ILLUSTRATIOSS. $3 



iive them an appearance different from their natural one. Books must be re- 

 sorted to in order to complete and extend our knowledge ; but to place our sole 

 reliance on them, would be as absurd as to attempt to attain a knowledge of 

 mankind by the meditation? of contemplative retirement. 



Our author has, with unparalleled industry, and singular sagacity of observa- 

 tion, surmounted all the disadvantages which we have enumerated, and availed 

 himself of all the sources of information : every state in the union has witnessed 

 his labours : on our alpine hills ; in our most distant forests ; on the borders of 

 our rivers and lakes ; on the shores of the Atlantic, the footsteps of his enter- 

 prising industry may be seen. He first examined the feathered creation with 

 his own eyes ; he traced them in their most secluded haunts ; he watched their 

 migrations ; he observed their seasons of song, and of love, and of incubation ; 

 h* noticed their food, their instinct, and their habits. 



After having explored this source of information, he next had recourse to 

 cabinets of natural history, to the aviaries of amateurs, and to the observations 

 of inquisitive and ingenious men. The museum of Peale furnished him with va- 

 rious and extensive knowledge ; the methodical and comprehensive writings of 

 Linnaeus ; the extensive information of Pennant, Brisson, Edwards, and Latham, 

 and the splendid elucidations of Buffon, were also familiar to him. 



Thus furnished with information, he has produced a work which excels all 

 that precedes it, whether we have reference to the style and matter, or the 

 drawings. It is in vain to attempt to form ideas from written descriptions of 

 animals, sufficiently distinct, so as to distinguish them in all cases from each 

 other : we must have recourse to the delineations of the pencil, and to the pre- 

 servations of the museum. The number of species of birds has undoubtedly 

 been greatly multiplied from the generality and confusion of descriptions ; lei 

 the same bird be described after the Linnsean manner by two different persons, 

 and it is an equal chance if they do not vary in some essential respects ; but a 

 faithful representation of the pencil will at once remove all ambiguity. The 

 delineations of Wilson are done in such a masterly style, that the bird is at once 

 recognised. He also excels in his account of the manners of birds : although 

 he cannot boast of the splendid eloquence of Buffon, yet there is such a fascina- 

 tion in his style, such a simplicity in his manner, and so much truth and nature 

 ia all his remarks, that we are compelled to give him the preference. 



To form a just estimate of the extensiveness of this work, we have only to 

 compare it with the celebrated natural history of Mark Catesby, published in 

 1754. Although the drawings of this writer are eminently beautiful, and gene- 

 rally correct, yet they are greatly inferior to those of Wilson. His descriptions 

 also will not bear a comparison, either in interest or extent : the whole number 

 sf birds which he describes amounts to 113, which contained all the land birds 



