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ALEXANDER WILSON 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



1766-1813 

 BY WITMER STONE 



ALEXANDER WILSON has been termed "the father of American 

 Ornithology," and not without reason. He was not the pioneer 

 writer upon American birds as Catesby, Forster and others pre- 

 ceded him by many years, but to him we are indebted for the first 

 comprehensive work on the birds of our country at large, and the 

 first work which merited the title that he bestowed upon it, Amer- 

 ican Ornithology. 



Wilson's Ornithology was not a scientific work so far as mat- 

 ters of anatomy and taxonomy were concerned. Indeed, knowl- 

 edge of these subjects was not very far advanced at that day 

 and our author had given them little attention. His aim was to 

 picture each bird as accurately as his skill permitted both with 

 brush and pen and to include in his text, backgrounds and side- 

 lights upon its life and haunts drawn from his travels and rambles 

 through wood and field. 



Love of nature always predominates over technique and this 

 spirit of the Ornithology seems to have pervaded much of our 

 subsequent ornithological literature to a great extent. Possibly 

 the nature of the study is to some degree responsible, but this early 

 work seems to have set a style which has been followed in the vol- 

 umes that have succeeded it. 



Wilson's character is in no small degree reflected in his work. 

 He was not a scientific man in the modern sense, not a closet 

 naturalist, but a poet who loved nature for herself and he took up 

 the study of ornithology not as science but because the beauty of 

 the birds and the melody of their songs appealed to him. 



