. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States [microform]. Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813; Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813; Birds; Oiseaux. XX LIFE OF WILSON. ail uiicoiiiinon friendship, aiul continued witliout tho least abatement until sev- ered by death. Here it was that Wilson found himself transloted, if we may so speak, into a new oxistenci!. Ho had long been a lover of the works of Nature, and had derived more happiness from the contemplation of her simple beauties than from any other source of gratification. IJut ho had hitherto been a mere novice; ho was
. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States [microform]. Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813; Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813; Birds; Oiseaux. XX LIFE OF WILSON. ail uiicoiiiinon friendship, aiul continued witliout tho least abatement until sev- ered by death. Here it was that Wilson found himself transloted, if we may so speak, into a new oxistenci!. Ho had long been a lover of the works of Nature, and had derived more happiness from the contemplation of her simple beauties than from any other source of gratification. IJut ho had hitherto been a mere novice; ho was now about to reeeivo instructions from one whom the experience of a long life, spent in travel and rural retirenicnt, had rendered .(ualified to teach. Mr. Hartram soon perceived the bent of his friend's mind, and its congeniality to his own ; and took every pains to encourage him in a .xtudy which, while it |)ands the faculties, and purifies tho heart, insensibly leads to tho contemplation of the glorious Author of Nature himself. From his youth Wilson had been an observer of tho manners of birds; and, since hia arrival in America, he had found thoni objects of uncommon interest; but he hud not yet viewed them with tho eye of a naturalist. Mr. Hartram possessed some works on natural history, particularly those of Cati'sliy and *. Wilson perused them attentively; and found himself enabled, even with hia slender ."took of information, to defect errors and ab- surdities into which these authors had fallen fW>ni a defective mode of study, ing Nature : a mode which, while it led them to the repositories of dried skins and preparations and to a reliance on hearsay evidence, subjected them to tho imputation of ignorance, which their lives, devoted to tho cultivation and pro- motion of science, certainly would not justify. Wilson's improvement was now rapid ; and the jmlicious crilicisms whi(h ho made on tho abovo-nientioiu'd authors gratified his friend iind instr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectois
