LIFE OF WILSON. 
cxxi 
characters of wliicli arc so obvious, that one is astonislicJ that so learnetl an 
ornithologist as Latham, should have contented himself with arranging the 
species appertaining to it with others, the conformation of whose bills is so 
dissimilar. It may be necessary to state that the Crossbills had been erected 
into a separate genus, nndcr the dennniinatiun of Crncirosfra, by an author 
whose works Wilson had no knowledge of; and I have reason to believe that 
even the generic appellation of Curvlrostva had been anticipated, by a writer 
on the ornithology of the northern parts of Europe. Brisson linjited his 
genus Loxia to the Crossbills, and this judicious restriction appears to be 
now sanctioned by all naturalists of authority. 
There is a species of 'learning, which is greatly affected by puny minds, and 
for which our author entertained the most hearty contempt; this is the names 
by which certain nations of Indians designated natural objects. Hence we 
nowhere find his work disfigured by those " uncouth and unmanageable 
words," which some writers have recorded with a solemnity, which should seem 
to prove a conviction of their importance; but wliich, in almost every instance, 
are a reproach to their vanity and their ignorance. Can anj'thing be more 
preposterous than for one to give a catalogue of names in a language, the 
grammatical construction of which has never been ascertained, and with the 
idiom of wliich one is totally unacquainted ? Among literate nations it is a 
rule, which has received the sanction of prescription, that when one would 
write upon a tongue, it is indispensable that one should qualify one's self for 
the task, by a careful investigation of its principles. But when the language 
of barbarians becomes the subject of attention, the rule is reversed, and, pro- 
vided a copious list of names be given, it is not required of the collector, that 
he should have explored the sources whence they are derived : his learning 
is estimated by tlie measure of his labor, and our applause is taxed in propor- 
tion to his verbosity. 
The style of Wilson appears to be well adapted to the subjects upon which 
he wrote. It is seldom feeble, it is sometimes vigorous, and it. is generally 
neat. He appears to have " understood himself, and his readers always under- 
stand him." That he was capable of graceful writing, he has given us, in the 
preface to his first volume, which we here insert, a remarkable instance ; which 
is one of the hajipiest, and most appropriate, compositions that our literature 
can boast of. 
" The whole use of a prcfiice seems to be, either to elucidate the nature and 
origin of the work, or to invoke the clemency of the reader. Such observa- 
tions as have been thought necessary for the former, will be found in the intro- 
duction ; extremely solicitous to obtain the latter, I beg leave to relate the 
following anecdote. 
" In one of my late visits to a friend's in the country, I found their young- 
est son, a fine boy of eight or nine years of age, who usually resides in town 
for his education, just returning from a ramble through the neighboring 
woods and fields, where he had collected a large and very handsome bunch of 
wild flowers, of a great many different colors ; and presenting them to his 
mother, said, with much animation in his countenance, ' Look, my dear 'ma, 
what beautiful flowers I have found growing on our place ! Why all the woods 
