Alexander Wilson : The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology

A British birder may first have come across the name of Alexander Wilson when going to twitch a vagrant Wilsons Phalarope. However, we may know little about the man who gave his name to this and several other species. This thoroughly researched volume, published by Harvard University to mark the bicentenary of Wilson’s death at the age of 47, admirably fills gaps in our knowledge. The biographical chapter tells how the young Scot worked as a weaver in his native Paisley area, while also writing poetry at a time when Burns was writing in the Scots tongue for the first time. An independent spirit, he fell foul of his employers, and emigrated to the newly independent USA, where his development as an ornithologist benefited from friendship with William Bartram and President Jefferson. His life’s main mission, preparation and publication of the 9-volume American Ornithology, occupied the last eight years of his life.

The bulk of this book consists of reproductions of drawings and plates, with commentary on the drawing techniques and excerpts from Wilson’s writings. The authors give us insights into Wilson’s pioneering approach to ornithology, studying birds’ feeding and nesting behaviour in the wild and in captivity in addition to collecting specimens as his contemporaries did. He was able to advance ornithological science far more through these studies than merely from lifeless skins. The authors leave us in no doubt about his legacy to science. Previously, European naturalists had viewed North American species as imperfect forms of those known in Europe, but Wilson refuted these arguments.

The book will be especially interesting to artists due to the detailed treatment of Wilson’s illustrations. This is a lengthy volume and there is some repetition of material between different chapters, which could have been edited more tightly. Although the extent of the coverage of species from eastern North America is clear, species found only in the ‘Wild West’ were unknown to Wilson, and I would have liked to know more about how his bird list fits into present continent-wide knowledge. 

Book reviewed by Dorian Moss