8o MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



and Bittern, which were in large part, from Wilson. Even the article on the 

 familiar Bluebird contains, near its close, a rather long paragraph from Wilson's 

 justly celebrated account of this species. As a rule the matter thus appropri- 

 ated is somewhat disguised by the frequent addition, omission, substitution or 

 transposition of words and sentences, as well as by the occasional interpolation of 

 original statements or comments ; but the thought remains essentially Wilson's, 

 and the verbal changes are rarely more than sufficient to give Nuttall's trans- 

 cript the character of a rather free translation, while in very many lines the text 

 of the two authors matches almost word for word. 



It is not less to be wondered at than regretted that Nuttall should have 

 resorted so freely to this practice. No doubt he considered it innocent enough, 

 believing that he had sufificiently changed the extracts from Wilson to bfing 

 them within the scope of legitimate compilation. At the time of writing his 

 ' Manual ' he probably knew less about birds than has been commonly supposed. 

 According to Durand, Nuttall " did not relish much his residence at Cambridge ; 

 he used to say that he was only vegetating, like his own plants. At last, his 

 friend, Mr. Brown, induced him to write a work on Ornithology." ^ From this 

 we gather that the task of preparing the Manual, although probably not uncon- 

 genial, was nevertheless more or less perfunctory. Apparently finding, as he 

 progressed, that his knowledge of his subject was deficient at many points, he 

 was forced to supplement it, more extensively than he cared to acknowledge, 

 by drawing on the works of earlier authors. But why, it may well be asked, 

 should he have borrowed from the brains or experience of others, when writing 

 of birds with which he himself must have been perfectly familiar ? Perhaps the 

 habit grew upon him until he became almost unconscious of it. Some such 

 explanation seems necessary to account for his appropriation of the Wilson par- 

 agraph relating to the Bluebird. This passage contains nothing of novelty or 

 importance, although as an expression of poetic and delicate sentiment it is truly 

 admirable. Nuttall, however, was by no means deficient in sentiment of an 

 equally refined quality, while he had a rare gift of phrasing his thought in 

 quaintly attractive language. Indeed it is chiefly to the literary excellence of his 

 ' Manual ' that this book owes its enduring popularity. Not that it is without 

 merit of other kinds. The portions which are compiled were taken from the 

 best sources of information available at that time, and Nuttall was too good a 

 naturalist and writer to deal with this matter other than intelligently and effec- 

 tively, as well as pleasingly. His accounts of his own experiences and observ'a- 

 tions are so very interesting and attractive that one is disappointed only because 



' E. Durand, Biographical Notice of the late Thomas Nuttall, Proceedings of the American 

 Philosophical Society, VII, i860, 305. 



