A MEETING OF RIVALS 203 



This man was Alexander Wilson, who, like Audubon, 

 was a pioneer in the study of the birds of his adopted 

 land, but who was twenty years his predecessor in point 

 of publication. The books which he then carried were 

 part of the first edition of his now famous American 

 Ornithology, the second volume of which had appeared 

 in Philadelphia at the beginning of that year. Though 

 not destined to be completed until after his death, this 

 work was to become one of the scientific and lit- 

 erary treasures of the nation, but it is not likely that 

 one in ten thousand had then ever heard of him, whether 

 as poet or as ornithologist, or cared anything about his 

 work or his mission. 



Wilson at that moment was starting on his last long 

 journey through the West and South, in search of new 

 birds. He also carried in his pocket a subscription list, 

 and therefore belonged to that class of visitor which is 

 seldom welcomed with rapture. At Lancaster, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Wilson's first important stopping-place, and at 

 that time the capital of the State, Governor Snyder put 

 down his name for $120, the price of the completed work. 

 This seemed a good omen, but, at Hanover, in the same 

 state, an incident occurred which might have discour- 

 aged a less determined man; the interview has become 

 historical, and we shall give Wilson's own relation of 

 it: 1 



Having a letter from Dr. Muhlenburgh to a Clergyman in 

 Hanover, I passed on through a well cultivated country, chiefly 

 inhabited by Germans, to that place, where a certain Judge 

 Hustetter took upon himself to say, that such a book as mine 

 ought not to be encouraged ; as it was not within the reach of 



a ln a letter to Alexander Lawson, written from Pittsburgh, on 

 February 22, 1810; see Elliott Coues, "Private Letters of Wilson, Ord, 

 and Bonaparte," Penn Monthly, vol. x, pp. 443-455 (Philadelphia, 1879). 



