400 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



stories had produced. 11 On April 6 the persistent Mr. 

 Loudon called again and offered Audubon eight 

 guineas for an article, only to be again refused. Still 

 unwilling to admit defeat, the editor proposed to en- 

 gage William Swainson to prepare an extended review 

 of the naturalist's work, and in this he succeeded so well 

 that Audubon immediately relented and sent him a 

 paper. 12 Swainson offered to write the review for a 

 copy of the work at its cost price, and Audubon replied 

 in the following letter: 13 



Audubon to William Swainson 



LONDON, April 9th 1828. 

 MY DEAR SlE, 



Mr. Loudon called on me yesterday and showed me a letter 

 from you to him, in which many very flattering expressions re- 

 specting myself and my works you are so kind as to offer to 



"See Chapter XXVIII. 



"The seventh which he had contributed to the scientific press of 

 Europe, entitled "Notes on the Bird of Washington (Falco Washing- 

 toniana), or Great Sea Eagle," now believed to have been mistaken by 

 him for an immature stage of the true "bird of freedom," the White- 

 headed Eagle. It was dated "London, April, 1828," and was published 

 in Loudon's Magazine for July of that year. See Bibliography, No. 23. 



13 From the originals in possession of the Linnaean Society of London. 

 Swainson's scientific correspondence was taken with him to New Zealand, 

 where it remained fifty years, until returned by his daughter, who sent 

 it to Sir Joseph Hooker; it was finally purchased by a number of Fellows 

 of the Society, and presented to its historical collections. It consists of 

 934 letters written by 236 correspondents, from 1806 to 1840. Of the 

 24 letters written by Audubon, and dated 9 April, 1829, to 11 January, 

 1838, none has been previously published. Dr. Albert Giinther, who has 

 given a summary of their contents (Proceedings of the Linncean Society, 

 112th Session, 1900; Bibliography, No. 204) found them rather disappoint- 

 ing, since they dealt mainly with personal and domestic matters, and 

 were written in a style characterized as "fantastic and unnatural." 

 Through the kindness of my esteemed friend, George E. Bullen, Esq., 

 of the Hertfordshire County Museum, St. Albans, and through the 

 courtesy of the Council of the Linnaean Society and its secretary, Dr. 

 Daydon Jackson, I am able to reproduce transcripts of the most inter- 

 esting of these letters, which readers in America will, I believe, find 

 interesting because of their personal details. I am indebted also for 

 their good offices to John Hopkinson, F.L.S., and to William Rowan, Esq. 



