2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



date from his earliest days, and he was permitted to round out 

 the usual term of years allotted to man, while Wilson's entire 

 ornithological career, from the day he announced his intention 

 of making a collection of ' ' all our finest birds, ' ' to his prema- 

 ture demise, covered but ten years. Who of us, with no artis- 

 tic training, could learn in that time to depict birds as well as 

 Wilson did, and who could have produced such a book as his, 

 with only such works as those of Catesby, Bartram and Pennant 

 to supplement his own observations. Baron Cuvier, in com- 

 menting on Wilson's Ornithology, stated that "he has treated 

 of American Birds better than those of Europe have yet been 

 treated, ' ' and his work was one of the first scientific produc- 

 tions of America, one that opened the eyes of Europe to the 

 possibilities of the New World in a field that up to that time 

 had been regarded as belonging exclusively to countries of long 

 established literary and scientific reputations. 



It is difficult after the lapse of one hundred years to find 

 much that is new in the history of a man, whose life has been 

 so carefully traced as has been that of Alexander Wilson, and 

 the two items that have come under my observation and lay 

 claim to place under the head of Wilsoniana, have really noth- 

 ing to do with the ornithologist's life. 



About a year ago I was surprised to learn that there was in 

 Philadelphia a statue of Alexander Wilson, which had been 

 exhibited at the Academy of Fine Arts, sometime in the sev- 

 enties. Since then this has been presented to the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, and now adorns the library. It is by Alex. 

 Calder, a well known sculptor, and represents the Ornithologist 

 in pursuit of his favorite study. He is bending over with one 

 foot on a boulder, upon which his gun and note-book are rest- 

 ing, while his cap and knapsack are on the ground ; in one 

 hand he holds a pencil, in the other a freshly killed bird, which 

 he is studying intently. Mr. Calder informs me that the gun 

 was copied from Wilson's own fowling-piece, in possession of 

 Mr. J. M. Wade, then of Philadelphia, while the features of 

 the ornithologist were based on a study of all the available en- 

 gravings. The result, however closely it may agree with any 

 one of the engravings, is strikingly like the water-color now in 



