384 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



ing his arms about his neck, assured him that his long- 

 sought engraver had been found at last. Having given 

 this story, I wish it were possible to confirm it, but a 

 close examination of this plate proves either that the 

 story is a fiction, or that some other drawing was used 

 as a test of Havell's skill. 5 



The part which this interesting family played in 

 Audubon's success will be unfolded later. 6 Suffice it 

 now to say that Messrs. Robert Havell & Son, in Lon- 

 don, undertook afresh the production of The Birds of 

 America in the summer of 1827. The partnership was 

 divided or dissolved in 1828, when Robert, junior, w r ho 

 from the first did all of the engraving, took entire 

 charge of that part of the business, and moved his en- 

 graving establishment around the corner to 77 Oxford 

 Street; there it remained until broken up in 1838. Rob- 

 ert Havell, Senior, continued in charge of the printing 

 and coloring until 1830, when he seems to have per- 

 manently retired, two years before his death in 1832, 

 events which, as will be seen, are indirectly registered 

 in the legends of some of Audubon's plates. 7 



5 Mr. Charles E. Goodspeed, who recently sent me two of the original 

 plates of the Prothonotary Warbler, one bearing the legend "Engraved by 

 W. H. Lizars Edinr," and the other, "Engraved, Printed & Coloured, by 

 R. Havell Junr," called attention to the identity of the two engravings. 

 That these two impressions are absolutely identical in aquatint and line is 

 proved by applying a magnifying glass to any part of their surfaces, and 

 by counting and comparing the lines or dots within any selected area what- 

 soever; in short, they differ only in their legends, and in the coloring which 

 was applied by different hands. That such methods should have been 

 adopted for excluding Lizars' name is certainly surprising. In the first or 

 Edinburgh impression of Lizars' original plate, the artist's legend reads: 

 "Drawn by J. J. Audubon M. W. S.," and names of bird and plant appear 

 at the bottom of the plate in three lines: "PROTHONOTARY WARBLER. 

 Dacnis protonotarius. Plant Vulgo Cane Vine." In the London edition the 

 corresponding designations are: "Drawn from nature by J. J. Audubon 

 F, R, S. F, L, S.," and PROTHONOTARY WARBLER. Sylvia Protono- 

 tarius. Lath, Male. 1. Female, 2. Cane Vine.," in four lines. 



6 See Chapter XXXII. 



7 See ibid. 



