ALEXANDER WILSON. xlvii 



Wilson had been previously introduced to Jefferson, and enter- 

 tained extravagant ideas of his talents and virtues. Writing to 

 Bartram, he says — "My Dear Friend, — This day the heart of every 

 republican, of every good man, within the immense limits of our 

 happy country, will leap for joy. 



" The reappointment and continuance of our beloved Jefferson to 

 superintend our national concerns, is one of those distinguished 

 blessings whose beneficent effects extend to posterity, and whose 

 value our hearts may feel, but can never express. 



" I congratulate you, my dear friend, on this happy event. The 

 enlightened philosopher — the distinguished naturalist — the first 

 statesman on earth — the friend, the ornament of science, — is the 

 father of our country, the faithful guardian of our liberties. 



" I am at present engaged in drawing the two birds which I 

 brought from the Mohawk ; and if I can finish them to your appro- 

 bation, I intend to transmit them to our excellent President, as the 

 child of an amiable parent presents to its affectionate father some 

 little token of its esteem." 



He did transmit these drawings to the President, whose answer 

 in return will shew in what estimation he held the abilities of 

 Wilson as a draughtsman and ornithologist : — 



" Monticello, April 7, 1805. 



"Sir, — I received here yesterday your favour of March 18, with 

 the elegant drawings of the new birds you found on your tour to 

 Niagara, for which I pray you to accept my thanks. The jay is 

 quite unknown to me. From my observations while in Europe, on 

 the birds and quadrupeds of that quarter, I am of opinion that there 

 is not in our continent a single bird or quadruped which is not 

 sufficiently unlike all the members of its family there to be con- 

 sidered specifically different. On this general observation, I conclude 

 with confidence that your jay is not a European bird. 



" The first bird on the same sheet I judge to be a Muscicapa, 

 from its bill, as well as from the following circumstance : Two or 

 three days before my arrival here, a neighbour killed a bird, unknown 

 to him, and never before seen here, as far as he could learn. It was 

 brought to me soon after I arrived, but in the dusk of the evening, 

 and so putrid, that it could not be approached but with disgust. 



