96 CONSERVATOR OF SURGEONS 1 MUSEUM [oh. iv. 
there were things which he could do better than 
other people, and he spoke the simple truth when 
he said that, in his day, no one could draw a bird 
except Audubon and himself. 
MacGillivray’s last place of residence in Edin¬ 
burgh, before leaving it for Aberdeen in 1841, was at 
No. 1 Wharton Place, now no longer in existence, 
its site being occupied by part of the buildings of 
the Royal Infirmary. His immediate neighbour 
was Mr Fraser, the successor of Dr Neill of 
Canonmills Lodge in his well-known, old-estab¬ 
lished printing business there. The MacGillivray, 
the Audubon, and the Fraser families were on 
terms of close friendship with each other; and the 
late Mr Alexander Fraser, son of MacGillivray’s 
friend, then a boy, told me sometime before his 
death that he still remembered with pleasure the 
friendly meetings in one or other of the three 
family residences, and he specially mentioned one 
such meeting in Audubon’s rooms when John 
MacGillivray (MacGillivray’s eldest son), carelessly 
flourishing a stick, broke a glass case in which 
Audubon kept one of his ornithological treasures, 
to the great annoyance of the naturalist. Mr 
Alexander Fraser also told me that he, with John 
MacGillivray and John Audubon, then both young 
lads like himself, and afterwards eminent naturalists, 
were wont to go out on bird-shooting expeditions, 
and that on one occasion they were caught in 
Ravelston Woods, rather roughly handled by the 
gamekeeper, and had their gun taken from them. 
