50 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [nOV. 5, 



" My success in Edinburgh borders on the miraculous. I am 

 fc'ted, feasted, elected honorary member of societies, making- 

 money by my exhibition and my paintings. It is Mr. Audubon 

 here, "and Mr. Audubon there, and I can only hope that Mr. Au- 

 dubon will not be made a conceited fool at last." 



He continued to wear his hair long and flowing on his shoul- 

 ders, which made him very conspicuous wherever he went : and 

 once a stranger suggested to him to paint an Osage Indian 

 hunting wild turkeys, as likely to prove an attraction. On 

 which he comments : " No doul)t it would, for whatever is most 

 strange is most taking now. But so long as my hair floats over 

 my shoulders I shalT probably attract attention enough, and if 

 it hung to my heels it would attrict more." 



He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and comment- 

 ing on it in a letter to his wife, he says : " So, poor Audubon, if 

 not rich, thou wilt be honored at least and held in esteem 

 among men.' 



He now issued his Prospectus for the Birds of America, ar- 

 ranged his atfairs, and under the importunities of his friends, cut 

 ort' his hair which he had so long worn in ringlets, and started 

 for London. Here he worked very hard and painted many pic- 

 tures, a number of which, by the help of Sir Thomas Lawrence, 

 he was able to dispose of at various prices from £10 to £30. 

 Without the sale of them he was, as he says, bankrupt when his 

 work was scarcely begun, and all his hopes blasted, for he had 

 actually to borrow five pounds to purchase materials for his 

 pictures. When he had completed one of these, he would go 

 out in the evening and visit the shops of the Jews and others, 

 and take any price he could get for it. In this way he sold a 

 large number, and when in after years he sought to find these 

 pictures he was unable to trace a single one. 



Up to this time there was no text to his book, the plates alone 

 having been issued without any accompanying explanation. He 

 now commenced to prepare the Ornithological Biography, which 

 eventually filled five volumes. He felt himself unfitted for this 

 literary work, and applied to Mr. James Wilson of Edinburgh 

 to recommend some one who, to use his own words, '' would 

 undertake to correct my ungrammatical manuscript, and assist 

 me in ai ranging the more scientific part of the Biograph}' of 

 Birds," and was referred to Mr. William McGillivray. No bet- 

 ter or more fortunate choice could have been made, and what- 

 ever scientific value there is in Audubon's biography is derived 

 largely from McGillivray's cooperation. Audubon worked in- 

 cessantly at this book, McGillivray keeping abreast of him, and 

 Mrs. Audubon re-wrote the entire manuscript to send to 

 America and secure the copyrigiit there. 



