C LIFE OF WILSON. 
am, therefore, a volunteer in the cause of Natural History, im- 
pelled by nobler views than those of money. The second volume 
will be ready for delivery on the first of January next. I have re- 
ceived communications from many diflferent parts of the United 
States; with some drawings, and offers of more. But these are 
rarely executed with such precision as is necessary for a work 
of this kind. 
“ Let me know if you have ever seen the nest of Catesby’s 
cowpen-bird. I have every reason to believe that this bird never 
builds itself a nest, but, like the cuckoo of Europe, drops its 
eggs into the nests of other birds; and leaves the result to their 
mercy and management. I have found no less than six nests 
this season, with each a young cow-bird contained in it. One 
of these, which I had found in the nest of the Maryland yellow- 
throat, and which occupied the whole nest, I brought home, 
and put it into the cage of a crested red-bird, who became its 
foster father, and fed, and reared it, with great affection. It 
begins to chant a little. 
I have just heard from our old friend M* *. He has not 
yet published the first number of his work ; and Bonaparte has 
been so busy with cutting throats, and building bridges, in the 
forests of Austria, that the Inspector of the Forests of France 
has not yet received his appointment.” 
TO MR. WM. BARTRAM. 
October 11, 1809. 
“ Thanks for your bird, so neatly stuffed, that I was just 
about to skin it. It is the Rallus virginianus of Turton, and 
agrees exactly with his description. The one in company was 
probably the female. Turton mentions four species as inhabi- 
tants of the United States. I myself have seen six. Mr. Abbot 
of Savannah showed me two new species. I found the sora, as 
the Virginians call it, in the rice flats near Savannah, in March. 
General Wilkinson told me that the sora was in multitudes at 
Detroit. Query — don’t you think they breed in the north, like 
the rice-birds? Are not the European naturalists mistaken in 
