C LIFE OF WILSON. 



am, therefore, a volunteer in the cause of Natural History, im- 

 pelled by nobler views than those of money. The second volume 

 will be ready for delivery on the first of January next. I have re- 

 ceived communications from many different parts of the United 

 States; with some drawings, and offers of more. But these are 

 rarely executed with such precision as is necessary for a work 

 of this kind. 



" Let me know if you have ever seen the nest of Catesby's 

 cowpen-bird. I have every reason to believe that this bird never 

 builds itself a nest, but, like the cuckoo of Europe, flrops its 

 eggs into the nests of other birds; and leaves the result to their 

 mercy and management. I have found no less than six nests 

 this season, with each a young cow-bird contained in it. One 

 of these, which I had found in the nest of the Maryland yellow- 

 throat, and which occupied the whole nest, I brought home, 

 and put it into the cage of a crested red-bird, who became its 

 foster father, and fed, and reared it, with great affection. It 

 begins to chant a little. 



" I have just heard from our old friend M* *. He has not 

 yet published the first number of his work; and Bonaparte has 

 been so busy with cutting throats, and building bridges, in the 

 forests of Austria, that the Inspector of the Forests of France 

 has not yet received his appointment." 



TO MR. WM. BARTRAM. 



October 11, 1809. 



" Thanks for your bird, so neatly stuffed, that I was just 

 about to skin it. It is the Rallus virginianus of Turton, and 

 agrees exactly with his description. The one in company was 

 probably the female. Turton mentions four species as inhabi- 

 tants of the United States. I myself have seen six. Mr. Abbot 

 of Savannah showed me two new species. I found the sora, as 

 the Virginians call it, in the rice flats near Savannah, in March. 

 General Wilkinson told me that the sora was in multitudes at 

 Detroit. Query don't you think they breed in the north, like 

 the rice-birds? Are not the European naturalists mistaken in 



