LIFE OF WILSON. 
evil 
singular insects. I met with a grasshopper so big that I took it 
for a bird ; it settles upon trees and bushes. I have kept a re- 
cord of all the birds which I have seen or shot since I left home, 
“ This journey will be of much use to me, as I have formed 
acquaintance in almost every place, who are able to transmit me 
information. Great numbers of our summer birds are already here ; 
and many are usually here all winter. 
“ There is a Mr. Abbot here, who has resided in Georgia 
thirty-three years, drawing insects and birds. I have been on se- 
veral excursions with him. He is a very good observer, and paints 
well. He has published, in London, one large folio volume of the 
Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia. It is a very splendid work. 
There is only one vessel here bound to Newyork; she sails some 
time next week, and I shall take my passage in her. I caught a 
fever here by getting wet ; I hope the sea air, and sea-sickness, will 
carry it ofiF.’^ 
Savannah^ March 8, 1809. 
Dear Sir, 
“ Having now visited all the towns w ithin one liiin- 
dred miles of the Atlantic from Maine to Georgia, and done as 
much for this bantling book of mine as ever author did for any pro- 
geny of his brain, I now turn my wishful eye towards home. There 
is a charm, a melody, in this little word home^ which only those 
know who have forsaken it to wander among strangers, exposed to 
dangers, fatigues, insults and impositions, of a thousand nameless 
kinds. Perhaps I feel the force of this idea rather more at present 
than usual, being indisposed with a slight fever these three days, 
which a dose of sea-sickness will, I hope, rid me of. The w^eather 
since my arrival in this place has been extremely warm for the sea- 
son. The wind generally south-west, and the thermometer ranging 
between 75 and 82. To me it feels more intolerable than our sum- 
