150 
THE NATURALISTS’ COMPANION. 
Alexander Wilson. 
BY PHINEAS COBB, JR. 
The name of Alexander Wilson, the 
noted ornithologist, is dear to every ad¬ 
mirer of genius, and to all students of 
bird life. 
He was born in Paisley, Scotland, on 
the 6th of July, 1766. He was intend¬ 
ed by his parents for the church, but his 
mother, with whom the idea seems to 
have originated, suddenly died, and 
with her perished the young man’s hopes 
for filling the position he had been 
taught to aspire. 
In his thirteenth year he was appren¬ 
ticed to a weaver, an engagement which 
lasted thiee years. For four years after 
this Wilson was employed as a journey¬ 
man weaver. 
In his twentieth year a new calling 
opened up to Wilson. William Duncan, 
his brother-in-law, with whom he was 
employed, having deseited the weaving 
business in order to follow out a mer- 
chantile speculation on the eastern coast 
of Scotland, Wilson determined to lol- 
low his example. He accordingly de¬ 
voted himself to the wandering life of a 
peddler, an occupation then more fre¬ 
quently followed than at present. 
He did not succeed very well in his 
last venture, and finally concluded to 
leave Scotland; and being almostpenni- 
less he fell to weaving again, and for 
four months worked incessantly at the 
loom, during which time he managed to 
save enough to pay his i)assage to Amer¬ 
ica, where he landed at Newcastle, in 
the State of Delaware, on the 14th day 
of July, 1794. 
He wandered around, following nu¬ 
merous occupations, and finally opened 
a school and for several years, in differ¬ 
ent places, taught with great efficiency 
and success, and finally we find him ap¬ 
pointed teacher of a union school in the 
town of Kingsessing, not far from Phil¬ 
adelphia. It was while teaching here 
that he became acquainted with a kin¬ 
dred spirit by the name of Bartram, an 
amiable, self-taught naturalist. 
The love of nature which had always 
characterized Wilson here seems to have 
taken firm root, and his scholars brought 
him all sorts of specimens. 
He wrote a letter to a friend—f‘A boy 
not long ago brought me a large basket 
full of crows. I expect his next load 
will be bull-frogs if I don’t soon issue 
orders to the contrary. 
In September, 1808, the first volume 
of his great work, “The American Or¬ 
nithology,” made its appearance. The 
design and execution of the work have 
been truly described as magnificent; and 
yet notwithstanding that it took the 
public by surprise, the sale of the first 
numbers was very small. The second 
volume made its appearance some fifteen 
months later, and during the following- 
two years he completed four more vol¬ 
umes of his work. The seventh volume 
was finished early in 1813. The eighth 
volume was anounced to appear in the 
fall of 1814, and another volume was 
intended to conclude the work, but the 
gifted author was not destined to see 
the completion of his work, for his ca¬ 
reer came suddenly to an end. 
The cause which led to his death was 
this : Sitting one day conversing with 
a friend, a rare bird which he had for a 
long time wished to possess happened 
to fly past the window. The moment 
Wilson beheld it he seized his gun and 
persued it, during which he swam across 
a river. He caught a severe cold which 
was followed by a severe attack of dysen¬ 
tery, which after ten days brought his 
life to an end. He died August 23rd, 
1813. A beautiful thought that he of¬ 
ten express, which showed his love for 
natur-e, was that he might be buried 
in some rural spot where the birds 
might sing over his grave. 
