Vol. XIII 

 1896 



Faxon, Abbot's Drawings of Georgia Birds. 205 



library of the Society, a set of 181 water-color drawings of birds. 

 This series of plates is accompanied by the following entry in 

 the handwriting of the late Miss L. Foster 1 : " Drawings of the 

 Birds of Georgia, by John Abbot," but ncirecord of how or 

 when the collection came into the possession of the Society has 

 yet been found. The plates are classified and numbered by 

 Abbot himself from 1 up to 200, but nineteen are lost from the 

 4 set. The names of the birds appear in most cases at the bottom 

 of each plate, written in pencil the nomenclature being chiefly 

 that of Wilson. One of the plates alone bears the inscription 

 in ink, "J. Abbot delin. ad vivum, 18 10," but the character of 

 the drawings themselves as well as the considerable amount of 

 Abbot's well known autograph on the backs of the plates leaves 

 no doubt as to their origin. 



The notes on the backs of the plates consist of memoranda in 

 pencil relating to the dimensions of the birds drawn, often 

 followed by the date (day of the month, but in no case the 

 year) and notes on the colors and on the time of arrival of 

 migratory species. These memoranda have in most cases been 

 erased and replaced in many instances by the names of the 

 birds in the writing of Dr. T. M. Brewer, through whose hands 

 the whole lot of drawings must have passed. Fortunately, 

 Abbot's notes can still be deciphered with time and patience. 



We are chiefly indebted to Swainsoir and S. H. Scudder 3 

 for the few facts that are known concerning Abbot's life. 

 Coming to America in the interest of several of the leading 

 entomologists of England, probably about the year 1790, he 

 soon settled in the State of Georgia, where he remained till as 

 late as 181 o. Here he mainly devoted himself to collecting, 

 rearing, and drawing the insects of the State, together with the 

 plants upon which they feed. The drawings published by 

 Smith and those in the possession of the Boston Society of 



1 Miss Foster was Assistant in the Library from 1S68 to 1885. 



2 Taxidermy, with the Biography of Zoologists, and Notices of their Works. 

 By William Swainson. Lardners's Cabinet Cyclopaedia, Vol. CXXVI, 1S40. 



John Abbot, the Aurelian. By Samuel H. Scudder. Canadian Entomol- 

 ogist, XX, iSSS, 150. 



