Robert Montgomery Bird, creator of _Nick of the Woods_, was born at
Newcastle, Delaware, in 1803. He early abandoned the practice of
medicine in Philadelphia in order to devote his entire attention to
literature. His first works were three tragedies, entitled _The
Gladiator_, _Oraloosa_, and _The Broker of Bogota_, the first of which
was very popular on the stage. In 1834 Dr. Bird published his first
novel, _Calavar_, a romance of Mexico that was highly praised by William
H. Prescott. In the following year _The Infidel_, sequel to _Calavar_,
appeared. _The Hawks_ _of Hawk Hollow_, and _Sheppard Lee_ followed
fast upon the heels of _The Infidel_. Then came _Nick of the Woods, or
the Jibbenainosay_ (Philadelphia, 1837, 2 vols.), the author's
masterpiece. The background of this fine old romance was set against the
Kentucky of 1782. Dr. Bird's Kentucky pioneers and Indians are drawn to
the life, the silly sentimentalism of Cooper and Chateaubriand
concerning the Indian character was avoided and indirectly proved
untrue. _Nick of the Woods_ was dramatized and produced upon the stage
with great success. A collection of Dr. Bird's periodical papers was
made, in 1838, and published under the title of _Peter Pilgrim, or a
Rambler's Recollections_. This work included the first adequate
description of Mammoth Cave, in Edmonson county, Kentucky. The author
was one of the cave's earliest explorers, and his account of it heralded
its wonders to the world in a manner that had never been done before.
Just how long Dr. Bird remained in Kentucky is not known, as no
comprehensive biography of him has been issued, but he must have been in
this State for several years prior to the publication of _Nick of the
Woods_, and _Peter Pilgrim_. His last novel was _Robin Day_ (1839).
After the publication of this tale, Dr. Bird became a Delaware farmer.
In 1847 he returned to Philadelphia and became joint editor of the
_North American Gazette_. He died at Philadelphia, January 22, 1854, of
brain fever. Morton McMichael, with whom he was associated in conducting
the _Gazette_, wrote an eloquent tribute to his memory. Dr. Bird's poem,
_The Beech Tree_, is remembered today by many readers. But it is as the
creator of _Nick of the Woods_, a new edition of which appeared in 1905,
that his fame is firmly fixed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _The Prose Writers of America_, by R. W. Griswold
(Philadelphia, 1847); Appletons' _Cyclopaedia of American
Biography_ (New York, 1888, v. i).