Audubon evidently believed that this printed acknowledgment was just; MacGillivray was as plainly satisfied, so that complaints which have been made against the naturalist on this score seem to have been rather groundless. It might be noticed that bookmaking at that time was regarded as more of a trade than at present; as Sir Walter Besant remarks, a traveler would often give his notes to a bookseller, who in turn would hand them over to a literary hack to be cast into suitable form. [Illustration: AUDUBON'S INSCRIPTION IN THE COPY OF THE "ORNITHOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY" PRESENTED TO WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY] A fine token of the friendship which existed between these two men was discovered in the summer of 1903 in a London bookshop, where it was found reflected in the pages of a handsomely bound copy of Audubon's _Biography of Birds_; on the title pages were inscribed the autographs of William MacGillivray, while on the first page of the introduction to the first volume the hand of Audubon had written this dedication: These volumes are presented to William MacGillivray with sentiments of the highest esteem and best wishes by his truly and sincerely attached friend JOHN J. AUDUBON Edinburgh July 1 t 1839. Professor John Wilson gave the third volume of the _Ornithological Biography_ a very handsome notice in _Blackwood's Magazine_, and on New Year's Day, 1836, Audubon acknowledged the compliment in the following letter:[127] _Audubon to John Wilson_ ("_Christopher North_") MY DEAR FRIEND:— The first hour of this new year was ushered to me surrounded by my dear flock, all comfortably seated around a small table in middle-sized room, where I sincerely wished you had been also, to witness the flowing gladness of our senses, as from one of us "Audubon's Ornithological Biography" was read from your ever valuable Journal. I wished this because I felt assured that your noble heart would have received our most grateful thanks with pleasure, the instant our simple ideas had conveyed to you the grant of happiness we experienced at your hands. You were not with us, alas! but to make amends the best way we could, all of a common accord drank to the health, prosperity, and long life, of our generous, talented, and ever kind friend, Professor John Wilson, and all those amiable beings who cling around his heart! May those our sincerest wishes reach you soon, and may they be sealed by Him who granted us existence, and the joys heaped upon the "American woodsman" and his family, in your hospitable land, and may we deserve all the benefits we have received in your ever dear country, although it may prove impossible to us to do more than to be ever grateful to her worthy sons.