In a paragraph already quoted from the _Ornithological Biography_, in which Audubon portrayed the eagerness with which some naturalists pressed forward to describe new species of birds, too often forgetting every propriety in their eagerness to outstrip a rival, the name of his "excellent friend, Charles Lucien Bonaparte,"[110] had been indiscreetly mentioned. Though there was no evident intention of giving offense, this reference was keenly resented. Bonaparte, it may be recalled, was still engaged upon his _American Ornithology_, the last volume of which was not published until 1833, and was therefore, in a degree, a rival of Audubon in the ornithological field. Audubon did his best to smooth over the difficulty but with little success. In writing to his son, Victor, from New York in 1833,[111] he referred to the following letter which he was about to send "by duplicate, to try to correct that error" of his early friend: _Audubon to Charles Lucien Bonaparte_ TO CHARLES BONAPARTE, Prince of Musignano, &c., &c., &c. MY DEAR SIR:— I am sadly grieved to hear through our friend, Wm. Cooper, of this city, that you have taken umbrage to a passage in the Introduction to my first volume of Ornithological Biographies. To tell you that not even a thought of disparagement ever existed in my mind towards you, would not be enough. I have always repeated to all my Friends, nay, to all persons who have ever spoken of you, of the superior talents you possess, and of the Intrinsic value connected with all your ornithological or otherwise scientific productions. I am a plain sailing man. You know full well that I derive no knowledge from classical education, and that being the case, connected with my being honest, I always try to say what I think truth, at once. Could I have praised you at one place, and attempted to lower you in the estimation of the Scientific World at another? If so—I would acknowledge myself unworthy the good wishes of _any one_, much less of the good wishes of Charles Bonaparte! the very being who brought me forward into worldly notice by his kind advice. Nay, Nay; take me for what I am in truth Your Friend & ever your well wisher, as well as your obt. Sert. JOHN J. AUDUBON.