THE OOLOGIST 



43 



Alexander Wilson's School- 

 House. 



COME friend knowing our weakness lias 

 ^ kindly sent us a c(ipy of the Gardner's 

 monthly lor August, in which we find a 

 very tine engraving of Wilson's school- 

 house from a drawing in the possession of 

 Dr Pvlliot Coues. 



Tiie editor justly says, ''■The Jiistory of 

 this great man loill he increasinghj studied 

 as time wears away, and then the little spot 

 where he worked so many hours icill have 

 a continued interest." We are sorry to 

 learn from the same article, that "the lit- 

 tle stone building used in connection with a 

 wheel-wrights shop, in which the celebra- 

 ted Wilson taught school, on the west 

 bank of the Schuylkill, near Gray's ferry 

 bridge, Philadelphia, on a recent ride by, 

 we see, has been torn down.'" 



Grossart's life of Wilson, 2 volumes, 8j 

 vo. (Paisley 1876) contains an engraving j 

 of AVilson's school-house, about which the 

 editor states : "It is with very special I 

 pleasure I am enabled to give here an en- | 

 graving (after a photograph) of the hum- 

 ble school-house within which Wilson, ' 

 for many years, taught and dwelt, 1 have 

 reason to believe that it has never before 

 been engraved. It is now situated within 

 the shadow of Philadelphia — G." Gros- 

 sart may be right in his statement that the 

 school-house had not previously been en 

 graved. But Wilson certainly never 

 '•'dwelt" in his school-house, at least so 

 far we have found no record of such fact. 



But we do find that at this time he 

 boarded with a Mrs. Leach adjoining the 

 "Sorrel horse hotel" a painting of which 

 and Mrs. Leach's cottage, by Alexander 

 Wilson is in our possession. 



In March 1870 a portrait of Wilson ap- 

 peared in Scribner's magazine, also an en- 

 graving of the school-house, which, with 

 the present engraving, if correct, the 

 ground has certainly been graded and many 

 of the trees cut away since the days of 



Wilson. We have an impression that we 

 have other engravings of W^ilson's school 

 house, but at this time we know not where 

 they are. 



We have in our possession an unfinished 

 sketch of the school-house, by Alexander 

 'Wilson nimself. This was drawn about the 

 time he wrote Wm. Duncan, Feb, 26, 

 1806, in which he states, "X write this 

 letter in the school-house, past ten at 

 night, L's folks all gone to roost, the fly-, 

 ing squin-els rattling in the loft above me, 

 and the cats squaling in the cellar below-" 

 Page 134, Grossart's life, vol. 1.— If this 

 drawing (whi(;his very probable) was made 

 about 1800, it must give us the school- 

 house and grounds in their original state. 

 All those that have been engraved were 

 taken years after Wilson's time, conse- 

 quently they do not give the original lay 

 of the ground, and many of the large trees 

 which overshadowed the building have 

 passed away. 



In our sketch the basement is distinct- 

 ly shown, and the entrance to the school- 

 house is over a board platform inclosed by 

 a railing, and the giant ti-ees overshadow- 

 ing the building would certainly make it a 

 paradise i'or flying squirrels. 



Meadow Lark. 



\_Sturnella Magna Siv.'^ 



AN June the 3d I found a Meadow Lark's 

 nest containing eight young birds and 

 one fresh egg. The egg was entirely 

 fresh. Four of the birds were almost full 

 fledged. Three were four or five days old 

 and one not more than two days old. In 

 my experience of years I have found noth- 

 ing to compare with this, except the Yel- 

 low-billed Cuckoo, (Coccygus Americanus 

 Bonap.,) which I have found ou more than 

 one occasion, with fresh eggs, and birds of 

 two hatchings. 



F. IIoopEs Matlack. 



