macgillivray] BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY 
367 
Macdonald (James), ca. 1811 
James Macdonald, M.A., was the author of the Agricultural 
Survey of the Hebrides, and merits no mention as an ornitho- 
logical writer, his only claim to notice here being the fact 
that his work contains at the end a passing notice of the 
birds of St. Kilda, in which the Great Auk is specially men- 
tioned, as also the Gannet and a few other birds. 
1811. General View | of | the agriculture | of the | Hebrides, | or | 
Western Isles of Scotland; | with | observations on the means 
of their improvement ; | together with a separate | account of 
the principal Islands ; | [etc. 3 lines] | Drawn up under the 
direction of | the Board of Agriculture, | with several maps. | By 
James Macdonald A.M. | [Quot.] | Edinburgh [etc. 4 lines] 18ll. 
Collation — 1 vol. 8vo, pp. vii + pp. 824, maps. Sea-fowls of 
St. Kilda at pp. 820-22. 
MacGilliveay (William), 1796-1852 
Of the private life of this great ornithologist compara- 
tively little is known. A Memorial Tribute was issued for 
private circulation by his namesake, William MacGillivray, 
in 1901, and a Life by the same author was published in 
1910, but the writer remarks that “ no detailed biography 
of Professor MacGillivray has ever been written, and the 
materials for such do not now exist. From an early period 
he kept journals of his life and work, and from these a bio- 
graphy of great interest and value could have been compiled ; 
but unfortunately all but two volumes were accidentally 
destroyed by fire in Australia many years ago.” 
Born in 1796, he spent his boyhood in Harris, going to 
Aberdeen University in 1808 and remaining until 1820 ; study- 
ing medicine at first, and being dissector to the lecturer 
on Anatomy in 1815 ; finally abandoning it for the fascina- 
tions of natural science. In 1820 he went to reside at 
Edinburgh, and became assistant secretary to Prof. Jameson 
(Regius Prof, of Nat. Hist.) in 1823. From 1831 to 1841 he 
was Conservator of the Museum of the Edinburgh College of 
Surgeons, a period which embraces the “ grand climacteric ” 
