Vol. XVIII 

 190 



J Deane, Letters of MacGillivray to Audubon. 2^0 



UNPUBLISHED LETTERS OF WILLIAM MacGIL- 

 LIVRAY TO JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 



BY RUTHVEN DEANE. 



The publication of the letters of ornithologists of fame has 

 met with much favor of late, and we cannot add to the list any of 

 more real value and interest, than those of William MacGillivray, 

 whose reputation as an ornithologist and a teacher of natural 

 history, has always been valued so highly. I am under gi'eat obli- 

 gations to Miss M. R. Audubon, in whose possession the original 

 letters are, for the privilege of presenting them here. 



It has been known for several years that Audubon had selected 

 MacGillivray to assist him in the technical part of his ' Birds of 

 America,' and these letters are therefore of peculiar interest, as 

 they treat principally upon the progress of its publication and 

 show the high regard in which he held his friend Audubon. It 

 is a very fitting time to publish these letters, for only a few 

 months ago a mural tablet to the memory of William MacGill- 

 ivray was unveiled at Marischal College, Aberdeen, Scotland, 

 where he was Professor of Natural History and Lecturer on 

 Botany from 1841 to 1852, and where a tombstone was erected 

 at his grave. A reference to the ' In Memoriam ' published 

 on that occasion, will be found in this number of ' The Auk.' 



During the past few years I have made very careful search for 

 a likeness of MacGillivray, but have not met with success. My 

 correspondent, the Rev. Dr. James Farquharson, of Edinburgh, 

 who was a student under MacGillivray, writes me that the only 

 likeness which exists is a small water-color which he had taken 

 of himself a short time before his death, but unfortunately this 

 fails to convey an idea of the man, and to present it as the like- 

 ness of MacGillivray would be utterly misleading. 



