Note 25 — LETTER III

Alexander Wilson was for many years a weaver and poet in Paisley, Scotland. Trouble breaking out between the weavers and masters, he emigrated to Philadelphia in 1794, becoming in turn weaver, school-teacher, and peddler. In 1802 the scientist John Bartram became interested in Wilson’s talents, and gave systematic direction to his natural taste for ornithology, to which he devoted the remainder of his life. He published his first volume of American Ornithology in 1808, and had nearly completed nine volumes before his death, in 1813.—Ed.