JOINT WORK COMPLETED 
73 
family in Edinburgh for the last time, he says they 
found “my friend MaeGillivray and myself up to 
the elbows among the birds which I had brought 
in spirits from America—I acting as Secretary, he 
as Prime Minister. Under his kind tuition I think 
“ I have learned something of anatomy/’ etc. 
On the joint work being thus so satisfactorily 
completed, Audubon, by way of a pleasant leave- 
taking, planned and carried out an excursion to the 
Scottish Highlands, which he had always wished 
to see, but for which time had not hitherto been 
available. This excursion he graphically describes 
towards the conclusion of the preface to the fifth 
volume. “When September,” he writes, “had 
mellowed the general aspect of Nature, the long 
cherished desire of obtaining a glimpse of the 
Highlands of Scotland filled our hearts anew, and 
we resolved to visit the mountains and lakes so 
beautifully described by the illustrious Scott. The 
weather was as fine as we could wish. My good 
friend MaeGillivray, by way of taking a holiday, 
accompanied us.” The party consisted of himself, 
his wife, his son John with his wife and child, and 
MaeGillivray. Their route was by steamer to 
Stirling, and thence to Callander, Loch Lubnaig, 
the Trossachs, Loch Katrine, Inversnaid, etc., and 
home by Glasgow, Hamilton, and the Falls of the 
Clyde. Audubon’s description of the scenery in 
the course of the route is at times quite poetical, 
as well as finely picturesque, while it shows how 
entirely the whole party enjoyed the excursion. 
