200 
Coues : “ Behind the Veil: 
be remembered) would wish to become public ; and, among many of 
Audubon’s own letters to various persons who are to-day historic in 
ornithology, are others to him bearing the signatures of Swainson, 
Richardson, MacGillivray, Vigors, Yarrell, and other eminent Eng- 
lish authors. To one of these, from MacGillivray, I shall presently 
recur. 
One dark spot in the history of American Ornithology is cast by 
the cloud that passed over the intercourse between its two greatest 
men, Wilson and Audubon. I must say, so far as I can judge, that 
right rests with the latter in the matter of that Louisville meeting ; 
for I feel sure that Audubon’s version of the affair is more to the 
point than Wilson’s, — for each, you know, has printed it in his book. 
Wilson, the patient, the long-suffering, the football of fortune, with 
his sun setting upon a succes d’estime, so far as art was concerned, — 
Audubon, then flashing toward the zenith with his marvellous mas- 
tery of pen and pencil, — Wilson would have been more than human 
if the iron of envy had not entered his soul, and Audubon would 
have been less than humane had he not forborne. “ There is a great 
deal of human nature in mankind,” some one has wittily said ; and 
to human nature let that account be scored, in charitable silence. 
As the work of Audubon progressed, the original quarrel proved 
the fountain-head of a stream, rendered turbid by the mixture of 
money matters. But I have no desire to enlarge upon this ; the 
precise parallel may be found on any business street of any busy 
city. 
In examining some of Audubon’s drawings, I was struck by the 
width of the gulf, which might have been supposed unbridgeable, 
between the mature productions of the illustrious artist and his early 
efforts. Some of the latter are mere daubs, in fact, though obvi- 
ously completed. Yet, faltering and unaccustomed as is the touch 
of the hand, the germ of life is even there ; and we all know now 
what flower and fruit were then in embryo. 
As Mr. Wade had gathered his materials for a definite purpose, I 
did not feel at liberty to even ask for copies of any of the Audubon 
correspondence, and thereby lessen the novelty of anything he 
might wish to bring out. I have in my temporary possession, how- 
ever, an unpublished letter of Audubon’s, which I have the permis- 
sion of the owner to print. It belongs to Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, of 
the Army, who received it from Mrs. Audubon. It is written to 
Dr. Richard Harlan, and is interesting as relating to the discovery 
