In 1838 Bonaparte published a paper[114] in which appeared this comment:
Throughout the list I have quoted, as types of the species under consideration, the figures of the great works of Mr. John Gould and Mr. Audubon on the Ornithology of the two regions, as they must be considered the standard works of the subject. The merit of Mr. Audubon's work yields only to the size of his book; while Mr. Gould's work on the Birds of Europe though inferior in size to that of Mr. Audubon—is the most beautiful work that has ever appeared in this or any other country.
A reviewer in America,[115] who could not repress his resentment at the last remark, said: "It would be invidious to make any comment on this—to even insinuate a wonder that a personage bearing this world renowned name would consent to resign his reputation as a man of science, through all time, to the doubtful association of such an expression of mere professional spite."
John Gould, to whom Bonaparte referred, was perhaps the only ornithologist who ever grew rich at his profession. He was the author of forty large, illustrated folios, produced at the rate of about one a year, on the birds of Great Britain, Europe, Asia, and Australia, as well as those of numerous families of the tropical Orient. Audubon, in response to Bachman, thus referred to him when writing in London, April 30, 1835: "Gould is a man of great industry and has the advantage of the Zoölogical Society, museums, gardens, &c., and is in correspondence with Temminck, Jardine, Selby, James Wilson and the rest of the scientific gentry. His wife makes his drawings on stone. She is a plain, fine woman, and although their works are not quite up to nature, both deserve great credit."
Acting no doubt upon this expressed belief, Audubon became a subscriber to Gould's Century of Birds, published in 1831, and also to his Birds of Europe (1832-37). In the preface to the latter work, "J. J. Audubon, Esq.," and twenty others are thanked "for the warm interest which they have at all times taken in the present work"; it was also said that the greater part of the plates of this series, those of his Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains and his Monograph on the Trogons, as well as three-quarters of those of the Monograph on the Toucans, "have been drawn and lithographed by Mrs. Gould, from sketches and designs by myself always taken from nature." It should be noticed also that Gould appeared as a subscriber to The Birds of America in 1838, but his name was soon dropped.
Gould was preëminently a museum naturalist, of strong commercial instincts, and spent but little time in the field. His books were mainly composed of illustrations made by artists from stuffed specimens, with a text of so thin a quality as to possess little scientific value; but, as Alfred Newton has remarked, a scientific character was so adroitly assumed that scientific men have often been deceived. In his best work, that on the Humming Birds,[116] the plates are enlivened by numerous specimens of tropical flowers and fruits, an accessory not so noticeable in his early productions. It has been said that Gould sought and received Audubon's aid in the composition of some of his plates, and that thereafter his figures began to show more vitality. The over-zealous writer quoted above[117] made the charge that Gould not only received much unacknowledged aid from Audubon, but copied his drawings; he mentioned five cases of what he called "picking and stealing," in one of which the Red-headed Pochard is declared to have been copied from Audubon's Scaup Duck: "here the trick is so shallow," he adds, "that detection cannot for a moment be at fault. You see that the Scaup Ducks have been accurately outlined, then lifted from the original 'grounding,' and let down upon a new one, by Gould, who found it safer for his pencil to adjust earth and water differently beneath them, than to tamper in the slightest degree with the proportions of the figures themselves." Suffice it to say that there is little or no substantial basis for such odious charges.
Gould is said to have possessed a kind heart under a rather gruff exterior. The following anecdote of his methods comes at second hand from his friend and collaborator, Mr. Bowlder Sharpe. Mr. Gould was invited to dine at a well known country estate, where were gathered numerous representatives of wealth and aristocracy. The attention of the ornithologist was soon directed from the guests to a bird on the lawn, which he was watching intently when dinner was announced; abruptly leaving the table with the remark that dinner was of no consequence to him when he could study a bird, he returned to the window and stood there munching a roll or piece of bread. Of course the seated guests began to inquire who the peculiar individual was, and were quietly informed by their host that it was "Mr. Gould, the famous ornithologist." The meal over, Gould selected a promising looking young nobleman and began to tell him about the habits of the bird which had so fascinated him; "that species," he said, "I have described in my Birds of Europe. Of course, you have seen my Birds of Europe." The nobleman was obliged to admit that he had not. "Why," said Mr. Gould, "you must have seen it; every country gentleman has it in his library. Won't you let me put you down for a copy?" Naturally he could not refuse a work which every country gentleman possessed, and down went his name on the list; later he received the volumes and also a bill for fifty pounds. John Gould is said to have left a fortune of eighty thousand pounds.
Probably no class of men with kindred tastes are bound together with stronger ties of good fellowship than the naturalists. Their free-masonry extends to every clime and race, and knows no distinction of language, class or station; but, as with all serious workers, occasional jealousies or disputes occur to ruffle the serenity of their lives. Though we have been obliged to touch upon some of these incidents, they are nevertheless quite exceptional.