ALEXANDER WILSON 



V. 



WILSON having found a publisher for 

 his long contemplated work, threw 

 all his energies into the enterprise, devoting 

 to it every moment that he could spare 

 from his duties as editor of the Cyclopedia; 

 and his friend Lawson, who had previously 

 thrown so much cold water on the enter- 

 prise, saw the matter in quite a different 

 light now that Mr. Bradford had assumed 

 the risks and employed him as printer. 

 Two thousand five hundred copies were to 

 be thrown off as a first edition, and a pros- 

 pectus having been composed it was given 

 to the press, and Wilson in his enthusiasm 

 already contemplated the establishment of 

 an agent " in almost every town of the 

 Union." 



The hard work of preparation, added to 

 his daily routine duties, impaired his health, 

 compelling him to occasional periods of re- 

 laxation. These he utilized by excursions 

 to the country, which he enjoyed the more 

 that his professional duties were sedentary 

 and exhausting, "immersed," as he de- 

 scribes himself " among musty books, and 

 compelled to forego the harmony of the 

 woods." 



"At length," writes Mr. Ord, "in the 

 month of September, 1808, the first volume 

 of the 'American Ornithology' made its 

 appearance. From the date of the arrange- 

 ment with the publisher a prospectus had 

 been issued wherein the nature and intended 

 execution of the work were specified. But 

 yet no one appeared to entertain an ade- 

 quate idea of the treat which was about to 

 be afforded to the lovers of the fine arts, 

 and of elegant literature; and when the 

 superb volume was presented to the public 

 their delight was equalled only by their as- 

 tonishment that America, as yet in its in- 

 fancy, should produce an original work in 

 science which could vie in its essentials 



with the proudest productions of a similar 

 nature of the European world." 



It was a proud moment for Wilson when 

 the first volume issued from the press, and 

 met with a reception which his biographer 

 tells us "was far beyond his hopes." It was, 

 perhaps, far beyond the hopes which he 

 ventured to express openly, but a man of 

 Wilson's sanguine temperament could not 

 have failed to have indulged in the most 

 extravagant hopes; at the same time in- 

 dulgence in hopes does not necessarily in- 

 volve confidence in their realization, and 

 the favor with which the first volume was 

 received created a pleasurable excitement 

 which stimulated him to most exhaustive 

 efforts for the creditable performance of his 

 undertaking. He thought he could increase 

 subscriptions at a distance by his presence 

 and personal exertions, and decided to 

 make a first tour of the New England States 

 in pursuit of subscribers and birds, Avith 

 which object he set out on the 21st of Sep- 

 tember, 1808, going by Boston to Maine, 

 and back through the State of Vermont. 



The records of this and of his numerous 

 later journeys are best preserved in his cor- 

 respondence, in which he embodied the most 

 careful observations of all he saw, inter- 

 spersed with his reflections, thus affording 

 an insight not only into the progress of the 

 work, but into his own character and moods. 

 We shall draw freely on these letters, as it 

 would be impossible to present him in a 

 more natural light than he presents himself 

 in them, but as they are for the most part 

 spun out to great length we will content 

 ourselves with giving extracts from them. 



The first letter of the series was dated 

 Boston, October 12, 1808, and addressed 

 to Mr. Miller. It reads as follows: 



"Dear Sir: I arrived hear on Sunday last 

 after various adventures, the particulars of 



