184 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Audubon to Edward Harris 



Edinburgh December 19th., 1838. 

 My dear Friend : 



Your letter of the 13 th. instant to Victor reached us this 

 morning, and glad were we all to hear from you. 



My object in writing to you is, for the purpose of assuring 

 you that I feel great [pleasure] in preparing a box of bird 

 skins for you according to your desire. It is true, however, 

 that I am now on the eve of commencing my synoptical arrange- 

 ment of our birds, I shall not be able to show you as many of 

 my specimens [as] I could otherwise have done, but you must 

 take the will for the deed. The Box will be taken as far as 

 London by Victor, Avho will leave us on the first of January. 

 You will find in it a list of the contents, and I trust such bird 

 skins as may answer your purpose well. Besides these Victor 

 will also attend to your request as soon as in New York and 

 will ship to you by way of Havre as you direct. 



I am glad that you should have seen what you conceive to 

 be the great rara avis F. Washingtonii. I am sorry you could 

 not have pocketed it, but who knows if it is not left yet in store 

 for you — and I to shoot a pair of these noble birds at The 

 West, and that, after having satisfactorily examined its habits, 

 its eggs, or its young! Bonaparte, between you and I, is ex- 

 ceedingly ignorant as regards our birds, as I found to my cost 

 when he was in London, and where he pumped me sadly too 

 much, but it is now over and I forgive him as I do all others who 

 have or who may try to injure me. 



John Bachman wrote to me that he had left in commission 

 to Trudeau, the purchase for me of a copy of Vieillot's Oiseaux 

 de l'Amerique Septentrionale, and also a copy of Boie or Boje 

 work 10 on birds generally, but I have received neither books or 



10 Voyage Autour du Monde, execute" par ordre de sa Majesty I'Em- 

 pereur Nicholas ler, sur la Corvette he Seniavme, 1S26-1S2U. Par Frederic 

 Lutke, Capitaine de vaisseau. Partie Historique, avec un atlas, lithographie, 

 d'apres les dessins originaux d'Alexandrie Postels et du Baron Kittlitz. 

 Traduit du Russe sur le manuscrit original, sur les yeux de l'auteur, par 

 Le Conseiller D'Etat F. Boye. Text in 3 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1835-36. The 

 first two volumes are historical, and the third, entitled "Travels of the 



