CASSINIA 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE DELAWARE 

 VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



No. XVII. PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1913. 



Wilsoniana 



BY WITMER STONE 



In the United States Gazette for August 23, 1813, just one 

 hundred years ago, there appears the following notice: "Died, 

 this morning, Mr. Alexander Wilson, author of the American 

 Ornithology. His friends and acquaintances are invited to 

 attend his funeral, from Mr. William Jones', No. 233 Spruce 

 Street, Philadelphia, at 9 o'clock to-morrow morning." 



Thus briefly is chronicled one of the greatest blows that has 

 ever befallen American Ornithology. Wilson was but forty- 

 seven years of age, and in the prime of life. His great work 

 was little more than half completed, and he had reaped no 

 financial return for the labor and privation that the publication 

 had cost him, while that return ever dearer to the author's 

 heart, the praise of the scientific world, had scarcely begun to 

 reach him. 



As we contemplate Wilson's career, its premature termination 

 stands out with striking prominence. We often hear his work 

 compared with that of Audubon, yet the impossibility of such 

 comparison is obvious. Audubon's ornithological interests 



