118 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



a profession; of course he found it a poor crutch, though 

 he worked with indefatigable industry and produced 

 from one to two illustrated volumes each year. Eventu- 

 ally he became embittered against Audubon and towards 

 the world of men and things in general, especially after 

 1835, when domestic bereavement and trouble of many 

 kinds pressed hard upon him. He repeatedly applied 

 to the Zoological Department of the British Museum 

 for a position which went to others ; he tried to sell his 

 collections to the Museum and failed; he applied for 

 an appointment on the Civil List but was denied; then 

 he decided to give up the struggle of authorship in Eng- 

 land and leave the country. 



In 1840 Swainson emigrated with his family to New 

 Zealand, where he seems to have met with no better suc- 

 cess, although his scientific activity did not wholly cease. 

 Though four years younger than Audubon, he outlived 

 him five years, dying in 1856. His excellent draughts- 

 manship, tireless industry, and punctilious habits were 

 deserving of recognition, but he suffered from the lack 

 of a liberal education, and was rather too vain, too in- 

 clined to jealousy and to quarrel with his contempo- 

 raries, to have achieved great success. 



In a paragraph already quoted from the Ornitho- 

 logical Biography, in which Audubon portrayed the 

 eagerness with which some naturalists pressed forward 

 to describe new species of birds, too often forgetting 

 every propriety in their eagerness to outstrip a rival, the 

 name of his "excellent friend, Charles Lucien Bona- 

 parte," ^^ had been indiscreetly mentioned. Though 

 there was no evident intention of giving offense, this 

 reference was keenly resented. Bonaparte, it may be 

 recalled, was still engaged upon his American Orni- 



^For notice of Bonaparte see Note, Vol. I, p. 339. 



