I 



LIFE OF WILSON. 



as usual, has in numerous instances united with its parent, ig- 

 norance, to depreciate and treat with contempt what neither of 

 them understood; and the whole interesting assemblage of the 

 feathered tribes of this vast continent, which in richness of plu- 

 mage, and in strength, sweetness and variety of song, will be 

 found to exceed those of any other quarter of the globe, are 

 little known save in the stuffed cabinets of the curious, and 

 among the abstruse pages and technical catalogues of dry syste- 

 matic writers. 



" From these barren and musty records, the author of the 

 present work has a thousand times turned with a delight bor- 

 dering on adoration, to the magnificent repository of the woods 

 and fields the Grand Aviary of Nature. In this divine school 

 he has studied from no vulgar copy, but from the works of the 

 GREAT MASTER OF CREATION himself; and has read with rap- 

 ture the lessons of his wisdom, his goodness and his love, in the 

 conformation, the habitudes, melody and migrations of this 

 beautiful portion of the work of his hands. To communicate 

 as correct ideas of these as his feeble powers were capable of, 

 and thus, from objects, that, in our rural walks, almost every 

 where present themselves, to deduce not only amusement and 

 instruction, but the highest incitements to virtue and piety, 

 have been the author's most anxious and ardent wish. On many 

 of his subjects, indeed, it has not been in his power to say much. 

 The recent discovery of some, and the solitary and secluded 

 habits of others, have opposed great obstacles to his endeavours 

 in this respect. But a time is approaching when these obstacles 

 will no longer exist. When the population of this immense 

 western Republic will have diffused itself over every acre of 

 ground fit for the comfortable habitation of man when farms, 

 villages, towns and glittering cities, thick as the stars in a win- 

 ter's evening, overspread the face of our beloved country, and 

 every hill, valley and stream has its favourite name, its native 

 flocks and rural inhabitants; then, not a warbler shall flit through 

 our thickets, but its name, its notes and habits will be familiar 

 to all; repeated in their sayings, and celebrated in their village 



