ALEXANDER WILSON

ORNITHOLOGIST

1766-1813

BY WITMER STONE

ALEXANDER WILSON has been termed "the father of American Ornithology," and not without reason. He was not the pioneer writer upon American birds as Catesby, Forster and others preceded him by many years, but to him we are indebted for the first comprehensive work on the birds of our country at large, and the first work which merited the title that he bestowed upon it, American Ornithology.

Wilson's Ornithology was not a scientific work so far as matters of anatomy and taxonomy were concerned. Indeed, knowledge of these subjects was not very far advanced at that day and our author had given them little attention. His aim was to picture each bird as accurately as his skill permitted both with brush and pen and to include in his text, backgrounds and sidelights upon its life and haunts drawn from his travels and rambles through wood and field.

Love of nature always predominates over technique and this spirit of the Ornithology seems to have pervaded much of our subsequent ornithological literature to a great extent. Possibly the nature of the study is to some degree responsible, but this early work seems to have set a style which has been followed in the volumes that have succeeded it.

Wilson's character is in no small degree reflected in his work. He was not a scientific man in the modern sense, not a closet naturalist, but a poet who loved nature for herself and he took up the study of ornithology not as science but because the beauty of the birds and the melody of their songs appealed to him.

He later recognized the importance of scientific accuracy and bibliographic research, but this came as a secondary result of the line of work upon which he had set out, and was not a primary interest with him. His Ornithology was born in the woods not in the museum or library.

Wilson was doubtless acquainted with the birds of his native country and knew them by name just as he knew the thistle, the heather and the bracken, for upon landing in America one of his first comments was upon the strange birds and shrubs that surrounded him, but there is no evidence that he had any early inclination toward the study of birds except as they formed a part of nature which was ever dear to him.

Every lover of nature seems to have within him more or less latent talent for art, poetry and natural history, and circumstances largely determine which of the three comes most prominently to the surface. In Wilson, poetry first filled his mind and became the aim of his life, but his talent in this direction was not sufficiently great to earn him conspicuous notoriety and it was as a chronicler of nature that he became famous though he did not enter upon this rôle until the last decade of his life.

Alexander Wilson was born in the Seedhills of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland, July 6, 1766, the son of Alexander Wilson and Mary McNab. The early death of his mother may have had some effect upon his after life as it is said that she intended that he should study for the ministry. However this may be his father and stepmother seem to have done as much for him as their poverty and the large size of their family permitted. He attended the Paisley grammar school and learned to read and write, but was compelled in later life to make up for many deficiencies which had they been supplied at the proper time would have aided him greatly in his life's work.

While a small boy he was engaged for a short time, at least, as a cattle herd on the farm of Bakerfield, but when only thirteen years of age became apprenticed to his brother-in-law, William Duncan, to learn the "art of weaving" which was the occupation of nearly all of his friends and relatives.

Even at this time Wilson was writing verses and his mind was ever turning to the outdoor life which was dear to his heart and in comparison with which the loom was a sorry bondage. As the only visible means of earning a living he continued weaving until 1789 when he joined his brother-in-law in a tour of eastern Scotland as a peddler. This undertaking was prompted by his love of tramping and his restlessness under uncongenial confinement; not by any love or ability for trading, for that he did not possess. While gratifying his taste for outdoor life he was by no means benefited financially by the change. However, he gave full rein to his poetical ambition, and with his characteristic impetuosity he soon had visions of publishing his volume of verses and sharing in the notoriety that had just greeted the issue of Burns' first poems. Wilson was evidently acquainted with Burns as some of his verses show and entertained a very high opinion of him. To what extent Burns' success may have influenced him or his style is hard to say, but one of the best of Wilson's productions published anonymously was attributed to the "plowman," doubtless to the author's great gratification.

Wilson reached the height of his practical ambition in 1790 when he published a volume of his poetical writings. It was, however, an indifferent production and failed to bring him the renown that he coveted. In 1792 he was back at the loom but as before despondent and unhappy and in sore straits financially. He continued to publish occasional poems in the local papers and now and then indulged in sarcastic verses on certain civil authorities and other self-important personages. This practice finally brought him face to face with libel charges, resulting in fines and imprisonment.

Upon his release, consumed with bitterness and more despondent than ever he resolved to leave his native country and try his fortune in America. Accordingly, accompanied by his nephew, William Duncan, he sailed from Belfast on May 23, 1794, and reached the mouth of Delaware bay on the 11th of July.

Impatient to be once more ashore they landed at New Castle, Delaware, "happy as mortals could be" and went on foot to

Wilmington and thence to Philadelphia through virgin forest most of the way, past log cabins, and occasional farms. "On the way," Wilson writes to his parents, "I did not observe one bird such as those in Scotland but all much richer in color . . . some red birds, several of which I shot for our curiosity." This quotation is worthy of note as it shows an early interest in birds and an appreciation of the difference in the avi-fauna of the two countries. At the same time we find no further mention of birds in his correspondence for many years.

The two weavers found no opening for men of their trade in Philadelphia and seem to have been compelled to accept any kind of employment that was offered. Wilson, always of a delicate constitution and unfitted for hard labor, succeeded in securing a school first at Frankford and later at Milestown, a short distance north of the city. The requisites of the country schoolmaster were not very severe at this time, and as Wilson wrote a good hand and had always been a reader his education, in spite of early shortcomings, was apparently fully equal to the calls made upon it. With the idea of advancing in this profession he seems to have been constantly endeavoring to improve himself in mathematics and other studies in which he recognized himself as deficient.

His particular friend at this period of his life was Charles Orr, a writing master in Philadelphia and a man of studious nature with whom Wilson maintained an active correspondence. His letters of September, 1800, show that he had been forced to relinquish his school on account of ill health, but at the earnest request of the trustees agreed to try it again. "I was attached to the children and to the people," he wrote, "and if they would allow me one week more to ramble about, I would once more engage, though I should die in their service. My request was immediately acceded to, and I am once more the dominie of Milestown school." Later he writes, "I have begun the old way again and have about thirty scholars. I study none and take my morning and evening ramble regularly. Do you spend any of your leisure hours with the puzzling chaps, algebra and trigonometry, etc., or are you wholly absorbed in the study of mechanics? You must write me particu

larly. I think I shall take a ride 15 or 20 miles on Saturday. I find riding agrees better with me than any other exercise. I always feel cheerful after it, and can eat confoundedly. Have you made any new discoveries in the Heaven above, or the earth beneath, with your telescope or microscope?"

At this time his nephew had moved to Ovid, Cayuga county, New York, where they had purchased a tract of land and begun to farm. Other members of his family came hither from Scotland and it seems to have been Wilson's intention to join them though he afterwards abandoned the idea.

In 1801 Wilson left Milestown and obtained a school at Bloomfield, N. J., where he remained about a year. He seems to have had little trouble in securing positions. School-teachers, were, to be sure, scarce and salaries small, as he complained bitterly with respect to his Bloomfield engagement where the people "paid their minister 250 pounds a year for preaching twice a week and their teacher 40 dollars a quarter for the most spirit-sinking, laborious work, six, I may say twelve times weekly."

Wilson, however, seems to have possessed the requisites of a teacher in no small degree; he was both a disciplinarian and an instructor and succeeded in his main object, that of imparting knowledge to his pupils. He also seems to have gained the respect and good-will of the people among whom he established himself so that they were loath to have him leave them. In describing his Bloomfield school he writes: "The schoolhouse in which I teach is situated at the extremity of a spacious level plain of sand thinly covered with grass. In the centre of this plain stands a newly erected stone meeting-house, 80 feet by 60, which forms a striking contrast with my sanctum sanctorum, which has been framed of logs some 100 years ago, and looks like an old sentry box. The scholars have been accustomed to great liberties by their former teacher. They used to put stones in his pocket, etc., etc. I was told that the people did not like to have their children punished, but I began with such a system of terror as soon established my authority most effectually. I succeed in teaching them to read and I care for none of their objections."