No. 462.] SIR CHARLES BLAGDEN. 399 
trumpery, fit only to be thrown upon the dunghill ; for I took 
all that offered.” Under date of March 2, 1778, Philadelphia, 
he again writes: “ With respect to the Kegs from Rhode-Island, 
I should deem myself extremely unfortunate if they occasioned 
the least misunderstanding between you & Mr. Barrington, 
more especially as I am convinced that they scarcely contain 
anything worthy your attention ; it would be extremely easy to 
divide them by your taking six apiece; but as Mr. Barrington 
had previously acquainted me with his intention of sending all 
that he should receive to Mr. Lever, I thought it would best 
answer both his purpose and yours, that he should give up to 
you every thing that was nondescript, (if there be any such) on 
condition of keeping all the remainder, among which there might 
be many specimens not yet in Mr. Lever's Museum, & there- 
fore interesting to him though not to you." 
Two of the letters — the first dated September 12, 1778, the 
second undated — contain an annotated list of animals collected 
in Rhode Island, which were sent home, evidently, by Sir 
Charles Blagden to Sir Joseph Banks in Europe. The number 
and sex of the specimens were curiously designated in the fol- 
lowing manner: “A string is tied to some part of the animal 
with its two ends of a length suited to the number to be 
expressed ; every single knot on either or both of these ends 
stands for a unit; every double knot, that is, two single knots 
close together, stands for 10; and a /oop at one end of the 
string means 100. .... Where I gota male & female the knotted 
string was tied to the right leg of the former & to the left leg of 
the latter." | 
The birds, which are the subject of this paper, were collected 
in Rhode Island, and most of them are to be positively identi- 
fied from the names and descriptive notes. Many of the ver- 
nacular names he used are still in use in the State as local 
cognomens of species; e. g, wamp, for the Eider (Somateria 
dresseri). 
Under date of April 10, 1779, New York, he again writes 
that a Captain Davies *seems to have got every thing " in this 
country “that was brought to me in Rhode Island, except the 
Scapog-bird mentioned in my catalogue, which, I believe, he 
never saw." 
