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Autographic notes of William MacGillivray, chiefly on British birds, 1836-40. MS 2159 |
The Sir Duncan Rice Library holds a copy of volume 2 of The Birds of America, covering parts 21-40, plates 100-200. The history of this volume is unknown. There is a full set of Audubon's Ornithological Biography (1831-1849; SB 5982(73) Aud) and the separately published text which accompanies the plates, which MacGillivray helped to prepare.
The Special Collections Centre holds journals and notes by William MacGillivray. In this excerpt from one of MacGillivray’s journals, a chapter entitled “The Two Ornithologists”, he discusses his relationship with James Audubon.
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Yellow-throated Vireo skin prepared by Audubon, and presented to MacGillivray, RN 26,959 |
One of 12 bird skins given by Audubon to MacGillivray.
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Polygala pubescens, North America. ABDUH:4/221 |
This is one of nearly 70 herbarium sheets given by Audubon to MacGillivray. They were collected by Miss Bachman, a relation of the Rev John Bachman, another of the American natural history greats. The Rev John Bachman collaborated with Audubon to produce a sister work on mammals, The Quadrupeds of North America (1846-1854). The two families were very close for many years, and two of Bachman's daughters married Audubon's sons, though both died young.
Audubon collected skulls of native Americans for Samuel George Morton's surveys of human variation, and some skulls also found their way to Aberdeen, presumably through MacGillivray. Previously housed in the Anatomy Museum, the collection of skulls came to light in 2009 and is now housed in the Collections Centre at Marischal College.
For more information on the University museum and archival collections please search the online catalogue