PRESENTATION OF TABLET 55 



he lectured on natural history ; in summer on botany. 

 He made researches on foot over the whole of the 

 north-eastern district, making observations in every 

 department of natural science. He completed his 

 monumental work on the Historij of Britkh Bij'ds, 

 with several text-books and biographies of eminent 

 naturalists and other works, and last of all his 

 Natural History of Deesidc — a goodly amount of hard, 

 earnest work. He was buried in the New Calton 

 Burying-Ground of Edinburgh, the city he loved so 

 dearly, and in which he had done good work before 

 coming to Aberdeen. Arthur Seat and Salisbury 

 Crags seem to have been graven on his heart. It is 

 somewhat discreditable to both cities that almost half 

 a century has elapsed before any pubhc honour has 

 been done to his memory. Yet this delay has not 

 been without its advantages. Fifty years have con- 

 firmed the impressions of his old students, and, further, 

 have given us the approval of a younger race of 

 naturalists. It is gratifying to us to know that none 

 have taken a deeper interest in our movement than Pro- 

 fessors Trail and Thomson, MacGillivray's successors 

 in the University. Professor Trail has been untiring 

 in his aid from the beginning. But still further, this 

 long lapse of time has given a better perspective to 

 MacGilhvray's position. We see him in larger pro- 

 portions — we now know that he was more than a 

 great naturalist and fine teacher. His last work, the 

 Natural History of Deedcle, published by command of 

 the Queen three years after his death, shows him to 



