A PEDLER WITH A FACE LIKE A BIRD 



41 



to sell it. I hope you will help me in the work by sub- 

 scribing to one of my books." 



Audubon saw his own spirit and purpose in this strange 

 forest pedler and wandering teacher. To use Audubon's 

 own words: 



"How well I remember him as he walked up to me! 

 His long, rather hooked nose, 

 the keenness of his eyes, and his 

 prominent cheek - bones stamped 

 his countenance with a peculiar 

 character." 



Audubon was then thirty 

 years of age. 



" I too," he said to the wan- 

 dering lover of birds, " am en- 

 gaged in the same studies as your- 

 self. Let me examine your col- 

 lection." He was surprised to 



find in this collection some birds that he had never seen. 

 The man's name was Alexander Wilson. 



He lent to Mr. Wilson some of his own plates, and the 

 latter went on his way. This man published a notable work 

 on American Ornithology and died a martyr to science. 

 He slept in the woods and lived on fruits and berries, and 

 brought upon himself a mortal sickness by following a rare 

 bird through a river. He never married. 



He may have suggested to Audubon the method of 



