APPENDIX. 561 



bolt upright. Now, the plain fact is, those tufts are always erect, 

 and they cannot be otherwise by their particular arrangement on 

 the skin. It requires an effort in the bird to suppress them, and 

 this he invariably does when he is surprised. Now, Audubon's 

 great owl ought to have depressed them the moment he made his 

 appearance. His erecting them at once proves both ignorance and 

 falsehood on the part of Audubon in this affair. Still, the Jamie- 

 sons and Swainsons and Macgillivrays of the day swallowed this 

 palpable fraud, and have puffed up the author of it as one eminently 

 versed in the science of ornithology. Whilst I was in Rome, there 

 was a fine eagle owl kept in the Colonna Gardens, and close to its 

 cage there grew a large evergreen oak. Behind this tree I often 

 placed my friends, in order that they might see with their own eyes 

 how Audubon has deceived us in his description of the habits of 

 your great owl. But enough of this. I could soon fill twenty pages 

 with his gross ignorance of the birds which he affects to describe 

 with fidelity. You ask me in your last how I feel with respect to 

 your scribbles ? I will tell you how in a few words ; but I must lay 

 down the pen for to-day, as I always write my letters at early morn, 

 and we are just now (half-past seven) going to Mass. 



I have just received a letter from Mrs Loudon, informing me of 

 poor London's death. He had lingered long under a pulmonary 

 complaint. He was a most indefatigable man, and science will 

 have a great loss in him. Let me here tell you, in answer to your 

 query of how " I feel with respect to your scribbles," that whenever 

 I see your well-known handwriting on the back of a letter, I feel 

 sensations of pleasure not easily to be described. Your informa- 

 tion, your remarks, and your sentiments are most valuable, most in- 

 teresting, and most gratifying to me. Indeed, I cannot sufficiently 

 appreciate them. Oh, that I could have the satisfaction and happi- 

 ness of seeing your face again on my little island ! We shall be at 

 home all the summer. Come and make us merry again. 



I think you entertain an erroneous opinion of the Irish. Do not 

 trust to what you read concerning them in the English newspapers, 

 which are full of deception and falsehood as far as regards Ireland. 

 No words can express the horrible cruelties which we have exercised 



2 N 



