Florida. He has discovered, shot,
and drawn a new Ibis, which he has named _Tantalus fuscus_. In a letter,
he says
"I have discovered three different new species of Heath, one bearing a
yellow blossom, the two others a red and purple one;--also, a beautiful
new Kalmia, and several extraordinary parasitical plants, bearing some
resemblance to the pineapple plant, growing on the _eastern_ side of the
cyprus tree in swamps, about 6 or 10 feet above the water.
"During my late excursion I almost became an amphibious being--spending
the most of my days in the water, and by night pitching my tent on the
barren sands. Whilst I remained at Spring Garden, the alligators were
yet in full life; the white-headed eagles setting; the smaller resident
birds paring; and strange to say, the warblers which migrate, moving
easterly every warm day, and returning every cold day, a curious
circumstance, tending to illustrate certain principles in natural
economy."
Six boxes of prepared skins of birds, &c. as well as a number of choice
shells, seeds, roots, &c. the result of Audubon's researches, have been
received in Charleston.
"In this collection there are between four and five hundred skins of
Birds, several of them rare in this part of the United States--some that
are never found here, and a few that have not yet been described.
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