600 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. *®^® [34 



1808-14. Wilson, A.— Continued. 



cepkalus, ret to -pi 3G; MerguamerganseTyV&i. topl.68,f.l.) "Generollndex" and 

 *'Liat of Subscribers" conclude the volume and the work. It is no< necesBary, 

 though often done, to call this work Wilson's Ornithology "with Ord's Con- 

 tinuation ". "Wilson's work was simply completed nnder Ord's editorship, bnt the 

 latter did not " continue " it. Some of the text in vol. VIII, and IX, are by Ord, 

 but the editor himself would have been the last person to claim joint-authorship. 



No other work on American ornithology has been so much talked and -vj-.iiten 

 about as this; and the time for comment on its character is long gone by. The 

 "melancholy poet-naturalist" occupies a placo as changeless as tbe hills, and 

 wholly peculiar. He stands toward American ornithologists in a position corre- 

 Bponding somewhat to that which is occupied in England by "W hite of Selbourae, 

 in Gei-many by Bechstein, and, I wiU add, among anglers by Izaak Walton. 

 Perhaps no other work on ornithology of equal extent is equally free from error ; 

 and its truthfalness is illumined by a spark of the " fire divine ". This means 

 immortality. Among the disproportionately large number of new species de- 

 scribed by Wilson, there are but two {Sylvia montana and Museicwpa frdnuta) 

 remaining unidentified. Being no scholar, in fact a very unlearned man, he 

 labored under the usual disadvantage of insuflBcient knowledge of his predeces- 

 Bors' labors; consequently he renamed many species as new which were not 

 such, and wrongly referred many that were new to previously described ones. 

 Science would lose little, but, on the contrary, would gain much, if every scrap 

 of pre-Wilsonian writing about United States birds could be annihilated. 



What ia, or at least long was, the most valuable commentary on " Wilson", is 

 Bonaparte's "Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology"" 

 (1824-25 and 1826, q. v.). The total number of species described and figured by 

 Wilson is said to be 27«. 



There are said to be, and there doubtless are, a "Supplement" by Ord, "Phila. 

 1825", and a "2d ed., Pbila. 1824-28,3 vols. 4to"; neither of which have I seen. 



The editions and continuations of ''Wilson" which have come to my knowl- 

 edge are as follows ; — 



1808-14. Wilson : ediHo princeps, as given above. 9 vols. 4to. Philadelphia. 



1825-33. BoNAPABTE : American Ornithology. 4 vols. 4to. New York. An en- 

 tirely different work, buj in similar style, and incorporated by subsequent 

 editors with " Wilson ". 



1828-29. Okd's ed. 3 vols. 8vo. 1 folio atlas. New York and Philadelphia. 

 Does not contain "Bonaparte". Th^e are later issues of this. 



1831. Jameson's ed., forming part of Constable's Miscellany. 4 vols. 18ino. 

 Edinburgh. Contains "Bonaparte ", nnd much irrelevant matter. 



1832. Jardine's e(?. 3 vols. 8vo. London and Edinburgh. Contains "Bona- 

 parte". 



1840. Brewee's ed. 1 vol. 12m o. Boston. Contains "Bonaparte", and an 

 original synopsis by the editor. There are later issues of this. 



(date unknown). Editor unknown. An edition published io London, by 



W. Spooner. 16mo! 18mo? No. 1, containing 8 plates. (1840 or later?) 



18 — . Wilson, A. American Ornithology. | Illustrations | of ) American Or- 

 nithology; I reduced from the I original work of Alexander Wil- 

 son. I London : | published by William Spooner, 259, Kegent Street, 

 I Oxford Street; | Hurst, Chance, and Co., 65 St. Paul's Church- 

 Yard; I and Constable and Co., Edinburgh. | [No date.] 16mo? 

 18mo ? (say 4x6 inches). No. 1, containing 8 plates. 



I am favored, through the attentions of my friend Prof. A. Newton, of Cam- 

 bridge, England, with the above title of an edition of Wilson I never otherwise 

 heard of. Prof. N. ha« no further information to convey respecting it. It would 

 seem to indicate an undertaking, which may not have been carried ont to com- 

 pletion, of an edition of the work (but this is only a guess of mine, quite in the 

 dark). WiU any bibliomaniac or sane person resolve the uncertainty ? 



