THE OOLOGIST. 



201 



weighed the advisability of such an un- 

 dertaking. He did not question Wil- 

 son's ability and acquirements, but he 

 did caution his friend about involving 

 himself in embarrassments which he 

 might never be able to meet. Mr. Bar- 

 train referred him to Mr. Lawson, the 

 engraver, from whom he might gain an 

 estimate of the probability of getting 

 the plates made and of the more impor- 

 tant tbing.the expense. Wilson address- 

 ed the following letter to Mr. Lawson : 



"I am most earnestly beut on pursu- 

 ing my plan of making acolleetion of all 

 1 he -irds in this part of North America. 

 Now I don't want yon to throw cold 

 water, as Shakespeare says, on this no- 

 tion, quixotic as it may appear. I have 

 so long been accustomed to the build- 

 i g of airy castles and brain windmills, 

 that it has become one of my earthly 

 comforts, a sort of rough bone which 

 amuses me when sated with the dull 

 drudgeries of life." 



Mr. Lawson fairly stated, in a way 

 far from encouragiug, his candid opin- 

 ion of the seemingly hazardous scheme. 

 Wilson carefully considered the advice 

 ofihis venerable friend; but his own 

 ardor aud inflexible resolution scorned 

 all opposition. Determination con- 

 quered and the result was he gave to 

 the world one of the greatest monu- 

 ments of human industry. A work 

 equally interesting to the scientist and 

 the man of business. Admired by both 

 the writer and the artist as examples 

 of clear expression of thought and ac- 

 curate delineation of nature's forms. 



Intent upon making his great design 

 a success he applied himself indefati- 

 gably to the procuring of the necessary 

 drawings and to observation of the 

 feathered songsters' Application to 

 his new employment consumed every 

 leisure moment and he said he was 

 obliged to sacrifice social enjoyments 

 for the purpose of improving in his 

 new vocation. 



His own letters written about this 



time to his friend Bartram show how 

 rapidly he was progressing iu his work 

 and also show how thoroughly he was 

 enamored by his uew pursuit. He at- 

 tempted to draw a few native birds 

 and sent them to Bartram for inspect 

 ion and correction. Accompanying the 

 drawings was a letter in which he said 

 that they were chiefly colored by 

 caudle-light and hence abounded in im- 

 perfections. His collection of indigen- 

 ous birds was now enlarged; and he en- 

 tertained great hopes of obtaining 

 many new ones in the comiug summer. 

 He requested Bartram to write the 

 name of each bird on the back of the 

 drawings, as he knew only three or 

 four of them. To us it would seem 

 presumptuous enough if we were to 

 contemplate writing a treatise on 

 American Ornithology with a knowl- 

 edge of only three or four species. He 

 said that the face of an Owl and 

 the back of a Lark put him to a non- 

 plus, and he had already spent nearly a 

 week on different ones aud afterwards 

 destroyed them both, and got? nearly in 

 the slough of despair. 



la March of the same yeai\ 1804, he 

 writes to the same individual, that 

 Spring, that lovely season is at hand 

 and the pencil of nature is busily at 

 work with tints and outlines that baffle 

 all description. Soon we may look for 

 feathered strangers, flocking from the 

 south, to fill the woods and fields with 

 their sweet music. Let us look upon 

 those multitude of happy strangers just 

 arriving from the sunny south as so 

 many messengers come to proclaim the 

 power and munificence of the Creator. 

 He admits that he was an ardent ad- 

 mirer of the rural scenes of nature; but 

 since he had attempted to imitate her 

 productions, every bird and flower sug- 

 gested to him some new idea of beauty. 

 While others were amassing wealth he 

 was bent on gaining a familiai'ity with 

 the works of nature. While others 

 were immersed in deep schemes of 



