Audubon's diary transcripts were doctored to support his false claim of personally discovering Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii (Audubon, 1834)

Abstract

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A critical response to Halley's (2022) ‘Audubon’s diary transcripts were doctored to support his false claim of personally discovering Lincoln’s Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii (Audubon, 1834)’

“…(4) Finally, the contemporaneous diary kept by Lincoln, which was donated to the Delaware Museum of Natural History (now the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science), Wilmington, by a San Francisco bookseller in 1978 and only recently relocated by Halley in a locked cabinet at the museum. Despite Halley's assertion that it ‘provides support for Lucy’s version’ (Halley 2022: 329), it is of no probative value. Lincoln never mentioned whether Audubon was present when he shot the bird (Halley 2022).…”

“…Despite Halley's assertion that it ‘provides support for Lucy’s version’ (Halley 2022: 329), it is of no probative value. Lincoln never mentioned whether Audubon was present when he shot the bird (Halley 2022).…”

“…After analysing the relevant sources, Halley asserted that Audubon was not present at the time Lincoln collected the specimen. He discounted Audubon's narrative and Maria's version of the journal that place him with the shore party because they conflict with Lucy's transcription, which states that Audubon stayed aboard on 27 June, ‘Drawing all day’ (Halley 2022: 333). He pointed out that ‘on other days when Buchanan (1868) indicated that Audubon was drawing all day, the two diary transcripts are not in conflict’ (Halley 2022: 334).…”

“…He discounted Audubon's narrative and Maria's version of the journal that place him with the shore party because they conflict with Lucy's transcription, which states that Audubon stayed aboard on 27 June, ‘Drawing all day’ (Halley 2022: 333). He pointed out that ‘on other days when Buchanan (1868) indicated that Audubon was drawing all day, the two diary transcripts are not in conflict’ (Halley 2022: 334). He argued that it is unlikely Lucy miscopied that portion of the 27 June entry from either the previous or following day ‘when he was evidently not drawing all day’ (Halley 2022: 334).…”

“…Halley focused his attention on a single day of the expedition, 27 June 1833, in assessing whether Audubon personally discovered the first specimen of Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii (Audubon, 1834). He concluded that, contrary to what Audubon and Maria wrote and what has long been believed, the naturalist was not present when the bird was procured, pointing to the conflicting diary extract in Lucy's biography that he remained aboard his vessel ‘Drawing all day’ (Halley 2022: 333).…”