tfA ^ i\*TES AfitD 



he saw in North America, between the 30th and 4^th degrees oi latitude. Wil- 

 son has figured and described 278 species, 56 of which were not known before : 

 his untimely death has prevented the full execution of his plan. The swan, the 

 turkey, and the crane, the most interesting of the feathered race, did not come 

 nuder his review ; a lo?s that cannot be supplied. V* ith what interest would we 

 read his remarks on the turkey p What light would he not have cast upon 

 those controverted questions, whether the turkey is of exclusive american ori- 

 gin p and whether the domestic is a distinct species from the wild turkey p and 

 whether, contrary to the general operation of cultivation and domestication 

 upon an'imr.ls and plants, Ihfe bird has dwindled in size, and sustained a deteri- 

 oration by its domestic state p 



Although Wilson has done much, yet much more remains to be done, in or- 

 der to complete our ornithology. The whole number of species, according to 

 Latham, is three thousand; Considering that the american republic, including 

 our Louisiana acquisition, extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, embraces the 

 greatest and most spacious inland seas in the world, comprehends every variety 

 of cliirate and soil, innumerable and boundless forests ; prairies, or natural mea- 

 dows, of several days journey ; deserts like those of Africa ; mountains dividing 

 the country into an eastern and western section ; and rivers equalled in size by 

 none in the old world : considering also its vicinity to numerous islands of a 

 warm temperature, and the approximation of America to Europe and Asia, by 

 which the land birds of the old world can have easy access to our continent : it 

 is not unreasonable to suppose, that we may claim at least one thousand spe- 

 cies of birds, who either reside among us, or occasionally visit us. If this cal- 

 culation be correct, what an extensive field yet remains for the ornithologist p 

 and if another Wilson shall arise, endowed with genius and invincible industry, 

 the rich treasures of natural science, which are now hidden from our view, will 

 be drawn from the darkness which covers them, and exposed to the full view of 

 in admiring world. 



NOTE 18. 



it would occupy too much ground to state the various difficulties which per 

 plex the naturalist in this interesting study. The greatest embarrassment existt: 

 with respect to the identity of the species, and this proceeds from the applica- 

 tion of the names of european birds to ours which are entirely distinct ; from the 

 imperfect, indistinct, and general descriptions of ornithologists ; from an inaf- 



