viii PREFACE. 



i^atiire, will condescend to communicate some of the numerous facts 

 which many of them have, doubtless, witnessed among the feather- 

 ed part of the creation around them ; his work will lose more than 

 half its worth; and, with all his endeavours, he must despair of 

 doing complete justice to the subject. 



Every communication, having this for its object, will be ac- 

 knowledged with thankfulness ; and receive that degree of atten- 

 tion which the importance of the facts it contains may require. By 

 such combined exertions, and reciprocity of information, we shall 

 do honour to this branch of science ; and be enabled to escape, in 

 part, that transatlantic and humiliating reproach, of being obliged 

 to apply to Europe for an account and description of the productions of 

 our own country. 



Nevertheless, the well-earned meed of praise must not, can- 

 not be withheld, from those worthy and indefatigable naturalists, 

 who, impelled by an ardent love of science, became voluntary 

 exiles from home and all its sweets, and subjected themselves 

 to years of labour and peril, in personal efforts to examine and 

 illustrate the natural history of this extensive Western empire. 

 The "Insects of Georgia,'' by J. Abbot, published in London, 

 in two volumes, folio; the "Oaks of North America," by Mi- 

 chaux, published in Paris; and the "History of the Forest 

 Trees of North America,'' by Y\ Andre-Michaux, son to the 

 preceding, now publishing in Paris, and about to be republished in 

 this city by Messrs. Bradford & Inskeep, are works of the first 

 character in point of correct scientific description and splendid co- 

 lored representations of their respective subjects. Such examples 



