Charles Bonaparte is at Paris & is to remain there. I am well informed for about a fortnight.—He left London in great haste and I assure you has left no parcels or letters for you or anybody else either with us or with Havell.—I am sorry that he should have disapointed you & your dear Children but——.

I cannot say just now whether I have a specimen of Muscicapa Trailli "the Prince" having two of my giving, if however, I have another I will send it to you with great good will & pleasure—As regards your queries respecting several species of quiscalus or Crow black birds You are correct for I have myself discovered two in America one in the Floridas the other in the Arkansaw River, both of which will be given in my work.—That more exist I have no doubt especially further South and West.

You have described a swan in the Fauna Boriali Americana under the name of the Cygnus Bewicki, but as your measurements there and then given are very far from those of the swan now known under the name of Old Bewick I should feel obliged to you to let me know whether the specimen you described from was the identical bird procured by Captain Lyons, and of which that gentleman described the nest? And again I should like you to tell me whether you have seen the Clangula vulgaris of Linn. that in the months of April & May?

Many thanks for all your kind wishes & may you and yours enjoy the like return of many many new & happy years.—Call upon us when you come to Town and believe me my dear Mr Swainson ever sincerily

yours attached friend
John J. Audubon

I have had the jawache for nearly one week & have not been out of the house

4 Wimpole Street

Audubon's day of greatest triumph came on June 20, 1838, when he had the supreme satisfaction of seeing the last plate of his "Book of Nature," The Birds of America, completed. Having been begun virtually in the autumn of 1826, it was in press nearly twelve years. The sumptuous character of this work, its commanding beauty, as well as its surprising accuracy, considering all the obstacles of time and circumstance, mark it, when combined with its letterpress, as one of the most remarkable and interesting undertakings in the history of literature and science in the nineteenth century. Unique as it was in every detail of its workmanship, it will remain for centuries a shining example of the triumph of human endeavor and of the spirit and will of man. This is true in spite of any errors it may disclose, and even if it be conceded that bare bones and plain photographs are more valuable for elucidating the technicalities of science than the most artistic productions of the pen, pencil or brush.

Audubon's labors in England, however, did not end with the completion of his plates, for two volumes of his "Biographies" still remained to be published. He was in London during the early summer of 1838, when he recorded a visit from John Bachman, who had come to Europe for the recuperation of his health. He was then obliged to hasten to Edinburgh, where he was soon joined by both Bachman and Victor Audubon and later by other members of his family. For the convenience of work he took rooms near the museums, on the south side of the city, not far from Lauriston Place and within easy reach of "The Meadows," a well known recreation ground.