AUDUBON AND MACGILLIVRAY 135 



ough anatomist, who stood firmly on his own feet and 

 was destined to advance his favorite study in a notable 

 degree. Audubon at this time was forty-five, but in 

 anatomy the older man gladly sat at the feet of the 

 younger and acknowledged him master; while this 

 young anatomist was dissecting, Audubon in the role 

 of student was seated by his side, and we may be sure 

 that little escaped his penetrating eye and keen intelli- 

 gence. To MacGillivray, on the other hand, Audubon 

 was master of his art, and to him he looked for criticism 

 of his own artistic efforts; after him he named a son, 

 and to him dedicated a child of his brain.* In short, 

 MacGillivray looked upon Audubon as his best friend 

 in the world, and the latter fully appreciated his indebt- 

 edness to this able assistant. MacGillivray continued to 

 aid Audubon with his letterpress, revising and probably 

 contributing most of the technical details ; in the fourth 

 and concluding volumes, published in 1838 and 1839, 

 the large store of anatomical matter and many excellent 

 drawings were duly acknowledged as coming from his 

 hand. His own writings were varied and numerous, 

 but were generally characterized by a high degree of 

 excellence. His History of British Birds, in five vol- 

 umes (1837-1852), was too extended and too technical 

 ever to become popular, but in that work, for the first 

 time in the history of science, classification was placed 

 on a strictly anatomical basis. MacGillivray even fol- 

 lowed Audubon to some extent by introducing into this 

 work "delineations of British scenery and character," 

 but under another head. The sixth of his "Lessons in 

 Practical Ornithology" recounts in dialogue form the 



» The Rapacious Birds of Great Britain, by William MacGillivray, was 

 dedicated to Audubon "in admiration of his talents as an ornithologist, 

 and in gratitude for many acts of friendship." 



