1 LIFE OF AVILSON. 



Lawson is to have one of the plates completely finished ; and I am going to 

 set the copper-plate printer at work to print each bird in its natural colors, 

 which will be a great advantage in coloring, as the black ink will not then stain 

 the fine tints. We mcji. r) bind in the prospectus at the end of the next 

 half volume, for which purpose twenty-five hundred copies are to be thrown 

 off"; and an agent will be appointed in every town in the Union. The pros- 

 pectus will also be printed in all the newspapers ; and everything done to pro- 

 mote the undertaking. 



" I hope you have made a beginning, and have already a collection of heads, 

 bills and claws, delineated. If this work should go on, it will be a five years' 

 affair; and may open the way to something more extensive; for which reason 

 I am anxious to have you with me to share the harvest. 



" I started this morning, by peep of day, with my gun, for the purpose of 

 shooting a nuthatch. After jumping a hundred fences, and getting over the 

 ankles in mud (for I had put on my shoes for lightness), I found myself almost 

 at the junction of the Schuylkill and Delaware, without success, there being 

 hardly half an acre of woodland in the whole Neck; and the nuthatch gene- 

 rally frequents large-timbered woods. I returned home at eight o'clock, after 

 getting completely wet, and in a profuse perspiration, which, contrary to the 

 maxims of the doctors, has done me a great deal of good ; and I intend to 

 repeat the dose ; except that I shall leave out the ingredient of the wet feet, 

 if otherwise convenient. Were I to prescribe such a remedy to Lawson, he 

 would be ready to think me mad. Moderate, nay even pretty severe exercise, 

 is the best medicine in the world for sedentary people, and ought not to be 

 neglected on any account." 



To Mr. Wm. Bartram. 



" Philadelphia, April 29th, 1807. 

 " My Dear Sir. 



"The receipt of yours of the 11th inst., in which you approve of my in- 

 tended publication of American Ornithology, gave me much satisfaction ; and 

 your promise of befriending me in the arduous attempt commands my un- 

 feigned gratitude. From the opportunities I have lately had of examining 

 into the works of Americans who have treated of this part of our natural his- 

 tory, I am satisfied that none of them have bestowed such minute attention 

 on the subject as you yourself have done. Indeed they have done little more 

 than copied your nomenclature and observations, and referred to your authority. 

 To have you, therefore, to consult with in the course of this great publication 

 I consider a most happy and even auspicious circumstance ; and I hope you 

 will, on all occasions, be a rigid censor, and kind monitor, whenever you find 

 me deviating from the beauties of nature, or the truth of description. 



" The more I read and reflect upon the subject, the more dissatisfied I am 

 with the qjrcific names which have been used by almost every writer. A name 

 should, if possible, be expressive of some peculiarity in color, conformation, or 

 habit ; if it will equally apply to two diff"erent species, it is certainly an im- 

 proper one. Is migrutorius an epithet peculiarly applicable to the robin ? 

 Js it not equally so to almost every species of turdus we have? Earopea has 



