24 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 66. 



claiming joint authorship at this time. It is said that Wilson 

 as a crowning effort toward artistic excellence, had intended 

 coloring the chief parts of these plates himself ; and the 

 publishers had resource to an artist who formerly enjoyed the 

 confidence of the author by his skill. The final volumes ap- 

 peared in January and May, 1814. George Ord was born in 

 Philadelphia, 1781, and died January 23, 1866. He was one of 

 the first vice-presidents, and later the president, of the Phila- 

 delphia Academy of Natural Sciences. His biography does not 

 appear in any work with which I am familiar. 



The awakening produced by the appearance of Wilson's fine 

 work quite naturally led to further discoveries in the ornitho- 

 logical line and a demand for supplements or a continuance of 

 the work in similar style. The recently organized Academy of 

 Natural Sciences was attracting men of ability in this line of 

 research : Ord, Say, Peale, Harlan, Bonaparte, Rafinesque, 

 Harris, Townsend, Nuttall, Audu,bon, Trudeau, and others. 

 The first three gentlemen, and William Maclure, president of 

 the Philadelphia Academy for some years, had made a collect- 

 ing trip in company to Georgia and East Florida in 1818, 

 which was interrupted by Indian troubles. Three years earlier, 

 in Guthrie's Geography, Ord had given technical names 

 to a number of new birds first mentioned in the belated 

 government report of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804- 

 06; and in his eulogistic remarks on Wilson, said: " May his 

 noble example stimulate some zealous naturalist to complete 

 the design of our ornithologist : a task by no means easy of 

 execution, but if accomplished with like success, will be attend- 

 ed with honour and fame commensurate to the hazard and dif- 

 ficulty of the undertaking." 



Agreeable to the orders of Secretary of War J. C. Calhoun, 

 an exploring and scientific expedition was organized, and de- 

 parted for the Missouri river region on May 5, 1819, floating 

 down the Ohio river from Pittsburgh. It was under the com- 

 mand of Major Stephen PI. Long, with Lieutenant Graham 

 and Cadet W. H. Swift as assistants. Major O'Fallon sub- 

 sequently became attached to the party as Indian agent. The 

 scientific corps included Dr. Baldwin, botanist; Thomas Say, 



