206 



THE OOLOGIST. 



SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF ALEXANDER 

 WILSON. 



The Planning of His American Ornithology. 



G. Vrooman Smith. 



IV. 



The solitary labor of teaching, at last 

 aroused the restlessness of Wilson's 

 nature and his spirits became much de- 

 pressed by the monotonous loutine of 

 a country school To him it became a 

 habit of resorting to his flute in leisure 

 moments, and his melancholy and de- 

 pression was greatly increased by so 

 doing. 



The consideration of the life of pen- 

 ury and dependence to which he seem- 

 ed destined as teacher of a country 

 school, contributed much to increase 

 his mental gloom. Fortunately foi sci- 

 ence there was living in Philadelphia 

 at this time an engraver, a Mr. Law- 

 sou, who was a close friend of Wilson, 

 and who afterwards greatly assisted him 

 in the publication of his great work. It 

 was to this friend that W^ilson disclosed 

 the gloomy state of his feelings. Mr. 

 Lawson promptly advised him to re- 

 nounce his flute and take up drawing 

 as better suited to remedy the melan- 

 choly condition of his mind. 



The attempt at drawing landscapes 

 and human figures was made, but the 

 results were unpromising and he threw 

 them aside in despair, saying that he 

 was too far along in yeai's, being then 

 about forty, to succeed in the art of de- 

 lineation. But the time was -near at 

 hand when his delineation of nature's 

 forms was to bring forth praise from 

 the greatest artists. 



Again his old friend Bartram came to 

 his rescue and advised him to attempt 

 drawing birds, anil lent him his own 

 portfolio drawings to copy.- The at- 

 tempt was made and we have only to 

 examine the plates of his great work to 

 see how successful those attempts were. 



The key-note of his nature was at last 

 struck. There seemed to be something 

 luagical in his new undertaking and 

 his success exceeded that of his wildest 

 expectations. 



When Vv ilson became absorbed and 

 interested iw an oiiject nothing could; 

 discoui'age him save that of complete 

 failure. In view of the many disad- 

 vantages attending his new pursuit, 

 such as drawing I)y candle-light and 

 the duties of his school consuming his 

 attention tliiring the hours of daj', he 

 never for one moment lost sight of the 

 goal of his ambition; that is of becom- 

 ing a thorough master of drawing, 

 birds. To show how completely he 

 was taken up by his vocation may be 

 seen from a letter written to Mr. Law- 

 son, dated March l'2th, 1804. He said 

 that for six days out of the seven he had 

 no more time than just to swallow his 

 meals and return to his sanctum sanc- 

 torum, as he chose to call his school. 

 For Ave days of the following week his 

 time was occupied with the same 

 routine of pedagoguing matter; and the 

 remaining two are sacriflced for that 

 itch for drawing, whicn I caught from 

 honourable self. 



For Wilson with his limited store of 

 knowledge on the subject of our native 

 birds, lo contemplate giving to the 

 world a complete work on American 

 Ornithology, Avould seem to us beyond 

 the bounds of reason and the possibil- 

 ity. But it did not appear so to Wilson 

 for in 1804 he was engaged in making 

 a collection and list of American birds 

 preparatory to future publication. Yet 

 this step of Wilson's was not so hasty 

 as it may seem, for he says himself that 

 he long turned it over in his mind be- 

 fore he asked the advice of his friends. 

 After carefully considering the difficul- 

 ties of the undertaking and of his own 

 ability, he ventured to disclose his in- 

 tentions to Mr. Barlram, his old friend 

 and adviser. Mr. Baitram at once en- 

 tered into the project and carefully 



