ALEXANDER WILSON. 
CV11 
are, indeed, nearly indispensable to each other. To the general 
naturalist the first is impossible ; and what the one class observes, 
the other generalizes and brings to bear on the various facts seen 
and recorded by others. Wilson was an observing naturalist ; and, 
perhaps, nature never had a more ardent pursuer. His object was 
to illustrate the different birds in their various states, as closely to 
the truth as possible, and to describe those parts of their manners 
which he could from actual observation, throwing aside all hearsay 
evidence, and seldom indulging in any theories of classification, or 
the scale they hold in nature. It is from these circumstances that 
his work derives its worth : the facts can be confidently quoted as 
authentic, and their value depended on in our reasonings upon 
their history — their migrations — their geographical distribution. 
In his private character Wilson bore a very high station. As a 
youth, he was beloved by his acquaintances, and respected even 
by those whom ill advice had made his temporary enemies. In the 
New World, there existed an attachment of the warmest descrip- 
tion between him and those friends whom his literary attainments 
had procured ; and by them his memory continues to be fondly 
cherished, and his talents to be held in great respect. In his 
birthplace a society has been formed by his admirers, who meet 
annually to talk over past recollections, where the merits of his 
works, and the remembrance of the deceased poet and naturalist, 
are commemorated in a speech or an ode. Among all his former 
friends who still enjoy life, his name is welcomed with an enthu- 
siasm which I have never seen equalled. Paisley is justly proud 
of her late townsman. 
