macgillivray] BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY 
369 
of 1850 in connection with the Natural History of Deeside and 
Braemar are thought to have hastened- his end, and after a 
visit to Torquay in 1851 , during which the fourth volume of 
the History of British Birds was published, he returned to 
Aberdeen, lived to see the fifth and final volume of his “ great- 
work ” issued in July, and died there on September 8 following 
( 1852 ). 
To MacGillivray has always belonged the enviable reputa- 
tion of writing one of the most original histories of British 
birds we possess. The consensus of opinion accords his 
History the merit of being original and accurate as well as of 
permanent value, but at the same time his peculiar methods 
of classification and nomenclature (most undoubtedly original) 
naturally aroused criticism and even condemnation. Of 
the two his nomenclature is perhaps the more unfortunate, 
yet it is intimately connected with his classification, which 
may be said to embody the result of his actual observations. 
He developed his system consistently, working it out upon 
the adaptive modifications of certain organs rather than 
upon morphological lines, as the theory of Evolution of the 
present day demands, and he had unbounded courage in his 
convictions, which enabled him to publish the results of his 
observations, although out of accord with the work of both 
contemporary and former writers. One notable feature of the 
History is the chapters on f Practical Ornithology ” given in 
the form of personal narratives, with anecdotes and imaginary 
dialogues. 
Dr. Coues has given an estimate of this writer, arising 
apparently from special knowledge, from which we cull the 
following paragraph : “ MacGillivray appears to have been 
of an irritable, highly sensitized temperament, fired with 
enthusiasm and ambition, yet contending, for some time at 
least, with poverty, ill-health, and a perhaps not well-founded, 
though not therefore the less acutely felt, sense of neglect ; 
thus ceaselessly nerved to accomplish, yet as continually 
haunted with the dread of failure. The result of such an 
unstable equilibrium as this will depend mostly on circum- 
2b 
