166 The Wilson Bulletin — No. GS). 



series at his command, extended over half a century. De 

 Wit CHnton. President of the Literary and Philosophical So- 

 ciety of New York, said in 1814 : "The life of Alexander 

 Wilson — a man whom we esteem and an author whose work 

 will always occupy an important rank among the writings on 

 natural history — exhibits the complete triumph of genius 

 over the want of education, and of persevering industry over 

 the evils of poverty. Without any other reliance than on his 

 own faculties, and with a force of exertion which nothing 

 could check or retard, he has obtained a celebrity in science to 

 which few men in this country can aspire ; although many may 

 be more highly favored with the endowments of genius, and 

 more extensively gifted with the advantages of early educa- 

 tion and the bounties of fortune. The life of Wilson shows, 

 conclusively, that the temple of fame is open to the most hum- 

 ble individual in the community, if he only attempts it with 

 zeal and industry and with judicious selection of the part 

 which he intends to act on the theatre of the world." ^ 



Tt is impossible to estimate the great services of Wilson to 

 the public. The literary and the nature student find in his 

 ornithological writing the same charming simplicity and truth- 

 fulness so keenly enjoyed in the classical works of Izaak Wal- 

 ton and Gilbert White ; his classification and nomenclature 

 may become obsolete, but his deli.ghtful life histories of the 

 birds never become old and uninteresting. Space will not per- 

 mit an extended bibliography of his biographies, but brief men- 

 tion will be made of the most important ones. 



Cromek's brief sketch of Wilson's life, appearing in Select 

 Scottish Songs, 1810, is probably the only one published dur- 

 ing his life. Directly after his decease, in bringing out his 

 final volimie of ornithology in 1814, George Ord published his 

 life, which also appeared the same year in the Portfolio pre- 

 ceded by a lengthy memorial by the editor, Oliver Goodfel- 

 low ; and later in Ree's Cyclopjedia, Vol. XL. Ord subse- 

 quently extended it by adding much of Wilson's correspond- 

 ence for the second edition of the ninth volume, the title of 

 ' American Medical aod Philosophical Register, 1814, Vol. IV. p. 514. 



