THK OOLOGIST. 



iO't 



woijrhed tlie advisal»ility of such an un- 

 (It-rtakinsf. He did not (juestion VVil-. 

 son's al)iliry and accinireinents, hut ho 

 did cantiou his friend aliout involving 

 himself in emi)ariassni(>nls which he 

 might ne\-er l)e able to meet. Mr. Bar- 

 tram referred him to Mr. l^awson, the 

 engraver, from whom he might gain an 

 estimate of the prol>al>iliry of getting 

 the plates matle and of the more impor- 

 tant Ihiug.the expense. Wilson aildress- 

 ed the following letter to Mr. Lawson : 

 "I am most earnestly bent on pursu- 

 ing my plan of making a collection of all 

 I lie drds in this part of North America. 

 Now 1 don't want jou to tluow cold 

 ^vater, as Shakespeare says, on this no- 

 tion, quixotie as it may appear. I have 

 so long been accustomed to the buiUI- 



I i. g of airy castles and brain windmills, 

 .hat it has become one of my earthly 

 .•omforls, a sort of mngh bone which 

 amu<;es me when sated witliiiirdidl 

 drudgeries of life." 



Mr. Lawson fairly stated, in a way 

 far from eucouragiug, his candid opin- 

 ion of the .seemingly hazardous scheme. 

 Wilson carelully considered the advice 

 of" his venerable friend; hut his own 



^ ardor and inllexible resolution scorned 

 all opposition. Determination con- 

 (|uere<l and the result was he gave to 

 the world one of the greatest monu- 

 ments of human industry. A work 

 tiiually interesting to the scientist and 

 the man of business. Admired by both 

 the writer and the artist as examples 

 of clear expression of thought and ac- 

 curate delineation of nature's forms. 



Intent upon making his great design 

 a success he applied him.self indefati- 

 gai)ly to the procuring of the necessary 

 drawings and to observation of the 

 feathered songsters- Application to 

 his new employment consumed evei-y 

 leisure moment and he said he was 

 (diliged to sacrihce social enjoyments 

 for the purpose of impro\ing in his 

 new vocation. 



His own letters written about this 



time to his friend Bartram show how 

 rai)idly he was progressing in his work 

 and also show how thoroughly he was 

 enamored by his new pursuit. He at- 

 tempted to draw a few native birds 

 and sent them to Bartram for inspect 

 ion and correction. Accompanying the 

 drawings was a letter in which he said 

 that they were chi«'lly colored l)y 

 candlelight and henc(! abounded in im- 

 perfections. His collection of indigen- 

 ous birds was now enlarged; and he en- 

 tertained great h(»pes of oi)taining 

 many new ones in the coming summer. 

 He requested Bartram to write the 

 name of each bird on the back of the 

 drawings, as he knew only three or 

 four of them. 'J'o us it would seem 

 l)resumptuous enough if we were to 

 contemplate writing a treatise on 

 Ameiican Ornithology with a knowl- 

 edge of only three or four species. He 

 s-Au\ that the fac(^ of an Owl and 

 tile back of a Lark put him to a non- 

 plus, and he had already spent nearly a 

 week on different ones and afterward.* 

 destroyed them both, and got nearly in 

 the slough of despair. 



I :> March of the «ame year, 1804, he 

 writes to the same individual, that 

 Spring, that lovely season is at hand 

 and the pencil of nature is busily at 

 work with tints and outlines that baftle 

 all description. Soon we may look for 

 feathered strangers, flocking from the 

 south, to till the woods and Helds with 

 their sweet music. Let us look upon 

 those multitude of ha])py strangers just 

 arriving from the sunny south as so 

 many messengers come to proclaim the 

 power and miinilicence of the Creator. 

 He admits that he was an ardent ad- 

 mirer of the rural scenes of nature; but 

 since he had attempted to imitate her 

 productions, every bird and flower sug- 

 gested to him some new idea of beauty. 

 While others were amassing wealth he 

 was bent on gaining a familiarity with 

 the works of nature. While other.s 

 were immersed in deep schemes of 



