liv 
MEMOIR OF 
“ On the commons, near Charleston, I presided at a 
singular feast : The company consisted of two hundred 
and thirty-seven carrion crows, ( Vultur atratus ,) 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, I counted thirty-eight vultures on and within him, 
so that hardly an inch of his flesh could be seen for them. 
Linnaeus and others have confounded this vulture with 
the turkey buzzard ; but they are two very distinct species.” 
“ Having now visited all the towns within one hundred 
miles of the Atlantic, from Maine to Georgia, and done 
as much for this bantling book of mine, as ever author 
did for any progeny 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 second volume was published in January, 1810 ; 
and, in the latter end of the same month, the indefatigable 
ornithologist set out for Pittsburg, on his route to New 
Orleans. After consulting with his friends on the most 
eligible mode of descending the Ohio, he resolved, con- 
trary to their dissuasions, to venture in a skiff by himself, 
considering this mode, with all its inconveniencies, as best 
suited to his funds, and most favourable to his researches. 
Accordingly, on the 24th of February, he embarked in 
his little boat, and bade adieu to Pittsburg. 
The difficulties which he had to encounter were such 
as, to a less enterprizing traveller, would have been 
insurmountable ; added to which, he had a severe attack 
of dysentery, and was compelled to prosecute his journey 
