24 



THE OSPREY. 



copy of the first Volume of 

 Ornith. Biography; disap- 

 proves of S's engaging in 

 controversial matters in his 



article on "Female Nat- 

 uralist-. " 

 S May 183(1. About his mammoth publica- 

 tion; is greatly elated by his 

 election into the Royal 

 Society, and the recognition 

 of his works by the II. S. 

 Government. 

 26 July 1830. Considers a new Woodpecker 

 named by S. to be the young 

 of a well-known species; 

 gives 30 birds to the Brit. 

 Mus. 

 Manchester. About the same Woodpecker 

 22 Aug. 1830. — A. proposes to S. the pre- 

 paration of a new work, A. 

 giving ideas, S. putting 

 them into a pleasing shape, 

 both authors joining" their 

 households during the pro- 

 gress of the work. 

 London. 



n June 1831. A. returns to America for col- 

 lecting purposes. 

 6 Dec. 1837. A asks for the loan of some 

 birds. 

 11 Jan. 1838. About Prince Bonaparte. — 

 i ygnui bewickii and other 

 Northern Birds. 

 The memorandum of the letter which evoked 

 Swainson's rather caustic reply of "2d October, 

 1830," (OsPRKV, iv, p. 171,) was eagerly looked 

 for and apparently the provocative epistle was 

 that written from "Manchester" on the "22 

 Aug. 1830." The brief does not seem to talh' 

 well with the letter of Swainson, but no other 

 does better. Swainson's letter was certainly 

 not a direct answer, and the suggestion of part- 

 nership by Audubon was evaded or rather 

 ignored. If this letter of 22 August was the 

 only "lit', too, an error was made in the inference 

 that Audubon had returned to Edinburgh to 

 attend to the engraving and coloring of his 

 plates there. Apparently and naturally Swain- 

 son's answer put a stop to the intimacy of the 

 two, for there is no record of other letters from 

 Audubon for seven years, except one from 

 London dated "6 June 1831," announcing his 

 projected return to America. 



In "William Swainson and his Times" I as- 

 sumed that Audubon had already reached Edin- 

 burgh when he wrote the letter to Swainson, 

 but apparently he stopped on his way there. 



It was not till early in October that he arrived 

 in the Scotch capital. He then returned to "his 

 old lodgings at 26 Georg-e Street, Edinburgh, 

 where he felt truly at home with Mrs. Dickie." 

 Soon after he received Swainson's letter, lie 

 made the arrangements which resulted in the 

 text of his ornithological works. Miss Audu- 

 bon, in "Audubon and his Journals," (i, p. 64,) 

 remarks that "his choice of an assistant would 

 have been his friend Mr. William Swainson, but 

 this could not be arranged, and Mr. James Wil- 

 son recommended Mr. William MacGilliyray." 

 Miss Audubon later on (p. 65) adds: "the first 



volume of 'Ornithological Biography' was fin- 

 ished, but no publisher could be found to take 

 it, so Audubon published it himself in March, 

 1831." 



Audubon seems to have made enemies in 

 Philadelphia for two of the naturalists of that 

 city wrote letter- to Swainson about him the 

 only letters they sent to him apparently. Dr. 

 Richard Harlan, the author of a volume on the 

 mammals of North America, "Medical and 

 Physical Researches," and other memoirs, in 

 a letter of "20 Oct. 1829." calls "Audubon 

 industrious and proud" — no bad attributes, it 

 may be remarked. Prof. Samuel Stehnian 

 Haldeman, a versatile naturalist who lived till 

 1880, was more severe. In a letter of "Oct. 

 1840," he urged "strong charges against Audu- 

 bon who is not personally esteemed in America." 

 (Such is Dr. Glinther's diagnosis of the letter.) 

 Those who have known Professor Haldeman 

 can make their own inference from this state- 

 ment. 



Another very eminent— and good- ornitholo- 

 gist gave his opinion of Audubon's work in a 

 letter to Swainson from Florence of 30 July 

 1839. Charles L. Bonaparte, then Prince of 

 Musignano. (he did not become Prince of Can i no 

 till 1840,) wrote "about his movements," made 

 "notes on S's birds," and told that he had 

 "little faith in Audubon's drawings. " 



An antidote to Harlan's opinion may be 

 found in a judgment on that naturalist passed 

 by John LeConte, a well-known naturalist of 

 the first half century. He was then acaptain 

 in the United States Army, but chiefly resident 

 ill New York. In 1828, however, he was in 

 Paris and wrote thence under date of "11 May, 

 1828". He expressed the opinion that Harlan 

 was "a very rash young man." (The "young 

 man" was 32 years old.) 



"Under Audubon, Victor Gifford (son of J. J. 

 A.)," a letter dated "London, 8 May 1824". in 

 which the writer "expects his father to arrive 

 in England", is recorded. 1824 is evidently a 

 slip for 1834. At the time indicated b3 r Dr. 

 Giinther he was in Pennsylvania and New 

 Jersey. "April 10, 1824." Audubon records that 

 he was introduced to Charles Bonaparte in 

 Philadelphia and "July 12. 1824," he "drew for 

 Mr. Fairinan a -mall grouse to be put on a bank- 

 note belonging to the State of New Jersey." In 

 1834, he went to England; Audubon, with Mrs. 

 Audubon and their son John, sailed from 

 Charleston "for Liverpool, April 16," 1834 and 

 "joined Victor in London, in May, 1834." 

 There is no evidence of any notice having been 

 taken of Victor's communication or of its having 

 been followed up by a meeting of Audubon or 

 Swainson. 



Elsewhere we learn that apparently friendly 

 relations existed between Audubon and Harlan. 

 In a foot note in "Audubon and his Journals" 

 li. p. 65) it is recorded that Audubon wrote to 

 Dr. Richard Harlan on March 13, 1831, T have 

 sent a copy of the first volume [of the Ornitho- 

 logical Biography] to you to-day.'" Audubon 

 also dedicated to him a fine bird, Falco Harlani, 

 now generally known as a subspecies of the 

 common American Buzzard. Buteo borealis 

 harlani. That form appears to me, however, 



