158 John Bachman. 



To EDWARD HARRIS, ESQ., MORRISTOWX, N. J. 

 CHARLESTON, December 12th, 1837. 



My Dear Sir : It is a long time since I have heard 

 from or of you, and I am induced to write to inquire 

 how you are, and how this uncertain world, with all 

 its changes and chances, has used you since we met. 



The Audubons I hear from frequently ; they 

 write once a week. When we shall see them again, 

 is somewhat uncertain. I think, however, in the 

 course of eighteen months. 



The work will soon be completed, and I feel con- 

 fident that it will be, on the subject of which it 

 treats, the best in the world. When another edition 

 of the Letter-press is published, I wish that we could 

 persuade Audubon to correct the mistakes that were 

 unavoidable in his previous volumes, and the book 

 will for ages remain a monument to his industry 

 and establish his fame.* 



I have heard that you intended to visit the South 

 again in the Spring. " If so, surely you will not pass 

 us by without a call. I shall then be quite at leisure 

 to go with you into the country. The old range is 

 still there and plenty of deer. I had not, for a long 

 time, taken a gun into my hand, till a few days ago. 



*In the notes to the Letter-press, Audubon cheerfully cor- 

 rected the unavoidable errors. 



" Ibidem. The birds represented in the 35th plate of my 

 large work (Audubon's Bird's of America), I have since 

 found to be the young of the Yellow Poll Warbler. My 

 friend, Dr. Bachman, and myself discovered the error soon 

 after the publication of my first volume on Ornithology. 



u /6. Plate 55. I most willingly acknowledge the error 

 under which I labored for many' years, in believing that 

 this species, and the Sylvia palmar um of "Bonaparte " are 

 distinct from each other. To the sound judgment of my 

 friend, John Bachman I am indebted, for convincing me 

 that the figure given by the Prince of Canino is that of our 

 present bird at a different period of life, therefore with 

 different plumage. ' ' 



