Ixvi 
LIFE OF WILSON. 
The streets are^deep beds of heavy sand, without the accommodation of a foot 
pavement. I most sincerely liope that I may be able to return home by water; 
if not, I shall trouble you with one letter more." 
To Mr. William Bartram. 
" S.\VANNAiT, March 5th, 1809. 
" Three months, my dear friend, arc passed since I parted from you in 
Kiiigsess. I have been travelling ever since ; and one half of my journey is 
yet to be performed — but that lialf is homewards, and through old Neptune's 
dominions, where I trust I shall not be long detained. This has been tiie most 
arduous, expensive, and fatiguing expedition I ever undertook. I have, how- 
ever, gained my point in procuring two hundred and fifty subscribers, in all, 
for my Ornithology; and a great mass of information respecting the birds that 
winter in the southern states, and some that never visit the middle states; and 
this information I have derived personally, and can therefore the more certainly 
depend upon it. I have, also, found several new birds, of which I can find 
DO account in Linneus. All these things we will talk over when wc meet. 
* * * * 
"I visited a great number of the rich planters on the rivers Santee and 
Pedee, and was much struck with the miserable swarms of negroes around 
them. In these rice plantations, there are great numbers of birds, never sup- 
posed to winter so far north, and their tameness surprised me. There are also 
many here that never visit Pennsylvania. Round Georgetown I also visited 
several rich planters, all of whom entertained me hospitably. I spent ten 
days in Charleston, still, in every place where I stopped a day or two, making 
excursions with my gun. 
" On the commons, near Charleston, I presided at a singular feast. The 
company consisted of two hundred and thirty-seven Carrion Crows ( Yultur 
afratus), five or six dogs, and myself, though I only kept order, and left the 
eating part entirely to the others. I sat so near to the dead horse, that my 
feet touched his, and yet at one time 1 counted thirty-eight vultures on and 
within him, so that hardly an inch of his flesh could be seen for them. Lin- 
neus and others have confounded this Vulture with the Turkey Buzzard, but 
they are two very distinct species. 
"As far north as Wiliuington, in North Carolina, I met with the Ivory- 
billed Woodpecker. I killed two, and winged a male, who alarmed the whole 
town of Wilmington, screaming exactly like a young child crying violently, 
SO that everybody supposed I had a baby under the apron of my chair, till I 
took out the bird to prevent the people from stopping me. This bird I con- 
fined in the room I was to sleep in, and in less than half an hour he m;ide his 
way through the plaster, the lath, and partly through the weather bnards; 
and would have escaped, if I had not accidentally come in. The common 
people confound the P. principalis and P. pihatux together. 
^; ^ ^ ^ 
" I am utterly at a loss in my wood rambles here, for there are so many 
trees, shrubs, plants, and insects, that I know nothing of. There are immense 
quantities of elegant butterflies, and other singular insects. I met with a 
i 
