llv 
MEMOIR OF 
“ On tlie cominons, near Charleston, 1 presided ft* * 
singular feast : The company consisted of two hundf^ 
and thirty-seven carrion crows, ( Vultur atratus,) five 
six dogs, and myself, though I only kept order, and le*' 
the eating part entirely to the others. I sat so near ^ 
the dead horse, that my feet touched his ; and yet, at 
time, I counted thirty-eight vultures on and within bi<* 
so that hardly an inch of his flesh could be seen for ihej^ 
Linnaeus and others have confounded this vulture 
the turkey buzzard ; hut they are two very distinct specie*. 
“ Having now visited all the towns within one hundf^ 
miles of the Atlantic, from Maine to Georgia, and do*' 
as much for this bantling book of mine, as ever autl* 
did for any progeny of his brain, I now turn my wisb“ 
eye towards home. There is a charm, a melody, in tb* 
little word /tome, which only those know who bal* 
forsaken it to wander among stnuigcrs ; exposed ^ 
dangers, fatigues, insults, and impositions, of a thous*'' 
nameless kinds. Ferhaps I feel the force of this 
rather more at present than usual, being indisposed 
a slight fever these three days, which a dose of ^ 
sickness, will, I hope, rid me of.” 
The second volume was published in January, 18l*! 
and, in the latter end of the same month, the indefatigs*' 
ornithologist set out for Pittsburg, on his route to 
Orleans. After consulting with his friends on the nw 
eligible mode of descending the Ohio, he resolved, 
trary to their dissuasions, to venture in a skiff by hims^ 
considering this mode, with all its inconveniencies, ash^ 
suited to his funds, and most favourable to his research ^ 
Accordingly, on the 24th of Febriiarj’, he embarked 
his little boat, and bade adieu to Pittsburg. , 
The difficulties which he had to encounter were 
as, to a less enterprizing traveller, would have ^ 
insurmountable ; added to which, he had a severe at ^ 
of dysentery, and was compelled to prosecute his jout* 
