204 



Alexander Wilson, 



since I have observed the same phenome- 

 non, but not as well as upon this occasion. 

 Mr. C. C. Nutty, who has spent considerable 

 time in studying the birds of Costa Rica 

 and Nicaragua in their native haunts, states 

 that he has seen Muscivon mexicana perched 

 upon a twig, and waving its curious and 

 fanshaped crest after the manner of a flower 

 swayed by a gentle breeze, and thus at- 

 tracting insects within reach." 



The Kingbird is a little over 8 inches long 

 and measures more than 14 inches across 



the extended wings. The general color of 

 the upper part is damask or slate color, 

 the head darker, being often nearly black. 

 A small patch ' on the crown, concealed 

 when the crest is not erected, is bright 

 orange, bordered with yellow. The wings 

 and tail are brownish black, the latter 

 broadly tipped with white. There is a line 

 of white across the wing. The lower parts 

 are white, the feathers on the breast being 

 tinged with ash color. The eye is brown 

 and the bill and feet black. 



ALEXANDER WILSON 



WILSON'S first journey South, hav- 

 ing resulted in raising the sub- 

 scription list to his first volume to two 

 hundred and fifty, it was thought expedient 

 to throw off three hundred copies in addi- 

 tion to the first two hundred. The second 

 volume, published in January, 18 10, started 

 with an impression of five hundred, and a 

 fair proportion of subscribers, the work 

 gaining fresh applause and support as it 

 advanced. Simultaneously with the pub- 

 lication of his second volume, Wilson set 

 out alone on another of his ornithological 

 pilgrimages, and as very little record is left 

 of the man beyond what is to be found in 

 his correspondence, and as this is most 

 complete, chronicling all the daily events 

 of his life, with his unreserved comments 

 and reflections on men and things, we will 

 continue to let him speak for himself. 



The first stage of his journey brought 

 him to Pittsburgh, whence, on the 22d of 

 February, 1810, he wrote to Mr. Alexander 

 Lawson in the following strain: 



" Dear Sir: From this stage of my or- 

 nithological pilgrimage I sit down with 

 pleasure to give you some account of my 

 adventures since we parted. On arriving 

 at Lancaster I waited on the Governor, 

 Secretary of State, and such other great 



folk as were likely to be useful to me. 

 The Governor received me with civility, 

 passed some good-natured compliments on 

 the volumes, and readily added his name 

 to my list. He seems an active man of 

 plain good sense and little ceremony. By 

 Mr, L I was introduced to many mem- 

 bers of both houses; but I found them in 

 general such a pitiful, squabbling, political 

 mob — so split up and justling \sic\ about 

 the mere formalities of legislation without 

 knowing anything of its realities — that I 

 abandoned them in disgust. I must, how- 

 ever, except from the censure a few intel- 

 ligent individuals, friends to science, and 

 possessed of taste, who treated me with 

 great kindness. I crossed the Susque- 

 hanna on Sunday forenoon, with some 

 difficulty having to cut our way through 

 the ice for several hundred yards; and 

 passing on to York paid my respects to all 

 the literati of that place without success. 

 Five miles north of this town lives a very 

 extraordinary character, between eighty 

 and ninety years of age, who has lived by 

 trapping birds and quadrupeds these thirty 



years. Dr. F carried me out in a 



sleigh to see him; he has also promised to 

 transmit to me such a collection of facts 

 relating to this singular original, as will 



