43 



lersoii's Notes on Virginia, and in the works 

 of Bartram, Belknap, and Williams. The 

 work of Vieillot, splendid and useful as it 

 really is, looses much of its value from the 

 circumstance of its being incomplete, and 

 from the unnecessary changes introduced 

 in the names of long established species. 

 When will naturalists learn to shun the bar- 

 ren honors of a synonyme ? 



The great work of Wilson may be consi- 

 dered as having created a new era in Ameri- 

 can Ornithology. In this w^e have descrip- 

 tions of two hundred and seventy-eight spe- 

 cies, of which fifty-six are described as new. 

 Perhaps no work contributed in a more 

 eminent degree to create a taste for Natural 

 History in this country, than the publication 

 of these splendid volumes. The peculiar 

 disadvantages under which Wilson labored 

 in the progress of this work would have 

 dampened and disheartened any spirit but 

 his. His ardent enthusiasm for his favorite 

 pursuits, and his noble disdain of the most 

 appalling obstacles, are finely exhibited in 

 his reply to a friend who endeavoured to 

 dissuade him from the publication, " I shall 



