner of 

 Wrisley Street, the present site of Messrs. Waring & 

 Gillow's large store. 



We already possess several biographies of Audu- 

 bon, and many of his letters of a personal or scientific 

 interest and most of his extant journals, though but a 



