A First Class Reader; Consisting of Extracts, in Prose and Verse, with Biographical and Critical Notices of the Authors for the Use of Advanced Classes in Public and Private Schools (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3m. THE MOCKING BIRD. Alexander Wilson. [ Alexander Wilson was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1766, removed. to this country Id 1794, and died in 1813. His original employment was that of a weaver, but be had a ttrong taste for intellectual pursuits, and was employed as a teacher of youth for some years after his arrival in America, and subsequently as assistant editor to the American edition of Rees's Cyclopaedia, While in Scotland he had published some poems, which attracted but little attention, and would have been entirely forgotten but for his subsequently-acquired scientific reputation. Soon after his arrival in this country he became acquainted with Mr. Bartram, the botanist, and Mr. Lawson, the engraver. 1n taking from the latter lessons in drawing, he discovered a natural aptitude for the delineation of birds; in consequence of which he turned his attention to ornithology, and resolved to undertake an extensive work on the subject. To collect materials and obtain subscribers, he made extensive tours througn all parts of the country, at a period when travelling, before the days of steamboats and railroads, was attended with severe toil and frequent exposure. The first volume of his American Ornithology was published in September, 1808, and was much and deservedly admired for the brilliant execution of the plates and the admirable letter-press descriptions. Six additional volumes were published before Wilson's death, and two more volumes were completed and published by his friend, Mr. George Ord, in 1814. Wilson was a man of enthusiastic temperament and poetical feeling. His descriptions of birds aro not only technically accurate, but graphic. spirited, and glowing, and his work thus has a vivid charm for the general reader as well as the naturalist. He wasa lover of nature, and he writes wit...