OF THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 33 



in the connection, and according to Dr. Coues, it is to Catesby, 

 Edwards, Forster, Pennant, Latham and Bartram, that the credit 

 belongs of making North American Ornithology what it was at this 

 period. 



The name of Bartram will always be respected from his con- 

 nection with Wilson, yet Bartram himself was an advanced 

 Ornithologist for the time, and published a list of the birds of the 

 Eastern United States, naming many species as new, which, it is 

 believed, were credited by subsequent authors to Wilson. 



Prior to 1794 Alexander Wilson lived in his native town of 

 Paisley, in Renfrewshire, Scotland, where he followed his father's 

 steps as a hand-loom weaver. For a time he turned packman, but 

 the venture was not a success. He had also corrected the Muses, 

 and had written several pieces which were so well received as for a 

 time to be attributed to Burns. In 1789, while carrying the pack^ 

 he added to his wares a prospectus of a volume of his poems, in 

 which he said " if the pedlar should fail to be favored with sale, 

 then I hope you'll encourage the poet." But he did not succeed in 

 either capacity, and in 1794 he came to America, where he was 

 once more a weaver, a pedlar, and a schoolmaster. It was here on 

 the banks of the Schuylkill that he enjoyed the society of Bartram, 

 which was no doubt instrumental in deciding his future course in 

 life, and in all his troubles he received sympathy and encourage- 

 ment from this venerable friend and ardent lover of nature. The 

 period of Wilson's labors here was bright, but brief. The first 

 volume of his work appeared in 1808, and he died in 18 13, before 

 the work was finished. With a cheap gun, hardly safe, with which 

 to secure his specimens, and only common paper on which to trace 

 his illustrations, he followed the subject with enthusiasm and perse- 

 verance which earned for, him a reputation far ahead of all 

 composers at the time ; even now he is regarded as the father of 

 American Ornithology, and many of his descriptions of the birds 

 are still quoted as the best which have appeared on the subject. 

 After the untimely death of Wilson the work was carried on and 

 completed by his associate Ovd, who brought out the eighth and 

 ninth volumes in 1814. In this work about 280 species of birds 

 were fully and faithfully described, and many of them shown in 

 colored illustriitions. 



