326 Stone, Bird Migration Records of William Bartram. [juiy 



parts of the Middle and Southern states, or raised from seeds ob- 

 tained in exchange from more remote countries. 1 

 "What is more interesting to the ornithologist is the fact that 



to this same garden came Alexander Wilson the Scottish school- 

 master, from his little county school house which stood near l>y, 

 and largely under the influence of "William Bartram and the famous 

 garden, he developed into Alexander Wilson the American Orni- 

 thologist. 



The diary begins with the very year that Wilson came to King- 

 sessing and had Bartram only seen fit to record his impressions of 

 the young schoolmaster and his subsequent activities, what an 

 historical storehouse this little volume would be! He kept it 

 strictly a 'Calendar of Nature' however, and so far as we can 

 gather from its pages such a man as Alexander Wilson might 

 never have lived. 



But there is a mine of information in these closely written pages 

 and the data on bird migration constitute, we believe, the oldest 

 record, covering a series of years, that we have for any part of 

 North America.. The record is by no means complete and every 

 year one or more common birds are omitted, while we must remem- 

 ber that Bartram was familiar with only a portion of our native 

 birds and made no pretense of being an ' ornithologist.' 



The diary is not continuous and the writer, like many another 

 keeper of journals found that it was easier to start on New Year's 

 than it Avas to continue the record day after day. It runs from 

 January 1, 1S02 to September 20, 1S0S missing here and there 

 a few days or once or twice as much as a month, and always more 

 detailed in winter and spring than later in the year. Then there 

 is a gap until January 1, 1S14 and another from February 13, 1S14 

 to January 1, ISIS, from which point it continues until December 

 31, 1822, about seven months before the death of the writer, 

 whose increasing feebleness is reflected in the wavering lines of the 

 handwriting. Eleven spring seasons are thus included, but only 

 the most familiar birds arc noted every year. Bartram was sixty- 

 three years of age at the opening of the calendar and eighty-four 



1 cf. William Bartram, By George Spencer Morris. 'Cassiuia', 1906, p. 1. The 

 Illustrations used in this biographical sketch are reproduced in 'The Auk' through 

 the courtesy of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. 



