AUDUBON AND MACGILLIVRAY 137 



alive, and though dead has not been forgotten; in 1890 

 a beautiful tablet was dedicated to him in Aberdeen, 

 and at the same time a worthy monument was raised 

 to his memory at Edinburgh. 9 



In authorship the public is mainly interested in see- 

 ing merit duly acknowledged. Said Audubon, in the 

 introductory address to his first volume : 



There are persons whose desire of obtaining celebrity in- 

 duces them to suppress the knowledge of the assistance which 

 they have received in the composition of their works. In many 

 cases, in fact, the real author of the drawings or the descrip- 

 tions in books on Natural History is not so much as mentioned, 

 while the pretended author assumes to himself all the merit 

 which the world is willing to allow him. This want of candour 

 I could never endure. On the contrary, I feel pleasure in here 

 acknowledging the assistance which I have received from a 

 friend, Mr. William MacGillivray, who being possessed of a 

 liberal education and a strong taste for the study of the Nat- 

 ural Sciences, has aided me, not in drawing the figures of my 

 Illustrations, nor in writing the book now in your hand, al- 

 though fully competent for both tasks, but in completing the 

 scientific details, and in smoothing down the asperities of my 

 Ornithological Biographies. 



In the introduction to Volume IV he added that the 



anatomical descriptions, as well as the sketches by which they 

 are sometimes illustrated, have been executed by my learned 

 friend, William MacGillivray, who in the most agreeable manner 

 consented to undertake the labour, by no means small, of such a 

 task, and to whom those who are interested in the progress of 

 Ornithological science, as well as myself, must therefore feel 

 indebted. 



9 For an excellent account of the life of William MacGillivray and of 

 his labors in natural science, see William MacGillivray, A Memorial Tribute 

 to William MacGillivray (Bibl. No. 211). 



