124 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



sion of descriptions: let the same bird be described after the Linnaean manner by two 

 different persons, and it is an equal chance if they do not vary in some essential respects; 

 but a faithful representation of the pencil will at once remove all ambiguity. The deli- 

 neations of Wilson are done in such a masterly style that the bird is at once recognised. 

 He also excels in his account of the manners of birds ; although he cannot boast of the 

 splendid eloquence of Buffon, yet there is such a fascination in his style, such a simpli- 

 city in his manner, and so much truth and nature in all his remarks, that we are com- 

 pelled to give him the preference. 



To form a just estimate of the extensiveness of this work, we have only to compare it 

 with the celebrated natural history of Mark Catesby, published in 1754. Although the 

 drawings of this writer are eminently beautiful, and generally correct, yet they are 

 greatly inferior to those of Wilson. His descriptions also will not bear a comparison, 

 eilher in interest or extent: the whole number of birds which he describes amounts to 

 113, which contained all the land birds he saw in North America, between the 30th and 

 45th degrees of latitude. Wilson has figured and described 278 species, 56 of which were 

 not known before: his untimely death has prevented the full execution of his plan. 

 The swan, the turkey, and the crane, the most interesting of the feathered race, did not 

 come under his review, a loss that cannot be supplied. With what interest would we 

 read his remarks on the turkey ? What light would he not have cast upon those contro- 

 verted questions, whether the turkey is of exclusive American origin? and whether the 

 domestic is a distinct species from the wild turkey? and whether, contrary to the general 

 operation of cultivation and domestication upon animals and plants, this bird has dwindled 

 in size, and sustained a deterioration by its domestic state ? 



Although Wilson has done much, yet much more remains to be done, in order to com- 

 plete our ornithology. The whole number of species, according to Latham, is three 

 thousand. Considering that the American republic, including our Louisiana acquisition, 

 extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, embraces the greatest and most spacious inland 

 seas in the world, comprehends every variety of climate' and soil, innumerable and bound- 

 less forests — prairies, or natural meadows, of several days' journey — deserts like those 

 of Africa — mountains dividing the country into an eastern and western section — and 

 rivers equalled in size by none in the old world : considering also its vicinity to numerous 

 islands of a warm temperature, and the approximation of America to Europe and Asia, 

 by which the land birds of the old world can have easy access to our continent : it is 

 not unreasonable to suppose, that we may claim at least one thousand species of birds, 

 who either reside among us, or occasionally visit us. If this calculation be correct, what 

 an extensive field yet remains for the ornithologist ? and if another Wilson shall arise, 



