554 APPENDIX. 



only waiting the return of Mr Parrish to my house ; and that when 

 he comes here, I shall give him a letter for Titian, and shall request 

 him to take charge of a few of our British eggs, which I think will 

 be an acquisition to Titian's museum. 



And now let me request you most earnestly to write a critique on 

 Audubon's work. That ornithological impostor ought to be exposed. 

 Nobody in the world can handle the subject better than you can. 

 Moreover, you are in the identical country where all his wondrous 

 achievements are supposed to have been performed. Eliza and 

 Helen send their kindest remembrance, and long to see you again. 

 Come and spend the winter with us, and we will make you merry. 

 Believe me, my dear friend, ever truly yours, 



CHARLES WATERTON. 



To the Same. 



WALTON HALL, March 4, 1836. 



My dear Friend, I sit down to answer your kind letter of Novem- 

 ber 8, and the five in one of January 9, and to thank you for 

 the most excellent treat which they have afforded me. In my last 

 letter to London, I copied your capital remarks on the dipper. You 

 will see, in one of the magazines which I send you by this opportunity, 

 that I have given it pretty stiffly to Parson Orpen Morris, who is 

 nothing but a pert jackanapes : one of those insufferable coxcombs 

 who calls us Catholics idolaters and heretics, &c., from his pulpit. 



As to the oil-gland being used for lubricating the plumage, you 

 can only satisfy yourself that it is used for that purpose by means of 

 your sight. Now I have a rumpless hen here of course she has no 

 oil-gland I have another hen, which keeps her company, with an 

 oil-gland. You shall take a magnifying glass, and you shall examine 

 the feathers of these fowls as often as ever you choose ; nay, you 

 shall throw them both into the water, and if you find the least 

 difference in their feathers, either wet or dry, I will give you leave to 

 whip me once a week for a whole year. Add to this, that many of 

 those birds which are furnished with an oil-gland, cannot make use 

 of its contents on account of the dense tuft of feathers in which it is 



