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AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY

OR

THE NATURAL HISTORY

OF THE

BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES^

ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES

ENGRAVED AND COLOURED PROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS TAKEN
PROM NATURE.

BY ALEXANDER WILSON.

WITH A SKETCH OP THE AUTHOr’s LIFE,

BY GEORGE ORD, F. L. S. he.

IN THREE VOLS.— VOL. 111.

PUBLISHED BY COLLINS & CO. NEW YORK,
AND

HARRISON HALL, PHILADELPHIA,

1829.

EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, to wit:

Be it remembered, That on the 27th day of April, in the fifty-third year
of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1829, Harrison
Hall, of the said district, hath deposited in this office, the title of a book, the
right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

Jlmerican Ornithology, or the J^atural History of the Birds of the United States.
Illustrated with plates engi'aved and coloured from original drawings taken from
J^alure. By Alexander Wilson. With a sketch of the .Author's Life, by George
Ord, F. L. S. Sfc. In three Volumes. — Vol. III.

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled “ An
act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts,
and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein
mentioned.” — And also to the act, entitled, “ An act supplementary to an act,
entitled, ‘ An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of
maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during
the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of
designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.”

D. CALDWELL,

Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

W14

• /

V.3

CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

Page.

Columba migratoria, Passenger Pigeon, - - 1

Carolinensis, Carolina Pigeon, or Turtle Dove, 12
passerina. Ground Dove, - - - 15

Tetrao umbellus, Ruffed Grous - - - 18

Cupido, Pinnated Grous, - - - 24

Perdix Virginianus, Quail or Partridge, - - 39

Introduction to the Water Birds, - - - 45

Plutalea ■Ajuja, Roseate Spoonbill, - - . 49

Ardea minor, American Bittern, - - - 52

Ccerulea, Blue Heron, ... 54

Herodias, Great Heron, - - - -57

Egretta, Great White Heron, - - 64

virescens, Green Heron, - - - - 67

exilis, Least Bittern, - - - 71

Ludoviciana, Louisiana Heron, - - - 73

nycticorax. Night Heron, or Qua-bird, - 75

candidissima, Snowy Heron, - - - 80

Americana, Whooping Crane, - - 85

1‘ioiacea, Yellow-crowned Heron, - - 87

Tantalus Loculator, Wood Ibis, - . _ 90

ruber. Scarlet Ibis, - - - - 92

albus. White Ibis, ... 94

jsTumenius longirostris. Long-billed Curlew, - - 96

borealis, Esquimaux Curlew, - - 99

Scolopax Fedoa, Great Marbled Godwit, - - 102

minor, YVoodcock, - - - 104

Oalinago, Snipe, - - - . - 109

JVbue&oracensis, Red-breasted Snipe, - 112

semipalmata, Semipalmated Snipe, - - 115

vociferus. Tell-tale Godwit, or Snipe, - 118

jlavipes. Yellow-shanks Snipe, - - 121

IV

CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

Page.

Tringa Bartramia, Bartram’s Sandpiper, ~ - 124

solitaria, Solitary Sandpiper, - - - 127

maculata, Spotted Sandpiper, - - 129

semipalmata, Semipalmated Sandpiper, - 132

pMsiWfl, Little Sandpiper, - - - 134

alpina, Red-backed Sandpiper, - - - ise

cinclus. The Pui’re, - - - 138

rufa, Red-breasted Sandpiper, - _ . 140

cinerea, Ash-coloured Sandpiper, - - 142

interpres, Turnstone, .... 145

Charadrius Hiaticula, Ringed Plover, - - 149

Hiaticula, Ring Plover, - - - 152

Wilsonius, Wilson’s Plover, - - 155

vnciferus, Kildeer Plover, - - - 157

Fluvialis, Golden Plover, - - 160

apricarius, Black-bellied Plover, - - 162

Calidris, Sanderling Plover, - - 167

rubidus. Ruddy Plover, - - - 170

Hosmatopus ostralegus, Vied Oyster-ca.tcher, - 172

B'tllus crepitans, Clflppev ViW, - - - - 177

Firg’iKianzis, Virginian Rail, - - 182

Carolinus, Rail, - - - - - 1 85

Gallinula Martinica, Martimco GaWimde, - - 197

Phalaropus Fulicarius, Gray Phalarope, - - 199

lobaius, Brown Phalarope, - - 204

Ftdica ,imericana. Cinereous Coot, - - - 210

Recurvirostra Americana, American Avoset, - 215

Hymantopus, Long-legged Avoset, - 218

Phcenicopterus ruber. Red Flamingo, - - 223

Uria alle. Little Guillemot, .... 227

Colyntbus glacialis. Great Northern Diver, or Loon, 229

Rynchops nigra. Black Skimmer, or Shearwater, - 235

Sterna Hirundo, Great Tern, _ . _ 240

minuta, Lesser Tern, - . - _ £44

aranea. Marsh Tern, - - - 247

plumbea. Short-tailed Tern, . . . £49

Juiiginosa, Sooty Tern, - - - 251

CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

Larus atricilla, Laughing Gull,

Procellaria pelagica, Stormy Petrel,

Mergus Merganser, Goosander, male,
female,

Serrator, Red-breasted Merganser,
albellus. The Smew, or White Nun,
cucullatus. Hooded Merganser,

Anas Canadensis, Canada Goose,
hyperborea. Snow Goose,

Young,

Bernicla, Brant, ...
clypeata. Shoveller,

Boschas, The Mallard,
strepera. The Gadwall,
acuta. Pintail Duck,

Americana, American Widgeon,
obscura. Dusky Duck,
sponsa. Summer Duck, or Wood Duck,
discors. Blue-winged Teal,
crecca. Green-winged Teal,
mollissima. Eider Duck, male, . -
female,

perspicillata. Black, or Surf Duck,
fusca. Velvet Duck,
nigra. Scoter Duck,
rubidus. Ruddy Duck, male,
female,

valisinerea. Canvas-back Duck,

Ferina, Red-headed Duck,

Marila, Scaup Duck, -
Fuligula, Tufted Duck,

Clangula, Golden Eye,

Albeola, Buflfel-headed Duck,
glacialis. Long-tailed Duck, male,
female,

Labradora, Pied Duck,
histrionica. Harlequin Duck,

Page.

253

256

- 265
268

- 269
272

- 274
276

- 283
285

- 287
292

- 295
303

- 305
307

- 310
313

- 317
319

- 322
325

- 326
328

- 330
332

- 339
340

- 351
353

- 356
360

- 363
365

- 368
369

- 37J

CONTENTS OF VOL. UL

Page.

Vlotiis anhinga. Darter, or Snake Bird, - - 373

female, - - 376

378

General Index,

AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY.

ORDER IV. COLUMB^. COLUMBINE.

GENUS 48. COLUMBA. PIGEON.
SPECIES 1. C. MIGRATORIJi.
PASSENGER PIGEON.

[Plate XLIV.— Fig. 1.]

Catesb. I, 23. — Linn. Syst. 285. — Turton, 479. — Arct. Zool.
p. 322, JVb. 187. — Brisson, i, 100. — Buff, ir, 527. — Peale’s
Museum, JV*o. 5084.*

This remarkable bird merits a distinguished place in the an-
nals of our feathered tribes; a claim to which I shall endeavour
to do justice; and though it would be impossible, in the bounds
allotted to this account, to relate all I have seen and heard of
this species, yet no circumstance shall be omitted with which
I am acquainted, (however extraordinary some of these may
appear) that may tend to illustrate its history.

The Wild Pigeon of the United States inhabits a wide and
extensive region of North America, on this side of the Great
Stony mountains, beyond which to the westward, I have not
heard of their being seen. According to Mr. Hutchins, they
abound in the country round Hudson’s Bay, where they usually
remain as late as December, feeding, when the ground is cov-
ered with snow, on the buds of juniper. They spread over the
whole of Canada— were seen by captain Lewis and his party
near the Great Falls of the Missouri, upwards of two thousand
five hundred miles from its mouth, reckoning the meanderings

* Columba migraloria, Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 612, J^o. 70.

VOL. III. — B

I

2

PASSENGER PIGEON.

of the river — were also met with in the interior of Louisiana,
by colonel Pike; and extend their range as far south as the gulf,
of Mexico; occasionally visiting or breeding in almost every
quarter of the United States,

But the most remarkable characteristic of these birds is their
associating together, both in their migrations, and also during
the period of incubation, in such prodigious numbers as almost
to surpass belief; and which has no parallel among any other
of the feathered tribes, on the face of the earth, with which
naturalists are acquainted.

These migrations appear to be undertaken rather in quest of
food, than merely to avoid the cold of the climate, since we find
them lingering in the northern regions around Hudson’s Bay
so late as December; and since their appearance is so casual and
irregular; sometimes not visiting certain districts for several
years in any considerable numbers, while at other times they
are innumerable. I have witnessed these migrations in the Ge-
nessee country — often in Pennsylvania, and also in various parts
of Virginia, with amazement; but all that I had then seen of them
were mere straggling parties, when compared with the congre-
gated millions which I have since beheld in our western for-
ests, in the states of Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana territory.
These fertile and extensive regions abound with the nutritious
beech nut, which constitutes the chief food of the Wild Pigeon.
In seasons when these nuts are abundant, corresponding multi-
tudes of Pigeons may be confidently expected. It sometimes
happens that having consumed the whole produce of the beech
trees in an extensive district, they discover another at the dis-
tance perhaps of sixty or eighty miles, to which they regularly
repair every morning, and return as regularly in the course of
the day, or in the evening, to their place of general rendezvous,
or as it is usually called the roosting place.. These roosting
places are always in the woods, and sometimes occupy a large
extent of forest. When they have frequented one of these pla-
ces for some time, the appearance it exhibits is surprising. The
ground is covered to the depth of several inches with their dung;

PASSENGEK PIGEON.

3

all the tender grass and underwood destroyed; the surface strew-
ed with large limbs of trees broken down by the weight of the
birds clustering one above another; and the trees themselves,
for thousands of acres, killed as completely as if girdled with
an axe. The marks of this desolation remain for many years on
the spot; and numerous places could be pointed out where for
several years after, scarce a single vegetable made its appearance.

When these roosts are first discovered, the inhabitants from
considerable distances visit them in the night, with guns, clubs,
long poles, pots of sulphur, and various other engines of destruc-
tion. In a few hours they fill many sacks, and load their horses
with them. By the Indians, a Pigeon roost, or breeding place,
is considered an important source of national profit and depen-
dence for that season; and all their active ingenuity is exercised
on the occasion. The breeding place differs from the former in
its greater extent. In the western countries above mentioned,
these are generally in beech woods, and often extend in nearly
a straight line across the country for a great way. Not far from
Shelby ville in the state of Kentucky, about five years ago, there
was one of these breeding places, which stretched through the
woods in nearly a north and south direction, was several miles
in breadth, and was said to be upwards of forty miles in extent!
In this tract almost every tree was furnished with nests, wher-
ever the branches could accommodate them. The Pigeons
made their first appearance there about the tenth of April, and
left it altogether, with their young, before the twenty-fifth of
May.

As soon as the young were fully grown, and before they left
the nests, numerous parties of the inhabitants, from all parts of
the adjacent country, came with wagons, axes, beds, cooking
utensils, many of them accompanied by the greater part of their
families, and encamped for several days at this immense nursery.
Several of them informed me, that the noise in the woods was
so great as to terrify their horses, and that it was difficult for
one person to hear another speak without bawliilg in his ear.
The ground was strewed with broken limbs of trees, eggs, and

4

PASSENGER PIGEON.

squab Pigeons, which had been precipitated from above, and
on which herds of hogs were fattening. Hawks, Buzzards, and
Eagles, were sailing about in great numbers, and seizing the
squabs from their nests at pleasure; while from twenty feet up-
wards to the tops of the trees the view through the woods pre-
sented a perpetual tumult of crowding and fluttering multitudes
of Pigeons, their wings roaring like thunder; mingled with
the frequent crash of falling timber; for now the axe-men were
at work cutting down those trees that seemed to be most crowd-
ed with nests ; and contrived to fell them in such a manner,
that in their descent they might bring down several others; by
which means the falling of one large tree sometimes produce
two hundred squabs, little inferior in size to the old ones, and
almost one mass of fat. On some single trees upwards of one
hundred nests were found, each containing one young only, a
circumstance in the history of this bird not generally known to
naturalists. It was dangerous to walk under these flying and
fluttering millions, from the frequent fall of large branches, bro-
ken down by the weight of the multitudes above, and which in
their descent often destroyed numbers of the birds themselves;
while the clothes of those engaged in traversing the woods were
completely covered with the excrements of the Pigeons.

These circumstances were related to me by many of the most
respectable part of the community in that quarter; and were
confirmed in part by what I myself witnessed. I passed for se-
veral miles through this same breeding place, where every tree
was spotted with nests, the remains of those above described.
In many instances, I counted upwards of ninety nests on a
single tree; but the Pigeons had abandoned this place for ano-
ther, sixty or eighty miles off, towards Green river, where they
were said at that time to be equally numerous. From the great
numbers that were constantly passing over head, to or from that
quarter, I had no doubt of the truth of this statement. The mast
had been chiefly consumed in Kentucky, and the Pigeons, every
morning, a little before sun-rise, set out for the Indiana territory,
the nearest part of which was about sixty miles distant. Many

PASSENGER PIGEON.

5

of these returned before ten o’clock, and the great body gen-
erally appeared on their return a little after noon.

I had left the public road, to visit the remains of the breed-
ing place near Shelby ville, and was traversing the woods with
my gun, in my way to Frankfort, when about one o’clock the
Pigeons, which I had observed flying the greater part of the
morning northerly, began to return in such immense numbers
as I never before had witnessed. Coming to an opening by the
side of a creek called the Benson, where I had a more uninter-
rupted view, I was astonished at their appearance. They were
flying with great steadiness and rapidity, at a height beyond
gunshot, in several strata deep, and so close together, that could
shot have reached them, one discharge could not have failed of
bringing down several individuals. From right to left as far as
the eye could reach, the breadth of this vast procession extend-
ed; seeming every where equally crowded. Curious to deter-
mine how long this appearance would continue, I took out my
watch to note the time, and sat down to observe them. It was
then half past one. I sat for more than an hour, but instead of a
diminution of this prodigious procession, it seemed rather to in-
crease both in numbers and rapidity; and, anxious to reach
Frankfort before night, I rose and went on. About four o’clock
in the afternoon I crossed the Kentucky river, at the town of
Frankfort, at which time the living torrent above my head
seemed as numerous and as extensive as ever. Long after this 1
observed them, in large bodies that continued to pass for six or
eight minutes, and these again were followed by other detached
bodies, all moving in the same south-east direction, till after six
in the evening. The great breadth of front which this mighty
multitude preserved, would seem to intimate a corresponding-
breadth of their breeding place, which by several gentlemen who
had lately passed through part of it, was stated to me at several
miles. It was said to be in Green county, and that the young
began to fly about the middle of March. On the seventeenth of
April, forty-nine miles beyond Danville, and not far from Green
river, I crossed this same breeding place, where the nests for

6

PASSENGER PIGEON.

more than three miles spotted every treej the leaves not being
yet out, I had a fair prospect of them, and was really astonished
at their numbers. A few bodies of Pigeons lingered yet in dif-
ferent parts of the woods, the roaring of whose wings were
heard in various quarters around me.

All accounts agree in stating, that each nest contains only one
young. * This is so extremely fat, that the Indians, and many
of the whites, are accustomed to melt down the fat for domestic
purposes as a substitute for butter and lard. At the time they
leave the nest they are nearly as heavy as the old ones 5 but
become much leaner after they are turned out to shift for them-
selves.

It is universally asserted in the western countries, that the
Pigeons, though they have only one young at a time, breed
thrice, and sometimes four times, in the same season; the cir-
cumstances already mentioned render this highly probable. It
is also worthy of observation, that this takes place during that
period when acorns, beech nuts, &c. are scattered about in the
greatest abundance, and mellowed by the frost. But they are not
confined to these alone; buckwheat, hempseed, Indian corn,
holly berries, hack berries, buckle berries, and many others
furnish them with abundance at almost all seasons. The acorns
of the live oak are also eagerly sought after by these birds, and
rice has been frequently found in individuals killed many hun-
dred miles to the northward of the nearest rice plantation. The
vast quantity of mast which these multitudes consume, is a se-
rious loss to the bears, pigs, squirrels and other dependents on
the fruits of the forest. I have taken from the crop of a single
Wild Pigeon, a good handful ol the kernels of beech nuts, inter-
mixed with acorns and chestnuts. To form a rough estimate of
the daily consumption of one of these immense flocks, let us first
attempt to calculate the numbers of that above mentioned, as
seen in passing between Frankfort and the Indiana territory.

* It seems probable that our author was misinformed on this head, as it
lias been stated to us that the Passenger Pigeon, in common with all the
other known species of the genus Columba, lays two eggs.

PASSENGER PIGEON.

7

If we suppose this column tohave been one mile in breadth (and
I believe it to have been much more, ) and that it moved at the
rate of one mile in a minute; four hours, the time it continued
passing, would make its whole length two hundred and forty-
miles. Again supposing that each square yard of this moving
body comprehended three Pigeons, the square yards in the
whole space, multiplied by three, would give two thousand two
hundred and thirty millions, two hundred and seventy-two
thousand pigeons! An almost inconceivable multitude, and yet
probably far below the actual amount. Computing each of these
to consume half a pint of mast daily, the whole quantity at this
rate, would equal seventeen millions four hundred and twenty-
four thousand bushels per day ! Pleaven has wisely and graci-
ously given to these birds rapidity of flight, and a disposition to
range over vast uncultivated tracts of the earth; otherwise they
must have perished in the districts where they resided, or de-
voured up the whole productions of agriculture, as well as
those of the forests.

A few observations on the mode of flight of these birds must
not be omitted. The appearance of large detached bodies of
them in the air, and the various evolutions they display, are
strikingly picturesque and interesting. In descending the Ohio,
by myself, in the month of February, I often rested on my oars
to contemplate their aerial manoeuvres. A column, eight or ten
miles in length, would appear from Kentucky, high in air, steer-
ing across to Indiana. The leaders of this great body would
sometimes gradually vary their course, until it formed a large
bend of more than a mile in diameter, those behind tracing the
exact route of their predecessors. This would continue some-
times long after both extremities were beyond the reach of
sight, so that the whole, with its glittery undulations, marked
a space on the face of the heavens resembling the windings of
a vast and majestic river. When this bend became very great,
the birds, as if sensible of tbe unnecessary circuitous course they
were taking, suddenly changed their direction, so that what was
in column before became an immense front, straightening all its

8

PASSENGER PIGEON.

indentures, until it swept the heavens in one vast and infinitely
extended line. Other lesser bodies also united with each other,
as they happened to approach, with such ease and elegance of
evolution, forming new figures, and varying these as they uni-
ted or separated, that I was never tired of contemplating them.
Sometimes a Hawk would make a sweep on a particular part of
the column, from a great height, when almost as quick as light-
ning, that part shot downwards out of the common track, but
soon rising again, continued advancing at the same height as
before, this inflection was continued by those behind, who on
arriving at this point, dived down almost perpendicularly, to a
great depth, and rising followed the exact path of those that
went before. As these vast bodies passed over the river near
me, the surface of the water, which was before smooth as glass,
appeared marked with innumerable dimples, occasioned by the
dropping of their dung, resembling the commencement of a
shower of large drops of rain nr hail.

Happening to go ashore one charming afternoon, to purchase
some milk at a house that stood near the river, and while talk-
ing with the people within doors, I was suddenly struck with
astonishment at a loud rushing roar, succeeded by instant dark-
ness, which, on the first moment, I took for a tornado about to
overwhelm the house, and every thing around in destruction.
The people observing my surprise, coolly said, ‘‘It is only the
Pigeons;” and on running out I beheld a flock, thirty or forty
yards in width, sweeping along very low, between the house
and the mountain or height that formed the second bank of the
river. These continued passing for more than a quarter of an
hour, and at length varied their bearing so as to pass over the
mountain, behind which they disappeared before the rear came
up.

In the Atlantic states, though they never appear in such un-
paralleled multitudes, they are sometimes very numerous; and
great havoc is then made amongst them with the gun, the clap-
net, and various other implements of destruction. As soon as
it is ascertained in a town that the Pigeons are flying numer-

PASSENGER PIGEON.

9

ously in the neighbourhood, the gunners rise en masse; the
clap-nets are spread out on suitable situations, commonly on an
open height, in an old buckwheat field; four or five live Pigeons,
Avith their eyelids sewed up, are fastened on a moveable stick
— a small hut of branches is fitted up for the fowler at the dis-
tance of forty or fifty yards; by the pulling of a string, the stick
on which the Pigeons rest is alternately elevated and. depressed,
which produces a fluttering of their wings similar to that of birds
just alighting; this being perceived by the passing flocks, they
descend with great rapidity, and finding corn, buckwheat, &c.
strewed about, begin to feed, and are instantly, by the pulling
of a cord, covered with the net. In this manner ten, twenty,
and even thirty dozen, have been caught at one sweep. Mean-
time the air is darkened with large bodies of them moving in
various directions; the woods also swarm with them in search
of acorns; and the thundering of musquetry is perpetual on all
sides from morning to night. Wagon loads of them are poured
into market, where they sell from fifty to twenty-five and even
twelve cents per dozen; and Pigeons become the order of the
day at dinner, breakfast and supper, until the very name be-
comes sickening. When they have been kept alive, and fed for
some time on corn and buckwheat, their flesh acquires great
superiority ; but in their common state they are dry and black-
ish, and far inferior to the full grown young ones, or squabs.

The nest of the Wild Pigeon is formed of a few dry slender
twigs, carelessly put together, and with so little concavity, that
the young one, when half grown can easily be seen from below.
The eggs are pure white. Great numbers of Hawks, and some-
times the Bald Eagle himself, hover about those breeding places,
and seize the old or the young from the nest amidst the rising
multitudes, and with the most daring effrontery. The young,
when beginning to fly, confine themselves to the under part of
the tall woods where there is no brush, and where nuts and
acorns are abundant, searching among the leaves for mast, and
appear like a prodigious torrent rolling along through the woods,
every one striving to be in the front. Vast numbers of them

VOL. III. — c

10

PASSENGER PIGEON.

are shot while in this situation. A person told me, that he once
rode furiously into one of these rolling multitudes, and picked
up thirteen Pigeons, which had been trampled to death by his
horse’s feet. In a few minutes they will beat the whole nuts
from a tree with their wings; while all is a scramble, both above
and below, for the same. They have the same cooing notes
common to domestic Pigeons; but much less of their gesticula-
tions. In some flocks you will find nothing but young ones,
which are easily distinguishable by their motley dress. In
others they will be mostly females; and again great multitudes
of males, with few or no females. I cannot account for this in
any other way than that during the time of incubation the males
are exclusively engaged in procuring food, both for themselves
and their mates; and the young being unable yet to undertake
these extensive excursions, associate together accordingly. But
even in winter I know of several species of birds who separate
in this manner, particularly the Red-winged Starling, among
whom thousands of old males may be found, with few or no
young or females along with them.

Stragglers from these immense armies settle in almost every
part of the country, particularly among the beech woods, and
in the pine and hemlock woods of the eastern and northern
parts of the continent. Mr. Pennant informs us, that they breed
near Moose fort at Hudson’s Bay, in N. lat. 51°, and I myself
have seen the remains of a large breeding place as far south as
the country of the Chactaws, in lat. 32°. In the former of these
places they are said to remain until December; from which cir-
cumstance it is evident that they are not regular in their migra-
tions, like many other species, but rove about, as scarcity of
food urges them. Every spring, however, as well as fall, more
or less of them are seen in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia;
but it is only once in several years that they appear in such for-
midable bodies; and this commonly when the snows are heavy
to the north, the winter here more than usually mild, and acorns,
&c. abundant.

The Passenger Pigeon is sixteen inches long, and twenty-four

PASSENGER PIGEON.

11

inches in extent; bill black; nostril covered by a high rounding
protuberance; eye brilliant fiery orange; orbit, or space sur-
rounding it, purplish flesh-coloured skin; head, upper part of the
neck, and chin, a fine slate blue, lightest on the chin; throat,
breast and sides, as far as the thighs, a reddish hazel; lower part
of the neck and sides of the same resplendent changeable gold,
green and purplish crimson, the latter most predominant; the
ground colour slate; the plumage of this part is of a peculiar
structure, ragged at the ends; belly and vent white; lower part
of the breast fading into a pale vinaceous red; thighs the same,
legs and feet lake, seamed with white; back, rump and tail-co-
verts, dark slate, spotted on the shoulders with a few scattered
marks of black; the scapulars tinged with brown; greater coverts
light slate; primaries and secondaries dull black, the former tipt
and edged with brownish white; tail long, and greatly cunei-
form, all the feathers tapering towards the point, the two mid-
dle ones plain deep black, the other five, on each side, hoary
white, lightest near the tips, deepening into bluish near the
bases, where each is crossed on the inner vane with a broad spot
of black, and nearer the root with another of ferruginous; pri-
maries edged with white; bastard wing black.

The female is about half an inch shorter, and an inch less in
extent; breast cinereous brown; upper part of the neck inclin-
ing to ash; the spot of changeable gold green and carmine much
less, and not so brilliant; tail-coverts brownish slate; naked or-
bits slate coloured; in all other respects like the male in colour,
but less vivid, and more tinged with brown; the eye not so
brilliant an orange. In both, the tail has only twelve feathers.

SPECIES 2. COLUMBJl CJiROLINENSIS.

CAROLINA PIGEON, OR TURTLE DOVE.

[Plate XLIIL— Fig. 1.]

liiNN. Sijst. 286. — Catesb. Car. 1, 24. — Buff. ii. 557. PI. Enl.

\75. — La Tourterelledela Caroline, Bkisson,i, ] 10. — Turton,

479. — Jlrct. Zool. ii, JVb. 188.^*^ — Peale’s Museum, JVo. 508S.

This is a favourite bird with all those who love to wander
among our woods in spring, and listen to their varied harmony.
They will there hear many a singular and sprightly performer;
but none so mournful as this. The hopeless woe of settled sor-
row, swelling the heart of female innocence itself, could not as-
sume tones more sad, more tender and affecting. Its notes are
four; the first is somewhat the highest, and preparatory, seem-
ing to be uttered with an inspiration of the breath, as if the af-
flicted creature were just recovering its voice from the last con-
vulsive sobs of distress; this is followed by three long, deep
and mournful moanings, that no person of sensibility can listen
to without sympathy. A pause of a few minutes ensues; and
again the solemn voice of sorrow is renewed as before. This
is generally heard in the deepest shaded parts of the woods, fre-
quently about noon, and towards the evening.

There is, however, nothing of real distress in all this; quite
the reverse. The bird who utters it wantons by the side of his
beloved partner, or invites her by his call to some favourite re-
tired and shady retreat. It is the voice of love, of faithful con-
nubial affection, for which the whole family of Doves are so
celebrated; and among them all none more deservingly so than
the species now before us.

* Columla CarnJinensis, LkTH. Ind. Orn. p. dlS, J^o.tl. C. Canadensis? Id.

ib. JVb. 72. ,

TURTLE DOVE.

13

The Turtle Dove is a general inhabitant, in summer, of the
United States, from Canada to Florida, and from the sea-coast
to the Mississippi, and far to the westward. They are, howev-
er, partially migratory in the northern and middle states; and
collect together in North and South Carolina, and their corres-
ponding parallels, in great numbers, during the winter. On the
second of February, in the neighbourhood of Newbern, North
Carolina, I saw a flock of Turtle Doves of many hundreds; in
other places, as I advanced farther south, particularly near the
Savannah river, in Georgia, the woods were swarming with
them, and the whistling of their wings were heard in every
direction.

On their return to the north in March, and early in April,
they disperse so generally over the country, that there are rare-
ly more than three or four seen together, most frequently only
two. Here they commonly fly in pairs, resort constantly to the
public roads, to dust themselves, and procure gravel; are often
seen in the farmer’s yard, before the door, the stable, barn and
other outhouses, in search of food, seeming little inferior in
familiarity at such times to the domestic Pigeon. They often
mix with the poultry, while they are fed in the morning, visit
the yard and adjoining road many times a day, and the pump,
creek, horse-trough and rills for water.

Their flight is quick, vigorous, and always accompanied by
a peculiar whistling of the wings, by which they can easily be
distinguished from the Wild Pigeon. They fly with great
swiftness, alight on trees, fences, or on the ground indiscrimin-
ately; are exceedingly fond of buckwheat, hemp seed, and In-
dian corn; feed on the berries of the holly, the dogwood and
poke, buckle berries, partridge berries, and the small acorns of
the live oak, and shrub oak. They devour large quantities of
gravel, and sometimes pay a visit to the kitchen garden for peas,
for which they have a particular regard.

In this part of Pennsylvania they commence building about
the beginning of May. The nest is very rudely constructed, ge-
nerally in an evergreen — among the thick foliage of a vine — in
an orchard, on the horizontal branches of an apple-tree, and in

14

TURTLE DOVE.

some cases on the ground. It is composed of a handful of small
twigs, laid with little art, on which are scattered dry fibrous
roots of plants, and in this almost flat bed are deposited two
eggs, of a snowy whiteness. The male and female unite in feed-
ing the young, and they have rarely more than two broods in
the same season.

The flesh of this bird is considered much superior to that of
the Wild Pigeon; but its seeming confidence in man, the ten-
derness of its notes, and the innocency attached to its character,
are with many its security and protection; with others, how-
ever, the tenderness of its flesh, and the sport of shooting, over-
come all other considerations. About the commencement of
frost, they begin to move oflf to the south; numbers, however,
remain in Pennsylvania during the whole winter.

The Turtle Dove is twelve inches long, and seventeen inches
in extent; bill black; eye of a glossy blackness, surrounded with
a pale greenish blue skin; crown, upper part of the neck and
wings a fine silky slate blue; back, scapulars and lesser wing-
coverts ashy brown; tertials spotted with black: primaries edg-
ed and tipt with white; forehead, sides of the neck and breast,
a pale brown vinous orange; under the ear feathers a spot or
drop of deep black; immediately below which the plumage re-
flects the most vivid tints of green, gold and crimson, chin pale
yellow ochre; belly and vent whitish; legs and feet coral red,
seamed with white; the tail is long and cuneiform, consisting
of fourteen feathers; the four exterior ones on each side are
marked with black about an inch from the tips, and white thence
to the extremity; the next has less of the white at the tip; these
gradually lengthen to the four middle ones, which are wholly
dark slate; all of them taper towards the points, the two middle
ones most so.

The female is an inch shorter, and is otherwise only distin-
guished by the less brilliancy of her colour; she also wants the
rich silky blue on the crown, and much of the splendor of the
neck; the tail is also somewhat shorter, and the white with
which it is marked less pure.

SPECIES 3. COLUMBA PASSERINE.

GROUND DOVE.

[Plate XL VI. — Fig. 2, Male — Fig. 3, Feniale.'\

Linn. SysU 285. — Sloan. Jam. ii. 305. — Le Cocotzin, Fernandez,
24. — Buff, ii, 559. PI. Enl. 243. — La petite Tourterelle, Briss.
I, 113. — Turt. Syst. 478. — Columba minuta, Ibid, p.479.* —
Jlrct. Zool.p. 328, JSTo. 191. — Catesb. i, 26.t

This is one of the least of the Pigeon tribe, whose timid
and innocent appearance forms a very striking contrast to the
ferocity of the Bird-killer of the same plate. Such as they are
in nature, such I have endeavoured faithfully to represent them.
I have been the more particular with this minute species, as no
correct figure of it exists in any former work with which I am
acquainted.

The Ground Dove is a native of North and South Carolina,
Georgia, the new state of Louisiana, Florida, and the islands of
the West Indies. In the latter it is frequently kept in cages; is
esteemed excellent for the table, and honoured by the French
planters with the name of Ortolan. They are numerous in the
sea islands on the coast of Carolina and Georgia; fly in flocks
or coveys of fifteen or twenty; seldom visit the woods, prefer-
ring open fields and plantations; are almost constantly on the
ground, and when disturbed fly to a short distance and again
alight. They have a frequent jetting motion with the tail; feed
on rice, various seeds and berries, particularly those of the
Tooth-ache tree,t under or near which, in the proper season,
they are almost sure to be found. Of their nest or manner of
breeding I am unable, at present, to give any account.

♦Prince Musignano considers this synonyme is incorrect.
f Columba Passerina, Lath. Ind. Orn.p. 611, JVo. 67. C. minuta, id. p. 612, Ah 68.
t Xanthoxylum Clava Herculis.

16

GROUND DOVE.

These birds seem to be confined to the districts lying south
of Virginia. They are plenty on the upper parts of Cape F ear
river, and in the interior of Carolina and Georgia; but I have
never met with them either in Maryland, Delaware, or Penn-
sylvania. They never congregate in such multitudes as the
common Wild Pigeon; or even as the Carolina Pigeon or Tur-
tle Dove; but, like the Partridge or Quail, frequent the open
fields in small coveys. They are easily tamed; have a low ten-
der cooing note, accompanied with the usual gesticulations of
their tribe.

The Ground Dove is a bird of passage, retiring to the islands
and to the more southerly parts of the continent on the approach
of winter, and returning to its former haunts early in April. It
is of a more slender and delicate form, and less able to bear the
rigours of cold, than either of the other two species common
in the United States, both of which are found in the northern
regions of Canada, as well as in the genial climate of Florida.

The Dove, generally speaking, has long been considered as
the favourite emblem of peace and innocence, probably from
the respectful manner in which its name is mentioned in vari-
ous parts of Scripture; its being selected from among all the
birds by Noah to ascertain the state of the deluge, and return-
ing to the ark, bearing the olive leaf as a messenger of peace
and good tidings; the Holy Ghost, it is also said, was seen to
descend like a dove from heaven, &c. &c. In addition to these,
there is in the Dove an appearance of meekness and innocency
very interesting, and well calculated to secure our partiality in
its favour. These remarks are applicable to the whole genus;
but are more particularly so to the species now before us, as
being among the least, the most delicate and inoffensive, of the
whole.

The Ground Dove is six inches and a quarter long; bill yel-
low, black at the point; nostril covered with a prominent mem-
brane, as is usual with the genus; iris of the eye orange red;
front, throat, breast and sides of the neck, pale vinaceous pur-
ple; the feathers strongly defined by semicircular outlines, those

GROUND DOVE.

17

on the throat centred with dusky blue; crown and hind-head a
fine pale blue, intermixed with purple, the plumage like that
on the throat strongly defined; back cinereous brown, the sca-
pulars deeply tinged with pale purple, and marked with detach-
ed drops of glossy-vPue, reflecting tints of purple; belly pale
vinaceous brown, becoming dark cinereous towards the vent,
where the feathers are bordered with white; wing quills dusky
outwardly and at the tips; lower sides, and whole interior vanesi,
a fine red chestnut, which shows itself a little below their cqv-
erts; tail rounded, consisting of twelve feathers, the two middle
ones cinereous brown, the rest black, tipt and edged with white;
legs and feet yellow.

The female has the back and tail-coverts of a mouse colour,
with little or none of the vinaceous tint on the breast and throat,
nor any of the light blue on the hind-head ; the throat is speck-
led with dull white, pale clay colour, and dusky; sides of the
neck the same, the plumage strongly defined; breast cinereous
brown, slightly tinctured with purple; scapulars marked with
large drops of a dark purplish blood colour, reflecting tints of
blue; rest of the plumage nearly the same as that of the male.

VOL. III. — D

GENUS 56. TETRAO.

SPECIES 1. T. UMBELLUS.

RUFFED GROUS.

[Plate XLIX.]

Jlrct. Zool. p. SOI, •A'o. 179. — Puffed Heath-cock, or Grous, Edw.

248. — La Gelinote Inipee de Pensylvanie, Biiiss. i, 214. — PL

Enl, 104. — Buff, ii, 9.81,— Phil. Trans, 62, 393. — Tvrt. Sysi.

454. — Peale’s Museum, JV'o. 4702.

This is the Partridge of the eastern states, and the Pheas-
ant of Pennsylvania, and the southern districts. It is represent-
ed in the plate of its full size; and was faithfully copied from a
perfect and very beautiful specimen.

This elegant species is well known in almost every quarter
of the United States, and appeal’s to inhabit a very extensive
range of country. It is common at Moose fort, on Hudson’s
bay, in lat. 51°; is frequent in the upper parts of Georgia; very
abundant in Kentucky and the Indiana territory; and was found
by captains Lewis and Clarke in crossing the great range of
mountains that divide the waters of the Columbia and Missouri,
more than three thousand miles, by their measurement, from
the mouth of the latter. Its favourite places of resort are high
mountains, covered with the balsam pine, hemlock, and such
like evergreens. Unlike the Pinnated Grous, it always prefers
the woods; is seldom or never found in open plains; but loves
the pine-sheltered declivities of mountains, near streams of wat-
er. This great difference of disposition in two species, whose food
seems to be nearly the same, is very extraordinary. In those
open plains called the barrens of Kentucky, the Pinnated Grous
was seen in great numbers, but none of the Ruffed; while in the
high groves with which that singular tract of country is inter-

RUFFED GROUS.

19

spersed, the latter, or Pheasant, was frequently met with; but
not a single individual of the former.

The native haunts of the Pheasant being a cold, high, moun-
tainous and woody country, it is natural to expect that as we
descend thence to the sea shores, and the low, flat and warm
climate of the southern states, these birds should become more
rare, and such indeed is the case. In the lower parts of Caro-
lina, Georgia and Florida, they are very seldom observed; but
as we advance inland to the mountains, they again make their
appearance. In the lower parts of New Jersey we indeed oc-
casionally meet with them; but this is owing to the more north-
erly situation of the country; for even here they are far less nu-
merous than among the mountains.

Dr. Turton, and several other English writers, have spoken
of a Long-tailed Grous, said to inhabit the back pai'ts of Virgi-
nia, which can be no other than the present species, there being,
as far as I am acquainted, only these two, the Ruffed and Pin-
nated Grous, found native within the United States.

The manners of the Pheasant are solitary; they are seldom
found in coveys of more than four or five together, and more
usually in pairs or singly. They leave their sequestered haunts
in the woods early in the morning, and seek the path or road,
to pick up gravel, and glean among the droppings of the horses.
In travelling among the mountains that bound the Susquehanna,
I was always able to furnish myself with an abundant supply of
these birds, every morning, without leaving the path If the
weather be foggy, or lowering, they are sure to be seen in such
situations. They generally move along with great stateliness,
their broad fan-like tail spread out in the manner exhibited in
the drawing. The drumming, as it is usually called, of the
Pheasant, is another singularity of this species. This is per-
formed by the male alone. In walking through solitary woods
frequented by these birds, a stranger is surprised by suddenly
hearing a kind of thumping, very similar to that produced by
striking two full-blown ox-bladders together, but much louder;
the strokes at first are slow and distinct; but gradually increase

20

RUFFED GROUS.

in rapidity till they run into each other, resembling the rumbl-
ing sound of very distant thunder, dying away gradually on the
ear. After a few minutes, pause this is again repeated; and in a
calm day may be heard nearly half a mile off. This drumming
is most common in spring, and is the call of the cock to his fa-
vourite female. It is produced in the following manner. The
bird, standing on an old prostrate log, generally in a retired
and sheltered situation, lowers his wings, erects his expanded
tail, contracts his throat, elevates the two tufts of feathers on
the neck, and inflates his whole body, something in the manner
of the turkey cock, strutting and wheeling about with great
stateliness. After a few manoeuvres of this kind, he begins to
strike with his stifiened wings in short and quick strokes, which
become more and more rapid until they run into each other as
has been already described. This is most common in the morn-
ing and evening, though I have heard them drumming at all
hours of the day. By means of this, the gunner is led to the
place of his retreat; though to those unacquainted with the sound,
there is great deception in the supposed distance, it generally
appearing to be much nearer than it really is.

The Pheasant begins to pair in April, and builds its nest early
in May. This is placed on the ground at the root of a bush, old
log, or other sheltered and solitary situation, well surrounded
with withered leaves. Unlike that of the Quail, it is open above,
and is usually composed of dry leaves and grass. The eggs are
from nine to fifteen in number, of a brownish white, without any
spots, and nearly as large as those of a pullet. The young leave
the nest as soon as hatched, and are directed by the cluck of the
mother, very much in the manner of the common hen. On be-
ing surprised, she exhibits all the distress and affectionate ma-
noeuvres of the Quail, and of mostother birds, to lead you away
from the spot. I once started a hen Pheasant, with a single young
one, seemingly only a few days old; there might have been
more, but I observed only this one. The mother fluttered before
me for a moment, but suddenly darting towards theyoung one,
seized it in her bill, and flew off along the surface through the

RUFFED GROUS.

21

woods, with great steadiness and rapidity, till she was beyond
my sight, leaving me in great surprise at the incident. I made
a very close and active search around the spot for the rest, but
without success. Here was a striking instance of something more
than what is termed blind instinct, in this remarkable deviation
from her usual manoeuvres, when she has a numerous brood. It
would have been impossible for me to injure this affectionate
mother, who had exhibited such an example of presence of
mind, reason and sound judgment, as must have convinced the
most bigotted advocates of mere instinct. To carry off a whole
brood in this manner, at once, would have been impossible, and
to attempt to save one at the expense of the rest would be un-
natural. She therefore usually takes the only possible mode of
saving them in that case, by decoying the person in pursuit of
herself, by such a natural imitation of lameness as to impose on
most people. But here, in the case of a single solitary young
one, she instantly altered her plan, and adopted the most simple
and effectual means for its preservation.

The Pheasant generally springs within a fewyards, with aloud
whirring noise, and flies with great vigour through the woods,
beyond reach of view, before it alights. With a good dog how-
ever, they are easily found; and at some times exhibit a singu-
lar degree of infatuation, by looking down, from the branches
where they sit, on the dog below, who, the more noise he keeps
up, seems the more to confuse and stupify them, so that they
may be shot down, one by one, till the whole are killed, without
attempting to fly off. In such cases, those on the lower limbs
must be taken first, for should the upper ones be first killed, in
their fall they alarm those below, who immediately fly off. In
deep snows they are usually taken in traps, commonly dead
traps, supported by a figure 4 trigger. At this season, when sud-
denly alarmed, they frequently dive into the snow, particularly
when it has newly fallen, and coming out at a considerable dis-
tance, again take wing. They are pretty hard to kill, and will
often carry off a large load to the distance of two hundred yards,
and drop down dead. Sometimes in the depth of winter they

22

RUFFED GROUS.

approach the farm house, and lurk near the barn, or about the
garden. They have also been often taken young and tamed, so
as to associate with the fowls; and their eggs have frequently
been hatched under the common hen; but these rarely survive
until full grown. They are exceedingly fond of the seeds of
grapes; occasionally eat ants, chestnuts, black berries, and various
vegetables. Formerly they were numerous in the immediate
vicinity of Philadelphia; but as the woods were cleared, and
population increased, they retreated to the interior. At present
there are very few to be found within several miles of the city,
and those only singly, in the most solitary and retired woody
recesses.

The Pheasant is in best order for the table in September and
October. At this season they feed chiefly on whortle-berries,
and the little red aromatic partridge-berries, the last of which
gives their flesh a peculiar delicate flavour. With the former
our mountains ai’e literally covered from August to November;
and these constitute at that season the greater part of their food.
During the deep snows of winter, they have recourse to the buds
of alder, and the tender buds of the laurel. I have frequently
found their crops distended with a large handful of these latter
alone; and it has been confidently asserted, that after having fed
for some time on the laurel buds, their flesh becomes highly
dangerous to eat of, partaking of the poisonous qualities of the
plant. The same has been asserted of the flesh of the deer, when
in severe weather, and deep snows, they subsist on the leaves
and bark of the laurel. Though I have myself eat freely of the
flesh of the Pheasant, after emptying it of large quantities of
laurel huds, without experiencing any bad consequences, yet,
from the respectability of those, some of them eminent physi-
cians, who have particularized cases in which it has proved
deleterious, and even fatal, I am inclined to believe that in
certain cases where this kind of food has been long continued,
and the birds allowed to remain undrawn for several days, until
the contents of the crop and stomach have had time to diffuse
themselves through the flesh, as is too often the case, it may be

RUFFED GROUS.

23

unwholesome, and even dangerous. Great numbers of these
birds are brought to our markets, at all times during fall and
winter, some of which are brought from a distance of more than
a hundred miles, and have been probably dead a week or two,
unpicked and undrawn, before they are purchased for the table.
Regulations prohibiting them from being brought to market,
unless picked and drawn, would very probably be a sufficient
security from all danger. At these inclement seasons, however,
they are generally lean and dry, and indeed at all times their
flesh is far inferior to that of the Quail, or of the Pinnated Grous.
They are usually sold in Philadelphia market at from three
quarters of a dollar to a dollar and a quarter a pair, and some-
times higher.

The Pheasant or Partridge of New England, is eighteen in-
ches long, and twenty -three inches in extent; bill a horn colour,
paler below; eye reddish hazel, immediately above which is a
small spot of bare skin of a scarlet colour; crested head and neck
variegated with black, red brown, white and pale brown; sides
of the neck furnished with a tuft of large black feathers, twenty-
nine or thirty in number, which it occasionally raises: this tuft
covers a large space of the neck destitute of feathers; body above
a bright rust colour, marked with oval spots of yellowish white,
and sprinkled with black; wings plain olive brown, exteriorly
edged with white, spotted with olive; the tail is rounding, ex-
tends five inches beyond the tips of the wings, is of a bright
reddish brown beautifully marked with numerous waving
transverse bars of black, is also crossed by a broad band of
black within half an inch of the tip, which is bluish white,
thickly sprinkled and specked with black; body below white,
marked with large blotches of pale brown; the legs are covered
half way to the feet with hairy down, of a brownish white co-
lour; legs and feet pale ash; toes pectinated along the sides, the
two exterior ones joined at the base as far as the first joint by
a membrane; vent yellowish rust colour.

The female and young birds differ in having the ruff or tufts
of feathers on the neck of a dark brown colour, as well as the
bar of black on the tail inclining much to the same tint.

SPECIES 2. TETRAD CUP IDO.

PINNATED GROUS.

[Plate XXVIL— Fig. 1.]

Linn. Syst. i, f. 274, 5. — Lath. ii,p. 740. — Jlrct. Zool. — La Ge-
linote hupee PJhnerique, Briss. Orn. i, p. 212, 10. — Urogalus
minor, fuscus cervice, plumis alas imitantibus donata, Catesb.
Car. .dpp.pl. 1. — Tetrao lagogus, the Mountain code, or Grous,
Bartram, p. 290. — Heath-hen, Prairie-hen, Barren-hen. —
Peale’s .Museum, M'o. 4700, male — 4701, female.

Before I enter on a detail of the observations which I have
myself personally made on this singular species, I shall lay be-
fore the reader a comprehensive and very circumstantial me-
moir on the subject, communicated to me by the writer. Dr.
Samuel L. Mitchill of New York, whose exertions, both in his
public and private capacity, in behalf of science, and in eluci-
dating the natural history of his country, are well known; and
highly honourable to his distinguished situation and abilities.
That peculiar tract generally known by the name of the Brushy
plains of Long Island, having been, for time immemorial, the
resort of the bird now before us, some account of this particular
range of country seemed necessarily connected with the subject,
and has accordingly been obligingly attended to by the learn-
ed professor.

“New Fork, Sept. 19th, 1810.

•‘Dear Sir,

“It gives me much pleasure to reply to your letter of the
twelfth instant, asking of me information concerning the Grouse
of Long island.

PINNATED GROUS.

25

“The birds which are known there emphatically by the name
of Grouse, inhabit chiefly the forest-range. This district of the
island may be estimated as being between forty and fifty miles
in length, extending from Bethphage in Queen’s county to the
neighbourhood of the court-house in Suflblk. Its breadth is not
more than six or seven. For although the island is bounded by
the Sound separating it from Connecticut on the north, and by
the Atlantic ocean on the south, there is a margin of several
miles on each side in the actual possession of human beings.

“The region in which these birds reside, lies mostly within
the towns of Oysterbay, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown, and
Brook-haven; though it would be incorrect to say, that they
were not to be met with sometimes in Riverhead and South-
hampton.— Their territory has been defined by some sportsmen,
as situated between Hempstead-plain on the west, and Shinne-
cock-plain on the east.

“ The more popular name for them is Heath-hens. By this
they are designated in the act of our legislature for the preser-
vation of them and of other game. I well remember the pass-
ing of this law. The bill was introduced by Cornelius J. Bog-
ert, esq. a member of the assembly from the city of New York.
It was in the month of February, 1791.

“The statute declares among other things, that the person
who shall kill any Heath-hen within the counties of Suflblk or
Queens, between the first day of April and the fifth day of Oc-
tober, shall for every such oflence, forfeit and pay the sum of
two dollars and a half, to be recovered with costs of suit, by any
person who shall prosecute for the same, before any justice of
the peace, in either of the said counties; the one half to be paid
to the plaintilF, and the other half to the overseers of the poor.
And if any Heath-hen so killed, shall be found in the possession
of any person, he shall be deemed guilty of the oflence, and suf-
fer the penalty. But it is provided, that no defendant shall be
convicted unless the action shall be brought within three months
after the violation of the law.*

* The doctor has probably forgotten a circumstance of rather a ludicrous kind

VOL. III. E

26

PINNATED GROUS.

“ The country selected by these exquisite birds requires a
more particular description. You already understand it to be
the midland and interior district of the island. The soil of this
island is, generally speaking, a sandy or gravelly loam. In the
parts less adapted to tillage, it is more of an unmixed sand.
This is so much the case, that the shore of the beaches beaten
by tbe ocean, affords a material from which glass has been pre-
pared. Siliceous grains and particles predominate in the region
chosen hy the Heath-hens or Grouse. Here there are no rocks,
and very few stones of any kind. This sandy tract appears to
be a dereliction of the ocean, but is nevertheless not doomed to
total sterility. Many thousand acres have been reclaimed from
the wild state, and rendered very productive to man. And
within the towns frequented by these birds, there are numer-
ous inhabitants, and among them some of our most wealthy
farmers.

‘‘But within the same limits, there are also tracts of great
extent where men have no settlements, and others where the
population is spare and scanty. These are however, by no
means, naked deserts. They are, on the contrary, covered with
trees, shrubs and smaller plants. The trees are mostly pitch-
pines of inferior size, and white oaks of a small growth. They
are of a quality very fit for burning. Thousands of cords of both
sorts of fire-wood are annually exported from these barrens.
Vast quantities are occasionally destroyed by the fires which
through carelessness or accident spread far and wide through
the woods. The city of New York will probably for ages de-
rive fuel from the grouse-grounds. The land after having been
cleared, yields to the cultivator poor crops. Unless therefore

that occurred at the passing of this law; and which was, not long ago, related
to me by my friend Mr. Gardiner, of Gardiner’s island, Long island. The bill
was entitled “ An Act for the preservation of Heath-hen and other Game.’’ The
honest chairman of the assembly, no sports-man I suppose, read the title “ An
Act for the preservation of Heathen and other Game !” which seemed to aston-
ish the north members, who could not see the propriety of preserving Indians,
or any other Heathen.

PESTNATED GROUS.

27

he can help it by manure, the best disposition is to let it grow
up to forest again. Experience has proved, that in a term of
forty or fifty years, the new growth of timber will be fit for the
axe. Hence it may be perceived, that the reproduction of trees,
and the protection they afford to Heath-hens would be perpetual;
or in other words, not circumscribed by any calculable time;
provided the persecutors of the latter would be quiet.

“Beneath these trees grow more dwarfish oaks, overspread-
ing the surface, sometimes with here and there a shrub, and
sometimes a thicket. These latter are from about two to ten
feet in height. Where they are the principal product, they are
called in common conversation brush, as the flats on which they
grow are termed Brushy plains. Among this hardy shrubbery
may frequently be seen the creeping vegetable named the par-
tridge-berry covering the sand with its lasting verdure. In
many spots the plant which produces hurtle-berries, sprout up
among the other natives of the soil. These are the more impor-
tant, though I ought to inform you that the hills reaching from
east to west, and forming the spine of the island, support kal-
mias, hickories, and many other species; that I have seen aza-
lias and andromedas as I passed through the wilderness; and
that where there is water, crane-berries, alders, beeches, map-
les, and other lovers of moisture, take their stations.

“This region, situated thus betw'^een the more thickly . in-
habited strips or belts on the north and south sides of the island,
is much travelled by wagons, and intersected accordingly by a
great number of paths.

“As to the birds themselves, the information I possess scarce-
ly amounts to an entire history. You, who know the difficulty
of collecting facts, will be the most ready to excuse my defici-
encies. The information I give you is such as I rely on. For
the purpose of gathering the materials, I have repeatedly visited
their haunts. I have likewise conversed with several men who
were brought up at the precincts of the grouse-ground, who had
been witnesses of their habits and manners, who were accus-

,28

PINNATED GROUS.

tomed to shoot them for the market, and who have acted as
guides to gentlemen who go there for sport.

Bulk. — An adult Grouse when fat weighs as much as a barn
door fowl of moderate size, or about three pounds avoirdupoise.
But the eagerness of the sportsman is so great, that a large pro-
portion of those they kill, are but a few months old, and have
not attained their complete growth. Notwithstanding the pro-
tection of the law, it is very common to disregard it. The re-
tired nature of the situation favours this. It is well understood
that an aiTangement can be made which will blind and silence
informers, and that the gun is fired with impunity, for weeks
before the time prescribed in the act. To prevent this unfair
and unlawful practice, an association was formed a few years
ago, under the title of the Brush club, with the express and
avowed intention of enforcing the game-law. Little benefit,
however, has resulted from its laudable exertions; and under a
conviction that it was impossible to keep the poachers away,
the society declined. At present the statute may be considered
as operating very little toward their preservation. Grouse, es-
pecially full-grown ones, are becoming less frequent. Their
numbers are gradually diminishing; and assailed as they are on
all sides, almost without cessation their scarcity may be viewed
as foreboding their eventual extermination.

‘‘ Price. — Twenty years ago a brace of Grouse could be
bought for a dollar. They now cost from three to five dollars.
A handsome pair seldom sells in the New Yoi'k market now a
days for less than thirty shillings [three dollars, seventy-five
cents], nor for more than forty [five dollars]. These prices in-
dicate indeed the depreciation of money, and the luxury of eat-
ing. They prove at the same time, that Grouse are become
rare; and this fact is admitted by every man Avho seeks them,
whether for pleasure or for profit.

“ Amours. — The season for pairing is in March, and the
breeding time is continued through April and May. Then the
male Grouse distinguishes himself by a peculiar sound. When
he utters it, the parts about the throat are sensibly inflated and

PINNATED GROUS.

29

swelled. It may be heard on a still morning for three or more
miles; some say they have perceived it as far as five or six.
This noise is a sort of ventriloquism. It does not strike the ear
of a bystander with much force; but impresses him with the
idea, though produced within a few rods of him, of a voice a
mile or two distant. This note is highly characteristic. Though
very peculiar, it is termed tooting-, from its resemblance to the
blowing of a conch or horn from a remote quarter. The female
makes her nest on the ground, in recesses very rarely discov-
ered by men. She usually lays from ten to twelve eggs. Their
colour is of a brownish, much resembling those of a Guinea-hen.
When hatched, the brood is protected by her alone. Surround-
ed by her young, the mother bird exceedingly resembles a do-
mestic hen and chickens. She frequently leads them to feed in
the roads crossing the woods, on the remains of maize and oats
contained in the dung dropped by the travelling horses. In that
employment they are often surprised by the passengers. On
such occasions the dam utters a cry of alarm. The little ones
immediately scamper to the brush; and while they are skulking
into places of safety, their anxious parent beguiles the spectator
by drooping and fluttering her wings, limping along the path,
rolling over in the dirt, and other pretences of inability to walk
or fly.

^^Food. — A favourite article of their diet is the heath-hen
plum, or partridge-berry before mentioned. They are fond of
hurtle-berries, and crane-berries. Worms and insects of several
kinds are occasionally found in their crops. But in the winter
they subsist chiefly on acorns, and the buds of trees which have
shed their leaves. In their stomachs have been sometimes ob-
served' the leaves of a plant supposed to be a winter green; and
it is said, when they are much pinched, they betake themselves
to the buds of the pine. In convenient places they have been
known to enter cleared fields, and regale themselves on the
leaves of clover; and old gunners have reported that they have
been known to trespass upon patches of buckwheat, and pick
up the grains.

30

PINNATED GROUS.

Migration. — They are stationary, and never known to
quit their abode. There are no facts showing in them any dis-
position to migration. On frosty mornings and during snows,
they perch on the upper branches of pine-trees. They avoid
wet and swampy places; and are remarkably attached to dry
ground. The low and open brush is preferred to high shrubbery
and thickets. Into these latter places, they fly for refuge when
closely pressed by the hunters, and here, under a stiff and in-
penetrable cover, they escape the pursuit of dogs and men.
Water is so seldom met with on the true grouse-ground, that it
is necessary to carry it along for the pointers to drink. The
flights of Grouse are short, but sudden, rapid and whirring. I
have not heard of any success in taming them. They seem to
resist all attempts at domestication. In this as well as in many
other respects, they resemble the Quail of New York, or the
Partridge of Pennsylvania.

‘•^Manners. — During the period of mating, and while the fe-
males are occupied in incubation, the males have a practice of
assembling, principally by themselves. To some select and
central spot where there is very little underwood, they repair
from the adjoining district. From the exercises performed there,
this is called a scratching-place. The time of meeting is the
break of day. As soon as the light appears, the company as-
sembles from every side, sometimes to the number of forty or
fifty. When the dawn is past, the ceremony begins by a low
tooting from one of the cocks. This is answered by another.
They then come forth one by one from the bushes, and strut
about with all the pride and ostentation they can display. Their
necks are incurvated; the feathers on them are erected into a
sort of ruff; the plumes of their tails are expanded like fans;
they strut about in a style resembling, as nearly as small may
be illustrated by great, the pomp of the turkey-cock. They
seem to vie with each other in stateliness; and as they pass each
other frequently cast looks of insult, and utter notes of defiance.
These are the signals for battles. They engage with wonderful
spirit and fierceness. During these contests, they leap a foot or

PINNATED GROUS.

31

two from the ground, and utter a cackling, screaming and dis-
cordant cry.

“ They have been found in these places of resort even earlier
than the appearance of light in the east. This fact has led to the
belief that a part of them assemble over night. The rest join
them in the morning. This leads to the further belief that they
roost on the ground. And the opinion is confirmed by the dis-
covery of little rings of dung, apparently deposited by a flock
which had passed the night together. After the appearance of
the sun they disperse.

“ These places of exhibition have been often discovered by
the hunters; and a fatal discovery it has been for the poor
Grouse. Their destroyers construct for themselves lurking holes
made of pine branches, called hough-houses, within a few yards
of the parade. Hither they repair with their fowling-pieces in
the latter part of the night, and wait the appearance of the birds.
Watching the moment when two are proudly eyeing each other,
or engaged in battle; or when a greater number can be seen in
a range, they pour on them a destructive charge of shot. This
annoyance has been given in so many places, and to such ex
tent, that the Grouse, after having been repeatedly disturbed,
are afraid to assemble. On approaching the spot to which their
instinct prompts them, they perch on the neighbouring trees,
instead of alighting at the scratching place. And it remains to
be observed, how far the restless and tormenting spirit of the
marksmen, may alter the native habits of the Grouse, and oblige
them to betake themselves to new ways of life.

“They commonly keep together in coveys, ot packs, as the
phrase'is, until the pairing season. A full pack consists of course
of ten or a dozen. Two packs have been known to associate. I
lately heard of one whose number amounted to twenty-two.
They are so unapt to be startled, that a hunter, assisted by a
dog, has been able to shoot almost a whole pack, without mak-
ing any of them take wing. In like manner the men lying in
concealment near the scratching places, have been known to
discharge several guns before either the report of the explosion.

32

PINNATED GROUS.

or the sight of their wounded and dead fellows would rouse
them to flight. It has further been remarked, that when a com-
pany of sportsmen have surrounded a pack of Grouse, the birds
seldom or never rise upon their pinions while they are encir-
cled ; but each runs along until it passes the person that is nearest,
and then flutters off with the utmost expedition.

“ As you have made no inquiry of me concerning the orni-
thological character of these birds, I have not mentioned it,
presuming that you are already perfectly acquainted with their
classification and description. In a short memoir written in
1803, and printed in the eighth volume of the Medical Reposi-
tory, I ventured an opinion as to the genus and species.
Whether I was correct is a technical matter, which I leave you
to adjust. I am well aware that European accounts of our pro-
ductions are often erroneous, and require revision and amend-
ment. This you must perform. For me it remains to repeat my
joy at the opportunity your invitation has afforded me to con-
tribute somewhat to your elegant work, and at the same time
to assure you of my earnest hope that you may be favoured
with ample means to complete it.

‘‘Samuel L. Mitchill.”

Duly sensible of the honor of the foregoing communication,
and grateful for the good wishes with which it is concluded, I
shall now, in further elucidation of the subject, subjoin a few
particulars properly belonging to my own department.

It is somewhat extraordinary that the European naturalists,
in their various accounts of our different species of Grous,
should have said little or nothing of the one now before us,
which in its voice, manners, and peculiarity of plumage, is the
most singular, and in its flesh the most excellent, of all those
of its tribe that inherit the territory of the United States. It
seems to have escaped Catesby during his residence and differ-
ent tours through this country, and it was not till more than
twenty years after his return to England, viz. in 1743, that he
first saw some of these birds, as he informs us, at Cheswick,
the seat of the earl of Wilmington. His lordship said they came

PINNATED GROUS.

33

from America; but from what particular part could not tell.*
Buffon has confounded it with the Ruffed Grous, the common
Partridge of New England, or Pheasant of Pennsylvania ( Te-
trao umbelhis;) Edwards and Pennant have, however, discov-
ered that it is a different species; but have said little of its note,
of its flesh, or peculiarities; for, alas! there was neither voice,
nor action, nor delicacy of flavour in the shrunk and decayed
skin from which the former took his figure, and the latter his
description; and to this circumstance must be attributed the
barrenness and defects of both.

That the curious may have an opportunity of examining to
more advantage this singular bird, a figure of the male is here
given as large as life, drawn with great care from the most
perfect of several elegant specimens shot in the Barrens of
Kentucky. He is represented in the act of strutting, as it is
called, while with inflated throat he produces that extraordinary
sound so familiar to every one who resides in his vicinity, and
which has been described in the foregoing account. So very
novel and characteristic did the action of these birds appear to
me at first sight, that, instead of shooting them down, I sketch-
ed their attitude hastily on the spot; while concealed among a
brush-heap, with seven or eight of them within a short distance.
Three of these I afterwards carried home with me.

This rare bird, though an inhabitant of different and very
distant districts of North America, is extremely particular in
selecting his place of residence; pitching only upon those tracts
whose features and productions correspond with his modes of
life; and avoiding immense intermediate regions that he never
visits. Open dry plains, thinly interspersed with trees, or par-
tially overgrown with shrub-oak, are his favourite haunts.
Accordingly we find these birds on the Grous plains of New
Jersey, in Burlington county, as well as on the Brushy plains
of Long Island — among the pines and shrub-oaks of Pocano, in
Northampton county, Pennsylvania — over the whole extent of
the Barrens of Kentucky — on the luxuriant plains and prairies
^'‘Catesb. Car. p. 101, App.

VOL. III. — F

34

PINNATED GROUS.

of the Indiana territory, and Upper Louisiana; and according
to the information of the late governor Lewis, on the vast and
remote plains of the Columbia river. In all these places pre-
serving the same singular habits.

Their predilection for such situations will be best accounted
for by considering the following facts and circumstances. First,
their mode of flight is generally direct, and laborious, and ill
calculated for the labyrinth of a high and thick forest, crowded
and intersected with trunks and arms of trees, that require
continual angular evolution of wing, or sudden turnings, to
which they are by no means accustomed. I have always ob-
served them to avoid the high-timbered groves that occur here
and there in the Barrens. Connected with this fact is a circum-
stance related to me by a very respectable inhabitant of that
country, viz. that one forenoon a cock Grous struck the stone
chimney of his house with such force as instantly to fall dead
to the ground.

Secondly, their known dislike of ponds, marshes, or watery
places, which they avoid on all occasions, drinking but seldom,
and, it is believed, never from such places. Even in confine-
ment this peculiarity has been taken notice of. While I was in
the state of Tennesee, a person living within a few miles of
Nashville had caught an old hen Grous in a trap; and being
obliged to keep her in a large cage, as she struck and abused
the rest of the poultry, he remarked that she never drank; and
that she even avoided that quarter of the cage where the cup
containing the water was placed. Happening one day to let
some water fall on the cage, it trickled down in drops along
the bars, which the bird no sooner observed, than she eagerly
picked them off, drop by drop, with a dexterity that showed
she had been habituated to this mode of quenching her thirst;
and probably to this mode only, in those dry and barren
tracts, where, except the drops of dew, and drops of rain,
water is very rarely to be met with. For the space of a week
he watched her closely to discover whether she still refused to
drink; but, though she was constantly fed on Indian corn, the

PINNATED GROUS.

35

cup and water still remained untouched and untasted. Yet no
sooner did he again sprinkle water on the bars of the cage, than
she eagerly and rapidly picked them off as before.

The last, and probably the strongest inducement to their
preferring these plains, is the small acorn of the shrub-oak; the
strawberries, buckle berries, and partridge berries with which
they abound, and which constitute the principal part of the
food of these birds. These brushy thickets also afford them ex-
cellent shelter, being almost impenetrable to dogs or birds of
prey.

In all these places where they inhabit they are, in the strictest
sense of the word, resident; having their particular haunts, and
places of rendezvous, (as described in the preceding account,)
to which they are strongly attached. Yet they have been known
to abandon an entire tract of such country, when, from what-
ever cause it might proceed, it became again covered with
forest. A few miles south of the town of York, in Pennsylva-
nia, commences an extent of country, formerly of the character
described, now chiefly covered with wood; but still retaining
the name of Barrens. In the recollection of an old man born
in that part of the country, this tract abounded with Grous.

The timber growing up, in progress of years, these birds
totally disappeared; and for a long period of time he had seen
none of them; until migrating with his family to Kentucky, on
entering the barrens he one morning recognized the well known
music of his old acquaintance the Grous; which he assures me
are the very same with those he had known in Pennsylvania.

But what appears to me the most remarkable circumstance
relative to this bird is, that not one of all those writers who have
attempted its history has taken the least notice of those two
extraordinary bags of yellow skin which mark the neck of the
male, and which constitute so striking a peculiarity. These ap-
pear to be formed by an expansion of the gullet as well as of
the exterior skin of the neck, which, when the bird is at rest,
hangs in loose pendulous wrinkled folds, along the side of the
neck, the supplemental wings, at the same time, as well as when

36

PINNATED GEOUS.

the bird is flying, lying along the neck in the manner repre-
sented in one of the distant figures in the plate. But when these
bags are inflated with air, in breeding time, they are equal in
size and very much resemble in colour, a middle sized fully ripe
orange. By means of this curious apparatus, which is very
observable several hundred yards off, he is enabled to produce
the extraordinary sound mentioned above, which, though it
may easily be imitated, is yet difficult to describe by words. It
consists of three notes, of the same tone, resembling those pro-
duced by the Night Hawks in their rapid descent; each strongly
accented, the last being twice as long as the others. When
several are thus engaged, the ear is unable to distinguish the
regularity of these triple notes, there being at such times one
continued bumming, which is disagreeable and perplexing, from
the impossibility of ascertaining from what distance or even
quarter it proceeds. While uttering this the bird exhibits all
the ostentatious gesticulations of a turkey-cock; erecting and
fluttering his neck wings, wheeling and passing before the
female, and close before his fellows, as in defiance. Now and
then are heard some rapid cackling notes, not unlike that of
a person tickled to excessive laughter; and in short one can
scarcely listen to them without feeling disposed to laugh from
sympathy.- These are uttered by the males while engaged in
fight, on which occasion they leap up against each other, ex-
actly in the manner of turkeys, seemingly with more malice
than effect. This bumming continues from a little before day-
break to eight or nine o’clock in the morning, when the parties
separate to seek for food.

Fresh ploughed fields, in the vicinity of their resorts, are
sure to be visited by these birds every morning, and frequently
also in the evening. On one of these I counted, at one time,
seventeen males, most of whom were in the attitude repre-
sented in the plate; making such a continued sound as I am
persuaded might have been heard for more than a mile off. The
people of the Barrens informed me, that when the weather
became severe, with snow, they approach the barn and farm-

PINNATED GROUS.

37

house; are sometimes seen sitting on the fences in dozens; mix
with the poultry, and glean up the scattered grains of Indian
corn; seeming almost half domesticated. At such times great
numbers are taken in traps. No pains, however, or regular plan
has -ever:. been persisted in, as far as I was informed to domes-
ticate these delicious birds. A Mr. Reed, who lives between
the Pilot Knobs and Bairdstown, told me, that a few years ago,
one of his sons found a Grous’s nest, with fifteen eggs, which
he brought home, and immediately placed below a hen then
sitting; taking away her own. The nest of the Grous was on the
ground, under a tussock of long grass, formed with very little
art and few materials; the eggs were brownish white, and about
the size of a pullet’s. In three or four days the whole were
hatched. Instead of following the hen, they compelled her to
run after them, distracting her with the extent and diversity
of their wanderings; and it was a day or two before they seemed
10 understand her language, or consent to be guided by her.
They were let out to the fields, where they paid little regard to
their nurse; and in a few days, only three of them remained.
These became extremely tame and familiar, were most expert
fly catchers; but soon after they also disappeared.

The Pinnated Grous is nineteen inches long, twenty-seven
inches in extent, and when in good order, weighs about three
pounds and a half; the neck is furnished with supplemental
wings, each composed of eighteen feathers, five of which are
black, and about three inches long, the rest shorter, also black,
streaked laterally with brown, and of unequal lengths; the head
is slightly crested; over the eye is an elegant semicircular comb
of rich orange, which the bird has the power of raising or re-
laxing; under the neck wings are two loose pendulous and
wrinkled skins, extending along the side of the neck for two-
thirds of its length, each of which, when inflated with air, re-
sembles, in bulk, colour and surface, a middle sized orange;
chin cream-coloured; under the eye runs a dark streak of brown;
whole upper parts mottled transversely with black, reddish
brown and white; tail short, very much rounded, and of a plain

38

PINNATED GROUS.

brownish soot colour; throat elegantly marked with touches of
reddish brown, white and black; lower part of the breast and
belly pale brown, marked transversely with white; legs covered
to the toes with hairy down, of a dirty drab colour; feet dull
yellow, toes pectinated; vent whitish; bill brownish horn colour;
eye reddish hazel. The female is considerably less, of a lighter
colour; destitute of the neck wings, the naked yellow skin on
the neck, and the semicircular comb of yellow over the eye.

On dissecting these birds the gizzard was found extremely
muscular, having almost the hardness of a stone; the heart
remarkably large ; the crop was filled with briar knots, contain-
ing the larvae of some insect, — quantities of a species of green
lichen, small hard seeds, and some grains of Indian corn.

GENUS 57. PERDIX.

SPECIES P. VIRGINIA NUS.

QUAIL, OR PARTRIDGE.

[Plate XLVIL— Fig. 2.]

Arct. Zool, 318, JSTo. 185. — Catese. App. p. 12. — Virginian
^uail, Turt. Syst. p. 460. — Maryland Q. Ibid. — Le Perdrix
d^Amerique, Buiss. i, 23], — Buff, it, 447.*

This well-known bird is a general inhabitant of North Ame-
rica, from the northern parts of Canada and Nova Scotia, in
which latter place it is said to be migratory, to the extremity
of the peninsula of Florida; and was seen in the neighbourhood
of the Great Osage village, in the interior of Louisiana. They
are numerous in Kentucky and Ohio; Mr. Pennant remarks
that they have been lately introduced into the island of Jamaica,
where they appear to thrive greatly, breeding in that warm
climate twice in the year. Captain Henderson mentions them
as being plenty near the Balize, at the Bay of Honduras. They
rarely frequent the forest, and are most numerous in the vici-
nity of well cultivated plantations, where grain is in plenty.
They, however, occasionally seek shelter in the woods, perch-
ing on the branches, or secreting among the brush wood; but
are found most usually in open fields, or along fences sheltered
by thickets of briars. Where they are not too much persecuted
by the sportsmen, they become almost half domesticated; ap-
proach the barn, particularly in winter, and sometimes in that
severe season mix with the poultry, to glean up a subsistence.
They remain with us the whole year, and often suffer extremely
* Tetrno Virginianus, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, p. 161. T. Marilandicm, id. ib. —
Perdix Virginiana, Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 650. P. Marilanda, id p. 651. — Caille de la
Lmhiane, Buff. PI. Enl. 149.

40

PARTRIDGE.

by long hard winters, and deep snows. At such times the arts
of man combine with the inclemency of the season for their
destruction. To the ravages of the gun are added others of a
more insidious kind. Traps are placed on almost every planta-
tion, in such places as they are known to frequent. These are
formed of lath, or thinly split sticks, somewhat in the shape of
an obtuse cone, laced together with cord, having a small hole
at top, with a sliding lid, to take out the game by. This is
supported by the common figure 4 trigger, and grain is scat-
tered below, and leading to the place. By this contrivance ten
or fifteen have sometimes been taken at a time. These are
sometimes brought alive to market, and occasionally bought up
by sportsmen, who, if the season be very severe, sometimes
preserve and feed them till spring, when they are humanely
turned out to their native fields again, to be put to death, at
some future time, secundem artem. Between the months of
August and March, great numbers of these birds are brought to
the market of Philadelphia, where they are sold from twelve
to eighteen cents a-piece.

The Quail begins to build early in May. The nest is made
on the ground, usually at the bottom of a thick tuft of grass that
shelters and conceals it. The materials are leaves and fine dry
grass, in considerable quantity. It is well covered above, and an
opening left on one side for entrance. The female lays from fif-
teen to twenty-four eggs, of a pure white without any spots.
The time of incubation has been stated to me by various per-
sons at four weeks, when the eggs were placed under the
domestic hen. The young leave the nest as soon as they are
freed from the shell, and are conducted about in search of food
by the female; are guided by her voice, which at that time
resembles the twittering of young chickens, and sheltered by
her wings, in the same manner as those of the domestic fowl;
but with all that secrecy and precaution for their safety, which
their helplessness and greater danger require. In this situation
should the little timid family be unexpectedly surprised, the
utmost alarm and consternation instantly prevail. The mother

PARTRIDGE.

41

throws herself in the path, fluttering along, and beating the
ground with her wings, as if sorely wounded, using every arti-
fice she is master of, to entice the passenger in pursuit of herself,
uttering at the same time certain peculiar notes of alarm, well
understood by the young, who dive separately amongst the
grass, and secrete themselves till the danger is over; and the
parent, having decoyed the pursuer to a safe distance, returns,
by a circuitous route, to collect and lead them oflT. This well
known manoeuvre, which nine times in ten is successful, is
honourable to tbe feelings and judgment of the bird, but a
severe satire on man. The affectionate mother, as if sensible of
the avaricious cruelty of his nature, tempts him with a larger
prize, to save her more helpless offspring; and pays him, as
avarice and cruelty ought always to be paid, with mortification
and disappointment.

The eggs of the Quail have been frequently placed under the
domestic hen, and hatched and reared with equal success as her
own; though, generally speaking, the young Partridges being
more restless and vagrant, often lose themselves, and disap-
pear. The hen ought to be a particularly good nurse, not at all
disposed to ramble, in which case they are very easily raised.
Those that survive, acquire all the familiarity of common
chickens; and there is little doubt that if proper measures were
taken, and persevered in for a few years, that they might be
completely domesticated. They have been often kept during
the first season, and through the whole of the winter, but have
uniformly deserted in the spring. Two young Partridges that
were brought up by a hen, when abandoned by her, associated
with the cows, which they regularly followed to the fields, re-
turned with them when they came home in the evening, stood
by them while they were milked, and again accompanied them
to the pasture. These remained during the winter, lodging in
the stable, but as soon as spring came they disappeared. Of
this fact I was informed by a very respectable lady, by whom
they were particularly observed.

It has been frequently asserted to me, that the Quails lay oc-

VOL. III. — G

42

PARTRIDGE.

casionally in each other’s nests. Though I have never myself
seen a case of this kind, I do not think it altogether improbable,
from the fact, that they have often been known to drop their
eggs in the nest of the common hen, when that happened to be
in the fields, or at a small distance from the house. The two
Partridges above mentioned' were raised in this manner; and
it was particularly remarked by the lady, who gave me the
information, that the hen sat for several days after her own eggs
where hatched, until the young Quails made their appearance.

The Partridge, on her part, has sometimes been employed to
hatch the eggs of the common domestic hen. A friend of mine,
who himself made the experiment, informs me, that of several
hen’s eggs which he substituted in place of those of the Part-
ridge, she brought out the whole; and that for several weeks
he occasionally surprised her in various parts of the plantation,
with her brood of chickens; on which occasions she exhibited
all that distressful alarm, and practised her usual manoeuvres for
their preservation. Even after they were considerably grown,
and larger than the Partridge herself, she continued to lead
them about; but though their notes, or call, were those of com-
mon chickens, their manners had all the shyness, timidity and
alarm of young Partridges; running with great rapidity, and
squatting in the grass exactly in the manner of the Partridge.
Soon after this they disappeared, having probably been de-
stroyed by dogs, by the gun, or by birds of prey. Whether the
domestic fowl might not by this method be very soon brought
back to its original savage state, and thereby supply another
additional subject for the amusement of the sportsman, will
scarcely admit of a doubt. But the experiment, in order to se-
cure its success, would require to be made in a quarter of the
country less exposed than ours to the ravages of guns, traps,
dogs, and the deep snows of winter, that the new tribe might
have full time to become completely naturalized, and well fixed
in all their native habits.

About the beginning of September, the Quails being now
nearly full grown, and associated in flocks, or coveys, of from

PARTRIDGE.

43

four or five to thirty, afford considerable .sport to the gunner.
At this time the notes of the male are most frequent, clear and
loud. His common call consists of two notes, with sometimes
an introductory one, and is similar to the sound produced by
pronouncing the words “ Bob White.” This call may be easily
imitated by whistling, so as to deceive the bird itself, and bring
it near. While uttering this he is usually perched on a rail of
the fence, or on a low limb of an apple-tree, where he will
sometimes sit, repeating at short intervals “ Bob White,” for
half an hour at a time. When a covey are assembled in a
thicket or corner of a field, and about to take wing, they make
a low twittering sound, not unlike that of young chickens; and
when the covey is dispersed, they are called together again
by a loud and frequently repeated note, peculiarly expressive
of tenderness and anxiety.

The food of the Partridge consists of grain, seeds, insects,
and berries of various kinds. Buckwheat and Indian corn are
particular favourites. In September and October the buckwheat
fields afford them an abundant supply, as well as a secure shel-
ter. They usually roost at night in the middle of a field on
high ground; and from the circumstance of their dung being
often found in such places, in one round heap, it is generally
conjectured that they roost in a circle, with their heads out-
wards, each individual in this position forming a kind of guard
to prevent surprise. They also continue to lodge for several
nights in the same spot.

The Partridge, like all the rest of the gallinaceous order,
flies with a loud whirring sound, occasioned by the shortness,
concavity, and rapid motion of its wings, and the comparative
weight of its body. The steadiness of its horizontal flight, how-
ever, renders it no difiicult mark to the sportsman, particularly
when assisted by his sagacious pointer. The flesh of this bird
is peculiarly white, tender and delicate, unequalled, in these
qualities, by that of any other of its genus in the United States.

The Quail as it is called in New England, or the Partridge,
as in Pennsylvania, is nine inches long, and fourteen inches in

44

PARTRIDGE.

extent; the bill is black; line over the eye, down the neck, and
whole chin, pure white, bounded by a band of black, which
descends and spreads broadly over the throat; the eye is dark
hazel; crown, neck, and upper part of the breast, red brown;
sides of the neck spotted with white and black, on a reddish
brown ground; back, scapulars and lesser coverts, red brown,
intermixed with ash, and sprinkled with black; tertials edged
with yellowish white; wings plain dusky; lower part of the
breast and belly pale yellowish white; beautifully marked with
numerous curving spots or arrow heads of black; tail ash,
sprinkled with reddish brown; tegs very pale ash.

The female differs in having the chin and sides of the head
yellowish brown, in which di’ess it has been described as a dif-
ferent kind. There is, however, only one species of Quail at
present known within the United States.

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

WATER BIRDS.

We now enter upon the second grand division of our subject,
Water Birds j and on that particular class, or order, usually
denominated Grallse, or Waders. Here a new assemblage of
scenery, altogether different from the former, presents itself for
our contemplation. Instead of rambling through the leafy laby-
rinths of umbrageous groves, fragrance-breathing orchards,
fields and forests, we must now descend into the watery morass,
and mosquitoe-swamp; traverse the windings of the river, the
rocky cliffs, bays and inlets of the sea-beat shore, listening to
the wild and melancholy screams of a far different multitude;
a multitude less intimate indeed with man, though not less use-
ful; as they contribute liberally to his amusement, to the abun-
dance of his table, the warmth of his bed, and the comforts of
his repose.

In contemplating the various, singular and striking, peculi-
arities of these, we shall every where find traces of an infinitely
wise and beneficent Creator. In every deviation of their parts
from the common conformation of such as are designed for the
land alone, we may discover a wisdom of design never erring,
never failing in the means it provides for the accomplishment of
its purpose. Instead therefore of imitating the wild presumption,
or rather profanity, of those who have censured as rude, defec-
tive or deformed, whatever, in those and other organized beings,
accorded not with their narrow conceptions; let it be ours to
search with humility into the intention of those particular
conformations; and thus, entering as it were into the designs of

46

INTRODUCTION.

the Deity, we shall see in every part of the work of his hands
abundant cause to exclaim with the enraptured poet of nature,

“O Wisdom infinite! Goodness immense!

And Love that passeth knowledge!”

In the present volume, the greater part of such of the Waders
as belong to the territories of the United States, will be found
delineated and described. This class naturally forms an inter-
mediate link between the Land birds and the Web-footed,
partaking, in their form, food and habits, of the characters of
both; and equally deserving of our regard and admiration.
Though formed for traversing watery situations, often in com-
pany with the Swimmers, they differ from these last in one
circumstance common to Land Birds, the separation of the toes
nearly to their origin; and in the habit of seldom venturing
beyond their depth. On the other hand, they are furnished
with legs of extraordinary length, bare for a considerable space
above the knees, by the assistance of which they are enabled
to walk about in the water in pursuit of their prey, where the
others are obliged to swim; and also with necks of corresponding
length, by means of which they can search the bottom for food,
where the others must have recourse to diving. The bills of
one family (the Herons) are strong, sharp pointed, and of con-
siderable length; while the flexibility of tbe neck, the rapidity
of its action, and remarkable acuteness of sight, wonderfully fit
them for watching, striking, and securing their prey. Those
whose food consists of more feeble and sluggish insects, that lie
concealed deeper in the mud, are provided with bills of still
greater extension, the rounded extremity of which possesses
such nice sensibility, as to enable its possessor to detect its prey
the instant it comes in contact with it, though altogether be-
yond the reach of sight.

Other families of this same order, formed for traversing the
sandy sea-beach in search of small shell-fish that lurk just below
the surface, have the bills and legs necessarily shorter; but

INTRODUCTION.

47

their necessities requiring them to be continually on the verge
of the flowing or retreating wave, the activity of their motions
forms a striking contrast with the patient habits of the Heron
tribe, who sometimes stand fixed and motionless, for hours
together, by the margin of the pool or stream, watching to
surprise their scaly prey.

Some few again, whose favourite food lies at the soft oozy
bottoms of shallow pools, have the bill so extremely slender and
delicate, as to be altogether unfit for penetrating either the
muddy shores, or sandy sea-beach; though excellently adapted
for its own particular range, where lie the various kinds of food
destined for their subsistence. Of this kind are the Avosets of
the present volume, who not only wade with great activity in
considerably deep water; but having the feet nearly half- web-
bed, combine in one the characters of both wader and swimmer.

It is thus, that by studying the living manners of the difier-
ent tribes in their native retreats, we not only reconcile the
singularity of some parts of their conformation with divine wis-
dom; but are enabled to comprehend the reason of many others,
which the pride of certain closet naturalists has arraigned as
lame, defective and deformed.

One observation more may be added: the migrations of this
class of birds are more generally known and acknowledged than
that of most others. Their comparatively large size and im-
mense multitudes, render their regular periods of migration (so
strenuously denied to some others) notorious along the whole
extent of our sea-coast. Associating, feeding, and travelling
together in such prodigious and noisy numbers, it would be no
less difficult to conceal their arrival, passage and departure, than
that of a vast army through a thickly peopled country. Consti-
tuting also, as many of them do, an article of food and interest
to man, he naturally becomes more intimately acquainted with
their habits and retreats, than with those feeble and minute
kinds, which offer no such inducement, and perform their mi-
grations with more silence, in scattered parties, unheeded or
overlooked. Hence many of the Waders can be traced from

48

INTRODUCTION.

their summer abodes, the desolate regions of Greenland and
Spitzbergen, to the fens and sea-shores of the West India islands
and South America, the usual places of their winter retreat,
while those of the Purple Martin and common Swallow still
remain, in vulgar belief wrapt up in all the darkness of mys-
tery.

Philadelphia^ March \sty 1819.

DIV. II. AVES AQUATICS. WATER BIRDS.

ORDER Vir. GRALL^. WADERS.

GENUS 64. PLATALEA. SPOONBILL.

SPECIES. P. JiJAJJl.

ROSEATE SPOONBILL.

[Plate LXIIL— Fig. l.J

Jlrct. ZooL. JVo. 338. — Lath. Syn. v. 3, 1 6, JV*o. 2. — La Spatule
couleur de Rose, Briss. Orn, v, p. 356, 2, pi, 30,— PL Enl. p.
11 6. — Buff, vii, 456.— Pealf.’s Museu'in, JVo. 3553.

This stately and elegant bird inhabits the seashores of
America, from Brazil to Georgia, It also appears to wander
up the Mississippi sometimes in summer, the specimen from
which the figure in the plate was drawn having been sent me
from the neighbourhood of Natchez, in excellent order; for
which favour I am indebted to the family of my late benevolent
and scientific friend, William Dunbar, esq., of that territory.
It is now deposited in Mr. Peale’s museum.

This species, however, is rarely seen to the northward of the
Alatamaha river; and even along the peninsula of Florida is a
scarce bird. In Jamaica, several other of the West India islands,
Mexico, and Guiana, it is more common, but confines itself
chiefly to the seashore, and the mouths of rivers. Captain Hen-
derson says, it is frequently seen at Honduras. It wades about
in quest of shell-fish, marine insects, small crabs and fish. In
pursuit of these, it occasionally swims and dives.

There are few facts on record relative to this very singular
bird. It is said that the young are of a blackish chestnut the

VOL. Ill, — H

50

ROSEATE SPOONBILL -

first year; of the roseate colour of the present the second year;
and of a deep scarlet the third. *

Having never been so fortunate as to meet with them in their
native wilds, I regret my present inability to throw any farther
light on their history and manners. These, it is probable, may
resemble, in many respects, those of the European species, the
White Spoonbill, once so common in Holland. t To atone for
this deficiency, I have endeavoured faithfully to delineate the
figure of this American species, and may perhaps resume the
subject, in some future part of the present work.

The Roseate Spoonbill, now before us, measured two feet
six inches in length, and near four feet in extent; the bill was
six inches and a half long, from the corner of the mouth, seven
from its upper base, two inches over at its greatest width, and
three quarters of an inch where narrowest; of a black colour for
half its length, and covered with hard scaly protuberances, like
the edges of oyster shells: these are of a whitish tint, stained
with red ; the nostrils are oblong, and placed in the centre of
the upper mandible; from the lower end of each nostril there
runs a deep groove along each side of the mandible, and about
a quarter of an inch from its edge; whole crown and chin bare
of plumage, and covered with a greenish skin: that below the
under mandible dilatable, as in the genus Pelicanus; space
round the eye orange; irides blood red; cheeks and hind-head
a bare black skin; neck long, covered with short white feathers,
some of which, on the upper part of the neck, are tipt with
crimson; breast white, the sides of which are tinged with a
brown burnt-colour; from the upper part of the breast proceeds
a long tuft of fine hair-like plumage, of a pale rose colour; back

® Latham.

t The European species breeds on trees, by the sea-side; lays three or lour
white eggs, powdered with a few pale red spots, and about the size of those
of a hen; are very noisy during breeding time; feed on fish, muscles, &c. which,
like the Bald Eagle, they frequently take from other birds, frightening them by
clattering their bill; they are also said to eat grass, weeds, and roots of reeds:
they are migratory; their flesh reported to savour of that of a goose; the young are
reckoned good food.

ROSEATE SPOONBILL.

51

white, slightly tinged with brownish; wings a pale wild-rose
colour, the shafts lake; the shoulders of the wings are covered
with long hairy plumage of a deep and splendid carmine; upper
and lower tail coverts the same rich red; belly rosy; rump paler;
tail equal at the end, consisting of twelve feathers, of a bright
brownish orange, the shafts reddish; legs, and naked part of the
thighs, dark dirty red; feet half webbed; toes very long, parti-
cularly the hind one. The upper part of the neck had the plu-
mage partly worn away, as if occasioned by resting it on the
back, in the manner of the Ibis. The skin on the crown is a
little wrinkled; the inside of the wing a much richer red than
the outer.

GENUS 69. ARDEA. HERON.

SPECIES 1. A. MINOR.

AMERICAN BITTERN.

[Plate LXV.— Fig. 3.]

Le Butor de la Baye Hudson, Briss. v, p. 449. 25. — Buff, vii,
p. 430. — Edw. 136. var. Jl. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 58.— -Peale’s
Museum, No. 3727.

This is a nocturnal species, common to all our sea and
river marshes, though no where numerous; it rests all day
among the reeds and rushes, and unless disturbed, flies and
feeds only during the night. In some places it is called the In-
dian Hen, on the sea coast of New Jersey it is known by the
name of Dunkadoo, a word probably imitative of its common
note. They are also found in the interior, having myself killed
one at the inlet of the Seneca Lake, in October. It utters at
times a hollow guttural note among the reeds; but has nothing of
that loud booming sound for which the European Bittern is so
remarkable. This circumstance, with its great inferiority of
size, and difference of marking, sufficiently prove them to be
two distinct species, although hitherto the present has been
classed as a mere variety of the European Bittern. These
birds, we are informed, visit Severn river, at Hudson’s Bay,
about the beginning of June; make their nests in swamps, lay-
ing four cinereous-green eggs among the long grass. The young
are said to be at first black.

These birds, when disturbed, rise with a hollow kwa, and
are then easily shot down, as they fly heavily. Like other night
birds their sight is most acute during the evening twilight; but
their hearing is at all times exquisite.

AMERICAN BITTERN.

53

The American Bittern is twenty- seven inches long, and three
feet four inches in extent; from the point of the bill to the extre-
mity of the toes it measures three feet; the bill is four inches long,
the upper mandible black, the lower greenish yellow; lores,
and eyelids yellow; hides bright yellow; upper part of the
head flat, and remarkably deprest; the plumage there is of a
deep blackish brown, long behind and on the neck, the general
colour of which is a yellowish brown shaded with darker; this
long plumage of the neck the bird can throw forward at will,
when irritated, so as to give him a more formidable appearance;
throat whitish, streaked with deep brown; from the posterior
and lower part of the auriculars a broad patch of deep black
passes diagonally across the neck, a distinguished characteristic
of this species; the back is deep brown barred and mottled with
innumerable specks and streaks of brownish yellow; quills
black, with a leaden gloss, and tipt with yellowish brown; legs
and feet yellow, tinged with pale green ; middle claw pectinated;
belly light yellowish brown streaked with darker, vent plain,
thighs sprinkled on the outside with grains of dark brown; male
and female.nearly slike, the latter somewhat less. According to
Bewick, the tail of the European Bittern contains only ten
feathers; the American species has invariably twelve. The in-
testines measured five feet six inches in length, and were very
little thicker than a common knitting-needle; the stomach is
usually filled with fish or frogs.

This bird when fat is considered by many to be excellent
eating.

SPECIES 2. ARBEJi CMRULEA.

BLUE CRANE, OR HERON.

[Plate LXII. — Fig. 3.]

Ayct. Zool.J^o. 351. — Catesby, i, 76. — Le Crabier bleu, Buff.
Yii, 398. — Sloan. Jam. ii, 31o. — I.ath. Syn. v. 3, p. 78, JVo. 45,
— p. 79, var. A. — Ardea ccerulescens, Turt. Syst. p. 379. —
Peale’s Museum, JVo. 3782.*

In mentioning this species in his translation of the Sy sterna
Naturse, Turton has introduced what he calls two varieties,
one from New .Zealand, the other from Brazil; both of which,
if we may judge by their size and colour, appear to be entirely
different and distinct species; the first being green with yellow
legs, the last nearly one half less than the present. By this
loose mode of discrimination, the precision of science being al-
together dispensed with, the whole tribe of Cranes, Herons, and
Bitterns may be styled mere varieties of the genus Ardea.
The same writer has still farther increased this confusion, by
designating as a different species his Bluish Heron {A. cseru-
lescens,) which agrees almost exactly with the present. Some
of these mistakes may probably have originated from the figure
of this bird given by Catesby, which appears to have been drawn
and coloured, not from nature, but from the glimmering recol-
lections of memory, and is extremely erroneous. These remarks
are due to truth, and necessary to the elucidation of the history
of his species, which seems to be but imperfectly known in
Europe.

The Blue Heron is properly a native of the warmer climates
of the United Stales, migrating thence, at the approach of win-
ter, to the tropical regions; being found in Cayenne, Jamaica,

* Heron bleudtre de Cayenne, Buff. PI. Enl. 549, adult.

BLUE HERON.

55

and Mexico. On the muddy shores of the Mississippi, from
Baton Rouge downwards to New Orleans, these birds are fre-
quently met with. In spring they extend their migrations as
far north as New England, chiefly in the vicinity of the sea;
becoming more rare as they advance to the north. On the sea-
beach of Cape May, I found a few of them breeding among the
cedars, in company with the Snowy Heron, Night Heron, and
Green Bittern. The figure and description of the present were
taken from two of these, shot in the month of May, while in
complete plumage. Their nests were composed of small sticks,
built in the tops of the red cedars, and contained five eggs of a
light blue colour, and of somewhat a deeper tint than those of
the Night Heron. • Little or no difierence could be perceived
between the colours and markings of the male and female.
This remark is applicable to almost the whole genus; though
from the circumstance of many of the yearling birds differing
in plumage, they have been mistaken for females.

The Blue Heron, though in the northern states it is found
chiefly in the neighbourhood of the ocean, probably on account
of the greater temperature of the climate, is yet particularly
fond of fresh water bogs, on the edges of the salt marsh. These
it often frequents, wading about in search of tadpoles, lizards,
various larvffi of winged insects, and mud worms. It moves
actively about in search of these, sometimes making a run at its
prey; and is often seen in company with the Snowy Heron,
figured in the same plate. Like this last, it is also very silent,
intent and watchful.

The genus Ardea is the most numerous of all the wading
tribes, there being no less than ninety-six different species enu-
merated by late writers. These are again subdivided into par-
ticular families, each distinguished by a certain peculiarity.
The Cranes, by having the head bald; the Storks, with the or-
bits naked; and the Herons, with the middle claw pectinated.
To this last belong the Bitterns. Several of these are nocturnal
birds, feeding only as the evening twilight commences, and
reposing either among the long grass and reeds, or on tall trees,

56

BLUE HERON.

in sequestered places, during the day. What is very remarka-
ble, those night wanderers often associate, during the breeding
season, with the others; building their nests on the branches of
the same tree; and, though differing so little in external form,
feeding on nearly the same food, living and lodging in the same
place; yet preserve their race, language, and manners as per-
fectly distinct from those of their neighbours, as if each inhabit-
ed a separate quarter of the globe.

The Blue Heron is twenty-three inches in length, and three
feet in extent; the bill is black, but from the nostril to the eye,
in both mandibles, is of a rich light purplish blue; iris of the
eye gray, pupil black, surrounded by a narrow silvery ring;
eyelid light blue; the whole head and greater part of the neck,
is of a deep purplish brown; from the crested hind-head shoot
three narrow pointed feathers, that reach nearly six inches be-
yond the eye; lower part of the neck, breast, belly and whole
body, a deep slate colour, with lighter reflections; the back is
covered with long, flat, and narrow feathers, some of which are
ten inches long, and extend four inches beyond the tail; the
breast is also ornamented with a number of these long slender
feathers; legs blackish green; inner side of the middle claw pec-
tinated. The breast and sides of the rump, under the plumage,
are clothed with a mass of yellowish white unelastic cottony
down, similar to that in most of the tribe, the uses of which
are not altogether understood. Male and female alike in colour.

The young birds of the first year are destitute of the purple
plumage on the. head and neck.

SPECIES 3. ARBEJi HERODMS.

GREAT HERON.

[Plate LXV.— Fig. 2.]

Le Heron hupe de Virginie, Buiss. v, p. 41 6. 1 0. — Lc. Grand Heron

d'Amerique, Buff, vii, p. 385. — Larger crested Heron, Catesf.

App.pl. \0,fig. 1. — liATH. Sijn. iii,p. 85. — Arcf. Zool. M). 341.
— Pealk’s Museum, Mo. 3629.

The history of this large and elegant bird having been long
involved in error and obscurity,* I have taken more than com-
mon pains to present a faithful portrait of it in this place; and
to add to that every fact and authentic particular relative to its
manners which may be necessary to the elucidation of the sub-
ject.

The Great Heron is a constant inhabitant of the Atlantic
coast from New York to Florida; in deep snows and severe wea-
ther seeking the open springs of the cedar and cypress swamps,
and the muddy inlets occasionally covered by the tides. On
the higher inland parts of the country, beyond the mountains,
they are less numerous; and one which was shot in the upper
parts of New Hampshire, was described to me as a great curio-
sity. Many of their breeding places occur in both Carolinas,
chiefly in the vicinity of the sea. In the lower parts of New
Jersey they have also their favourite places for building, and
rearing their young. These are generally in the gloomy soli-

* Latham says of this species, that “ all the upper parts of the body, the belly,
tail and legs are brown;” and this description has been repeated by every subse-
quent compiler. Buffon, with his usual eloquent absurdity, describes the He-
ron as “ exhibiting the picture of wretchedness, anxiety and indigence; condemn-
ed to struggle perpetually with misery and want; sickened with the restless crav-
ings of a famished appetite;” a description so ridiculously untrue, that, were it
possible for these birds to comprehend it, would excite the risibility of the
whole tribe.

VOL. III. — I

58

GREAT HERON.

tildes of the tallest cedar swamps, where, if unmolested, they
continue annually to breed for many years. These swamps are
from half a mile to a mile in breadth, and sometimes five or six
in length, and appear as if they occupied the former channel of
some choked up river, stream, lake, or arm of the sea. The ap-
pearance they present to a stranger is singular. A front of tall
and perfectly strait trunks, rising to the height of fifty or sixty
feet without a limb, and crowded in every direction, their tops
so closely woven together as to shut out the day, spreading the
gloom of perpetual twilight below. On a nearer approach they
are found to rise out of the water, which, from the impregnation
of the fallen leaves and roots of the cedars, is of the colour of
brandy. Amidst this bottom of congregated springs, the ruins
of the former forest lie piled in every state of confusion. The
roots, prostrate logs, and in many places the water, are covered
with green mantling moss, while an undergrowth of laurel,
fifteen or twenty feet high, intersects every opening so com-
pletely, as to render a passage through laborious and harrassing
beyond description; at every step you either sink to the knees,
clamber over fallen timber, squeeze yourself through between
the stubborn laurels, or plunge to the middle in ponds made by
the uprooting of large trees, and which the green moss conceal-
ed from observation. In calm weather the silence of death
reigns in these dreary regions; a few interrupted rays of light
shoot across the gloom; and unless for the occasional hollow
screams of the Herons, and the melancholy chirping of one or
two species of small birds, all is silence, solitude and desolation.
When a breeze rises, at first it sighs mournfully through the
tops; but as the gale increases, the tall mast-like cedars wave
like fishing poles, and rubbing against each other, produce a
variety of singular noises, that, with the help of a little imagi-
nation, resemble shrieks, groans, growling of bears, wolves and
such like comfortable music.

On the tops of the tallest of these cedars the Herons construct
their nests, ten or fifteen pair sometimes occupying a particular
part of the swamp. The nests are large, formed of sticks, and

GREAT HERON.

59

lined with smaller twigs, each occupies the top of a single tree.
The eggs are generally four, of an oblong pointed form, larger
than those of a hen, and of a light greenish blue without any
spots. The young are produced about the middle of May,
and remain on the trees until they are full as heavy as the old
ones, being extremely fat, before they are able to fly. They
breed but once in the season. If disturbed in their breeding
place, the old birds fly occasionally over the spot, sometimes
honking like a Goose, sometimes uttering a coarse hollow grunt-
ing noise like that of a hog, but much louder.

The Great Heron is said to be fat at the full moon, and lean
at its decrease; this might be accounted for by the fact of their
fishing regularly by moonlight through the greater part of the
night, as well as during the day; but the observation is not uni-
versal, for at such times I have found some lean as well as
others fat. The young are said to be excellent for the table, and
even the old birds, when in good order, and properly cooked,
are esteemed by many.

The principal food of the Great .Heron is fish, for which he
watches with the most unwearied patience, and seizes them
with surprising dexterity. At the edge of the river, pond or
seashore he stands fixed and motionless, sometimes for hours
together. But his stroke is quick as thought, and sure as fate to
the first luckless fish that approaches within his reach; these he
sometimes beats to death, and always swallows head foremost,
such being their uniform position in the stomach. He is also an
excellent mouser, and of great service to our mendows in de-
stroying the short- tailed or meadow mouse, so injurious to the
banks. He also feeds eagerly on grasshoppers, various winged
insects, particularly dragon flies, which he is very expert at
striking, and also eats the seeds of that species of nymphae usu-
ally called splatter docks, so abundant along our fresh water
ponds and rivers.

The Heron has great powers of wing, flying sometimes very
high, and to a great distance; his neck doubled, his head drawn
in, and his long legs stretched out in a right line behind him.

60

GKEAT HERON.

appearing like a tail, and probably serving the same rudder-like
office. When he leaves the sea coast, and traces on wing tlie
courses of the creeks or rivers upwards, he is said to prognos-
ticate rain; when downwards, dry weather. He is most jealous-
ly vigilant and watchful of man, so that those who wish to
succeed in shooting the Heron, must approach him entirely
unseen, and by stratagem. The same inducements, however,
for his destruction do not prevail here as in Europe. Our sea
shores and rivers are free to all for the amusement of fishing.
Luxury has not yet constructed her thousands of fish ponds, and
surrounded them with steel traps, spring guns, and Heron
snares. * In our vast fens, meadows and sea marshes, this stately
bird roams at pleasure, feasting on the never-failing magazines
of frogs, fish, seeds and insects with which they abound, and
of which he probably considers himself the sole lord and proprie-
tor. I have several times seen the Bald Eagle attack and tease
the Great Heron; but whether for sport, or to make him dis-
gorge his fish, I am uncertain.

The common Heron of Europe [Jirdea major) very much
resembles the present, which might, as usual, have probably
been ranked as the original stock, of which the present was a

* “ The Heron,” says an English writer, “ is a very great devourer of fish,
and does more mischief in a pond than an otter. People who have kept Herons
have had the curiosity to number the fish they feed them with, into a tub of wa-
ter, and counting them again afterwards, it has been found that they will eat up
fifty moderate dace and roaches in a day. It has been found (hat in carp ponds
visited by this bird, one Heron will eat up a thousand store carp in a year; and
will hunt them so close as to let very few escape. The readiest method of de-
stroying this mischievous bird is by fishing for him in the manner of pike, with
a baited hook AVhen the haunt of the Heron is found out, three or four small
roach, or dace, are to be procured, and each of them is to be baited on a wire,
with a strong hook at the end, entering the wire just at the gills, and letting it
run just under the skin to the tail; the fish will live in this manner for five or six
days, which is a very essential thing: for if it be dead, the Heron will not touch
it. A strong line is then to be prepared of silk and wire twisted together, and is
to be about two yards long; tie this to the wire that holds the hook, and to the
othei 'end of it there is to be tied a stone of about a pound weight; let three or
four of these baits be sunk in dilferent shallow parts of the pond, and in a night
ortw'o’s time the Heron will not fail to be taken with one or other of them.”

GREAT HERON.

61

mere degenerated species, were it not that the American is
greatly superior in size and weight to the European species, the
former measuring four feet four inches, and weighing upwards
of seven pounds 5 the latter three feet three inches, and rarely
weighing more than four pounds. Yet with the exception of
size, and the rust coloured thighs of the present, they are ex-
tremely alike. The common Heron of Europe, however, is not
an inhabitant of the United States.

The Great Heron does not receive his full plumage during
the first season, nor until the Summer of the second. In the first
season the young birds are entirely destitute of the white plu-
mage of the crown, and the long pointed feathers of the back,
shoulders, and breast. In this dress I have frequently shot them
in Autumn. But in the third year, both males and females have
assumed their complete dress, and, contrary to all the European
accounts which I have met with, both are then so nearly alike
in colour and markings, as scarcely to be distinguished from
each other; both having the long flowing crest, and all the or-
namental white pointed plumage of the back and breast. Indeed
this sameness in the plumage of the males and females, when
arrived at their perfect state, is a characteristic of the whole of
the genus with which I am acquainted. Whether it be different
with those of Europe, or that the young and imperfect birds
have been hitherto mistaken for females I will not pretend to
say, though I think the latter conjecture highly probable, as the
Night Raven {Jlrdea Nycticorax) has been known in Europe
for several centuries, and yet in all their accounts the sameness
of the colours and plumage of the male and female of that bird
is no where mentioned; on the contrary, the younger yearling
bird has been universally described as the female.

On the eighteenth of May I examined, both externally and
by dissection, five specimens of the Great Heron, all in com-
plete plumage, killed in a cedar swamp near thfe head of Tuck-
ahoe river, in Cape May county, New Jersey In this case the
females could not be mistaken, as some of the eggs were nearly
ready for exclusion.

62

GREAT HERON.

' Length of the Great Heron four feet four inches from the
point of the hill to the end of the tail, and to the bottom of the
feet five feet four inches; extent six feet; bill eight inches long,
and one inch and a quarter in width, of a yellow colour,^ in
some blackish on the ridge, extremely sharp at the point, the
edges also sharp, and slightly serrated near the extremity; space
round the eye from the nostril, a light purplish blue; irides
orange, brightening into yellow where they join the pupil;
forehead and middle of the crown white, passing over the eye;
sides of the crown and hind head deep slate or bluish black,
and elegantly crested, the two long tapering black feathers be-
ing full eight inches in length; chin, cheeks, and sides of the
head white for several inches; throat white, thickly streaked
with double rows of black; rest of the neck brownish ash, from
the lower part of which shoot a great number of long narrow
pointed white feathers that spread over the breast and reach
nearly to the thighs; under these long plumes the breast itself,
and middle of the belly is of a deep blackish slate, the latter
streaked with white; sides blue ash, vent white; thighs and ridges
of the wings a dark purplish rust colour; whole upper parts of
the wings, tail, and body a fine light ash, the latter ornamented
with a profusion of long narrow white tapering feathers, orgi-
nating on the shoulders or upper part of the back, and falling
gracefully over the wings; primaries very dark slate, nearly
black; naked thighs brownish yellow; legs brownish black, tinc-
tured with yellow, and netted with seams of whitish; in some
the legs are nearly black. Little difference could be perceived
between the plumage of the males and females; the latter were
rather less, and the long pointed plumes of the back were not
quite so abundant.

The young birds of the first year have the whole upper part
of the head of a dark slate; want the long plumes of the breast
and back; and have the body, neck, and lesser coverts of the
wings considerably tinged with ferruginous.

On dissection the gullet was found of great width, from the
mouth to the stomach, which has not the two strong muscular

GREAT HERON.

63

coats that form the gizzard of some birds; it was more loose, of
considerable and uniform thickness throughout, and capable of
containing nearly a pint; it was entirely filled with fish, among
which were some small eels, all placed head downwards; the
intestines measured nine feet in length, were scarcely as thick
as a goose-quill, and incapable of being distended; so that the
vulgar story of the Heron swallowing eels which passing sud-
denly through him are repeatedly swallowed, is absurd and
impossible. On the external coat of the stomach of one of these
birds, opened soon after being shot, something like a blood ves-
sel lay in several meandering folds, enveloped in a membrane,
and closely adhering to the surface. On carefully opening this
membrane it was found to contain a large round living worm,
eight inches in length; another of like length was found coiled in
the same manner on another part of the external coat. It may
also be worthy of notice, that the intestines of the young birds
of the first season, killed in the month of October, when they
were nearly as large as the others, measured only six feet four or
five inches, those of the full grown ones from eight to nine feet
in length.

SPECIES 4. ARDEJi EGRETTJi.

GREAT WHITE HERON.

[Plate LXI. — Fig. 4.]

PnALv.h Museum, JVo. 5754; Young, 3755.*

This tall and elegant bird, though often seen, during the
summer, in our low marshes and inundated meadows; yet, on
account of its extreme vigilance, and watchful timidity, is very
difficult to be procured. Its principal residence is in the regions
of the south, being found from Guiana, and probably beyond
the line, to New York. It enters the territories of the United
States late in February; this I conjecture from having first met
with it in the southern parts of Georgia about that time. The
high inland parts of the country it rarely or never visits; its
favourite haunts are vast inundated swamps, rice fields, the low
marshy shores of rivers, and such like places; where, from its
size and colour, it is very conspicuous, even at a great distance.

The appearance of this bird, during the first season, when it
is entirely destitute of the long flowing plumes of the back, is
so different from the same bird in its perfect plumage, which it
obtains in the third year, that naturalists and others very ge-
nerally consider them as two distinct species. The opportuni-
ties which I have fortunately had, of observing them, with the
train, in various stages of its progress, from its first appearance to
its full growth, satisfies me that the Great White Heron with, and
that without, the long plumes, are one and the same species, in
different periods of age. In the museum of my friend Mr. Peale,
there is a specimen of this bird, in which the train is wanting;

' £rdea alba, Linn. Syst. Ed. 10, p. 144.

GREAT WHITE HERON.

65

but on a closer examination, its rudiments are plainly to be per-
ceived, extending several inches beyond the common plumage.

The Great White Heron breeds in several of the extensive
cedar swamps in the lower parts of New Jersey. Their nests
are built on the trees, in societies; the structure and materials
exactly similar to those of the Snowy Heron, but larger. The
eggs are usually four, of a pale blue colour. In the months of
July and August, the young make their first appearance in the
meadows and marshes, in parties of twenty or thirty together.
The large ditches with which the extensive meadows helow
Philadelphia are intersected, are regularly, about that season,
visited by flocks of those birds; these are frequently shot; but
the old ones are too sagacious to be easily approached. Their
food consists of frogs, lizards, small fish, insects, seeds of the
splatter-dock, (a species of Nymphsi) and small water 'snakes.
They will also devour mice and moles, the remains of such
having been at different times found in their stomachs.

The long plumes of these birds have at various periods been
in great request, on the continent of Europe, particularly in
France and Italy, for the purpose of ornamenting the female
head-dress. When dyed of various colours, and tastefully fashion-
ed, they form a light and elegant duster and mosquitoe brush-
The Indians prize them for ornamenting their hail’, or top-
knot; and I have occasionally observed these people wandering
through the market place of New Orleans, with bunches of those
feathers for sale.

The Great White Heron measures five feet from the extremi-
ties of the wings, and three feet six inches from the tip of the
bill to the end of the tail; the train extends seven or eight in-
ches farther. This train is composed of a great number of long,
thick, tapering shafts, arising from the lower part of the shoul-
ders, and thinly furnished on each side with fine flowing hair-
like threads, of several inches in length, covering the lower
part of the back, and falling gracefully over the tail, which it
entirely conceals. The whole plumage is of a snowy white-
ness, except the train, which is slightly tinged with yellow

VOL. III. — K

66

GREAT WHITE HERON.

The bill is nearly six inches in length, of a rich orange yellow,
tipt with black; irides a paler orange, pupil small, giving the
bird a sharp and piercing aspect; the legs are long, stout, and
of a black colour, as is the bare space of four inches above the
knee; the span of the foot measures upwards of six inches; the
inner edge of the middle claw is pectinated; the exterior and
middle toes are united at the base for about half an inch, by a
membrane.

The articulations of the vertebrae are remarkably long; the
intestines measure upwards of eight feet, and are very narrow.
The male and female are alike in plumage; both, when of full
age, having the train equally long.

SPECIES 5. ARBEA VIRESCENS.

GREEN HERON.

[Plate LXL— Fig. 1.]

Jlrct. Zool. JVb. 349. — Catesby, i, 80. — Le Crabier vert. Buff.

VII, 404. — liATH. Syn. v. 3, p. 68, JV'o. 30. — Peale’s Museum,

J^o. 3797.

This common and familiar species owes little to the liberality
of public opinion, whose prejudices have stigmatized it with a
very vulgar and indelicate nickname; and treat it on all occasions
as worthless and contemptible. Yet few birds are more indepen-
dent of man than this; for it fares best, and is always most nu-
merous, where cultivation is least known or attended to; its fa-
vourite residence being the watery solitudes of swamps, pools
and morasses, where millions of frogs and lizards “ tune their
nocturnal notes” in full chorus, undisturbed by the lords of
creation.

The Green Bittern makes its first appearance in Pennsylvania
early in April, soon after the marshes are completely thawed.
There, among the stagnant ditches with which they are intersec-
ted, and amidst the bogs and quagmires, he hunts with great cun-
ning and dexterity. Frogs and small fish are his principal game,
whose caution, and facility of escape, require nice address, and
rapidity of attaclc. When on the look-out for small fish, he stands
in the water, by the side of the ditch, silent and motionless as a
statue; his neck drawn in over his breast, ready for action. The
instant a fry or minnow comes within the range of his bill, by
a stroke quick and sure as that of the rattle-snake, he seizes his
prey, and swallows it in an instant. He searches for small crabs,
and for the various worms and larvae, particularly those of the
dragon-fly, which lurk in the mud, with equal adroitness. But
the capturing of frogs requires much nicer management. These

GREEN HERON.

wary reptiles shrink into the mire on the least alarm, and do not
raise up their heads again to the surface without the most cau-
tious circumspection. The Bittern, fixing his penetrating ejm on
the spot where they disappeared, approaches with slow stealing
step, laying his feet so gently and silently on the ground as not
to be heard or felt; and when arrived within reach stands fixed,
and bending forwards, until the first glimpse of the frog’s head
makes its appearance, when, with a stroke instantaneous as light-
ning, he seizes it in his bill, beats it to death, and feasts on it at
his leisure.

This mode of life, requiring little fatigue where game is so
plenty, as is generally the case in all our marshes, must be par-
ticularly pleasing to the bird; and also very interesting, from the
continual exercise of cunning and ingenuity necessary to cir-
cumvent its prey. Some of the naturalists of Europe, however,
in their superior wisdom, think very differently; and one can
scarcely refrain from smiling at the absurdity of those writers,
who declare, that the lives of this whole class of birds are ren-
dered miserable by toil and hunger; their very appearance, ac-
cording to Bufibn, presenting the image of suffering anxiety and
indigence.*

When alarmed, the Green Bittern rises with a hollow guttu-
ral scream; does not fly far, but usually alights on some old
stump, tree or fence adjoining, and looks about with extended
neck; though sometimes this is drawn in so that his head seems
to rest on his breast. As he walks along the fence, or stands
gazing at you with outstreached neck, he has the frequent habit
of jetting the tail. He sometimes flies high, with doubled neck,
and legs extended behind, flapping the wings smartly, and trav-
elling with great expedition. He is the least shy of all our He-
rons; and perhaps the most numerous and generally dispersed:
being found far in the interior, as well as along our salt marshes;
and every where about the muddy shores of our mill-ponds,
creeks and large rivers.

*Hist. Nat. ties Oiseaux, tome xxii, p. 343.

GREKNHERON.

69

The Green Bittern begins to build about the twentieth ol"
April; sometimes in single pairs in swampy woods; often in
companies; and not unfrequently in a kind of association with
the Qua-birds, or Night Herons. The nest is fixed among the
branches of the trees; is constructed wholly of small sticks, lined
with finer twigs, and is of considerable size, though loosely put
together. The female lays four eggs, of the common oblong
form, and of a pale light blue colour. The young do not leave
the nest until able to fly; and for the first season, at least, are
destitute of the long pointed plumage on the back; the lower
parts are also lighter, and the white on the throat broader. Du-
ring the whole summer, and until late in autumn, these birds
are seen in our meadows and marshes, but never remain during
winter in any part of the United States.

The Green Bittern is eighteen inches long, and twenty -five
inches in extent; bill black, lighter below, and 5^ellow at the
base; chin and narrow streak down the throat yellowish white;
neck dark vinaceous red; back covered with very long tapering
pointed feathers, of a hoary green, shafted with white, on a
dark green ground; the hind part of the neck is destitute of plu-
mage, thM it may be the more conveniently drawn in over the
breast, but is covered with the long feathers of the throat, and
sides of the neck that enclose it behind; wings and tail dark
glossy green, tipt and bordered with yellowish white; legs and
feet yellow, tinged before with green, the skin of these thick
and moveable; belly ashy brown; irides bright orange; crested
head very dark glossy green. The female, as I have particular-
ly observed, in numerous instances, differs in nothing as to co-
lour from the male; neither of them receive the long feathers
on the back during the first season.

There is one circumstance attending this bird, which, I re-
collect, at first surprised me. On shooting and wounding one, I
carried it some distance by the legs, which were at first yellow,
but on reaching home, I perceived, to my surprise, that they
were red. On letting the bird remain some time undisturbed,
they again became yellow, and I then discovered that the action

GRfiBN HERON.

70

of the hand had brought a flow of blood into them, and pro-
duced the change of colour. I have remarked the same in those
of the Night Heron

SPECIES 6. ARBEA EXILIS.

LEAST BITTERN.

[Plate LX V.— Fig. 4.]

Lath. Syn. v. iii, p. 66, JVo. 28. — Peale’s Museum, JSTo. 3814.

This is the smallest known species of the whole tribe. It is
commonly found in fresh water meadows, and rarely visits the
salt marshes. One shot near Great Egg Harbour was presented
to me as a very uncommon bird. In the meadows of Schuylkill
and Delaware below Philadelphia, a few of these birds breed
every year, making their nests in the thick tussocks of grass, in
swampy places. When alarmed they seldom fly far, but take
shelter among the reeds or long grass. They are scarcely ever
seen exposed, but skulk during the day; and, like the preced-
ing species, feed chiefly in the night.

This little creature measures twelve inches in length, and
sixteen in extent; the bill is more than two inches and a quarter
long, yellow, ridged with black, and very sharp pointed; space
round the eye pale yellow; irides bright yellow; whole upper
part of the crested head, the back, scapulars and tail very deep
slate reflecting slight tints of green; throat white, here and there
tinged with bufif; hind part of the neck dark chestnut bay, sides
of the neck, cheeks, and line over the eye brown buff; lesser
wing-coverts the same; greater wing-coverts chestnut, with a spot
of the same at the bend of the wing, the primary coverts are
also tipt with the same; wing quills dark slate; breast white>
tinged with ochre, under which lie a number of blackish feath-
ers; belly and vent white; sides pale ochre; legs greenish on
the shins, hind part and feet yellow; thighs feathered to within
a quarter of an inch of the knees, middle claw pectinated; toes
tinged with pale green; feet large, the span of the foot measur-

72

LEAST BITTERN.

ing two inches and three quarters. Male and female nearly
alike in colour. The young birds are brown on the crown and
back. The stomach was filled with small fish; and the intestines
which were extremely slender, measured in length about four
feet.

The Least Bittern is also found in Jamaica and several of the
West India islands.

SPECIES 7. ^RDEA LUDOVICMNA.

LOUISIANA HERON.

[Plate LXIV.— Fig. 1.]

Pkalh’s Museum, A'b. 3750.

This is a rare and delicately formed species; occasionally
found on the swampy river shores of South Carolina, but more
frequently along the borders of the Mississippi, particularly be-
low New Orleans. In each of these places it is migratory; and
in the latter, as I have been informed, builds its nest on trees,
amidst the inundated woods. Its manners correspond very much
with those of the Blue Heron. It is quick in all its motions,
darting about after its prey with surprising agility. Small fish,
frogs, lizards, tadpoles, and various aquatic insects, constitute
its principal food.

There is a bird described by Latham in his General Synop-
sis, vol. iii, p. 88, called the Demi Egret* which from the
account there given, seems to approach near to the present spe-
cies. It is said to inhabit Cayenne.

Length of the Louisiana Heron from the point of the bill to
the extremity of the tail twenty-three inches; the long hair-like
plumage of the rump and lower part of the back extends several
inches farther; the bill is remarkably long, measuring full five
inches, of a yellowish green at the base, black towards the point,
and very sharp; irides yellow; chin and throat white, dotted
with ferruginous and some blue; the rest of the neck is of a light
vinous purple, intermixed on the lower part next the breast with
dark slate-coloured plumage; the whole feathers of the neck are
long, narrow and pointed; head crested, consisting first of a

VOL. III. — L

* See also Buffon, vol. vii, p. 378.

74

LOUISIANA HERON.

number of long narrow purple feathers, and under these seven
or eight pendent ones, of a pure white, and twice the length of
the former; upper part of the back and wings light slate; lower
part of the back and rump white, but concealed by a mass of
long unwebbed hair-like plumage, that falls over the tail and
tips of the wings, extending three inches beyond them; these
plumes are of a dirty purplish broAvn at the base, and lighten
towards the extremities to a pale cream colour; the tail is even
at the tip, rather longer than the wings, and of a fine slate; the
legs and naked thighs greenish yellow; middle claw pectinated;
whole lower parts pure white. Male and female alike in plu-
mage, both being crested.

SPECIES 8. ARDEA NYC TIC OR AX.

NIGHT HERON, OR QUA-BIRD.

[Plate LXL— Fig. 2.]

Jlrct. ZooL JV'o. 556. — Le Bihoreau, Buff, vii, 435. 439, tab. 22.

PL EnL758, 759. 899. — Lath. Syn. v. 3, p. 52, JV'o. 13,— p. 53,

Vouiig, called there the Female. — Peale’s Museum, JV. 3728,

—Young, JVo. 3729.

This species, though common to both continents, and known
in Europe for many centuries, has been so erroneously describ-
ed by all the European naturalists, whose work I have examined,
as to require more than common notice in this place. For this
purpose, an accurate figure of the male is given, and also ano-
ther of what has, till now, been universally considered the fe-
male, with a detail of so much of their history as I am personally
acquainted with.

The Night Heron arrives in Pennsylvania early in April,
and immediately takes possession of his former breeding place,
which is usually the most solitary, and deeply shaded, part of
a cedar swamp. Groves of swamp-oak, in retired and inundat-
ed places, are also sometimes chosen; and the males not unfre-
quently select tall woods, on the banks of the river, to roost in
during the day. These last regularly direct their course, about
the beginning of evening twilight, towards the marshes, utter-
ing, in a hoarse and hollow tone, the sound Qua, which by
some has been compared to that produced by the retchings of a
person attempting to vomit. At this hour, also, all the nurse-
ries in the swamps are emptied of their inhabitants, who disperse
about the marshes, and along the ditches and river shore, in
quest of food. Some of these breeding places have been occupi-
ed every spring and summer, for time immemorial, by from

76

NIGHT HERON.

eighty to one hundred pairs of Qua-birds. In places where the
cedars have been cut down for sale, the birds have merely re-
moved to another quarter of the swamp; but when personally
attacked, long teased and plundered, they have been known to
remove from an ancient breeding place, in a body, no one knew
where. Such was the case with one on the Delaware, near
Thompson’s point, ten or twelve miles below Philadelphia;
which having been repeatedly attacked and plundered by a bo-
dy of Crows, after many severe rencounters the Herons finally
abandoned the place. Several of these breeding places occur
among the red-cedars on the seabeach of Cape May, intermix-
ed with those of the Little White Heron, Green Bittern, and
Blue Heron. The nests are built entirely of sticks, in conside-
rable quantites, with frequently three and four nests on the same
tree. The eggs are generally four in number, measuring two
inches and a quarter in length, by one and three quarters in
thickness, and of a very pale light blue colour. The ground,
or marsh, below is bespattered with their excrements, lying all
around like whitewash, with feathers, broken egg-shells, old
nests, and frequently small fish, which they have dropt by ac-
cident and neglected to pick up.

On entering the swamp, in the neighbourhood of one of these
breeding places, the noise of the old and the young would almost
induce one to suppose that two or three hundred Indians were
choking or throttling each other. The instant an intruder is
discovered, the whole rise in the air in silence, and remove to
the tops of the trees in another part of the woods; while parties
of from eight to ten make occasional circuits over the spot, to
see what is going on. When the young are able, they climb to
the highest part of the trees; but, knowing their inability, do
not attempt to fly. Though it is probable that these nocturnal
birds do not see well during the day, yet their faculty of hear-
ing must be exquisite, as it is almost impossible, with all the
precautions one can use, to penetrate near their residence, with-
out being discovered. Several species of Hawks hover around,
making an occasional sweep among the young; and the Bald

NIGHT HERON.

77

Eagle himself has been seen reconnoitring near the spot, pro-
bably with the same design.

Contrary to the generally received opinion, the males and fe-
males of these birds are so alike in colour, as scarcely to be dis-
tinguished from each other; both have also the long slender
plumes that flow from the head. These facts I have exhibited
by dissection on several subjects, to different literary gentlemen
of my acquaintance, particularly to my venerable friend, Mr.
William Bar tram, to whom I have also often shown the young,
represented at fig. 3. One of these last, which was kept for
some time in the botanic garden of that gentleman, by its voice
instantly betrayed its origin, to the satisfaction of all who ex-
amined it. These young certainly receive their full coloured
plumage before the succeeding spring, as on their first arrival
no birds are to be seen in the dress of fig. 3, but soon after they
have bred, these become more numerous than the others. Ear-
ly in October they migrate to the south. According to Buffbn,
these birds also inhabit Cayenne; and are found widely dispersed
over Europe, Asia, and America. The European species, how-
ever, is certainly much smaller than the American ; though, in
other respects, corresponding exactly to it. Among a great
number which I examined with attention, the following descrip-
tion was carefully taken from a common sized full grown male.

Length of the Night Heron two feet four inches, extent four
feet; bill black, four inches and a quarter long, from the corners
of the mouth to the tip; lores, or space between the eye and
bill, a bare bluish white skin; eyelids also large and bare, of a
deep purple blue; eye three quarters of an inch in diameter, the
iris of a brilliant blood red, pupil black; crested crown and hind-
head deep dark blue, glossed with green; front and line over the
eye white; from the hind-head proceed three very narrow white
tapering feathers, between eight and nine inches in length: the
vanes of these are concave below, the upper one enclosing the
next, and that again the lower; though separated by the hand,
if the plumage be again shook several times, these long flowing
plumes gradually enclose each other, appearing as one; these

78

NIGHT HERON.

the bird has the habit of erecting when angry or alarmed; the
cheeks, neck, and whole lower parts, are white, tinctured with
yellowish cream, and under the wings with very pale ash; back
and scapulars of the same deep dark blue, glossed with green,
as that of the crown; rump and tail coverts, as well as the whole
wings and tail, very pale ash; legs and feet a pale yellow cream
colour; inside of the middle claw serrated.

The female differed in nothing as to plumage from the male,
but in the wings being of rather a deeper ash; having not only
the dark deep green-blue crown and back, but also the long
pendent white plumes from the hind-head. Each of the females
contained a large cluster of eggs, of various sizes.

The young (fig. 3. ) was shot soon after it had left the nest,
and difiered very little from those which had been taken from
the trees, except in being somewhat larger. This measured
twenty-one inches in length, and three feet in extent; the ge-
neral colour above a very deep brown, streaked with reddish
white, the spots of white on the back and wings being triangu-
lar, from the centre of the feather to the tip; quills deep dusky,
marked on the tips with a spot of white; eye vivid orange; bel-
ly white, streaked with dusky, the feathers being pale dusky,
streaked down their centres with white; legs and feet light
green; inside of the middle claw slightly pectinated; body and
wings exceedingly thin and limber; the down still stuck in slight
tufts to the tips of some of the feathers.

These birds also breed in great numbers in the neighbourhood
of New Orleans, for being in that city in the month of June, I
frequently observed the Indians sitting in market with the dead
and living young birds for sale; also numbers of Gray Owls
[Strix nebulosa), and the White Ibis [Tantalus albus,) for
which nice dainties I observed they generally found purchasers.

The food of the Night Heron or Qua-Bird, is chiefly compos-
ed of small-fish, which it takes by night. Those that I opened had
a large expansion of the gullet immediately under the bill, that
narrowed thence to the stomach, which is a large oblong pouch,
and was filled with fish. The teeth of the pectinated claw were

NIGHT HERON.

79

thirty-five or forty in number, and as they contained particles
of the down of the bird, showed evidently, from this circum-
stance, that they act the part of a comb, to rid the bird of ver-
min, in those parts which it cannot reach with its bill.

Note. In those specimens which I have procured in the
breeding season, I have taken notice that the lores and orbits
were of a bluish white; but in a female individual, which I shot
in East Florida, in the month of March, these parts were of a
delicate violet colour.

The Brown Bittern of Catesby, (Vol. i, pi. 78) which has
not a little confounded ornithologists, is undoubtedly the young
of the Night Heron. Dr. Latham says of the former, ‘‘ we be-
lieve it to be a female of the Green Heron. — They certainly
differ,” continues he, “as Brisson has described them; but by
comparison, no one can fail of being of the opinion here advanc-
ed.” If the worthy naturalist had had the same opportunities
of comparing the two birds in question as we have had, he
would have been as confident that they are not the same, as we
are — G. Ord.

SPECIES 9. JlRBEJi CJINBIDISSIMA.

SNOWY HERON.*

[Plate LXII.-Fig. 4.]

Tukt. 8yst. p. 380. — Lath. Syn. v. 9,p. 92, JYo. 61. — Pbale’s
Museum, JV’o. Sr85.

This elegant species inhabits the seacoast of North America,
from the isthmus of Darien to the gulf of St. Lawrence, and is,
in the United States, a bird of passage; arriving from the south
early in April, and leaving the middle states again in October.
Its general appearance, resembling so much that of the Little
Egret of Europe, has, I doubt not, imposed on some of the na-
turalists of that country, as I confess it did on me.t From a
more careful comparison, however, of both birds, I am satisfied
that they are two entirely different and distinct species. These
differences consist in the large flowing crest, yellow feet, and
singularly curled plumes of the back of the present; it is also
nearly double the size of the European species.

The Snowy Heron seems particularly fond of the salt marsh-
es during summer; seldom penetrating far inland. Its white
plumage renders it a very conspicuous object, either while on
wing, or while wading the meadows or marshes. Its food con-
sists of those small crabs, usually called fiddlers, mud worms,
snails, frogs and lizards. It also feeds on the seeds of some spe-
cies of nymph®, and of several other aquatic plants.

On the nineteenth of May, I visited an extensive breeding
place of the Snowy Heron, among the red cedars of Sommer’s
beach, on the coast of Cape May. The situation was very seques-
tered, bounded on the land side by a fresh water marsh or pond,

* Named in the plate, by mistake, the Little Egret.

t “ On the American continent, the Little Egret is met with at New York and
Long island.” Lath, v, 3, p. 90.

SNOWY HERON.

81

and sheltered from the Atlantic by ranges of sand-hills. The ce-
dars, though not high, were so closely crowded together, as to
render it difficult to penetrate through among them. Some trees
contained three, others four, nests, built wholly of sticks. Each
had in it three eggs of a pale greenish blue colour, and measur-
ing an inch and three quarters in length, by an inch and a quar-
ter in thickness. Forty or fifty of these eggs were cooked, and
found to be well tasted; the white was of a bluish tint, and al-
most transparent, though boiled for a considerable time; the
yelk very small in quantity. The birds rose in vast numbers,
but without clamour, alighting on the tops of the trees around,
and watching the result in silent anxiety. Among them were
numbers of the Night Heron, and two or three Purple-headed
Herons. Great quantities of egg shells lay scattered under the
trees, occasioned by the depredations of the Crows, who were
continually hovering about tbe place. On one of the nests I
found the dead body of the bird itself, half devoured by the
Hawks, Crows, or Gulls. She had probably perished in defence
of her eggs.

The Snowy Heron is seen at all times, during summer, among
the salt marshes, watching and searching for food; or passing,
sometimes in flocks, from one part of the bay to the other.
They often make excursions up the rivers and inlets; but return
regularly, in the evening, to the red cedars on the beech, to
roost. I found these birds on the Mississippi, early in June, as
far up as fort Adams, roaming about among tbe creeks, and
inundated woods.

The length of this species is two feet one inch; extent three
feet two inches; the bill is four inches and a quarter long, and
grooved; the space from the nostril to the eye orange yellow,
the rest of the bill black; irides vivid orange; the whole plu-
mage is of a snowy whiteness; the head is largely crested with
loose unwebbed feathers, nearly four inches in length; another
tuft of the same covers the breast; but the most distinguished
ornament of this bird is a bunch of long silky plumes, proceed-
ing from the shoulders, covering the whole back, and extending

VOL. III. M

SKOVVY HERON.

beyond the tail: the shafts of these are six or seven inches longy
extremely elastic, tapering to the extremities, and thinly set
with long slender bending threads or fibres, easily agitated by
the slightest motion of the air — these shafts curl upwards at the
ends. When the bird is irritated, and erects those airy plumes,
they have a very elegant appearance; the legs, and naked part
of the thighs, are black; the feet bright yellow; claws black, the
middle one pectinated.

The female can scarcely he distinguished by her plumage,
having not only the crest, but all the ornaments of the male,
though not quite so long and flowing.

The young birds of the first season are entirely destitute of
the long plumes of the breast and back; but, as all those that
were examined in spring were found crested and ornamented
as above, they doubtless receive their full dress on the first
moulting. Those shot in October measured twenty-two inches
in length, by thirty-four in extent; the crest was beginning to
form; the legs yellowish green, daubed with black; the feet
greenish yellow; the lower mandible white at the base; the
wings, when shut, nearly of a length with the tail, which is
even at the end.

The little Egret, or European species, is said by Latham and
Turton to be nearly a foot in length; Bewick observes, that it
rarely exceeds a foot and a half; has a much shorter crest, with
two long feathers; the feet are black; and the long plumage of
the back, instead of turning up at the extremity, falls over the
rump.

The young of both these birds are generally very fat, and es-
teemed by some people as excellent eating.

Note. — Catesby represents the bill of this bird as red, and
this error has been perpetuated by all succeeding ornithologists.
The fact is, that the bills of young Herons are apt to assume a
reddish tint after death, and this was evidently mistaken by
Catesby for a permanent living colour; and represented as such

SNOWY HERON.

83

by an exaggeration common to almost all colourers of plates of
Natural History. We have no hesitation in asserting that a
Heron such as that figured by the author in question does not
exist in the United States. That his Heron is indentical with
ours there can be no doubt, and we are equally satisfied that
his specimen was a bird of the first year. So common did we
find this species along the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia and
East Florida, during the winter, that they were to be seen eve-
ry hour of the day, and were almost as tame as domestic fowls.
A specimen shot in East Florida was twenty-one inches in
length; the upper mandible, and tip of the lower, were black,
base of the latter flesh coloured, the remainder of bill yellow.

G. Ord

SPECIES 10. ARDEA AMERICANA.

WHOOPING CRANE.

[Plate LXIV.— Fig. 3.]

Jrct. Zool. No. 339. — Catesby, i, 75. — Lath, hi, p. 42. — La
Grue d'Jlmerique, Bmss. v, p. 382. — pl. Enl. 889.— Peale’s
Museum, No. 3704.t

This is the tallest and most stately species of all the feathered
tribes of the United States; the watchful inhabitant of extensive
salt marshes, desolate swamps, and open morasses, in the neigh-
«bourhood of the sea. Its migrations are regular, and of the
most extensive kind, reaching from the shores and inundated
tracts of South America to the arctic circle. In these immense
periodical journeys they pass at such a prodigious height in the
air as to be seldom observed. They have, however, their rest-
ing stages on the route to and from their usual breeding places,
the regions of the north. A few sometimes make their appear-
ance in the marshes of Cape May, in December, particularly
on and near Egg island, where they are known by the name of
Storks. The younger birds are easily distinguished from the
rest by the brownness of their plumage. Some linger in these
marshes the whole winter, setting out north about the time the
ice breaks up. During their stay they wander along the marsh
and muddy flats of the seashore in search of marine worms,
sailing occasionally from place to place, with a low and heavy
jiight, a little above the surface; and have at such times a very
formidable appearance. At times they utter a loud clear and
piercing cry, which may be heard at the distance of two miles.
They have also various modulations of this singular note, from

* This bird belongs to the genus Grus of Pallas,
t Grns JJmericana, Ord’s ed. vol. viii, p. 20.

WHOOPING CRANE.

85

the peculiarity of which they derive their name. When wounded
they attack the gunner, or his dog, with great resolution; and
have been known to drive their sharp and formidable bill, at
one stroke, through a man’s hand.

During winter they are frequently seen in the low grounds and
rice plantations of the southern states, in search of grain and in-
sects. On the tenth of February I met with several near the
Waccamau river, in South Carolina; I also saw a flock at the
ponds near Louisville, Kentucky, on the twentieth of March.
They are extremely shy and vigilant, so that it is with the great-
est difficulty they can be shot. They sometimes rise in the air
spirally to a great height, the mingled noise of their screaming,
even when they are almost beyond the reach of sight, resem-
bling that of a pack of hounds in full cry. On these occasions
they fly around in large circles, as if reconnoitring the country
to a vast extent for a fresh quarter to feed in. Their flesh is said
to be well tasted, nowise savouring of fish. They swallow
mice, moles, rats, &c. with great avidity. They build their
nests on the ground, in tussocks of long grass, amidst solitary
swamps, raise it to more than a foot in height, and lay two pale
blue eggs, spotted with brown. These are much larger, and of
a more lengthened form, than those of the common hen.

The Cranes are distinguished from the other families of their
genus by the comparative baldness of their heads, the broad flag
of plumage projecting over the tail, and in general by their su-
perior size. They also differ in their internal organization from
all the rest of the Heron tribe, particularly in the conformation
of the windpipe, which enters the breast bone in a cavity fitted
to receive it, and after several turns goes out again at the same
place, and thence descends to the lungs. Unlike the Herons, they
have not the inner side of the middle claw pectinated, and, in
this species at least, the hind toe is short, scarcely reaching the
ground.

The vast marshy flats of Siberia are inhabited by a Crane very
much resembling the present, with the exception of the bill and

86

WHOOPING CRANE.

legs being red; like those of the present, the year old birds are
said also to be tawny.

It is highly probable that the species described by naturalists
as the Brown Crane {Jirdea Canadensis), is nothing more than
the young of the Whooping Crane,'* their descriptions exactly
corresponding with the latter. In a flock of six or eight, three
or four are usually of that tawny or reddish brown tint on the
back, scapulars and wing coverts, but are evidently yearlings
of the Whooping Crane, and differ in nothing but in that and size
from the others. They are generally five or six inches shorter,
and the primaries are of a brownish cast.

The Whooping Crane is four feet six inches in length, from
the point of the bill to the end of the tail, and when standing
erect measures nearly five feet; the bill is six inches long, and
an inch and a half in thickness, straight, extremely sharp, and
of a yellowish brown colour; the irides are yellow; the forehead,
whole crown and cheeks are covered with a warty skin thinly
interspersed with black hairs; these become more thickly set
towards the base of the bill; the hind head is of an ash colour;
the rest of the plumage pure white, the primaries excepted,
which are black; from the root of each wing rise numerous large
flowing feathers projecting over the tail and tips of the wings;
the uppermost of these are broad, drooping, and pointed at the
extremities, some of them are also loosely webbed, their silky
fibres curling inwards like those of the ostrich. They seem to
occupy the place of the tertials. The legs and naked part of the
thighs are black, very thick and strong; the hind toe seems rare-
ly or never to reach the hard ground, though it may probably
assist in preventing the bird from sinking too deep in the mire.

* This ij an error into which our author was led in censequenee of never hav-
ing sefen a specimen of the bird in question {Ardea Canadensis, Linn. — Grtis
Freli Hudsonis, Briss.) Peale’s museum at present contains a fine specimen,
which was brought by the naturalists attached to Major Long’s exploring party,
who ascended the Missouri in the year 1820. Bartram calls this Crane the Grus
pralensis. It is known to travellers by the name of Sandhill Crane.

SPECIES 11. ARDE^ VIOLACEA.

YELLOW-CROWNED HERON.

[Plate LX V,— Fig. 1.]

I.iNN. Syst. I, p. 238. !6. — Lath. Syn.wi, p. 80. — Le Crabier de
Bahama, Briss. v, p. 481. 41. — Crested Bittern, Catesb. i, pi,
79. — Le Crabier gris defer. Buff, vii, p. 399. — Jlrct. Zool, JVb.
352. — Peale’s Museum, JVb. 3738.*

This is one of the nocturnal species of the Heron tribe, whose
manners, place and mode of building its nest, resemble greatly
those of the common Night Heron {Jirdea nycticoraxf) the
form of its bill is also similar. The very imperfect figure and
description of this species by Catesby, seems to have led the
greater part of European ornithologists astray, who appear to
have copied their accounts from that erroneous source, otherwise
it is difficult to conceive why they should either have given it
the name of yellow-crowned, or have described it as being only
fifteen inches in length; since the crown of the perfect bird is
pure white, and the whole length very near two feet. The name
however, erroneous as it is, has been retained in the present
account, for the purpose of more particularly pointing out its
absurdity, and designating the species.

This bird inhabits the lower parts of South Carolina, Georgia,
and Louisiana in the summer season ; reposing during the day
among low swampy woods, and feeding only in the night. It

* We add the following synonymes. — Jirdea violacea, Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 690,
JVo- St),— Jirdea Cayanensis, Id. p. 680, JVd. 17 — Gen. Syn. iii, p. 80. JVo. 46.
— Cayenne JJ'ighl Heron, Id. p. 56,5Vb. 16. — Bilioreau de Cayenne, PI. Enl. 899-
— Jirdea vxolacea, Gmel. Syet, i. p- 631, .AT). 16. — Jirdea Cayenensis, Id. p. 626,
JS'o. 31.

88

YELLOW-CROWNED HERON.

builds in societies, making its nest with sticks among the
branches of low trees, and lays four pale blue eggs. The species
is not numerous in Carolina, which, with its solitary mode of
life, makes this bird but little known there. It abounds on the
Bahama islands, where it also breeds, and great numbers of the
young, as we are told, are yearly taken for the table, being ac-
counted in that quarter excellent eating. This bird also extends
its migrations into Virginia, and even farther northj one of them
having been shot a few years ago on the borders of Schuylkill
below Philadelphia.

The food of this species consists of small fish, crabs and liz-
ards, particularly the former; it also appears to have a strong
attachment to the neighbourhood of the ocean.

The Yellow-crowned Heron is twenty-two inches in length,
from the point of the bill to the end of the tail; the long flowing
plumes of the back extend four inches farther; breadth from tip
to tip of the expanded wings thirty-four inches; bill black, stout,
and about four inches in length, the upper mandible grooved
exactly like that of the common Night Heron; lores pale green;
irides fiery red; head and part of the neck black, marked on
each cheek with an oblong spot of white; crested crown and up-
per part of the head white, ending in two long narrow tapering
plumes of pure white, more than seven inches long; under these
are a few others of a blackish colour; rest of the neck and whole
lower parts fine ash, somewhat whitish on that part of the neck
where it joins the black; upper parts a dark ash, each feather
streaked broadly down the centre with black, and bordered
with white; wing quills deep slate, edged finely with white;
tail even at the end, and of the same ash colour; wing coverts
deep slate, broadly edged with pale cream; from each shoulder
proceed a number of long loosely webbed tapering feathers, of
an ash colour, streaked broadly down the middle with black,
and extending four inches or more beyond the tips of the wings;
legs and feet yellow; middle claw pectinated. Male and female,
as in the common Night Heron, alike in plumage.

I strongly suspect that the species called by naturalists the

YELLOW-CROWNED HERON.

89

Cayenne Night Heron {Jlrdea Cayanensis,) is nothing more
than the present, with which, according to their descriptions,
it seems to agree almost exactly.

VOL. HI. — N

GENUS 70. TANTALUS. IBIS.

SPECIES 1. TANTALUS LOCULATOR,
WOOD IBIS.

[Plate LXVL— Fig. 1.]

Le grand Courli d’^merique, Briss. v, p. 358. 8. — Couricaca,

Buff, vii, 276. PL Enl. 868. — Catesb. i, 81. — Jlrct. Zool.

JV’o. 360. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 104. — Peale’s Museum, 3862.

The Wood Ibis inhabils the lower parts of Louisiana, Caro-
lina, and Georgia; is very common in Florida, and extends as
far south as Cayenne, Brazil, and various parts of South America.
In the United States it is migratory; but has never, to my know-
ledge, been found to the north of Virginia. Its favourite haunts
are watery savannahs and inland swamps, where it feeds on
lish and reptiles. The French inhabitants of Louisiana esteem it
good eating.

With the particular manners of this species I am not person-
ally acquainted; but the following characteristic traits are given
of by it Mr. William Bartram, who had the best opportunities
of noting them.

“ This solitary bird,” he obeserve.s, “ does not associate in
flocks; hut is generally seen slone, commonly near the banks of
great rivers, in vast marshes or meadows, especially such as are
covered by inundations, and also in the vast deserted rice plan-
tations; he stands alone, on the topmost limh of tall dead cypress
trees, his neck contracted or drawn in upon his shoulder.s, and
his beak resting like a long sithe upon his breast; in this pen-
sive posture, and solitary situation, they look extremely grave,
sorrowful and melancholy, as if in the deepest thought. They
are never seen on the seacoast, and yet are never found at a

WOOD IBIS.

91

great distance from it. They feed on serpents, young alligators,
frogs, and other reptiles,”*

The figure of this bird given in the plate was drawn from a
very fine specimen, sent from Georgia by Stephen Elliott, esq.
of Beaufort, South Carolinaj its size and markings were as fol-
low.

Length three feet two inches; bill nearly nine inches long,
straight for half its length, thence curving downwards to the
extremity, and full two inches thick at the base, where it rises
high in the head, the whole of a brownish horn colour; the un-
der mandible fits into the upper in its whole length, and both
are very sharp edged ; face and naked head and part of the neck
dull greenish blue, wrinkled; eye large, seated high in the head;
irides dark red; under the lower jaw is a loose corrugated skin,
or pouch, capable of containing about half a pint; whole body,
neck and lower parts white; quills dark glossy green and purple;
tail about two inches shorter than the wings, even at the end,
and of a deep and rich violet; legs and naked thighs dusky green;
feet and toes yellowish sprinkled with black; feet almost semi-
palmated and bordered to the claws with a narrow membrane;
some of the greater wing coverts are black at the root, and shaft-
ed with black; plumage on the upper ridge of the neck gener-
ally worn, as in the present specimen, with rubbing on the back,
while in its common position of resting its bill on its breast, in
the manner of the White Ibis (see fig. 3).

The female has only the head and chin naked; both are sub-
ject to considerable changes of colour when young; the body
being found sometimes blackish above, the belly cinereous, and
spots of black on the wing coverts; all of which, as the birds
advance in age, gradually disappear, and leave the plumage of
the body, &c. as has been described.

* Travels, &c. p. 150.

SPECIES 2. TANTALUS RUBER.

SCARLET IBIS.

[Plate LXVI.— Fig. 2.]

Le Couiii rouge du Rresi/, Briss. v,p. 344, 12, jig. 1, 2. — Buff.
VIII, p. 35. — Red Curlew, Catesby, i, 84. — Lath, hi, p. 106. —
Arct. Zool, No. 361. — Peale’s Museum, No. 3864, 3865 Fe-
male.*

This beautiful bird is found in the most southern parts of
Carolina; also in Georgia and Florida, chiefly about the seashore
and its vicinity. In most parts of America within the tropics,
and in almost all the West India islands it is said to be common;
also in the Bahamas. Of its manners little more has been col-
lected than that it frequents the borders of the sea and shores
of the neighbouring rivers, feeding on small fry, shell fish, sea
worms and small crabs. It is said frequently to perch on trees,
sometimes in large flocks; but to lay its eggs on the ground on
a bed of leaves. The eggs are described as being of a greenish
colour; the young when hatched black, soon after gray, and be-
fore they are able to fly white, continuing gradually to assume
their red colour until the third year, when the scarlet plumage
is complete. It is also said that they usually keep in flocks, the
young and old birds separately. They have frequently been
domesticated. One of them which lived for some time in the
Museum of this city, was dexterous at catching flies, and most
usually walked about, on that pursuit, in the position in which
it is represented in the plate.

* AVe add the following synonymes:— 2VMUaius fiiifte)-, Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 70S,
No. 2. — T.fiiscus, Id. p. 705, No. 8. — Gmel Sijst. i, p. 651, No. 5, No. 7. — Le
Ccurly hrun du Bresil, Briss. v, p. 341. — Byown Curlew, Catesby, i, S3,
Young. — Courly rouge du Bresil, de Cage de deux ans, PL Enl. 80. — Id. de Page
de trois ans, 81.

SCARLET IBIS.

93

The Scarlet Ibis measures twenty-three inches in length, and
thirty-seven in extent; the bill is five inches long, thick, and
somewhat of a square form at the base, gradually bent do^vn-
wards and sharply ridged, of a black colour, except near the
base, where it inclines to red; irides dark hazel; the naked face
is finely wrinkled, and of a pale red; chin also bare and wrin-
kled for about an inch; whole plumage a rich glowing scarlet,
except about three inches of the extremities of the four outer
quill feathers, which are of a deep steel blue; legs and naked
part of the thighs pale red, the three anterior toes united by a
membrane as far as the first joint.

Whether the female differs in the colour of her plumage from
the male, or what changes both undergo during the first and se-
cond years, I am unable to say from personal observation. Be-
ing a scarce species with us, and only found on our most remote
southern shores, a sufficient number of specimens have not been
procured to enable me to settle this matter with sufficient cer-
tainty.

Jv'ofc. It would appear that this species inhabits the western coast of America.
In the Appendix to the History of Lewis and Clark’s Expedition, Vol. n, p. 514,
under date of March 7, the Journalist says, “ A bird of a scarlet colour, as large
as a common pheasant, with a long tail, has returned; one of them was seen to-
day near the fort.” As all long legged birds fly with their legs in a horizontal
position, the legs of that above mentioned must have been mistaken for a tail.

G. Ord.

SPECIES 3. TANTALUS ALBUS.

WHITE IBIS.

[Plate LXVL— Fig. 3.]

Le Courli blanc du Bresil, Buiss. v, p. 339, 10. — Buff, viii, p.

41. Cuurly blanc d^Jlmerique, PI. Enl. 915. — White Curlew,

Cat ESBY, r, pi. 82. — Lath. Syn. iii, j)' 1 1 1, tA^o. 9. — Jlrct. Zool.

No. 363.*

This species bears in every respect, except that of colour, so
strong a resemblance to the preceding, that I have been almost
induced to believe it the same, in its white or imperfect stage
of colour. The length and form of the bill, the size, conforma-
tion, as well as colour of the legs, the general length and breadth,
and even the steel blue on the four outer quill feathers, are ex-
actly alike in both. These suggestions, however, are not made
with any certainty of its being the same; but as circumstances
which may lead to a more precise examination of the subject
hereafter.

I found this species pretty numerous on the borders of lake
Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, in the month of June, and
also observed the Indians sitting in market with strings of them
for sale. I met with them again on the low keys or islands off
the peninsula of Florida. Mr. Bartram observes that ‘Hhey
fly in large flocks or squadrons, evening and morning, to and
from their feeding places or roosts, and are usually called Spa-
nish Curlews. They feed chiefly on cray fish, whose cells they
probe, and with their strong pinching bills drag them out. ” The
low islands above mentioned abound with these creatures and
small crabs, the ground in some places seeming alive with them,
so that the rattling of their shells against one another was in-

* Tantalus albus, Lath. Ind- Orn. p. 705, JVo. 9. — Gmel. Syst. p. 651. JVb. 6.

WHITE IBIS.

95

cessant. My venerable friend, in his observations on these birds
adds, “It is a pleasing sight at times of high winds, and heavy
thunder storms, to observe the numerous squadrons of these
Spanish Curlews, driving to and fro, turning and tacking about
high up in the air, when by their various evolutions in the
different and opposite currents of the wind, high in the clouds,
their silvery white plumage gleams and sparkles like the bright-
est crystal, reflecting the sunbeams that dart upon them between
the dark clouds.”

The White Ibis is twenty-three inches long, and thirty-seven
inches in extent; bill formed exactly like that of the scarlet
species, of a pale red, blackish towards the point; face a reddish
flesh colour and finely wrinkled; irides whitish; whole plumage
pure white, except about four inches of the tips of the four
outer quill feathers, which are of a deep and glossy steel blue;
legs and feet pale red, webbed to the first joint.

These birds I frequently observed standing on tbe dead limbs
of trees, and on the shore, resting on one leg, their body in an
almost perpendicular position, as represented in the figure, the
head and bill resting on tbe breast. This appears to be its most
common mode of resting, and perhaps sleeping, as in all those
which I examined the plumage on the upper ridge of the neck
and upper part of the back, was evidently worn by this habit.
The same is equally observable on the neck and back of the
Wood Ibis.

The present species rarely extends its visits north of Carolina,
and even in that state is only seen for a few weeks towards the
end of summer. In Florida they are common; but seldom remove
to any great distance from the sea.

GENUS 71. NUMENIUS, CURLEW.

SPECIES 1. N. LONGIROSTRIS.
LONG-BILLED CURLEW.

[Plate LXIV.— Fig. 4.]

Peale’s Museum, JVo. 3910.

This American species has been considered by the naturalists
of Europe to be a mere variety of their own, notwithstanding
its difference of colour, and superior length of bill. These dif-
ferences not being accidental, or found in a few individuals, but
common to all, and none being found in America corresponding
with that of Europe, we do not hesitate to consider the present
as a distinct species, peculiar to this country.

Like the preceding, this bird is an inhabitant of marshes in
the vicinity of the sea. It is also found in the interior; where,
from its long bill and loud whistling note, it is generally known.

The Curlews appear in the salt marshes of New Jersey about
the middle of May, on their way to the north ; and in September,
on their return from their breeding places. Their food consists
chiefly of small crabs, which they are very dexterous at probing
for, and pulling out of the holes with their long bills; they also
feed on those small sea snails so abundant in the marshes, and
on various worms and insects. They are likewise fond of bram-
ble berries, frequenting the fields and uplands in search of this
fruit, on which they get very fat, and are then tender and good
eating, altogether free from the sedgy taste with which their
flesh is usually tainted while they feed in the salt marshes.

The Curlews fly high, generally in a wedge-like form, some-
what resembling certain Ducks; occasionally uttering their loud
whistling note, by a dexterous imitation of which a whole flock
may sometimes be enticed within gunshot, while the cries of

LONG-BILLED CURLEW.

97

the wounded are sure to detain them until the gunner has made
repeated shots and great havoc among them.

This species is said to breed in Labrador, and in the neigh-
bourhood of Hudson’s Bay. A few instances have been known
of one or two pair remaining in the salt marshes of Cape May
all summer. A person of respectability informed me, that he
once started a Curlew from her nest, which was composed of a
little dry grass, and contained four eggs, very much resembling
in size and colour those of the Mud Hen, or Clapper Rail. This
was in the month of July. Cases of this kind are so rare, that
the northern regions must be considered as the general breeding
place of this species.

The Long-billed Curlew is twenty-five inches in length, and
three feet three inches in extent, and when in good order weighs
about thirty ounces; but individuals differ greatly in this respect;
the bill is eight inches long, nearly straight for half its length,
thence curving considerably downwards to its extremity, where
it ends in an obtuse knob that overhangs the lower mandible;
the colour black, except towards the base of the lower, where
it is of a pale flesh colour; tongue extremely short, differing in
this from the Snipe; eye dark; the general colour of the plu-
mage above is black, spotted and barred along the edge of each
feather with pale brown; chin, line over the eye and round the
same, pale brownish white; neck reddish brown, streaked with
black; spots on the, breast more sparingly dispersed; belly, thighs
and vent pale plain rufous, without any spots; primaries black
on the outer edges, pale brown on the inner, and barred with
black; shaft of the outer one snowy; rest of the wing pale reddish
brown, elegantly barred with undulating lines of black; tail
slightly rounded, of an ashy brown, beautifully marked with
herring-bones of black; legs and naked thighs very pale light
blue or lead colour, the middle toe connected with the two
outer ones as far as the first joint by a membrane, and bordered
along the sides with a thick warty edge; lining of the wing dark
rufous, approaching a chestnut, and thinly spotted with black.
Male and female alike in plumage. The bill continues to grow

VOL. III. — o

98

LONG-BILLED CURLEW.

in length until the second season, when the bird receives its
perfect plumage. The stomach of this species is lined with an
extremely thick skin, feeling to the touch like the rough har-
dened palm of a sailor or blacksmith. The intestines are very
tender, measuring usually about three feet in length, and as
thick as a Swan’s quill. On the front, under the skin, there are
two thick callosities, which border the upper side of the eye,
lying close to the skull. These are common, I believe, to most
of the Tringa and Scolopax tribes, and are probably designed
to protect the skull from injury while the bird is probing and
searching in the sand and mud.

Note. This species was observed by Lewis and Clarke as
high up as the sources ol the Missouri. On the twenty-second
June they found the females were sitting: the eggs, which are
of a pale blue, with black specks, were laid upon the bare ground.

Hist, of the Exped. vol. i, p. 279, Bvo.

SPECIES 2. N. BOREALIS*
ESQUIMAUX CURLEW.

[Plate LVI. — Fig. 1.]

Jrct. Zool.p. 461, JVb. 364. — Lath. hi. — Turt. Syst. p. 392. —
Peale’s Museum, JV*o. 4003.

In prosecuting our researches among the feathered tribes of
this extensive country, we are at length led to the shores of the
ocean, where a numerous and varied multitude, subsisting on
the gleanings of that vast magazine of nature, invite our atten-
tion; and from their singularities and numbers, promise both
amusement and instruction. These we shall, as usual, introduce
in the order we chance to meet with them in their native haunts.
Individuals of various tribes, thus promiscuously grouped to-
gether, the peculiarities of each will appear more conspicuous
and striking, and the detail of their histories less formal as well
as more interesting.

The Esquimaux Curlew, or as it is called by our gunners on
the seacoast, the short-billed Curlew, is peculiar to the new con-
tinent. Mr. Pennant, indeed, conceives it to be a mere variety
of the English Whimbrel {S.Phseopus)-, but among tbe great
numbers of these birds which I have myself shot and examined,
I have never yet met with one corresponding to the descriptions
given of the TVhimbrel, the colours and markings being differ-
ent, the bill much more bent, and nearly an inch and a half lon-
ger; and the manners in certain particulars very different: these
reasons have determined its claim to that of an independant spe-
cies.

The Short-billed Curlew arrives in large flocks on the sea-
coast of New Jersey early in May from the south; frequents the

* Wilson erroneously arranged this in the following Genus, Scolopax.

100

ESQUIMAUX CURl.EW.

salt marshes, muddy shores and inlets, feeding on small worms
and minute shell-fish. They are most commonly seen on mud
flats at low water, in company with various other waders; and
at high water roam along the marshes. They fly high, and with
great rapidity. A few are seen in June, and as late as the be-
ginning of July, when they generally move off towards the north.
Their appearance on these occasions is very interesting: they
collect together from the marshes as if by premeditated design,
rise to a great height in the air, usually about an hour before
sunset, and forming in one vast line, keep up a constant whis-
tling on their march to the north, as if conversing with one an-
other to render the journey more agreeable. Their flight is then
more slow and regular, that the feeblest may keep up with the
line of march, while the glittering of their beautifully speckled
wings, spax’kling in the sun, produces altogether a very pleas-
ing spectacle.

In the month of June, while the dew-berries are ripe, these
birds sometimes frequent the fields in company with the Long-
billed Curlews, where brambles abound, soon get very fat, and
are at that time excellent eating. Those who wish to shoot them,
fix up a shelter of brushwood in the middle of the field, and by
that means kill great numbers. In the early part of spring, and
indeed during the whole time that they frequent the marshes,
feeding on shell-fish, they are much less esteemed for the table.

Pennant informs us, that they were seen in flocks innumera-
ble on the hills about Chatteux bay, on the Labrador coast,
from August the ninth to September sixth, when they all dis-
appeared, being on their way from their northern breeding place.
— He adds, “they kept on the open grounds, fed on the empe-
trum nigrum, and were very fat and delicious. ” They arrive
at Hudson’s Bay in April, or early in May; pair and breed to
the north of Albany fort among the woods, return in August to
the marshes, and all disappear in September.* About this time
they return in accumulated numbers to the shores of New Jer-
sey, whence they finally depart for the south early in November.

* Phil. Trans. LXII, 411.

ESQUIMAUX CURLEW.

101

The Esquimaux Curlew is eighteen inches long, and thirty-
two inches in extent; the bill, which is four inches and a half
long, is black towards the point, and a pale purplish flesh co-
lour near the base; upper part of the head dark brown, divided
by a narrow stripe of brownish white; over each eye extends a
broad line of pale drab; iris dark coloured; hind part of the neck
streaked with dark brown, fore part, and whole breast, very
pale brown; upper part of the body pale drab, centred and bar-
red with dark brown, and edged with spots of white on the ex-
terior vanes; three first primaries black, with white shafts; rump
and tail-coverts barred with dark brown; belly white; vent the
same, marked with zigzag lines of brown; whole lining of the
wing beautifully barred with brown on a dark cream ground ;
legs and naked thighs a pale lead colour.

The figure of this bird, and of all the rest in the same plate,
are reduced to exactly one-half the size of life.

Note. — Mr. Ord. in his reprint of the 8th. vol. expresses
his doubts of this species being the Esquimaux Curlew {N. bo-
realis) of Dr. Latham; as this ornithologist states his bird to be
only thirteen inches in length, and in breadth twenty-one; and
the bill two inches in length.

Prince Musignano, in his observations on the nomenclature
of Wilson’s Ornithology, states that he has ascertained the N.
borealis, Lath, to be a distinct species, and promises to figure
it in his American Ornithology. He considers Wilson’s bird
{N. borealis) to be the N. Hudsonicus of Latham.

GENUS 72. SCOLOPAX. SNIPE.

SPECIES 1. SCOLOPAX FEDOA*

GREAT MARBI.ED GODWIT.

[Plate LVI. — Fig. 4. — Female.’]

Jlrct. ZooL p. 456, JVo. 371. — La Barge rousse de Baie de Hudson,
Buff, vii, 507. — Peale’s Museum, Xo. 40l9.t

This is another transient visitant of our seacoasts in spring
and autumn, to and from its breeding place in the north. Our
gunners call it the Straight -hilled Curlew, and sometimes the
Red Curlew.X It is a shy, cautious, and watchful bird; yet so
strongly are they attached to each other, that on wounding one
in a flock, the rest are immediately arrested in their flight, mak-
ing so many circuits over the spot where it lies fluttering and
screaming, that the sportsman often makes great destruction
among them. Like the Curlew, they may also be enticed with-
in shot, by imitating their call or whistle; hut can seldom be
approached without some such manoeuvre. They are much less
numerous than the Short-billed Curlews, with whom, however,
they not unfrequently associate. They are found among the
salt marshes in May, and for some time in June, and also on
their return in October and November; at which last season
they are usually fat, and in high esteem for the table.

The female of this bird having been described by several
writers as a distinct species from the male, it has been thought
proper to figure the former; the chief difference consists in the

* This bird belongs to the genus Limosa of Brisson.

t Scotopax Fedoa, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, p. 14G, JVo. 8. S. hxmastka? Id. p. 147>
.Yo. 14. — Edwards, pi. 137, 138. — Limosa rufa, Briss. v, p. 281, pi. 25, fig. 1.

i It is better known under the name of Merline.

GREAT MARBLED GOD WIT 103

undulating bars of black with which the breast of the male is
marked, and which are wanting in the female.

The male of the Great Marbled Godwit is nineteen inches
long, and thirty-four inches in extent; the bill is nearly six in-
ches in length, a little turned up towards the extremity, where
it is black, the base is of a pale purplish flesh colour; chin and
upper part of the throat whitish; head and neck mottled with
dusky brown and black on a ferruginous ground ; breast barred
with wavy lines of black; back and scapulars black, marbled
with pale brown; rump and tail-coverts of a very light brown,
barred with dark brown; tail even; except the two middle fea-
thers, which are a little the longest; wings pale ferruginous, ele-
gantly marbled with dark brown, the four first primaries black
on the outer edge; whole lining and lower parts of the wings
bright ferruginous; belly and vent light rust colour, with a tinge
of lake.

The female differs in wanting the bars of black on the breast.
The bill does not acquire its full length before the third year.

About fifty different species of the Scolopax genus are enu-
merated by naturalists. These are again by some separated in-
to three classes or sub-genera; viz. the straight-billed, or Snipes;
those with bills bent downwards, or the Curlews; and those
whose bills are slightly turned upwards, or Godwits. The whole
are a shy, timid and solitary tribe, frequenting those vast marsh-
es, swamps and morasses, that frequently prevail in the vicini-
ty of the ocean, and on the borders of large rivers. They are
also generally migratory, on account of the periodical freezing
of those places in the northern regions where they procure their
food. The Godwits are particularly fond of salt marshes; and
are rarely found in countries remote from the sea, '

SPECIES 2. SCOLOP^X MINOR.

WOODCOCK.

[Plate XLVIII.— Fig. 2.]

Arct. Zoul. p. 463, JSTu, 365. — Turt. Syst. 396.*

This bird, like the preceding,! is universally known to our
sportsmen. It arrives in Pennsylvania early in March, some-
times sooner; and I doubt not but in mild winters some few re-
main with us the whole of that season. During the day, they
keep to the woods and thickets, and at the approach of evening
seek the springs, and open watery places, to feed in. They soon
disperse themselves over the country to breed. About the be-
ginning of July, particularly in long continued hot weather,
they descend to the marshy shores of our large rivers, their fa-
vourite springs and watery recesses, inland, being chiefly dried
up. To the former of these retreats they are pursued by the
merciless sportsman, flushed by dogs, and shot down in great
numbers. This species of amusement, when eagerly followed,
is still more laborious and fatiguing than that of Snipe-Shooting;
and from the nature of the ground, or cripple as it is usually call-
ed, viz. deep mire, intersected with old logs, which are cover-
ed and hid from sight by high reeds, weeds and alder bushes,
the best dogs are soon tired out; and it is customary with sports-
men, who regularly pursue this diversion, to have two sets of
dogs, to relieve each other alternately.

The Woodcock usually begins to lay in April. The nest is
placed on the ground, in a retired part of the woods, frequently
at the root of an old stump. It is formed of a few withered leaves,
and stalks of grass, laid with very little art. The female lays

* Scolopax minor, Lath. hid. Orn. p. 714, No. 2. Gen. Sijn. 3, p. 131.

t That is, the common Rail, which precedes the Woodcock in the original edi-

tion.

WOODCOCK.

105

four, sometimes five, eggs, about an inch and a half long, and
an inch or rather more in diameter, tapering suddenly to the
small end. These are of a dun clay colour, thickly marked with
spots of brown, particularly at the great end, and interspersed
with others of a very pale purple. The nest of the Woodcock
has, in several instances that have come to my knowledge, been
found with eggs in February; but its usual time of beginning to
lay is early in April. In July, August and September, they are
considered in good order for shooting.

The Woodcock is properly a nocturnal bird, feeding chiefly
at night, and seldom stirring about till after sunset. At such
times, as well as in the early part ot the morning, particularly
in spring, he rises by a kind of spiral course, to a considerable
height in the air, uttering at times a sudden quack, till having
gained his utmost height, he hovers around in a wild irregu-
lar manner, making a sort of murmuring sound; then descends
with rapidity as he rose. When uttering his common note on
the ground, he seems to do it with difficulty, throwing his head
towards the earth, and frequently jetting up his tail. These
notes and manoeuvres are most usual in spring, and are the call
of the male to his favourite female. Their food consists of va-
rious larvae, and other aquatic worms, for which, during the
evening, they are almost continually turning over the leaves
with their bill, or searching in the bogs. Their flesh is reckoned
delicious, and prized highly. They remain with us till late" in
autumn; and on the falling of the first snows, descend from the
ranges of the Alleghany, to the lower parts of the country, in
great numbers; soon after which, viz. in November, they move
off to the south.

This bird, in its general figure and manners, greatly resem-
bles the Woodcock of Europe, but is considerably less, and very
differently marked below, being an entirely distinct species.
A few traits will clearly point out their differences. The lower
parts of the European Woodcock are thickly barred with dusky
waved lines, on a yellowish white ground. The present species
has those parts of a bright ferruginous. The male of the Ame-

VOL. III.-^P

106

WOODCOCK.

rican species weiglis from five to six ounces, the female eight:
the European twelve. The European Woodcock makes its first
appearance in Britain in October and November, that country
being in fact only its winter quarters; for early in March they
move off to the northern parts of the continent to breed. The
American species, on the contrary, winters in countries south
of the United States, arrives here early in March, extends its
migrations as far, at least, as the river St. Lawrence, breeds in
all the intermediate places, and retires again to the south on the
approach of winter. The one migrates from the torrid to the
temperate regions; the other from the temperate to the arctic.
The two birds, therefore, notwithstanding their names are the
same, differ not only in size and markings, but also in native
climate. Hence the absurdity of those who would persuade us,
that the Woodcock of America crosses the Atlantic to Europe,
and vice versa. These observations have been thought necessa-
ry, from the respectability of some of our own writers, who
seem to have adopted this opinion.

How far to the north our Woodcock is found, I am unable
to say. It is not mentioned as a bird of Hudson’s bay ; and being
altogether unknown in the northern parts of Europe, it is very
probable that its migrations do not extend to a very high lati-
tude; for it may be laid down as a general rule, that those birds
which migrate to the arctic regions in either continent, are very
often common to both. The head of the Woodcock is of singu-
lar conformation, large, somewhat triangular, and the eye fixed
at a remarkable distance from the bill, and high in the head.
This construction was necessary to give a greater range of vi-
sion, and to secure the eye from injury while the owner is search-
ing in the mire. The flight of the Woodcock is slow. When
flushed at any time in the woods, he rises to the height of the
bushes or under wood, and almost instantly drops behind them
again at a short distance, generally running off for several yards
as soon as he touches the ground. The notion that there are two
species of Wooodcock in this country probably originated from

wooDcodfk.

107

the great diflference of size between the male and female, the
latter being considerably the larger.

The male Woodcock is ten inches and a half long, and six-
teen inches in extent; bill a brownish flesh colour, black towards
the tip, the upper mandible ending in a slight nob, that projects
about one-tenth of an inch beyond the lower,* each grooved,
and in length somewhat more than two inches and a half; fore-
head, line over the eye, and whole lower parts, reddish tawny;
sides of the neck inclining to ash; between the eye and bill a
slight streak of dark brown; crown, from the forepart of the
eye backwards, black, crossed by three narrow bands of brown-
ish white; cheeks marked with a bar of black, variegated with
light brown; edges of the back, and of the scapulars, pale blu-
ish white; back and scapulars deep black, each feather tipt or
marbled with light brown and bright ferruginous, with nume-
rous fine zig-zag lines of black crossing the lighter parts; quills
plain dusky brown; tail black, each feather marked along the
outer edge with small spots of pale brown, and ending in nar-
row tips of a pale drab colour above, and silvery white below;
lining of the wing bright rust; legs and feet a pale reddish flesh
colour; eye very full and black, seated high, and very far back
in the head; weight five ounces and a half, sometimes six.

The female is twelve inches long, and eighteen in extent;
weighs eight ounces; and differs also in having the bill very near
three inches in length; the black on the back is not quite so in-
tense; and the sides under the wings are slightly barred with
dusky.

The young Woodcocks, of a week or ten days old, are co-
vered with down of a brownish white colour, and are marked
from the bill, along the crown to the hind-head, with a broad

*Mr. Pennant, (Arct. Zool. p. 463.) in describing the American Wood-
cock, says, that the lower mandible is much shorter than the upper. From
the appearance of his figure, it is evident that the specimen from which
that and his description were taken, had lost nearly half an inch fi’om the
lower mandible, probably broken off by accident. Turton and others have
repeated this mistake.

108

VVOODCOCK.

stripe of deep brown; another line of the same passes through
the eyes to the hind-head, curving under the eye; from the back
to the rudiments of the tail runs another of the same tint, and
also on the sides under the wings; the throat and breast are con-
siderably tinged with rufous; and the quills, at this age, are just
bursting from their light blue sheaths, and appear marbled as in
the old birds; the legs and bill are of a pale purplish ash colour,
the latter about an inch long. When taken, they utter a long,
clear, but feeble, pee.p, not louder than that of a mouse. They
are far inferior to young Partridges in running and skulk-
ing; and should the female unfortunately be killed, may easily
be taken on the spot.

SPECIES 3. SCOLOPJiX GALLINAGO:

SNIPE.

[Plate XLVIL— Fig. 1.]

This bird is well known to our sportsmen; and, if not the
same, has a very near resemblance of the common Snipe of Eu-
rope. It is usually known by the name of the English Snipe,
to distinguish it from the Woodcock, and from several others of
the same genus. It arrives in Pennsylvania about the tenth of
March, and remains in the low grounds for several weeks; the
greater part then move off to the north, and to the higher in-
land districts to breed. A few are occasionally found, and con-
sequently breed, in our low marshes during the summer. When
they first arrive, they are usually lean; but when in good order
are accounted excellent eating. They are, perhaps, the most
difficult to shoot of all our birds, as they fly in sudden zig-zag
lines, and very rapidly. Great numbers of these birds winter
in the rice grounds of the southern states, where, in the month
of February, they appeared to be much tamer than they are usu-
ally here, as I frequently observed them running about among
the springs and watery thickets. I was told by the inhabitants,
that they generally disappeared early in the spring. On the
twentieth of March I found these birds extremely numerous on
the borders of the ponds near Louisville, Kentucky; and also
in the neighbourhood of Lexington in the same state, as late as

* In consequence of Wilson’s doubts, whether this bird was the S. Galhnago
or not, he gave no synonymes. The Prince of Musignano, convinced that it was
a distinct species, adopted for it the name of Brehmii, under the impression that
it was identical with the Snipe lately discovered in Germany, and described un-
der the above mentioned name. It appears to be neither the Gallimgo not the
Brehmii, but a bird peculiar to our country: In Mr. Ord’s supplement to Wilson’s
Ornithology, it is classed under the name of Scoloj)ax delicata.

no

SNIPE.

the tenth of April. I was told by several people, that they are
abundant in the Illinois country, up as far as lake Michigan.
They are but seldom seen in Pennsylvania during the summer,
but are occasionally met with in considerable numbers on their
return in autumn, along the whole eastern side of the Allegha-
ny, from the sea to the mountains. They have the same soar-
ing irregular flight in the air in gloomy weather as the Snipe
of Europe; the same bleating note, and occasional rapid descent;
spring from the marshes with the like feeble squeak; and in
every respect resemble the common Snipe of Britain, except
in being about an inch less; and in having sixteen feathers in
the tail instead of fourteen, the number said by Bewick to be
in that of Europe. From these circumstances, we must either
conclude this to be a different species, or partially changed by
difference of climate; the former appears to me the more pro-
bable opinion of the two.

These birds abound in the meadows, and low grounds, along
our large rivers, particularly those that border the Schuylkill
and Delaware, from the tenth of March to the middle of April,
and sometimes later, and are eagerly sought after by many of our
gunners. The nature of the grounds, however, which these
birds frequent, the coldness of the season, and peculiar shyness
and agility of the game, render this amusement attractive only
to the most dexterous, active, and eager, of our sportsmen.

The Snipe is eleven inches long, and seventeen inches in ex-
tent; the bill is more than two inches and a half long, ffuted
lengthwise, of a brown colour, and black towards the tip, where
it is very smooth while the bird is alive, but soon after it is kil-
led becomes dimpled like the end of a thimble; crown black,
divided by an irregular line of pale brown; another broader one
of the same tint passes over each eye; from the bill to the eye
there is a narrow dusky line; neck, and upper part of the breast,
pale brown, variegated with touches of white and dusky; chin
pale; back and scapulars deep velvetty black, the latter elegant-
ly marbled with waving lines of ferruginous, and broadly edg-
ed exteriorly with white; wings plain dusky, all the feathers.

SNIPE

111

as well as those of the coverts, tipt with white; shoulder of the
wing deep dusky brown, exterior quill edged with white; tail-
coverts long, reaching within three-quarters of an inch of the
tip, and of a pale rust colour spotted with black; tail rounded,
deep black, ending in a bar of bright ferruginous, crossed with
a narrow waving line of black, and tipt with whitish; belly pure
white; sides barred with dusky; legs and feet a very pale ashy
green; sometimes the whole thighs, and sides of the vent, are
barred with dusky and white, as in the figure in the plate.

The female differs in being more obscure in her colours; the
white on the back being less pure, and the black not so deep.

SPECIES 4. SCOLOPAX NOVEBORACENSIS.

RED-BREASTED SNIPE.

[Plate L VIII.— Fig. 1.]

Arct, Zool. p. 464, JVo. 368. — Pkale’s Museum, JVb. 3932.*

This bird has a considerable resemblance to the common
Snipe, not only in its general form, size and colours, but like-
wise in the excellence of its flesh, which is in high estimation.
It differs, however, greatly from the common Snipe in its man-
ners, and in many other peculiarities, a few of which, as far as
I have myself observed, may be sketched as follows. The
Red-breasted Snipe arrives on the seacoast of New Jersey ear-
ly in April; is seldom or never seen inland: early in May it pro-
ceeds to the north to breed, and returns by the latter part of
July, or beginning of August. During its stay here it flies in
flocks, sometimes very high, and has then a loud and shrill
whistle, making many evolutions over the marshes; forming,
dividing, and reuniting. They sometimes settle in such num-
bers, and so close together, that eighty-five have been shot at
one dischai’ge of a musket. They spring from the marches
with a loud twirling whistle, generally rising high, and mak-
ing several circuitous manoeuvres in air, before they descend.
They frequent the sand-bars, and mud-flats, at low water, in
search of food; and being less suspicious of a boat than of a per-
son on shore, are easily approached by this medium, and shot
down in great numbers. They usually keep by themselves,
being very numerous; are in excellent order for the table in
September; and on the approach of winter retire to the south.

We add the following Synonymes; — Scolopax noveboracensis. Lath. Ind. Om.
p. 723, Wo. 32. — S. grisea, id. p. 724. Wo. 33. Temm. Man. d’ Orn. p. 679. Gmbi..
Syst. p. 658, Wo. 27, adult in winter plumage. S. noveboraceneis, Id. p 658, Wo.
?8, adult in summer plumage.

RED-BEEASTED SNIPE.

113

I have frequently amused myself with the various action of
these birds. They fly very rapidly, sometimes wheeling, coursing
and doubling along the surface of the marshes; then shooting
high in air, there separating; and forming in various bodies,
uttering a kind of quivering whistle. Among many which I
opened in May, were several females, that had very little ru-
fous below, and the backs were also much lighter, and less
marbled with ferruginous. The eggs contained in their ovaries
were some of them as large as garden peas. Their stomachs
contained masses of those small snail shells that lie in millions
on the salt marshes: the wrinkles at the base of the bill, and
the red breast, are strong characters of this species, as also the
membrane which unites the outer and middle toes together.

The Red-breasted Snipe is ten inches and a half long, and
eighteen inches in extent; the bill is about two inches and a
quarter in length, straight, grooved, black towards the point,
and of a dirty eelskin colour at the base, where it is tumid and
wrinkled; lores dusky; cheeks and eyebrows pale yellowish
white, mottled with specks of black; throat and breast a red-
dish buflr colour; sides white, barred with black; belly and vent
white, the latter barred wuth dusky; crown, neck above, back,
scapulars and tertials, black, edged, mottled and marbled with
yellowish white, pale and bright ferruginous, much in the same
manner as the common Snipe; wings plain olive, the seconda-
ries centred and bordered with white; shaft of the first quill
very white; rump, tail-coverts and tail (which consists of twelve
feathers) white, thickly spotted with black; legs and feet dull
yellowish green; outer toe united to the middle one by a small
membrane; eye very dark. The female, which is paler on the
back, and less ruddy on the breast, has been described by Mr.
Pennant as a separate species. *

These birds doubtless breed not far to the northward of the
United States, if we may judge from the lateness of the season
when they leave us in spring; the largeness of the eggs in the

*See his Brown Snipe, Arct. Zool. No. 369.

VOL. III. — Q

114

RED-BREASTED SNIPE.

ovaries of the females before they depart, and the short period
of time they are absent. Of all our sea-side Snipes it is the most
numerous, and the most delicious for the table.

From these circumstances and the crowded manner in which
it flies and settles, it is the most eagerly sought after by our
gunners, who send them to market in great numbers.

SPECIES 5. SCOLOP^X SEMIPALMATJi.

SEMIPALMATED SNIPE.

[Plate LVI.— Fig. 3.]

Arct. Zool. p. 469, J^o. 380. — Peale’s Museum, JSTo. 3942.t

This is one of the most noisy and noted birds that inhabit
our salt marshes in summer. Its common name is the Willet,
by which appellation it is universally known along the shores
of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, in all of
which places it breeds in great numbers.

The Willet is peculiar to America. It arrives from the south,
on the shores of the middle states, about the twentieth of April,
or beginning of May; and from that time to the last of July, its
loud and shrill reiterations of Pill-ivill-willet, Pill-will-willet,
resound, almost incessantly, along the marshes; and may be
distinctly heard at the distance of more than half a mile. About
the twentieth of May the Willets generally begin to lay.! Their,
nests are built on the ground, among the grass of the salt marsh-
es, pretty well towards the land, or cultivated fields, and are
composed of wet rushes and coarse grass, forming a slight hol-
low or cavity in a tussock. This nest is gradually increased
during the period of laying and sitting, to the height of five or
six inches. The eggs are usually four in number, very thick
at the great end, and tapering to a narrower point at the other
than those of the common hen; they measure two inches and
one-eighth in length, by one and a half in their greatest breadth,

* This and the five following species belong to the genus Tetanus of Bechstein.
t Scolopax Semipalmala,'L\Tii. Syn. in, p. 152, No. 22. — Id. Ind. Orn.p. 722,
No. 27. — Gmel. Syst. i, p. 659, No. 331.

t From some unknown cause, the height of laying of these birds is said to be
full two weeks later than it was twenty years ago.

116

SEMIPALMATED SNIPE.

and are of a dark dingy olive, largely blotched with blackish
brown, particularly at the great end. In some the ground co-
lour has a tinge of green; in others of bluish. They are excel-
lent eating, as I have often experienced when obliged to dine
on them in my hunting excursions through the salt marshes.
The young are covered with a gray coloured down; run off soon
after they leave the shell; and are led and assisted in their search
of food by the mother; while the male keeps a continual watch
around for their safety.

The anxiety and affection manifested by these birds for their
eggs and young, are truly interesting. A person no sooner en-
ters the marshes, than he is beset with the Willets, flying around
and skimming over his head, vociferating with great violence
their common ciy of Pill-ivill-willet; and uttering at times a
loud clicking note, as he approaches nearer to their nest. As
they occasionally alight, and slowly shut their long white wings
speckled with black, they have a mournful note, expressive of
great tenderness. During the term of incubation, the female of-
ten resorts to the seashore, where, standing up to the belly in
water, she washes and dresses her plumage, seeming to enjoy
great satisfaction from these frequent immersions. She is also
at other times seen to wade more in the water than most of her
tribe; and when wounded in the wing, will take to the water
without hesitation, and swims tolerably well.

The eggs of the Willet, in every instance which has come
under my observation, are placed, during incubation, in an al-
most upright position, with the large end uppermost; and this
appears to be the constant practice of several other species of
birds that breed in these marshes. During the laying season,
the Crows are seen roaming over the marshes in search of eggs,
and wherever they come spread consternation and alarm among
the Willets, who in united numbers attack, and pursue them
with loud clamours. It is worthy of remark, that among the
various birds that breed in these marshes, a mutual respect is
paid to each other’s eggs; and it is only from intruders from the

SEMIPALMATED SNIPE. nV

land side, such as Crows, Jays, weasels, foxes, minxes and man
himself, that these affectionate tribes have most to dread.

The Willet subsists chiefly on small shell-fish, marine worms,
and other aquatic insects, in search of which it regularly resorts
to the muddy shores, and flats, at low water; its general ren-
dezvous being the marshes.

This bird has a summer, and also a winter, dress, in its co-
lours differing so much in these seasons as scarcely to appear to
be the same species. Our figure in the plate exhibits it in its
spring and summer plumage, which in a good specimen is as
follows:

Length fifteen inches, extent thirty inches; upper parts dark
olive brown, the feathers streaked' down the centre and crossed
with waving lines of black;' wing-coverts light olive ash; the
whole upper parts sprinkled with touches of dull yellowish
white; primaries black, white at the root half; secondaries white,
bordered with brown; rump dai'k brown; tail rOunded, twelve
feathers, pale olive, waved with bars of black; tail-coverts white,
barred with Olive; bill pale lead colour, becoming black towards
the tip; eye very black; chin white; breast beautifully mottled
with transverse spots of olive, on a cream ground; belly and
vent white, the last barred with olive; legs and feet pale lead
colour; toes half- webbed.

Towards the Fall, when these birds associate in large flocks,
they become of a pale dun colour above, the plumage being
shafted with dark brown, and the tail white, or nearly so. At
this season they are extremely fat, and esteemed excellent eat-
ing. Experienced gunners always select the lightest coloured
ones from a flock, as being uniformly the fattesh

The female of this species is generally larger than the male
In the months of October and November they gradually disap-
pear.

SPECIES 6. SCOLOPAX VOCIFERUS.

TELL-TALE GODWIT, OR SNIPE.

[Plate LVIIL— Fig. 5.]

Stone Snipe, Jlrct. Zool.p. 468, Xo. 376. — Turt. Syst.p. 396. —
Peale’s Museum, JVb. 3940.*

This species, and the preceding, are both well known to our
Duck-gunners, along the seacoast and marshes, by whom they
are detested, and stigmatized with the names of the greater and
lesser Tell-tale, iov their faithful vigilance in alarming the
Ducks with their loud and shrill whistle, on the first glimpse
of the gunner’s approach. Of the two the present species is by
far the most watchful ; and its whistle, which consists of four
notes rapidly repeated, is so loud, shrill and alarming, as in-
stantly to arouse every Duck within its hearing, and thus dis-
appoints the eager expectations of the shooter. Yet the cunning
and experience of the latter, is frequently more than a match
for all of them, and before the poor Tell-tale is aware, his
warning voice is hushed for ever, and his dead body mingled
with those of his associates.

This bird arrives on our coast early in April, breeds in the
marshes, and continues until November, about the middle of
which month it generally moves off to the south. The nest, I
have been informed, is built in a tuft of thick grass, generally
on the borders of a bog or morass. The female, it is said, lays
four eggs, of a dingy white, irregularly marked with black. '

These birds appear to be unknown in Europe. They are
simply mentioned by Mr. Pennant, as having been observed
in autumn, feeding on the sands on the lower part of Chatteaux

* Scolopax melanoleuca, Gmel. Syst. J,p. 659, JVo. 32. — Lath. Jnd. Orn. p. 723,
JV'o. 28. — Spoiled Snipe, Lath. Syn. in,p- 149, var. A. Totanus melanoleucos,
Ord, reprint, vii, p. 61.

TELL-TALE GODWIT, OR SNIPE.

119

Bay, continually nodding their heads; and were called there
Stone Curlews.*

The Tell-tale seldom flies in large flocks, at least during
summer. It delights in watery bogs, and the muddy margins
of creeks and inlets; is either seen searching about for food, or
standing in a watchful posture, alternately raising and lowering
the head, and on the least appearance of danger utters its shrill
whistle, and mounts on wing, generally accompanied by all the
feathered tribes that are near. It occasionally penetrates inland,
along the muddy shores of our large rivers, seldom higher than
tide water, and then singly and solitary. They sometimes rise
to a great height in the air, and can be distinctly heard when
beyond the reach of the eye. In the Fall, when they are fat,
their flesh is highly esteemed, and many of them are brought
to our markets. The colours and markings of this bird are so
like those of the preceding, that unless in point of size, and the
particular curvature of the bill, the description of one might
serve for both.

The Tell-tale is fourteen inches and a half long, and twenty-
five inches in extent; the bill is two inches and a quarter long,
of a dark horn colour, and slightly bent upwards; the space
round the eye, chin and throat, pure white; lower part of the
neck pale ashy white, speckled with black; general colour of the
upper parts an ashy brown, thickly spotted with black and dull
white, each feather being bordered and spotted on the edge
with black; wing quills black; some of the primaries, and all of
the secondaries, with their coverts, spotted round the margins
with black and white; head and neck above streaked with black
and white; belly and vent pure white; rump white, dotted with
black; tail also white, barred with brown; the wings, when
closed, reach beyond the tail; thighs naked nearly two inches
above the knees; legs two inches and three quarters long; feet
four-toed, the outer joined by a membrane to the middle, the
whole of a rich orange yellow. The female differs little in plu-

Arct. Zool. p. 468.

120 TELL-TALE GODWIT, OE SNIPE.

mage from the male; sometimes the vent is slightly dotted with
black, and the upper parts more brown.

Nature seems to have intended this bird as a kind of spy, or
centinel, for the safety of the rest; and so well acquainted are
they with the watchful vigilance of this species, that, while it
continues silent among them, the Ducks feed in the bogs and
marshes without the least suspicion. The great object of the
gunner is to escape the penetrating glance of this guardian,
which is sometimes extremely difficult to effect. On the first
whistle of the Tell-tale, if beyond gunshot, the gunner aban-
dons his design, but not without first bestowing a few left-hand-
ed blessings on the author of his disappointment.

SPECIES 7. SCOLOPAX FLAVIPES.

YELLOW-SHANKS SNIPE.

[Plate LVIIL— Fig. 4.]

Jirct. Zool.p. 46S, JV*o. 878. — Turt. Syst. 895. — Feale’s Museum,
JVo. 3938.*

Or this species I have but little to say. It inhabits our sea-
coasts, and salt marshes, during summer; frequents the flats at
low water, and seems particularly fond of walking among the
mud, where it doubtless finds its favourite food in abundance.
Having never met with its nest, nor with any person acquaint-
ed with its particular place or manner of breeding, I must re-
serve these matters for further observation. It is a plentiful
species, and great numbers are brought to market in Boston,
New York, and Philadelphia, particularly in autumn. Though
these birds do not often penetrate far inland, yet on the fifth of
September I shot several dozens of them in the meadows of
Schuylkill, below Philadelphia. There had been a violent north-
east storm a day or two previous, and a large flock of these, ac-
companied by several species of Tringa, and a vast number of
the Short-tailed Tern, appeared at once among the meadows.
As a bird for the table the Yellow-shanks, when fat, is in con-
siderable repute. Its chief residence is in the vicinity of the sea,
where there are extensive mud-flats. It has a sharp whistle, of
three or four notes, when about to take wing, and when flying.
These birds may be shot down with great facility, if the sports-
man, after the first discharge, will only lie close, and permit
the wounded birds to flutter about without picking them up; the

* Gmel. Syst. I, p. 659, No. 31. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 152, No. 24. — Ind. Orn-
p. 723, No. 29. ''

VOL. III. R

122

YELLOW-SHANKS SNIPE.

flock will generally make a circuit and alight repeatedly, until
the greater part of them may be shot down.*

Length of the Yellow-shanks ten inches, extent twenty; bill
slender, straight, an inch and a half in length, and black; line
over the eye, chin, belly and vent, white; breast and throat
gray; general colour of the plumage above dusky brown olive,
inclining to ash, thickly marked with small triangular spots of
dull white; tail-coverts white; tail also white, handsomely barred
with dark olive; wings plain dusky, the secondaries edged, and
all the coverts edged and tipt, with white; shafts black; eye also
black; legs and naked thighs long and yellow; outer toe united
to the middle one by a slight membrane; claws a horn colour.
The female can scarcely he distinguished from the male.

Note. — Mr. Ord in his reprint gives the following more mi-
nute description, of a female, shot on the twenty-second of April;
‘‘length upwards of ten inches, breadth twenty inches; irides
brown; bill slender, straight, an inch and a half in length, and
black, mandibles of equal length, the upper bent downwards at
the tip; throat, lower parts, thighs, and under tail-coverts, white
— the last are generally marked on their exterior vanes with
brown; those next to the tail barred with the same; lower part
of the neck, with the breast, gray, the feathers streaked down
their centres with dusky; head and back part of the neck black,
the plumage edged with gray, in some specimens edged with
brown ash, upper parts black, with oblong spots of white, in-
termixed with pale brown feathers; rump brown, edged with
white; upper tail-coverts white, barred with brown; the tail is
composed of twelve feathers, -white, barred with ashy brown, the
upper feathers, in some, gray brown, marked on their vanes,
though not across, with brown and white; wings, when closed,
extend somewhat beyond the tail; primaries and secondaries
dusky; shaft of first primary whitish above, the rest of the shafts

* These birds are very common, in the early part of May, on the muddy-flats
of our rivers, particularly in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and are that period in
good condition.

YELLOW-SHANKS SNIPE. 123

brown above, in .some black, all white below; lesser wing-co-
verts dusky, slightly edged with white, and in some spotted
with brown on the exterior vanes; secondaries slightly edged
with white; legs bare above the knees upwards of an inch; length
of tarsus two inches; outer toe connected as far as the first joint
to the middle one, the membrane of the inner toe quite small;
legs and feet yellow ochre; the claw of the middle toe has the
appearance of having a supplemental nail at its base. A young
male shot at the same time, had its upper parts mixed with cine-

99

reous.'

GENUS 73. TRINGA. SANDPIPER.

SPECIES 1. T. BARTR^MM.

BARTRAM’S SANDPIPER.

[Plate LIX.— Fig. 2.]

Pkalk’s Museum, J\‘o. 4040.*

This bird being, as far as I can discover, a new species, un-
described by any former author, I have honoured it with the
name of my very worthy friend, near whose Botanic Gardens,
on the banks of the river Schuylkill, I first found it. On the
same meadows I have since shot several other individuals of the
species, and have thereby had an opportunity of taking an ac-
curate drawing, as well as description of it.

Unlike most of their tribe, these birds appeared to prefer run-
ning about among the grass, feeding on beetles, and other wing-
ed insects. There were three or four in company; they seem-
ed extremely watchful, silent, and shy, so that it was always
with extreme difficulty I could approach them.

These birds are occasionally seen there during the months of
August and September, but whether they breed near, I have
not been able to discover. Having never met with them on the
seashore, I am persuaded that their principal residence is in the
interior, in meadows, and such like places. They run with
great rapidity, sometimes spreading their tail, and dropping
their wings, as birds do who wish to decoy you from their nest;
when they alight, they remain fixed, stand very erect, and have
two or three sharp whistling notes as they mount to fly. They
are remarkably plump birds, weighing upwards of three-quar-
ters of a pound; their flesh is superior, in point of delicacy, ten-

* Totnnus BartramkiS, Temm. J\fan. d'Orn. p. 650.

BARTRAM’S SANDPIPER.

125

derness and flavour, to any other of the tribe with which I am
acquainted.

This species is twelve inches long, and twenty-one in extent;
the bill is an inch and a half long, slightly bent downwards, and
wrinkled at the base, the upper mandible black on its ridge, the
lower, as well as the edge of the upper, of a fine yellow; front,
stripe over the eye, neck and breast, pale ferruginous, marked
with small streaks of black, which, on the lower part of the
breast, assume the form of arrow heads; crown black, the plu-
mage slightly skirted with whitish; chin, orbit of the eye, whole
belly and vent, pure white; hind-head, and neck above, ferru-
ginous, minutely streaked with black; back and scapulars black,
the former slightly skirted with ferruginous, the latter with
white; tertials black, bordered with white; primaries plain black;
shaft of the exterior quill snowy, its inner vane elegantly pec-
tinated with white; secondaries pale brown, spotted on their
outer vanes with black, and tipt with white; greater coverts
du.sky, edged with pale ferruginous, and spotted with black;
lesser coverts pale ferruginous, each feather broadly bordered
with white, within which is a concentric semicircle of black;
rump and tail-coverts deep brown black, slightly bordered with
white; tail tapering, of a pale brown orange colour, beautifully
spotted with black, the middle feather centred with dusky; legs
yellow, tinged with green; the outer toe joined to the middle
by a membrane; lining of the wings elegantly barred with black
and white; iris of the eye dark, or blue black, eye very large.
The male and female are nearly alike.

Note. — Whether the bird described by Temminck, {Man.
cVOrn.p. 650.) is identical with this species, will admit of some
doubt; although this excellent ornithologist says, that “ les in-
dividus d’ Europe et ceux d’Amerique ne different point. ”
Bartram’s Sandpiper is known to our shooters by the name of
Grass Plover. It breeds in low grounds, in the state of New
Jersey. When watching its nest, it is fond of sitting upon fen-
ces; and on alighting, it throws up its wings in the manner of

126

BARTRAM’s SANDPIPER.

the Willet. In the early part of August it begins to migrate;
it then flies high, and may be easily recognized by its whistling
notes, which resemble those of the Tell-tale. In the middle
of June I observed this species in the vicinity of Burlington,
New Jersey; but I could not discover its nest. G. Ord.

SPECIES 2. TRINGA SOLITARM.

SOLITARY SANDPIPER.

[Plate LVIIL— Fig. 3.]

Peai.e’s Museum, Mo. 7763.*

This new species inhabits the watery solitudes of our high-
est mountains during the summer, from Kentucky to New York;
but is no where numerous, seldom more than one or two being
seen together. It takes short low flights; runs nimbly about
among the mossy margins of the mountain springs, brooks and
pools, occasionally stopping, looking at you, and perpetually
nodding the head. It is so unsuspicious, or so little acquainted
with man, as to permit one to approach within a few yards of
it, without appearing to take any notice, or to be the least alarm-
ed. At the approach of cold weather, it descends to the muddy
shores of our large rivers, where it is occasionally met with,
singly, on its way to the south. I have made many long and
close searches for the nest of this bird, without success. They
regularly breed on Pocano mountain, between Easton and Wil-
kesbarre, in Pennsylvania, arriving there early in May, and
departing in September. It is usually silent, unless when sud-
denly flushed, when it utters a sharp whistle.

This species has considerable resemblance, both in manners
and markings, to the Green Sandpiper of Europe ( Tringa Och-
ropus); but differs from that bird in being nearly one-third less,
and in wanting the white rump and tail-coverts of that species;
it is also destitute of its silky olive green plumage. How far
north its migrations extend I am unable to say.

The Solitary Sandpiper is eight inches and a half long, and
fifteen inches in extent; the bill is one inch and a quarter in

* Totanus glareohis, Ord’s reprint, vii, p. 57. — Tolaims chloropygius, Vieili, —
Prince Mnsignano, Gen. M Jl. Birds.

128

SOLITARY SANDPIPER.

length, and dusky; nostrils pervious, bill fluted above and be-
low; line over the eye, chin, belly and vent, pure white; breast
white, spotted with pale olive brown; crown and neck above
dark olive, streaked with white; back, scapulars and rump, dark
brown olive, each feather marked along the edges with small
round spots of white; wings plain, and of a darker tint; under
tail-covert spotted with black; tail slightly rounded, the five
exterior feathers on each side white, broadly barred with black;
the two middle ones, as well as their coverts, plain olive; legs
long, slender, and of a dusky green. Male and female alike in
colour.

SPECIES 3. TRINGA MACULARM.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER.

[Plate LIX. — Fig. 1.]

Arct. Zool. f. 473, Mo. 385. — Let Grive ePeau, Buff, viii, 140. —
Edw. 277. — Peaub's Museum, Mo. 4056.*

This very common species arrives in Pennsylvania about
the twentieth of April, making its first appearance along the
shores of our large rivers, and, as the season advances, tracing
the courses of our creeks and streams towards the interior.
Along the rivers Schuylkill and Delaware, and their tributary
waters, they are in great abundance during the summer. This
species is as remarkable for perpetually wagging the tail, as
some others are for nodding the head; for whether running on
the ground, or on the fences, along the rails, or in the water,
this motion seems continual; even the young, as soon as they
are freed from the shell, run about constantly wagging the tail.
About the middle of May they resort to the adjoining corn fields
to breed, where I have frequently found and examined their
nests. One of these, now before me, and which was built at
the root of a hill of Indian corn, on high ground, is composed
wholly of short pieces of dry straw. The eggs are four, of a
pale clay or cream colour, marked with large irregular spots of
black, and more thinly with others of a paler tint. They are large
in proportion to the size of the bird, measuring an inch and a
quarter in length, very thick at the great end, and tapering sud-
denly to the other. The young run about with wonderful speed
as soon as they leave the shell, and are then covered with down

* Tringa Tnncukno, Gmel. SysJ. i,j>. 672, JV'o. 7. — Lath. Jnd. Orn.p.7S4, M>.
29, — Totanus macular ius, Temm. Man. tVOrn.p. 656.

VOL. III. S

130

SPOTTED SANDPIPER.

of a full drab colour, marked with a single streak of black down
the middle of the back, and with another behind each ear.
'I'hey have a weak, plaintive note. On the approach of any
person, the parents exhibit symptoms of great distress, coun-
terfeiting lameness, and fluttering along the ground with seem-
ing difficulty. On the appearance of a dog, this agitation is
greatly increased; and it is very interesting to observe with
what dexterity the female will lead him from her young, by
throwing herself repeatedly before him, fluttering off, and keep-
ing just without his reach, on a contrary direction from her
helpless brood. My venerable friend, Mr. William Bartram,
informs me, that he saw one of these birds defend her young,
for a considerable time, from the repeated attacks of a ground
squirrel. The scene of action was on the river shore. The pa-
rent had thrown herself, with her two young behind her, be-
tween them and the land; and at every attempt of the squirrel
to seize them by a circuitous sweep, raised both her wings in
an almost pei'pendicular position, assuming the most formidable
appearance she was capable of, and rushed forwards on the
squirrel, who, intimidated by her boldness and manner, instantly
retreated; but presently returning, was met, as before, in front
and on flank, by the daring and affectionate bird, who with her
wings and whole plumage bristling up, seemed swelled to twice
her usual size. The young crowded together behind her, appa-
rently sensible of their perilous situation, moving backwards
and forwards as she advanced or retreated. This interesting
scene lasted for at least ten minutes; the strength of the poor
parent began evidently to flag, and the attacks of the squirrel
became more daring and frequent, when my good friend, like
one of those celestial agents who, in Homer’s time, so often
decided the palm of victory, stepped forward from his retreat,
drove the assailant back to his hole, and rescued the innocent
from destruction.

The flight of this bird is usually low, skimming along the
surface of the water, its long wings making a considerable angle
downwards from the body, while it utters a rapid cry of loeet

SPOTTED SANDPIPER.

131

weet weet as it flutters along, seldom steering in a direct line
up or down the river, but making a long circuitous sweep,
stretching a great way out, and gradually bending in again to
the shore.

'Fhese birds are found occasionally along the sea marshes, as
well as in the interior; and also breed in the corn fields there,
frequenting the shore in search of food; but rarely associating
with the other Tringse. About the middle of October they leave
us on their way to the south, and do not, to my L'nowledge,
winter in any of the Atlantic states.

Mr. Pennant is of opinion that this same species is found in
Britain; but neither his description, nor that of Mr. Bewick,
will apply correctly to this. The following particulars, with the
figure, will enable Europeans to determine this matter to their
satisfaction.

Length of the Spotted Sandpiper seven inches and a half,
extent thirteen inches; bill an inch long, straight, the tip, and
upper mandible, dusky, lower orange; stripe over the eye, and
lower eye-lid, pure white; whole upper parts a glossy olive,
with greenish reflections, each feather marked with waving
spots of dark brown; wing quills deep dusky; bastard wing bor-
dered and tipt with white; a spot of white on the middle of the
inner vane of each quill feather, except the first; secondaries
tipped with white; tail rounded, the six middle feathers green-
ish olive, the other three, on each side, white, barred with black;
whole lower parts white, beautifully marked with roundish
spots of black, small and thick on the throat and breast, larger
and thinner as they descend to the tail; legs a yellow clay co-
lour; claws black.

The female is as thickly spotted below as the male; but the
young birds, of both sexes, are pure white below, without any
spots; they also want the orange on the bill. These circumstan-
ces I have verified on numerous individuals.

SPECIES 4. TRINGA SEMIPALMATA.

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER.

[Plate LXIII.— Fig. 4.]

Peai.e’s Museum, t/Vo. 4023.

This is one of the smallest of its tribe; and seems to have
been entirely overlooked, or confounded with another which
it much resembles ( Tringa pusilla,) and with whom it is often
found associated.

Its half- webbed feet, however, are sufficient marks of dis-
tinction between the two. It arrives and departs with the pre-
ceding species; flies in flocks with the Stints, Purres, and a
few others; and is sometimes seen at a considerable distance
from the sea, on the sandy shores of our fresh water lakes. On
the twenty-third of September, I met with a small flock of these
birds in Burlington bay, on lake Champlain. They are numerous
along the seashores of New Jersey; but retire to the south on
the approach of cold weather.

This species is six inches long, and twelve in extent; the bill
is black, an inch long, and very slightly bent; crown and body
above dusky brown, the plumage edged with ferruginous, and
tipt with white; tail and wings nearly of a length; sides of the
rump white; rump and tail-coverts black; wing quills dusky
black, shafted and banded with white, much in the manner of
the Least Snipe; over the eye a line of white; lesser coverts tipt
with white; legs and feet blackish ash, the latter half- webbed.
Males and females alike in colour.

These birds varied greatly in their size, some being scarcely
five inches and a half in length, and the bill not more than three
quarters; others measured nearly seven inches in the whole
length, and the bill upwards of an inch. In their general ap-

SEMIPALMATEl) SANDPIPER.

pearance tliey greatly resemble the Stints or Least Snipe; but
unless we allow that the same species may sometimes have the .
toes half-webbed, and sometimes divided to the origin, and this
not in one or two solitary instances, but in whole flocks, which
would be extraordinary indeed, we cannot avoid classing this
as a new and distinct species.

/

SPECIES 5. THINGS PUSILLA.

LITTLE SANDPIPER.

[Plate XXXVII.— Fig. 4.]

Lath. Syn. v, p. 184 — 32. — Jlrct. Zool. ii, 397. — Cinclus

dominicensis minor, Buiss. v, p. 222. 13. t. ^5. f. 2. — Turt.

Syst.p. 410. — Peale’s Museum, JVo. 4138.

This is the least of its tribe in this part of the world, and in
its mode of flight has much more resemblance to the Snipe than
to the Sandpiper. It is migratory, departing early in October
for the south. It resides chiefly among the sea marshes, and
feeds among the mud at low water; springs with a zig-zag irre-
gular flight, and a feeble twit. It is not altogether confined to
the neighbourhood of the sea, for I have found several of them
on the shores of the Schuylkill, in the month of August. In
October, immediately before they go away, they are usually
very fat. Their nests or particular breeding places I have not
been able to discover.

This minute species is found in Europe, and also at Nootka
sound on the western coast of America. Length five inches and
a half; extent eleven inches; bill and legs brownish black; upper
part of the breast gray brown, mixed with white; back and upper
parts black; the whole plumage above broadly edged with bright
bay and yellow ochre; primaries black; greater coverts the same,
tipt with white; eye small, dark hazel; tail rounded, the four
exterior feathers on each side dull white, the rest dark brown;
tertials as long as the primaries; head above dark brown with
paler edges; over the eye a streak of whitish; belly and vent
white; the bill is thick at the base, and very slender towards
the point; the hind toe small. In some specimens the legs were

LITTLE SANDPIPER.

135

of a dirty yellowish colour. Sides of the rump white; just below
the greater coverts the primaries are crossed with white.

Very little difference could be perceived between the plumage
of the males and females. The bay on the edges of the back,
and scapulars, was rather brighter in the male, and the brown

SPECIES 6. TRINGA ALPINA.

RED-JBACKED SANDPIPER.

[Plate LVI.— Fig. 2.]

Dunlin, nirct. Zool. jj. 476, AT?. 391. — Bewick, ii, p. 113. — La
lirunnette. Buff, vn, 493. — Peace’s Museum, J^o. 4094.*

This bird inhabits both the old and new continents, being
known in England by the name of the Dunlin; and in the United
States, along the shores of New Jersey, by that of the Red-back.
Its residence here is but transient, chiefly in April and May,
while passing to the arctic regions to breed; and in September
and October, when on its return southward to winter quarters.
During their stay they seldom collect in separate flocks by them-
selves; but mix with various other species of strand-birds, among
whom they are rendered conspicuous by the red colour of the
upper part of their plumage. They frequent the muddy flats,
and shores of the salt marshes, at low water, feeding on small
worms and other insects which generally abound in such places.
In the month of May they are extremely fat.

This bird is said to inhabit Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia,
the Alps of Siberia; and in its migrations the coasts of the Cas-
pian sea.t It has not, till now, been recognized by naturalists as
inhabiting this part of North America. Wherever its breeding
place may be, it probably begins to lay at a late period of the
season, as in numbers of females which I examined on the first
of June, the eggs were no larger than grains of mustard seed.

Length of the Red-back eight inches and a half, extent fifteen
inches; bill black, longer than the head, (which would seem to
rank it with the Snipes) slightly bent, grooved on the upper

* Tringa alpina. Lath. Ind. Orn. 736, J^o. 37, — Lt Cinc/e, Buff. PL Enl. 852.

t Pennant.

RED-BACKED SANDPIPER.

137

mandible, and wrinkled at the base; crown, back and scapulars,
bright reddish rust, spotted with black; wing-coverts pale olive;
quills darker; the first tipt, the latter crossed, with white; front,
cheeks, hind-head, and sides of the neck, quite round, also the
breast, grayish white, marked with small specks of black; belly
white, marked with a broad crescent of black; tail pale olive,
the two middle feathers centred with black; legs and feet ashy
black; toes divided to their origin, and bordered with a slightly
scalloped membrane; irides very dark.

The males and females are nearly alike in one respect, both
differing greatly in colour even at the same season, probably
owing to difference of age; some being of a much brighter red
than others, and the plumage dotted with white. In the month
of September, many are found destitute of the black crescent
on the belly; these have been conjectured to be young birds.

Note. — After an attentive examination of many of these birds
on the coast of Cape May, in the month of April, I am perfectly
convinced, that the hitherto supposed two species, the present
and the Purre, constitute but one species, tbe latter being in
immature plumage. In some instances, I found the Purres were
beginning to get the broad band of black on the belly, and the
black thickening with ruddy feathers, appearing almost perfect
Black-bellied Sandpipers.

Wilson’s MSS.

VOL. III. T

TRINGA CINCLUS*

THE PURRE.

[Plate EVIL— Fig. 3.]

Linn. Syst. 251. — Jlrct. Zool. p.475,<JSro. 390. — Bewick, ii, p.

115. — L’JHouette de mer. Buff, vii, 548. — Peale’s Museum,

JVu. 4126.

This is one of the most numerous of our Strand-birds, as
they are usually called, that frequent the sandy beach, on the
frontiers of the ocean. In its habit it differs so little from the
preceding, that, except in being still more active and expert in
running, and searching among the sand, on the reflux of the
waves, as it nimbly darts about for food, what has been said of
the former will apply equally to both, they being pretty constant
associates on these occasions.

The Purre continues longer with us both in spring and au-
tumn than either of the two preceding; many of them remain
during the very severest of the winter, though the greater part
retire to the more genial regions of the south; where I have seen
them at such seasons, particularly on the seacoasts of both Ca-
rolinas, during the month of February, in great numbers.

These birds, in conjunction with several others, sometimes
collect together in such flocks, as to seem, at a distance, a large
cloud of thick smoke, varying in form and appearance every
instant, while it performs its evolutions in air. As this cloud
descends, and courses along the shores of the ocean, with great
rapidity, in a kind of waving serpentine flight, alternately
throwing its dark and white plumage to the eye, it forms a very
grand and interesting appearance. At such times the gunners
make prodigious slaughter among them; while, as the showers

* The preceding^ species in immature plumage.

THE PURRE.

139

of their companions fall, the whole body often alight, or descend
to the surface with them, till the sportsman is completely sa-
tiated with destruction. On some of those occasions, while
crowds of these victims are fluttering along the sand, the small
Pigeon Hawk, constrained by necessity, ventures to make a
sweep among the dead, in presence of the proprietor, but as
suddenly pays for his temerity with his life! Such a tyrant is
man, when vested with power, and unrestrained by the dread
of responsibility.

The Purre is eight inches in length, and fifteen inches in ex-
tent; the bill is black, straight, or slightly bent downwards,
about an inch and a half long, very thick at the base, and taper-
ing to a slender blunt point at the extremity; eye very small,
iris dark hazel; cheeks gray; line over the eye, belly and vent,
white; back and scapulars of an ashy brown, marked here and
there with spots of black, bordered with bright ferruginous;
sides of the rump white; tail-coverts olive, centred with black;
chin white; neck below gray; breast and sides thinly marked
with pale spots of dusky, in some pure white; wings black,
edged and tipt with white; two middle tail feathers dusky, the
rest brown ash, edged with white; legs and feet black; toes
bordered with a very narrow scalloped membrane. The usual
broad band of white crossing the wing, forms a distinguishing
characteristic of almost the whole genus.

On examining more than a hundred of these birds, they varied
considerably in the black and ferruginous spots on the back and
scapulars; some were altogether plain, while others were thickly
marked, particularly on the scapulars, with a red rust colour,
centred with black. The females were uniformly more plain
than the males; but many of the latter, probably young birds,
were destitute of the ferruginous spots. On the twenty-fourth
of May, the eggs in the females were about the size of partridge
shot. In what particular regions of the north these birds breed,
is altogether unknown.

SPECIES 7. TRINGJl RUFA.

RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER.

[Plate LVII. — Fig. 5.]

Peale’s Museum, Mv. 4050.

Op this prettily marked species I can find no description.
The Tringa Icelandica, or Aberdeen Sandpiper, of Pennant
and others, is the only species that has any resemblance to it;
the descriptions of that bird, however, will not apply to the
present. *

The common name of this species, on our seacoast, is the
Gray-hack, and among the gunners it is a particular favourite,
being generally a plump, tender, and excellent bird for the ta-
ble; and, consequently, brings a good price in market.

The Gray-hacks do not breed on the shores of the middle
states. Their first appearance is early in May. They remain a
few weeks, and again disappear until October. They usually
keep in small flocks, alight in a close body togetlier on the sand
flats, where they search for the small bivalve shells already de-
scribed. On the approach of the sportsman, they frequently
stand fixed and silent for some time; do not appear to be easily

* This appears to be an en-or. Tliis species is probably no other than the
Tringa Islandica in summer dress; and as many nominal species have been
made of it, we quote the following' synonymes fi’om prince Musignano’s
observations, Journal Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. vol. v, p. 93. — ‘ ' Tringa alpina,
Linn . Gmee. Lath. — Tringa cinclus, Linn. Briss. Gmel. Lath, winter plu-
mage.— Tringa rvjicollis, Gmel. Lath, spring moulting.'— Scolop ax pusil-
la? Gmel. (moulting.) Is it not rather T. schinzii, Brehm? — Tringa cinclus
torquatus, Briss. moulting — Scolopak galUnago anglicana? Briss. moulting.
Is it not rather T.scfcinzii? — TRiNGAt)ana6iiis,METER,TEMM. Sabine. — Le Cin-
cle, Boff. PI- Enl. 852, moulting. — L’ MoutUe de mer? Buff. PI. Enl. 851,
moulting. With Vieillot we do not think this plate intended for Tringa
subarquala, Temm. as it is thought by Meyer and Temminck.”

RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER.

141

alarmed, neither do they run about in the water as much as
some others, or with the same rapidity, but appear more tran-
quil and deliberate. In the month of November they retire to
the south.

This species is ten inches long, and twenty in extent; the bill
is black, and about an inch and a half long; the chin, eyebrows,
and whole breast, a pale brownish orange colour; crown, hind-
head, from the upper mandible backwards, and neck, dull white,
streaked with black; back a pale slaty olive, the feathers tipt
with white, barred and spotted with black and pale ferruginous;
tail-coverts white, elegantly barred with black; wings plain
dusky, black towards the extremity; the greater coverts tipt
with white; shafts of the primaries white; tail pale ashy olive,
hnely edged with white, the two middle feathers somewhat the
longest; belly and vent white, the latter marked with small ar-
row-heads of black; legs and feet black; toes bordered with a
narrow membrane; eye small and black.

In some specimens, both of males and females, the red on
the breast was much paler, in others it descended as far as the
thighs. Both sexes seemed nearly alike.

TRINGA CINEREA.

ASH-COLOURED SANDPIPER.

[Plate LVIL— Fig. 2.]

Jlrct. ZooL p. 474, JVo. 386. — Bewick, ii, p. 102. — Peale’s Mu~
seum, JYo. 4060.

The regularly disposed concentric semicircles of white and
dark brown that mark the upper parts of the plumage of this spe-
cies, distinguish it from all others, and give it a very neat appear-
ance. In activity it is superior to the preceding; and traces the
flowing and recession of the waves along the sandy beach, with
great nimbleness, wading and searching among the loosened
particles for its favourite food, which is a small thin oval bivalve
shell-fish, of a white or pearl colour, and not larger than the
seed of an apple. These usually lie at a short depth below the
surface; but in some places are seen at low water in heaps, like
masses of wet grain, in quantities of more than a bushel together.
During the latter part of summer and autumn, these minute
shell-fish constitute the food of almost all those busy flocks, that
run with such activity along the sands, among the flowing and
retreating waves. They are universally swallowed whole; but
the action of the bird’s stomach, assisted by the shells them-
selves, soon reduces them to a pulp. If we may judge from
their effects, they must be extremely nutritious, for almost all
those tribes that feed on them are at this season mere lumps of
fat. Digging for these in the hard sand would be a work of con-
siderable labour, whereas when the particles are loosened by
the flowing of the sea, the birds collect them with great ease
and dexterity. It is amusing to observe with what adroitness

* This is the preceding species in winter dress, according to prince Musig-
nano.

ASH-COLOURED SANDPIPER.

143

they follow and elude the tumbling surf, while at the same time
they seem wholly intent on collecting their food.

The Ash-coloured Sandpiper, the subject of our present ac-
count, inhabits both Europe and America. It has been seen in
great numbers on the Seal islands near Chatteaux Bay; is said
to continue the whole summer in Hudson’s Bay, and breeds
there. Mr. Pennant suspects that it also breeds in Denmark;
and says that they appear in vast flocks on the Flintshire shores,
during the winter season.* With us they are also migratory,
being only seen in spring and autumn. They are plump birds;
and by those accustomed to the sedgy taste of this tribe, are
esteemed excellent eating.

The length of this species is ten inches, extent twenty; bill
black, straight, fluted to nearly its tip, and about an inch and a
half long; upper parts brownish ash, each feather marked near
the tip with a narrow semicircle of dark brown, bounded by
another of white; tail-coverts white, marbled with olive; wing
quills dusky, shafts white; greater coverts black, tipt with white;
some of the primaries edged also with white; tail plain pale ash,
finely edged and tipt with white; crown and hind-head streaked
with black, ash and white; stripe over the eye, cheeks and chin,
white, the former marked with pale streaks of dusky, the latter
pure; breast white, thinly specked with blackish; belly and vent
pure white; legs a dirty yellowish clay colour; toes bordered
with a narrow thick warty membrane; hind-toe directed in-
wards, as in the Turn-stone; claws and eye black.

These birds vary a little in colour, some being considerably
darker above, others entirely white below; but, in all, the con-
centric semicircles on the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts,
are conspicuous.

I think it probable that these birds become much lighter co-
loured during the summer, from the circumstance of having
shot one late in the month of June, at Cape May, which was of
a pale drab or dun colour. It was very thin and emaciated; and

Arct. Zool. p. 474.

144

ASH-COLOURED SANDPIPER.

on examination appeared to have been formerly wounded, which
no doubt occasioned its remaining behind its companions.

Early in December I examined the same coast every day for
nearly two weeks, without meeting with more than one solitary
individual of this species; although in October they were abun-
dant. How far to the southward they extend their migrations,
we have no facts that will enable us to ascertain; though it is
probable that the shores of the West India islands afford them
shelter and resources during our winter.

SPECIES 8. TItINGA INTERPRES.

TURN-STONE.

[Plate LVIL — Fig. 1.]

Hebridal Sandpiper, Jlrct. Zool.p. 4*2, JUo. 382. — Le Toiirne-
pierre. Buff, vii, 130. PL Enl. 130. — Bewick, ii, p. 119, 121.
— Catesby, I, 72. — Peale’s Museum, M'o. 4044.

This beautifully variegated species is common to both Eu-
rope and America; consequently extends its migrations far to
the north. It arrives from the south, on the shores of New
Jersey, in April; leaves them early in June; is seen on its re-
turn to the south in October; and continues to be occasionally
seen until the commencement of the cold weather, when it dis-
appears for the season. It is rather a scarce species in this part
of the world, t and of a solitary disposition; seldom mingling
among the large flocks of other Sandpipers; but either coursing
the sands alone, or in company with two or three of its own
species. On the coast of Cape May and Egg-Harbour, this bird
is well known by the name of the Horse-foot Snipe, from its
living, during the months of May and June, almost wholly on
the eggs or spawn of the great King Crab, called here, by the
common people, the Horse-foot. This animal is the Monoculus
polyphemus of entomologists. Its usual size is from twelve
to fifteen inches in breadth, by two feet in length; though
sometimes it is found much larger. The head, or forepart, is se-
micircular, and convex above, covered with a thin elastic shelly
case. The lower side is concave, where it is furnished with feet
and claws resembling those of a crab. The posterior extremity

* This bird belongs to the Genas Slrepsilas of Illiger; it is the only species
of the genus known; and is found in almost every quarter of tlie world.

t This species is now found in great abundance on the coast of New Jer-
sey; and becomes excessively fat, in the month of May.

VOL. III. — U

146

TURN-STONE.

consists of a long, hard, pointed, dagger-like tail, by means of
which, when overset by the waves, the animal turns itself on
its belly again. The male may be distinguished from the female
by his two large claws having only a single hook each, instead
of the forceps of the female. In the bay of Delaware, below
Egg-island, and in what is usually called Maurice river cove,
these creatures seem to have formed one of their principal settle-
ments. The bottom of this cove is generally a soft mud, ex-
tremely well suited to their accommodation. Here they are
resident, burying themselves in the mud during the winter, but
early in the month of May they approach the shore in multi-
tudes, to obey the great law of nature, in depositing their eggs
within the influence of the sun, and are then very troublesome to
the fishermen, who can scarcely draw a seine for them, they are so
numerous. Being of slow motion, and easily overset by the surf,
their dead bodies cover the shore in heaps, and in such numbers,
that for ten miles one znight walk on them without touching the
ground.

The hogs from the neighbouring country are regularly dri-
ven down, every spring, to feed on them, which they do with
great avidity; though by this kind of food their flesh acquires
a strong disagreeable fishy taste. Even the small turtles, or
terrapins, so eagerly sought after by our epicures, contract so
rank a taste by feeding on the spawn of the king crab, as to be
at such times altogether unpalatable. This spawn may some-
times be seen lying in hollows and eddies in bushels; while the
Snipes and Sanpipers, particularly the Turn-stone, are hovering
about, feasting on the delicious fare. The dead bodies of the
animals themselves are hauled up in wagons for manure, and
when placed at the hills of corn, in planting time, are said to
enrich the soil, and add greatly to the increase of the crop.

The Turn-stone derives its name from another singularity it
possesses, of turning over, with its bill, small stones and peb-
bles in search of various marine worms and insects. At this
sort of work it is exceedingly dexterous; and even when taken

TURN STONE.

147

and domesticated, is said to retain the same habit.* Its bill
seems particularly well constructed for this purpose, differing
from all the rest of its tribe, and very much resembling, in shape,
that of the common Nuthatch. We learn from Mr. Pennant,
that these birds inhabit Hudson’s Bay, Greenland, and the arc-
tic flats of Siberia, where they breed, wandering southerly in
autumn. It is said to build on the ground, and to lay four eggs,
of an olive colour spotted with black; and to inhabit the isles of
the Baltic during summer.

The Turn-stone flies with a loud twittering note, and runs
with its wings lowered; but not with the rapidity of others of its
tribe. It examines more completely the same spot of ground,
and, like some of the Woodpeckers, will remain searching in the
same place, tossing the stones and pebbles from side to side for
a considerable time.

These birds vary greatly in colour, scarcely two individuals
are to be found alike in markings. These varieties are most
numerous in autumn, when the young birds are about, and are
less frequently met with in spring. The most perfect specimens
I have examined are as follows:

Length eight inches and a half, extent seventeen inches; bill
blackish horn; frontlet, space passing through the eyes, and
thence dropping down, and joining the under mandible, black,
enclosing a spot of white. Crown white, streaked with black;
breast black, whence it turns up half across the neck; behind
the eye a spot of black; upper part of the neck white, running
down and skirting the black breast, as far as the shoulder; up-
per part of the back black, divided by a strip of bright ferrugi-
nous; scapulars black, glossed with greenish, and interspersed
with rusty red; whole back below this pure white, but hid by
the scapulars; rump black; tail-coverts white; tail rounded, white
at the base half, thence black to the extremity; belly and vent
white; wings dark dusky, crossed by two bands of white; lower
half of the lesser coverts ferruginous; legs and feet a bright ver-

Catesby.

148

TURN-STONE.

milion, or red lead; hind toe standing inwards, and all of them
edged with a thick warty membrane. The male and female are
alike variable; and when in perfect plumage nearly resemble
each other.

Bewick, in his History of British Birds, has figured and de-
scribed what he considers to be two species of Turn-stone; one
of which, he says, is chiefly confined to the southern, and the
other to the northern parts of Great Britain. The difference,
however, between these two appears to be no greater than com-
monly occurs among individuals of the same flock, and evident-
ly of the same species, in this country. As several years pro-
bably elapse before these birds arrive at their complete state of
plumage, many varieties must necessarily appear, according to
the different ages of the individuals.

GENUS 74. CHARAUlilUS. PLOVER.

SPECIES 1. C. HMTICULA.

RINGED PLOVER.*

[Plate XXXVII.— Fig. S.f]

Lath. Syn.^\, jj. 201. 8. — Axt. Zoo[.u,A^o. 401. — Petit Pluvier,
n collier, Bv¥F.vui,p. 90 — 6. — PL Enl. 921. — Pluvialis Tor-
quata minor, Briss. v,p. 63. 8. t. 5.f. 2. — Turt, Syst.p. 411.2.
— Peale’s Museum, JSTo. 4150.

It was not altogether consistent with my original plan to
introduce any of the Grallae or Waders, until I had advanced
nearer to a close with the Land Birds; but as the scenery here
seemed somewhat appropriate, I have taken the liberty of plac-
ing in it two birds, reduced to one-third of their natural size,
both being varieties of their respective species, each of which
will appear in their proper places, in some future volume of
this work, in full size and in their complete plumage.

The Ring Plover is very abundant on the low sandy shores
of our whole sea-coast, during summer. They run, or rather
seem to glide, rapidly along the surface of the flat sands; fre-
quently spreading out their wings and tail like a fan, and flut-
tering along, to draw or entice one away from their nests.
These are formed with little art; being merely shallow conca-
vities dug in the sand, in which the eggs are laid, and, during
the day at least, left to the influence of the sun to hatch them.

* Wilson in his account of the following species gives reasons for suppos-
ing this bird to be specifically different from the Ring Plover of Plate LIX.
It is undoubtedly a distinct species; and has been named by Mr. Ord, Pip-
ing'Plover — C Melodus. The synonymes given by our author do not of
course apply to this species,
t Adult in spring dress.

150

RINGED PLOVER.

The parents, however, always remain near the spot to protect
them from injury, and probably in cold rainy or stormy weather,
to shelter them with their bodies. The eggs are three, some-
times four, large for the bird, of a dun clay colour, and marked
with numerous small spots of reddish purple.

The voice of these little birds, as they move along the sand,
is soft and musical, consisting of a single plaintive note occa-
sionally repeated. As you ajjproach near their nests, they seem
to court your attention, and the moment they think you observe
them, they spread out their wings and tail, dragging themselves
along, and imitating the squeaking of young birds; if you turn
from them they immediately resume their proper posture until
they have again caught your eye, when they display the same
attempts at deception as before. A flat dry sandy beach, just
beyond the reach of the summer tides, is their favourite place
for breeding.

This species is subject to great variety of change in its plu-
mage. In the month of July I found most of those that were
breeding on Summers’s Beach, at the mouth of Great Egg-Har-
bour, such as I have here figured; but about the beginning or
middle of October they had become much darker above, and
their plumage otherwise varied. They were then collected in
flocks; their former theatrical and deceptive manoeuvres seemed
all forgotten. They appeared more active than before, as well
as more silent; alighting within a short distance of one, and
feeding about without the least appearance of suspicion. At the
commencement of winter they all go off towards the south.

This variety of the Ringed Plover is seven inches long, and
fourteen in extent; the bill is reddish yellow for half its length,
and black at the extremity ; the front and whole lower parts pure
white, except the side of the breast, which is marked with a
curving streak of black, another spot of black bounding the front
above; back and upper parts very pale brown, inclining to ashy
white, and intermixed with white; wings pale brown, greater
coverts broadly tipt with white; interior edges of the secondaries,
and outer edges of the primaries white, and tipt with brown;

RINGED PLOVER.

151

tail nearly even, the lower half white, brown towards the ex-
tremity, the outer feather pure white, the next white with a
single spot of black; eye black, and full, surrounded by a narrow
ring of yellow; legs reddish yellow; claws black; lower side of
the wings pure white.

SPECIES 2. C. HMTICULJi.

RING PLOVER.

[Plate LIX. — Fig. 3.]

Arct. Zuol. p. 4S5, JS/‘o. 401. — La petit Pluvier a collier, Buff.

VIII, 90. — Bewick, i, 326. — Peale’s Museum, JVo. 4150.t

In a preceding part of this workj a bird by this name has
been figured and described, under the supposition that it was
the Ring Plover, then in its summer dress; but which, not-
withstanding its great resemblance to the present, I now sus-
pect to be a different species. F earful of perpetuating error, and
anxious to retract, where this may inadvertently have been the
case, I shall submit to the consideration of the reader the rea-
sons on which my present suspicions are founded.

The present species, or true Ring Plover, and also the for-
mer, or light coloured bird, both arrive on the seacoast of New
Jersey late in April. The present kind continues to be seen in
flocks until late in May, when they disappear on their way far-
ther north; the light-coloured bird remains during the summer,
forms its nest in the sand, and generally produces two broods
in the season. Early in September the present species returns
in flocks as before; soon after this, the light-coloured kind go
off to the south, but the other remain a full month later. Eu-
ropean writers inform us, that the Ring Plover has a sharp
twittering note, and this account agrees exactly with that of
the present; the light coloured species, on the contrary, has a
peculiarly soft and musical note, similar to the tone of a German

* Tringa liiaticula, in the original edifion, which with Prince Musignano,
we consider as a typographical eiror.

t Charadrms semipalmatus, Bonaparte, Ann. Lyc, Nat. Hist. N. Y. Vol. ii,
p.296.

fSee preceding species.

RING PLOVER.

153

flute, which it utters while running along the sand, with ex-
panded tail, and hanging wings, endeavouring to decoy you
from its nest. The present species is never seen to breed here;
and though I have opened great numbers of them as late as the
twentieth of May, the eggs, which the females contained, were
never larger than small bird-shot; while, at the same time, the
light-coloured kind had every where begun to lay in the little
cavities which they had dug on the sand, on the beach. These
facts being considered, it seems difficult to reconcile such dif-
ference of habit in one and the same bird. The Ring Plover is
common in England, and agrees exactly with the one before
us; but the light-coloured species, as far as I can learn, is not
found in Britain; specimens of it have indeed been taken to
that country, where the most judicious of their ornithologists
have concluded it to be still the Ring Plover, but to have chang-
ed from the efiect of climate. Mr. Pennant, in speaking of the
true Ring Plover, makes the following remarks: “Almost all
which I have seen from the northern parts of North America
have had the black marks extremely faint, and almost lost.
The climate had almost destroyed the specific marks; yet in the
bill and habit preserved sufficient to make the kind very easily
ascertained.” These traits agree exactly with the light-colour-
ed species described in our fifth volume. But this excellent na-
turalist was perhaps not aware that we have the true Ring Plo-
ver here in spring and autumn, agreeing in every respect with
that of Britain, and at least in equal numbers; why, therefore,
has not the climate equally affected the present and the former
sort, if both are the same species? These inconsistencies can-
not be reconciled but by supposing each to be a distinct spe-
cies, which, though approaching extremely near to each other,
in external appearance, have each their peculiar notes, colour,
and places of breeding.

The Ring Plover is seven inches long, and fourteen inches
in extent; bill short, orange coloured, tipt with black, front and
chin white, encircling the neck; upper part of the breast black;
rest of the lower parts pure white; fore part of the crown black;

VOL. HI. — X

154

RING PLOVER.

band from the upper mandible, covering the auriculars, also
black; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts, of a brownish ash co-
lour; wing quills dusky black, marked with an oval spot of
white about the middle of each; tail olive, deepening into black,
and tipt with white; legs dull yellow; eye dark hazel, eyelids
yellow.

This bird is said to make no nest, but to lay four eggs, of a
pale ash colour, spotted with black, which she deposites on the
ground. * The eggs of the light-coloured species, formerly de-
scribed, are of a pale cream colour, marked with small round
dots of black, as if done with a pen.

The Ring Plover, according to Pennant, inhabits America,
down to Jamaica and the Brazils. Is found in summer in Green-
land; migrates thence in autumn. Is common in every part of
Russia and Siberia. Was found by the navigators as low as
Owyhee, one of the Sandwich islands, and as light-coloured as
those of the highest latitudes.!

“Bewick. t Arct. Zool. p. 485.

SPECIES 3. CHARADRIUS WILSONIUS.

WILSON’S PLOVER.

[Plate LXXIIL— Fig. 5.]

Peale’s Museum, JVo. 4159, male — 4 1 60,/«'?na/f’.

Op this neat and prettily marked species I can find no account,
and have concluded that it has hitherto escaped the eye of the
naturalist. The bird, of which the figure in the plate is a correct
resemblance, was shot the thirteenth of May, 1813, on the
shore of Cape-Island, New Jersey, by my ever-regretted friend;
and I have honoured it with his name. It was a male, and was
accompanied by another of the same sex, and a female, all of
which were fortunately obtained.

This bird very much resembles the Ring Plover, except in
the length and colour of the bill, its size, and in wanting the
yellow eyelids. The males and females of this species differ in
their markings, but the Ring Plovers nearly agree. We con-
versed with some sportsmen of Cape May, who asserted that
they were acquainted with these birds, and that they sometimes
made their appearance in flocks of considerable numbers; others
had no knowledge of them. That the species is rare, we Avere
well convinced, as we had diligently explored the shore of a
considerable part of Cape May, in the vicinity of Great Egg-
harbour, many times, at diflerent seasons, and had never seen
them before. How long they remain on our coast, and where
they Avinter, we are unable to say. From the circumstance of
the oviduct of the female being greatly enlarged, and containing
an egg half grown, apparently within a week of being ready for
exclusion, we concluded that they breed there. Their favourite
places of resort appear to be the dry sand flats on the seashore.
They utter an agreeable piping note; and run swiftly.

This species is eight inches in length, and fifteen and a half

156

WILSON’S PLOVER,

in extent; the bill is black, stout, and an inch long, the upper
mandible projecting considerably over the lower; front white,
passing on each side to the middle of the eye above, and bounded
by a band of black of equal breadth; lores black; eyelids white;
eye large and dark; from the middle of the eye, backwards,
the stripe of white becomes duller, and extends for half an inch;
the crown, hind-head and auriculars, are drab olive; the chin,
throat, and sides of the neck for an inch, pure white, passing
quite round the neck, and narrowing to a point behind; the
upper breast below this is marked with a broad band of jet
black; the rest of the lower parts pure white; upper parts pale
olive drab; along the edges of the auriculars, and hind-head,
the plumage, where it joins the white, is stained with raw terra
sienna; all the plumage is darkest in the centre; the tertials are
fully longer than the primaries, the latter brownish black, the
shafts and edges of some of the middle ones white; secondaries,
and greater coverts, slightly tipped with white; the legs are of
a pale flesh colour; toes bordered with a narrow edge; claws
and ends of the toes black; the tail is even, a very little longer
than the wings, and of a blackish olive colour, with the excep-
tion of the two exterior feathers, which are whitish, but gene-
rally only the two middle ones are seen.

The female differs in having no black on the forehead, lores,
or breast, these parts being pale olive.*

Since publishing the foregoing, Mr. T. R. Peale and myself,
in an excursion, in the month of May, on the coast of New
.lersey, found this species to be pretty common, in the vicinity
of Brigantine beach. We also observed them in various places
between Great Egg-harbour and Long-beach. G. Ord.

From Mr. Ord’s supplementary volume.

SPECIES 4. CHJiRJiDRIUS VOCIFERUS.

KILDEER PLOVER.

[Plate LIX.— Fig. 6.]

Jlrct. Zool. JVo. 400. — Catesby, i, 71. — Le Kildir, Buff, viii, 96.

— Peale’s Museum, JYo. 4174.*

This restless and noisy bird is known to almost every inha-
bitant of the United States, being a common and pretty con-
stant resident. During the severity of winter, when snow co-
vers the ground, it retreats to the seashore, where it is found
at all seasons; but no sooner have the rivers broke up, than its
shrill note is again heard, either roaming about high in air, tra-
cing the shore of the river, or running amidst the watery flats
and meadows. As spring advances, it resorts to the newly
ploughed fields, or level plains bare of grass, interspersed with
shallow pools; or, in the vicinity of the sea, dry bare sandy
fields. In some such situation it generally chooses to breed,
about the beginning of May. The nest is usually slight, a mere
hollow, with such materials drawn in around it as happen to be
near, such as bits of sticks, straw, pebbles, or earth. In one in-
stance, I found the nest of this bird paved with fragments of
clam and oyster shells, and very neatly surrounded with a
mound or border of the same, placed in a very close and curi-
ous manner. In some cases there is no vestige whatever of a
nest. The eggs are usually four, of a bright rich cream, or yel-
lowish clay colour, thickly marked with blotches of black.
They are large for the size of the bird, measuring more than
an inch and a half in length, and a full inch in width, tapering
to a narrow point at the great end.

* Charadriusvociferem, Gmel. Sysl, i, p. 685, JVo. 3. — Pluvier a collier de Vir-
ginie, Briss. v, p. 68. — Lath. Ind. Orn.p. 742, JVb. 6. — PI. Enl. 286.

158

KILDEER PLOVER.

Nothing can exceed the alarm and anxiety of these birds
during the breeding season. Their cries of kildeer, kildeer, as
they winnow the air over head, dive and course around you, or
run along the ground counterfeiting lameness, are shrill and in-
cessant. The moment they see a person approach, they fly or
run to attack him with their harassing clamour, continuing it
over so wide an extent of ground, that they puzzle the pursuer
as to the particular spot where the nest or young are concealed;
very much resembling, in this respect, the Lapwing of Europe.
During the evening, and long after dusk, particularly in moon-
light, their cries are frequently heard with equal violence, both
in the Spring and Fall. From this circumstance, and their fly-
ing about both after dusk, and before dawn, it appears probable
that they see better at such times than most of their tribe. They
are known to feed much on worms, and many of these rise to
the surface during the night. The prowling of Owls, may also
alarm their fears for their young at those hours; but whatever
may be the cause, the facts are so.

The Kildeer is more abundant in the southern states in win-
ter than in summer. Among the rice fields, and even around
the planters’ yards in South Carolina, I observed them very
numerous, in the months of February and March. There the
negro boys frequently practise the barbarous mode of catch-
ing them with a line, at the extremity of which is a crooked
pin, with a worm on it. Their flight is something like that of
the Tern, but more vigorous; and they sometimes rise to a great
height in the air. They are fond of wading in pools of water;
and frequently bathe themselves during the summer. They
usually stand erect on their legs, and run or walk with the body
in a stiff horizontal position; they run with great swiftness, and
are also strong and vigorous in the wings. Their flesh is eaten
by some, but is not in general esteem, though others say, that
in the Fall, when they become very fat, it is excellent.

During the extreme droughts of summer, these birds resort
to the gravelly channel of brooks and shallow streams, where
they can wade about in search of aquatic insects. At the close

KILDEER PLOVER.

159

of summer they generally descend to the seashore, in small
flocks, seldom more than ten or twelve being seen together.
They are then more serene and silent, as well as difficult to be
approached.

The Kildeer is ten inches long, and twenty inches in extent;
the bill is black; frontlet, chin, and ring round the neck, white;
fore part of the crown, and auriculars from the bill backwards,
blackish olive; eyelids bright scarlet; eye very large, and of a
full black; from the centre of the eye backwards a stripe of
white; round the lower part of the neck is a broad band of black;
below that a band of white, succeeded by another rounding band
or crescent of black; rest of the lower parts pure white; crown
and hind-head light olive brown; back, scapulars, and wing-
coverts, olive brown, skirted with brownish yellow; primary
quills black; streaked across the middle with white; bastard
wing tipt with white; greater coverts broadly tipt with white;
rump and tail-coverts orange; tail tapering, dull orange, crossed
near the end with a broad bar of black, and tipt with orange,
the two middle feathers near an inch longer than the adjoining
ones; legs and feet a pale light clay colour. The tertials, as usu-
al in this tribe, are very long, reaching nearly to the tips of the
primaries; exterior toe joined by a membrane to the middle one,
as far as the first joint.

SPECIES 5. CHJIRABEWS PLUVMLIS.

GOLDEN PLOVER.

[Plate LIX. — Fig. 5.]

Arct. ZooL p. 493, JV*o. 399.— -Bewick, i, 522.— Le Pluvier dor^.

Buff, viii, 81. — PL Enl. 904. — Peale’s Museum, JSTo. 4198.*

This beautiful sjiecies visits the seacoast of New York and
New Jersey in spring and autumn; but does not, as far as I can
discover, breed in any part of the United States. They are most
frequently met with in the months of September and October;
soon after which they disappear. The young birds of the great
Black-bellied Plover are sometimes mistaken for this species.
Hence the reason why Mr. Pennant remarks his having seen
a variety of the Golden Plover, with black breasts, which he
supposed to be the young, t

The Golden Plover is common in the northern parts of Eu-
rope. It breeds on high and heathy mountains. The female lays
four eggs, of a pale olive colour, variegated with blackish spots.
They usually fly in small flocks, and have a shrill whistling
note. They are very frequent in Siberia, where they likewise
breed; extend also to Kamtschatka, and as far south as the Sand-
wich isles. In this latter place, Mr. Pennant remarks, “they
are very small.”

Although these birds are occasionally found along our sea-

* We add the following synonymes from Prince Musignano’s “ Observa-
tions:”— Charadnus pluvialis, Liss. Gmei.. I.ath. winter dress. Temm.
ViEiEL. — Charadnus apricarius, Linn. Gmee. Lath, summer dress, (not
of Wilson, which is a four-toed bird, Vanellus helvelicus.)— Pluvialis aurea,

Bniss. winter dress Pluvialis aurea minor, Bniss. winter dress — Pluvialis

dominicensis aurea, Bniss. winter dress. — Pluvialis aurea Freli Hudsonis, Bniss.
summer dress Le Pluvier d’ore. Buff. PI. Enl. 904, winter dress.

t Arct. Zool. p. 484.

GOLDEN PLOVER.

161

coast, frbm Georgia to Maine, yet they are no where numerous;
and I have never met with them in the interior. Our mountains
being generally covered with forest, and no species of heath
having, as yet, been discovered within the boundaries of the
United States, these birds are probably induced to seek the
more remote arctic regions of the continent to breed and rear
their young in, where the country is more open, and unincum-
bered with woods.

The Golden Plover is ten inches and a half long, and twenty-
one inches in extent; bill short, of a dusky slate colour; eye very
large, blue black; nostrils placed in a deep furrow, and half
covered with a prominent membrane; whole upper parts black,
thickly marked with roundish spots of various tints of golden
yellow; wing-coverts, and hind part of the neck, pale brown,
the latter streaked with yellowish; front, broad line over the
eye, chin, and sides of the same, yellowish white, streaked with
small pointed spots of brown olive; breast gray, with olive and
white; sides under the wings marked thinly with transverse
bars of pale olive; belly and vent white; wing quills black, the
middle of the shafts marked with white; greater coverts black,
tipt with white; tail rounded, black, barred with triangular spots
of golden yellow; legs dark dusky slate; feet three-toed, with
generally the slight rudiments of a heel, the outer toe connected
as far as the first joint with the middle one. The male and fe-
male ditfer very little in colour.

VOL. III. — y

SPECIES 6. CHARADRIUS APRICJ2RIUS.

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER.

[Plate LVIL— Fig. 4.]

Alwagrim Plover, Arct, Zool. p, 483, JVo. 398. — Le Pluvier dore
a gorge noire, Buff, mii, 85. — Peale’s Museum, JSTo. 4196.

This bird is known in some parts of the country by the name
of the large Whistling Field Plover. It generally makes its
first appearance in Pennsylvania late in April; frequents the
countries towards the mountains; seems particularly attached to
newly ploughed fields, where it forms its nest of a few slight
materials, as slightly put together. The female lays four eggs,
large for the size of the bird, of a light olive colour, dashed
with black; and has frequently two broods in the same season.
It is an extremely shy and watchful bird, though clamorous
during breeding time. The young are without the black colour
on the breast and belly until the second year, and the colours
of the plumage above are likewise imperfect till then. They
feed on worms, grubs, winged insects, and various kinds of ber-
ries, particularly those usually called dew-berries, and are at
such times considered exquisite eating. About the beginning
of September, they descend with their young to the seacoast,

* Charadriw Helveticus, Bonaparte, Journal Acad. Nat. Sc. v, p. 103 . Ann
Lyc. II p.298 — Vanellus fhlvelicus,Biiiss. v,p. 107, pi. ^0. fig. 1. Summer dress.
Oru’s reprint, VII, p. 42. — Vanellus griseus. Id. p. 100, pi. 9, fig. 1, winter dress.
— Vanellus varius. Id. p.103, pi. 9, fig. 2, young. — Tringa Helvetica, Lath. Ind.
Oi n. p. 728, No. 10, summer dress of the adult. — T. squalarola. Id. p. 729, JVo.
11, winter plumage. — Le Vanneau varie, Buff. PI. Enl. 923, winter dress. —
Le Vanneau gris, Id. 854, young. — Le Vanneau suisse, Id. 853, summer dress of
adult. — Gray Sandpiper, Aret. Zool. No. S93. — Siviss Sandpiper, Id. Afo. 396. —
Brilish Zool. No. 191. — Edwards hi, pi. 140. — Vanellus melanozasier, Bech-
STEIN, IV, p. 356.— Lath. Srjn. iii, p. 167, No. 10; p. 168, No. 11; p. 169,
Var. A. — Id.Supp. p. 248.— Temm. Man. d'Orn. 549.

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER.

163

and associate with the numerous multitudes then returning from
their breeding places in the north. At this season they abound
on the plains of Long Island. They have a loud whistling note;
often fly at a great height; and are called by many gunners
along the coast, the Black-bellied Kildeer. The young of the
first year have considerable resemblance to those of the Golden
Plover; but may be easily distinguished from this last by the
largeness of their head and bill, and in being at least two inches
more in length. The greater number of those which I have
examined have the rudiments of a hind toe; but the character
and manners of the Plover are so conspicious in the bird, as to
determine, at the first glance, the tribe it belongs to. They con-
tinue about tbe seacoast until early in November, when they
move off to the south.

This same bird, Mr. Pennant informs us^ inhabits all the
north of Europe, Iceland, Greenland, and Hudson’s Bay, and
all the arctic part of Siberia. It is said, that at Hudson’s Bay
it is called the Hawk’s-eye, on account of its brilliancy. It ap-
pears, says the same author, in Greenland in the spring, about
the southern lakes, and feeds on worms and berries of the heath.

This species is twelve inches long, and twenty -four inches in
extent; the bill is thick, deeply grooved on the upper mandible
an inch and a quarter in length, and of a black colour; the head
and globe of the eye are both remarkably large, the latter deep
bluish black; forehead white; crown and hind-head black, spot-
ted with golden yellow; back and scapulars dusky, sprinkled
with the same golden or orange coloured spots, mixed with
others of white; breast, belly and vent black; sides of the breast
whitish; wing quills black, middle of the shafts white; greater
coverts black, tipt with white; lining of the wing black; tail re-
gularly barred with blackish and pure white; tail-coverts pure
white; legs and feet a dusky lead colour; the exterior toe joined
to the middle by a broad membrane; hind toe very small.

From the length of time which these birds take to acquire
their full colours, they are found in very various stages of plu-
mage. The breast and belly are at first white, gradually appear

164

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER.

mottled with black, and finally become totally black. The
spots of orange, or golden, on the crown, hind-head and back,
are at first white, and sometimes even the breast itself is mark-
ed with these spots, mingled among the black. In every stage,
the seemingly disproportionate size of the head, and thickness
of the bill, will distinguish this species.

Note. Mr. Ord furnishes the following additional information
respecting this species in his reprint of the seventh volume of
Wilson.

An adult male, shot the 26th April, near Philadelphia, mea-
sured eleven inches in length ; space between the eye and bill,
and cheeks, black; throat, and thence down the breast and bel-
ly, as far as the thighs, black, with white intermixed; front
pure white, which extends in a narrow line over the eyes, bor-
dering the black of the neck, as far as the breast; crown, and
thence down the back part of the neck, brown and white; up-
per parts, with wing-coverts, banded with white and black,
with some ashy brown feathers interspersed, the whole present-
ing an irregularly spotted appearance — the back, scapulars and
tertials with greenish reflections; lower part of abdomen, thighs,
vent, lining of the wings, and under tail-coverts, pure white,
the exterior vanes of the last spotted with brown black; sides
under the wings very pale ash, with faint ashy brown bars; up-
per tail-coverts white, with narrow ashy brown bars, which in-
crease in size, and become darker, up the rump; the upper part
of the inner webs of the primaries white; bill, legs and feet, of
a shining black; no golden or orange coloured spots. The parts
not mentioned agreeing with those of the foregoing.

Another adult male, shot at Egg-Harbour, on the 10th of May,
was twelve inches in length, and had its cheeks, lores, throat,
middle of the breast and belly, as far as the thighs, black; the
long feathers of the sides, at the junction of the wings, also
black; feathers of the crown ash, centred with black, and tipt
with white; back brownish black, plumage broadly tipt with
white; wing-coverts brown ash and black, broadly spotted and

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER.

165

tipt with white; tail white, broadly barred with black; no golden
spots.

An adult female, shot at Egg-Harbour, on the 26th May, was
twelve inches in length; upper parts olive brown, spotted with
black and white, the long feathers of the sides, at the junction
of the wings, black; wings crossed with a broad band of white,
immediately under their coverts, spreading over their shafts;
secondaries pale olive, edged and tipt with white; primaries,
and their coverts, black; throat and sides of the neck white,
spotted with dark olive; breast and belly, as far as the thighs,
black, intermixed with white; legs and feet deep purplish slate.
The black of the lower parts was not so deep as that of the
foregoing male. Her eggs were small.

A young male, shot at Egg-Harbour, in the month of October,
had whitish spots on a brownish black ground; crown nearly
black, spotted with brownish yellow; breast, throat and eye-
brows, pure white; the long feathers of the sides, at the junction
of the wings, black; legs and feet lead-coloured.

A young bird in Peale’s collection, supposed to be a male of
the first year, has its head, neck, and whole upper parts, brown
ash or dark gray, spotted with white; breast white, with pale
brown ash intermixed; lower part of the abdomen, and under
tail-coverts, white; tail white, with large bars of ashy brown;
lining of the wings white; the long feathers of the sides, at the
junction of the wings, dusky; primaries paler than in the adult,
but similarly marked with white. It has no golden or orange
coloured spots.

I have little doubt that the Black-bellied Plover described by
Pennant as common at Hudson’s bay, and called there Hawk’s-
eye, is this speces, although authors record it among the syno-
nymes of the Golden Plover, in its spring dress. The hind toe
of this species is very small and slender; and in dried specimens
it adheres so closely to the tarsus that it is frequently overlooked.
It likewise is liable to be rubbed off; this accident probably oc-
curred to the specimen figured and described by Edwards, under
the name of Spotted Plover; for I have no hesitation in pro-

166

BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER.

nouncing it to be of the same species with the subject of this
article. The bird figured in the British Zoology of Pennant, as
the Golden Plover, (Plate LXXII,) appears to be the young of
this species, in its winter dress; for it is represented with a hind
toe, which the true Golden Plover is never furnished with.
Hence we must conclude that those authors, who describe the
latter as having sometimes a hind toe, confound the young of
the two species, which in truth so nearly resemble each other
in their plumage that it requires a close observation to distinguish
them. But the young of the Black-bellied Plover, or present
species, may be known by their large head and stout bill; by
their hind toe; and by the long dusky or black feathers which
lie next to the sides, at the junction of the wings.

In the Manuel d’Ornithologie of Temminck, unquestionably
the best work on the birds of Europe which has ever been pub-
lished, the changes which this species undergoes are clearly
detailed; and its synonymes are so well settled, that the future
ornithologist will find his labours much lightened, when the
subject of this article, in any stage of plumage, shall come before
him. In the excellent Supplement to Montagu’s Ornithological
Dictionary we are also presented with some valuable references:
and the editor of this volume with pleasure acknowledges the
sources whence he has drawn that information which has enabled
him to determine the species.

SPECIES 7. CHARADRIUS CJiLWRlS.

SANDERLING PLOVER.

[Plate LIX. — Fig. 4.f]

Linn. Syst. 255. — Arct. Zool. j), 486, JV^o. 403. — Le SanderLing,
Buff, vii, 532. — Bewick, ii, 19. — Peale’s Museum, JVo. 4204.

In this well known bird we have another proof of the im-
perfection of systematic arrangement, where no attention is paid
to the general habits; but where one single circumstance is some-
times considered sufficient to determine the species. The genus
Plover is characterized by several strong family traits, one of
which is that of wanting the hind toe. The Sandpipers have
also their peculiar external characters of bill, general form, &c.,
by which they are easily distinguished from the former. The
present species, though possessing the bill, general figure, man-
ners and voice, of the Sandpipers, feeding in the same way, and
associating with these in particular; yet, wanting the hind toe,
has been classed with the Plovers, with whom, this single cir-
cumstance excepted, it has no one characteristic in common.
Though we have not, in the present instance, presumed to alter
this arrangement, yet it appears both reasonable and natural,
that where the specific characters in any bird seem to waver be-
tween two species, that the figure, voice and habits of the equi-
vocal one should always be taken into consideration, and be al-
lowed finally to determine the class to which it belongs. Had
this rule been followed in the present instance, the bird we are

* Calidrh arenaria, Ord’s reprint, vol. vir, p- 72. — Tringa arenaria, Gmel.
Syst. I, p. 680, No. 16. — Lath. Syn. iii, 197, No. 4. — Ind. Oni. p. 741, No.
4. — Calldris grisca minor, Briss. v, p. 236, pi. 20, fig 2. — Temm. ./1/an. d’Orn.
p. 524.

t Winter dress.

168

SANDERLING PLOVER.

now about to describe would have undoubtedly been classed
with the Sandpipers.*

The history of this species has little in it to excite our inte-
rest or attention. It makes its appearance on our seacoasts ear-
ly in September; continues during the greater part of winter;
and on the approach of spring, returns to the northern regions
to breed. While here, it seems perpetually busy, running along
the wave-worn strand, following the flux and reflux of the surf,
eagerly picking up its food from the sand, amid the roar of the
ocean. It flies in numerous flocks, keeping a low meandering
course along the ridges of the tumbling surf. On alighting, the
whole scatter about after the receding wave, busily picking up
those minute bivalves already described. As the succeeding
wave returns, it bears the whole of them before it in one crowd-
ed line; then is the moment siezed by the experienced gunner
to sweep them in flank, with his destructive shot. The flying
survivors, after a few aerial meanders, again alight, and pursue
their usual avocation, as busily and unconcernedly as before.
These birds are most numerous on extensive sandy beaches in
front of the ocean. Among rocks, marshes, or stones covered
with sea-weed, they seldom make their appearance.

The Sanderling is eight inches long, and fourteen inches in
extent; the bill is black, an inch and a quarter in length, slender,
straight, fluted along the upper mandible, and exactly formed
like that of the Sandpiper; the head, neck above, back, scapu-
lars and tertials, are gray white; the shafts blackish, and the webs
tinged with brownish ash; shoulder of the wing black; greater
coverts broadly tipt with white; quills black, crossed with a
transverse band of white; the tail extends a little beyond the
wings, and is of a grayish ash colour, edged with white, the two
middle feathers being about half an inch longer than the others;
eye dark hazel; whole lower parts of the plumage pure white;

* It is now arranged by naturalists in the genus Calidris, of Illiger; a genus
constructed expressly for this bird; and it is the only species of the genus
yet discovered.

SANDERLING PLOVER.

169

legs, and naked part of the thighs, black; feet three-tbed, each
divided to its origin, and bordered with a narrow membrane.

Such are the most common markings of this bird, both of
males and females, particularly during the winter; but many
others occur among them, early in the autumn, thickly marked
or spotted with black on the crown, back, scapulars and tertials,
so as to appear much mottled, having as much black as white on
those parts. In many of these I have observed the plain gray
plumage coming out about the middle of October; so that, per-
haps, the gray may be their winter, and the spotted their sum-
mer, dress.

I have also met with many specimens of this bird, not only
thickly speckled with white and black above, but also on the
neck, and strongly tinged on both with ferruginous; in which
dress it has been mistaken by Mr. Pennant and others for a new
species; the description of his ‘‘ Ruddy Plover” agreeing exact-
ly with this.* A figure of the Sanderling, in this state of plu-
mage will be introduced in some part of the present work.

* See Arct. Zool. p. 486, No. 404.

VOL. III. — Z

CHJ3RJ1DRIUS RUBIDUS.

RUDDY PLOVER.

[Plate LXIIL— Fig. 3.]

Jlrct. Zool. 404. — Lath. Syn. r. 3, p. 195, JVo. 2. — Turt.

Syst. p. 415.

This bird is frequently found in company with the Sander-
ling, which, except in colour, it very much resembles. It is
generally seen on the seacoast of New Jersey in May and Oc-
tober, on its way to and from its breeding place in the north.
It runs with great activity along the edge of the flowing or re-
treating waves, on the sands, picking up the small bivalve shell-
fish, which supply so many multitudes of the Plover and Sand-
piper tribes.

I should not be surprised if the present species turn out here-
after to be the Sanderling itself, in a different dress. Of many
scores which I examined, scarce two were alike; in some the
plumage of the back was almost plain; in others the black plu-
mage was just shooting out. This was in the month of October.
Naturalists, however, have considered it as a separate species;
but have given us no further particulars, than that ‘‘in Hudson’s
Bay it is known by the name of Mistchaychekiskaweshish”t a
piece of information certainly very instructive!

The Ruddy Plover is eight inches long, and fifteen in extent:
the bill is black, an inch long, and straight; sides of the neck,
and whole upper parts, speckled largely with white, black and
ferruginous; the feathers being centred with black, tipt with
white, and edged with ferruginous, giving the bird a very mot-

* This is the preceding species in perfect summer plumage.

T Latham.

RUDDY PLOVER.

171

ley appearance, belly and vent pure white; wing quills black,
crossed with a band of white; lesser coverts whitish, centred
with pale olive, the first two or three rows black; two middle
tail feathers black; the rest pale cinereous, edged with white;
legs and feet black; toes bordered with a very narrow membrane.
On dissection, both males and females varied in their colours
and markings.

GENUS 76. HiEMATOPUS. OVSTER-CATCHER.

SPECIES. H. OSTRALEGUS.*

PIED OYSTER-CATCHER.

[Plate LXIV.— Fig. 2.]

..irct. Zool. A'o. 406. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 219. — Catesby, i, 85.

— Bewick, ii, 23. — Peace’s Museum, Jfo. 4258.

This singular species, although nowhere numerous, inhabits
almost every seashore, both on the new and old continent, but
is never found inland. It is the only one of its genus hitherto
discovered, and from the conformation of some of its parts one
might almost be led by fancy to suppose, that it had borrowed
the eye of the Pheasant, the legs and feet of the Bustard, and
the bill of the Woodpecker.

The Oyster-catcher frequents the sandy sea beach of New
Jersey, and other parts of our Atlantic coast in summer, in small
parties of two or three pairs together They are extremely shy,
and, except about the season of breeding, will seldom permit a
person to approach within gun shot. They walk along the shore
in a watchful stately manner, at times probing it with their long
wedge-like bills in search of small shell-fish. This appears evi-
dent on examining the hard sands where they usually resort,
which are found thickly perforated with oblong holes two or
three inches in depth. The small crabs called fiddlers^ that
burrow in the mud at the bottom of inlets, are frequently the
prey of the Oyster-catcher; as are muscles, spout-fish, and a
variety of other shell-fish and sea insects with which those shores
abound.

* Gmel. Sysl. I, p. 694. — Lath. hid. Orn. p. 752. — Gen. Syn. iir, p. 219. —
Stephens, Gat. Zool. xi, p. 494, pi. 36. — VHutlrier, Buff, viii, p. 119, pi. 9.
—PI. Enl. M. 929.— Temm. Man d’Oni. p. 531.

PIED OYSTER-CATCHER.

173

The principal food, however, of this bird, according to Eu-
ropean writers, and that from which it derives its name, is the
oyster, which it is said to watch for, and snatch suddenly from
the shells, whenever it surprises them sufficiently open. In
search of these it is reported that it often frequents the oyster
beds, looking out for the slightest opening through which it
may attack its unwary prey. For this purpose the form of its
bill seems very fitly calculated. Yet the truth of these accounts
are doubted by the inhabitants of Egg Harbour and other parts
of our coast, who positively assert that it never haunts such
places, but confines itself almost solely to the sands. And this
opinion I am inclined to believe correct; having myself uni-
formly found these birds on the smooth beach bordering the
ocean, and on the higher dry and level sands, just beyond the
reach of the summer tides. On this last situation, where the
dry flats are thickly interspersed with drifted shells, I have
repeatedly found their nests, between the middle and twenty-
fifth of May. The nest itself is a slight hollow in the sand, con-
taining three eggs, somewhat less than those of a hen, and nearly
of the same shape, of a bluish cream colour, marked with large
roundish spots of black, and others of a fainter tint. In some,
the ground cream colour is destitute of the bluish tint, the
blotches larger, and of a deep brown. The young are hatched
about the twenty-fifth of May, and sometimes earlier, having
myself caught them running along the beach about that period.
They are at first covered with down of a grayish colour, very
much resembling that of the sand, and marked with a streak of
brownish black on the back, rump and neck, the bi’east being-
dusky, where in the old ones it is black. The bill is at that age
slightly bent downwards at the tip, where, like most other
young birds, it has a hard protuberance that assists them in
breaking the shell; but in a few days afterwards this falls off*
These run along the shore with great ease and swiftness.

* Latham observes, that the young are said to be hatched in about three
weeks; and though they are wild when in flocks, yet are easily brought up
tame if taken young. “I have known them,” says he, “to be thus kept

174

PIED OYSTER-CATCHER.

The female sits on her eggs only during the night, or in re-
markably cold and rainy weather; at other times the heat of the
sun and of the sand, which is sometimes great, renders incuba-
tion unnecessary. But although this is the case, she is not de-
ficient in care or affection. She watches the spot with an attach-
ment, anxiety and perseverance that are really surprising, till
the time arrives when her little offspring burst their prisons,
and follow the guiding voice of their mother. When there is
appearance of danger they squat on the sand, from which they
are with difficulty distinguished, while the parents make large
circuits around the intruder, alighting sometimes on this hand,
sometimes on that, uttering repeated cries, and practising the
common affectionate stratagem of counterfeited lameness to
allure him from their young.

These birds run and fly with great vigour and velocity. Their
note is a loud and shrill whistling wheep — wheep — wheo, smartly-
uttered. A flock will often rise, descend, and wheel in air with
remarkable regularity, as if drilled to the business, the glittering
white of their wings at such times being very conspicuous. They
are more remarkable for this on their first arrival in the spring.
Some time ago I received a stuffed specimen of the Oyster-
catcher from a gentleman of Boston, an experienced sportsman,
who nevertheless was unacquainted with this bird. He informed
me that two very old men to whom it was shown called it a
Hagdel. He adds, “it was shot from a flock which was first
discovered on the beach near the entrance of Boston harbour.
On the approach of the gunner they rose and instantly formed
in line, like a corps of troops, and advanced in perfect order,
keeping well dressed. They made a number of circuits in the
air previous to being shot at, but wheeled in line; and the man
who fired into the flock, observed that all their evolutions were
like a regularly organized military company.”

for a long time, frequenting the ponds and ditches during the day, attend-
ing the ducks and other poultry to shelter of nights, and not unfrequently
to come up of themselves as evening approaches. Gf.n. Synop. vol- in, p.
220.

PIED OYSTER-CATCHER.

175

The Oyster-catcher will not only take to the water when
wounded, but can also swim and dive well. This fact I can
assert from my own observation, the exploits of one of them in
this way having nearly cost me my life. On the sea beach of
Cape May, not far from a deep and rapid inlet, I broke the
wing of one of these birds, and being without a dog, instantly
pursued it towards the inlet, which it made for with great ra-
pidity. We both plunged in nearly at the same instant; but the
bird eluded my grasp, and I sunk beyond my depth ; it was not
until this moment that I recollected having carried in my gun
along with me. On rising to the surface I found the bird had
dived, and a strong ebb current was carrying me fast towards
the ocean, encumbered with a gun and all my shooting appa-
ratus; I was compelled to relinquish my bird, and to make for
the shore, with considerable mortification, and the total destruc-
tion of the contents of my powderhorn. The wounded bird
afterwards rose, and swam with great buoyancy out among the
breakers.

On the same day I shot and examined three individuals of
this species, two of which measured each eighteen inches in
length, and thirty-five inches in extent; the other was somewhat
less. The bills varied in length, measuring three inches and
three quarters, three and a half, and three and a quarter, thinly
compressed at the point, very much like that of the Woodpecker
tribe, but remarkably narrowed near the base where the nostrils
are placed, probably that it may work with more freedom in
the sand. This instrument for two-thirds of its length towards
the point, was evidently much worn by digging; its colour a
rich orange scarlet, somewhat yellowish near the tip; eye large,
orbits of the same bright scarlet as the bill, irides brilliant yel-
low, pupil small, bluish black; under the eye is a small spot of
white, and a large bed of the same on the wing coverts ;^head,
neck, scapulars, rump, wing quills, and tail black; several of
the primaries are marked on the outer vanes with a slanting
band of white; secondaries white, part of them tipt with black;
the whole lower parts of the body, sides of the rump, tail co-

176

PIED OYSTER-CATCHER.

verts, and that portion of the tail which they cover, are pure
white; the wings, when shut, cover the whole white plumage
of the back and rump; legs and naked part of the thighs pale
red; feet three toed, the outer joined to the middle by a broad
and strong membrane, and each bordered with a rough warty
edge; the soles of the feet are defended from the hard sand and
shells by a remarkably thick and callous warty skin.

On opening these birds the smallest of the three was found
to be a male; the gullet widened into a kind of crop; the sto-
mach, or gizzard, contained fragments of shell-fish, pieces of
crabs, and of the great king-crab, with some dark brown marine
insects. The flesh was remarkably firm and muscular, the skull
thick and strong, intended no doubt, as in the Woodpecker
tribe, for the security of the brain from the violent concussions
it might receive while the bird was engaged in digging. The
female and young birds have the back and scapulars of a sooty
brownish olive.

This species is found as far south as Cayenne and Surinam.
Dampier met with it on the coast of New Holland; the British
circumnavigators also saw it on Van Diemen’s Land, Terra del
Fuego, and New Zealand.

GENUS 78. RALLUS. RAIL,

SPECIES 1. R. CREPITANS.

CLAPPER RAIL.

[Plate LXIL— Fig. 2.]

Jlrct. Zool. No. 407. — Turt. Syst. 4S0.“Lath. Syn. v. 3, jo.

229, No. 2. — Peale’s Museum, No. 4400.

This is a very numerous and well known species, inhabiting
our whole Atlantic coast from New England to Florida. It is
designated by different names, such as the Mud-hen, Clapper
Rail, Meadow-clapper, Big Rail, &c. &c. Though occasionally
found along the swampy shores, and tide waters, of our large
rivers, its principal residence is in the salt marshes. It is a bird
of passage, arriving on the coast of New Jersey about the twen-
tieth of April, and retiring again late in September. I suspect
that many of them winter in the marshes of Georgia and Flori-
da, having heard them very numerous, at the mouth of Savan-
nah river, in the month of February. Coasters and fishermen
often hear them while on their migrations, in spring, generally
a little before daybreak. The shores of New Jersey, within the
beach, consisting of an immense extent of flat marsh, covered
with a coarse reedy grass, and occasionally overflowed by the
sea, by which it is also cut up into innumerable islands by nar-
row inlets, seem to be the favourite breeding place for these
birds, as they are there acknowledged to be more than double
in number to all other marsh fowl.

The Clapper Rail, or as it is generally called, the Mud-hen,
soon announces its arrival in the salt marshes, by its loud, harsh
and incessant cackling, which very much resembles that of a
Guinea fowl. This noise is most general during the night; and
is said to be always greatest before a storm. About the twenti-

VOL. III. — A a

178

CLAPPER RAIL.

eth of May, they generally commence laying and building at
the same time; the first egg being usually dropt in a slight cavi-
ty, lined with a little dry grass, pulled for the purpose, which,
as the number of the eggs increase to their usual complement,
ien, is gradually added to, until it rises to the height of twelve
.inches or more, doubtless to secure it from the rising of the
tides. Over this, the long salt grass is artfully arched, and knit
at top, to conceal it from the view above: but this very circum-
stance enables the experienced egg-hunter to distinguish the
spot at the distance of thirty or forty yards, though impercept-
ible to a common eye. The eggs are of a pale clay colour, sprin-
kled with small spots of dark red, and measure somewhat more
than an inch and a half in length, by one inch in breadth, being
rather obtuse at the small end. These eggs are exquisite eating,
far surpassing those of the domestic hen. The height of laying
is about the first of June, when the people of the neighbourhood
go off to the marshes an egging, as it is called. So abundant
are the nests of this species, and so dexterous some persons at
finding them, that one hundred dozens of eggs have been col-
lected by one man in a day. At this time the crows, the foxes,
and the minxes, come in for their share; but not content with
the eggs, these last often seize and devour the parents also. The
bones, feathers, wings, &c. of the poor Mud-hen lie in heaps
near the hole of the minx; by which circumstance, however, he
himself is often detected and destroyed.

These birds are also subject to another calamity, of a more
extensive kind. After the greater part of the eggs are laid, there
sometimes happen violent north-east tempests, that drive a great
sea into the bay, covering the whole marshes; so that at such
times the Rail may be seen in hundreds, floating over the marsh
in great distress; many escape to the main land; and vast num-
bers perish. On an occasion of this kind I have seen, at one view,
thousands in a single meadow, walking about exposed and be-
wildered, while the dead bodies of the females, who had perish-
ed on or near their nests, were strewed along the shore. This
last circumstance proves how strong the ties of maternal affection

CLAPPER RAIL.

179

are in these birds; for of the great numbers which I picked up
and opened, not one male was to be found among them; all
were females! such as had not yet begun to sit probably escaped.
These disasters do not prevent the survivors from recommenc-
ing the work of laying and building anew; and instances have
occurred, where their eggs have been twice destroyed by the
sea; and yet in two weeks, the eggs and nests seemed as nu-
merous as ever.

The young of the Clapper Rail very much resemble those of
the Virginian Rail, except in being larger. On the tenth of Au-
gust, I examined one of these young Clapper Rails, caught
among the reeds in the Delaware, and apparently about three
weeks old; it was covered with black down, with the exception
of a spot of white on the auriculars, and a streak of the same
along the side of the breast, belly, and fore part of the thigh;
the legs were of a blackish slate colour; and the bill was marked
with a spot of white near the point, and round the nostril. These
run with great facility among the grass and reeds, and are taken
with extreme difficulty.

The whole defence of this species seems to be in the nervous
vigour of its limbs, and thin compressed foi'm of its body, by
which it is enabled to pass between the stalks of grass and reeds
with great rapidity. There is also every where among the salt
marshes, covered ways under the flat and matted grass, through
which the Rail makes its way like a rat, without a possibility
of being seen. There is generally one or more of these from its
nest to the water edge, by which it may escape unseen; and
sometimes, if closely pressed, it will dive to the other side of
the pond, gut, or inlet, rising and disappearing again with the
silence and celerity of thought. In smooth water it swims tol-
erably well, but not fast; sitting high in the water, with its neck
erect, and striking with great rapidity. When on shore, it runs
with the neck extended, the tail erect, and frequently flirted up.
On fair ground, they run nearly as fast as a man; having myself,
with great difficulty, caught some that were wing-broken. They
have also the faculty of remaining under water for several min-

180

CLAPPER RAIL.

utes, clinging close, head downwards, by the roots of the grass.
In a long stretch, they fly with great velocity, very much in
the manner of a Duck, with extended neck, and generally low;
but such is their aversion to take wing, that you may traverse
the marshes, where there are hundreds of these birds, without
seeing one of them; nor will they flush until they have led the
dog through numerous labyrinths, and he is on the very point
of seizing them.

The food of the Clapper Rail consists of small shell-fish, par-
ticularly those of the snail form, so abundant in the marshes;
they also eat small crabs. Their flesh is dry, tastes sedgy, and
will bear no comparison with that of the common Rail. Early
in October, they move off to the south; and though, even in
winter, a solitary instance of one may sometimes be seen, yet
these are generally such as have been weak or wounded, and
unable to perform the journey.

The Clapper Rail measures fourteen inches in length, and
eighteen in extent; the bill is two inches and a quarter long,
slightly bent, pointed, grooved, and of a reddish brown colour;
iris of the eye dark red; nostril oblong, pervious; crown, neck
and back, black, streaked with dingy brown; chin, and line
over the eye, brownish white; auriculars dusky; neck before,
and whole breast, of the same red brown as that of the preced-
ing species; wing coverts dark chesnut; quill feathers plain dus-
ky; legs reddish brown; flanks and vent black, tipt or barred
with white. The males and females are nearly alike.

The young birds of the first year have the upper parts of an
olive brown, streaked with pale slate; wings pale brown olive;
chin, and part of the throat, white; breast ash colour, tinged
with brown; legs and feet a pale horn colour. Mr. Pennant, and
several other naturalists, appear to have taken their descriptions
from these imperfect specimens, the Clapper Rail being alto-
gether unknown in Europe.

I have never met with any of these birds in the interior at a
distance from lakes or rivers. I have also made diligent inquiry

CLAPPER RAIL.

181

for them along the shores of lakes Champlain and Ontario, but
without success.

Note. — Mr. T. Peale and myself had an opportunity of veri-
fying the conjecture of the author, as to the winter retreat of
these birds; we having found them to be extremely numerous
in the marshes of the coast of Georgia, in the month of January.
In such multitudes were they along the borders of the streams
or passages, which separate the sea-islands from the main, that
their loud and incessant noise became quite as disgusting as the
monotonous cackle of that intolerable nuisance, the Guinea-fowl

G. Ord.

SPECIES 2. PALLUS VIRGINMNUS

VIRGINIAN RAIL,

[Plate LXIL— Fig. 1.]

Jj-Ct. Zool. wYo. 408. — Edw. £79. — Lath. Syn. v. 3, p. 228, JS'o.

1, var. A. — Peale’s Museum, JVo. 4426.

This species very much resembles the European Water Rail,
{Rallus aquatims) but is smaller, and has none of the slate or
lead colour on the breast, which marks that of the old continent;
its toes are also more than proportionably shorter, which, with
a few other peculiarities, distinguish the species. It is far less
numerous in this part of the United States than our common
Rail, and, as I apprehend, inhabits more remote northern re-'
gions. It is frequently seen along the borders of our salt marsh-
es, which the other rarely visits; and also breeds there, as well
as among the meadows that border our large rivers. It spreads
over the interior as far west as the Ohio, having myself shot it
in the barrens of Kentucky, early in May. The people there
observe them in wet places, in the groves, only in spring. It
feeds less on vegetable, and more on animal, food than the com-
mon Rail. During the months of September and October, when
the reeds and wild oats swarm with the latter species, feeding
on their nutricious seeds, a few of the present kind are occasion-
ally found; but not one for five hundred of the others. The food
of the present species consists of small snail shells, worms, and
the larvm of insects, which it extracts from the mud; hence the
cause of its greater length of bill, to enable it the more readily
to reach its food. On this account also, its flesh is much inferi-
or to that of the other. In most of its habits, its thin compress-
ed form of body, its aversion to take wing, and the dexterity
with which it runs or conceals itself among the grass and sedge.

VIRGINIAN RAIL.

183

are exactly similar to those of the common Rail, from which
genus, notwithstanding the difference of its bill, it ought not to
be separated.

This bird is known to some of the inhabitants along the sea-
coast of New Jersey, by the name of Fresh-water Mud-hen,
this last being the common appellation of the Clapper Rail, which
the present species- resembles in every thing but size. The epi-
thet Fresh-water, is given it because of its frequenting those
parts of the marsh only, where fresh water springs rise through
the bogs into the salt marshes. In these places it usually con-
structs its nest, one of which, through the active exertions of
my friend, Mr. Ord, while traversing with me the salt marshes
of Cape May, we had the good fortune to discover. It was built
in the bottom of a tuft of grass, in the midst of an almost impe-
netrable quagmire, and was composed altogether of old wet grass
and rushes. The eggs had been floated out of the nest by the
extraordinary rise of the tide, in a violent north-east storm, and
lay scattered about among the drift- weed. The female, how-
ever, still lingered near the spot, to which she was so attached,
as to suffer herself to be taken by hand. She doubtless intend-
ed to repair her nest, and commence laying anew; as, during
the few hours that she was in our possession, she laid one egg, cor-
responding in all respects with the others. On examining those
floated out of the nest, they contained young, perfectly formed,
but dead. The usual number of eggs is from six to ten. They
are shaped like those of the domestic hen, measuring one inch
and two-tenths long, by very nearly half an inch in width, and
are of a dirty white, or pale cream colour, sprinkled Avith specks
of reddish, and pale purple, most numerous near the great end.
They commence laying early in May, and probably raise two
brood in the season. I suspect this from the circumstance of
Mr. Ord having, late in the month of July, brought me seve-
ral young ones, of only a few days old, which Averc caught among
the grass, near the border of the Delaware. The parent Rail
showed great solicitude for their safety. They Avhere wholly
black, except a white spot on the bill; Avere covered with a fine

184

VIRGINIAN RAIL.

down, and had a soft piping note. In the month of June, of the
same yeai’, another pair of these birds began to breed amidst a
boggy spring in one of Mr. Bartram’s meadows; but were un-
fortunately destroyed.

The Virginian Rail is migratory, never wintering in the north-
ern or middle states. It makes its first appearance in Pennsyl-
vania early in May; and leaves the country on the first smart
frosts, generally in November. I have no doubt but many of
them linger in the low woods, and marshes, of the southern
states, during winter.

This species is ten inches long, and fourteen inches in extent;
bill dusky red ; cheeks and stripe over the eye ash, over the lores,
and at the lower eyelid, white; iris of the eye red; crown and
whole upper parts black, streaked with brown, the centre of
each feather being black; wing-coverts hazel brown, inclining
to chestnut; quills plain deep dusky; chin white; throat, breast
and belly, orange brown; sides and vent black, tipt with white;
legs and feet dull red brown; edge of the bend of the wing
white.

The female is about half an inch shoi'ter, and differs from the
male in having the breast much paler, not of so bright a reddish
brown; there is also more white on the chin and throat.

When seen, which is very rarely, these birds stand or run
with the tail erect, which they frequently jerk upwards. They
fly with the legs hanging, generally but a short distance; and
the moment they alight, run off with great speed.

SPECIES 3. RALLUS CAROLINUS.

RAIL.

[Plate XL VIII.— Fig. 1. M?/e.]

Soree, Catesb. i, 70. — j^rct. Zool. p. 491, Little Ame-

rican Water Hen, Ewd. 144. — Le Rdl de Virginie, Buff, vin,
165.*

Of all our land or water fowl, perhaps none afford the sports-
man more agreeable amusement, or a more delicious repast, than
the little bird now before us. This amusement is indeed tem-
porary, lasting only two or three hours in the day, for four or
five weeks in each year; but as it occurs in the most agreeable
and temperate of our seasons, is attended with little or no fa-
tigue to the gunner, and is frequently successful, it attracts nu-
merous followers, and is pursued, in such places as the birds
frequent, with great eagerness and enthusiasm.

The natural history of the Rail, or as it is called in Virginia
the So7'a, and in South Carolina the Coot, is, to the most of our
sportsmen, involved in profound and inexplicable mystery. It
comes, they know not whence; and goes, they know not whither.
No one can detect their first moment of arrival; yet all at once
the reedy shores, and grassy marshes, of our large rivers swarm
with them, thousands being sometimes found within the space
of a few acres. These, when they do venture on wing, seem
to fly so feebly, and in such short fluttering flights among the
the reeds, as to render it highly improbable, to most people,
that they could possibly make their way over an extensive tract
of country. Yet, on the first smart frost that occurs, the whole
suddenly disappear, as if they had never been.

* Rallus Carolinus, Lin. Syst. p. 153, M. 5, ed. 10. — Gallinula Carolina,
Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 771, JVo. 17.

VOL. III. B b

186

RAIL

To account for these extraordinary phenomena, it has been
supposed, by some, that they bury themselves in the mud; but
as this is every year dug into by ditchers and people employed
in repairing the banks, without any of those sleepers being
found, where but a few weeks before these birds were innume-
rable, this theory has been generally abandoned. And here
their researches into this mysterious matter generally end in the
common exclamation of “What can become of them!” Some
profound inquirers, however, not discouraged with these diffi-
culties, have prosecuted their researches with more success; and
one of those, living a few years ago near the mouth of James
river, in Virginia, where the Rail or Sora are extremely nume-
rous, has (as I was informed on the spot) lately discovered, that
they change into frogs! having himself found in his meadows
an animal of an extraordinary kind, that appeared to be neither
a Sora nor a frog; but, as he expressed it, “something between
the two.” He earned it to his negroes, and afterwards took it
home, where it lived three days, and in his own, and his ne-
groes’ opinion, it looked like nothing in this world but a real
Sora, changing into a frog! What farther confirms this grand
discovery, is the well known circumstance of the frogs ceasing
to hollow. as soon as the Sora comes in the Fall.

This sagacious discoverer, however, like many others renown-
ed in history, has found but a few supporters; and except his
own negroes, has not, as far as I can learn, made a single con-
vert to his opinion. Matters being so circumstanced, and some
explanation necessary, I shall endeavour to throw a little more
light on the subject, by a simple detail of facts, leaving the read-
er to form his own theory as he pleases.

The Rail or Sora belongs to a genus of birds of which about
thirty different species are enumerated by naturalists; and these
are distributed over almost every region of the habitable parts
of the earth. The general character of these is every where the
same. They run swiftly, fly slowly, and usually with the legs
hanging down; become extremely fat; are fond of conceal-
ment; and, wherever it is practicable, prefer running to flying.

RAIL.

187

M ost of them are migratory, and abound during the summer
in certain countries, the inhabitants of which have very rarely
an opportunity of seeing them. Of this last the Land Rail of
Britain is a striking example. This bird, which, during the
summer months, may be heard in almost every grass and clo-
ver field in the kingdom, uttering its common note crek, crek,
from sunset to a late hour in the night, is yet unknown, by sight,
to more than nine-tenths of the inhabitants. ‘‘ Its well known
cry,” says Bewick, ‘‘is first heard as soon as the grass becomes
long enough to shelter it, and continues till the grass is cut; but
the bird is seldom seen, for it constantly skulks among the thick-
est part of the herbage, and runs so nimbly through it, winding
and doubling in every direction, that it is difficult to come near
it; when hard pushed by the dog, it sometimes stops short, and
squats down, by which means its too eager pursuer overshoots
the spot, and loses the trace. It seldom springs but when dri-
ven to extremity, and generally flies with its legs hanging down,
but never to a great distance; as soon as it alights it runs off,
and before the fowler has reached the spot, the bird is at a con-
siderable distance.”* The Water Crake, or Spotted Rail of
the same country, which in its plumage approaches nearer to
our Rail, is another notable example of the same general habit
of the genus. “Its common abode,” says the same writer, “ is
in low swampy grounds, in which are pools or streamlets over-
grown with willows, reeds and rushes, where it lurks and hides
itself with great circumspection; it is wild, solitary and shy, and
will swim, dive or skulk under any cover, and sometimes suf-
ser itself to be knocked on the head, rather than rise before the
sportsman and his dog.” The Water Rail of the same country
is equally noted for the like habits. In short, the whole genus
possess this strong family character in a very remarkable degree.

These three species are well known to migrate into Britain
early in spring, and to leave it for the more southern parts of
Europe in autumn. Yet they are rarely or never seen in their

* Bewick’s British Birds, vol. i, p. 308.

188

RAIL.

passage to or from the countries where they are regularly found
at different seasons of the year; and this for the very same rea-
sons, that they are so rarely seen even in the places where they
inhabit.

It is not, therefore, at all surprising, that the regular migra-
tions of the American Rail or Sora should, in like manner, have
escaped notice in a country like this, whose population bears so
small a proportion to its extent; and where the study of natural
history is so little attended to. But that these migrations do
actually take place, from north to south, and vice versa, may be
fairly inferred from the common practice of thousands of other
species of birds less solicitious of concealment, and also from
the following facts.

On the twenty-second day of February I killed two of these
birds in the neighbourhood of Savannah in Georgia, where they
have never been observed during the summer. On the second
of the May following, I shot another in a watery thicket below
Philadelphia, between the rivers Schuylkill and Delaware, in
what is usually called the Neck. This last was a male, in full
plumage. We are also informed, that they arrive at Hudson’s
Bay early in June, and again leave that settlement for the south
early in autumn. That many of them also remain here to breed
is proved by the testimony of persons of credit and intelli-
gence with whom I have conversed, both here and on James
river in Virginia, who have seen their nests, eggs and young.
In the extensive meadows that border the Schuylkill and De-
laware, it was formerly common, before the country was so
thickly settled there, to find young Rail in the first mowing
time, among the grass. Mr. James Bartram, brother to the bo-
tanist, a venerable and still active man of eighty-three, and well
acquainted with this bird, says, that he has often seen and caught
young Rail in his own meadows in the month of June; he has
also seen their nest, which he says is usually in a tussock of
grass, is formed of a little dry grass, and has four or five eggs
of a dirty whitish colour, with brown or blackish spots; the young
run off as soon as they break the shell, are then quite black, and

RAIL.

189

run about among the grass like mice. The old ones he has ve-
ry rarely observed at that time, but the young often. Almost
every old settler along these meadows, with whom I have con-
versed, has occasionally seen young Rail in mowing time; and
all agree in describing them as covered with blackish down.
There can, therefore, be no reasonable doubt as to the residence
of many of these birds both here and to the northward during
the summer. That there can be as little doubt relative to their
winter retreat, will appear more particularly towards the sequel
of the present account. During their residence here, in sum-
mer, their manners exactly correspond with those of the Water
Crake of Britain already quoted; so that, though actually a dif-
ferent species, their particular habits, common places of resort,
and eagerness for concealment, are as nearly the same as the
nature of the climates will admit.

Early in August, when the reeds along the shores of the De-
laware have attained their full growth, the Rail resort to them
in great numbers, to feed on the seeds of this plant, of which
they, as well as the Rice-birds, and several others, are immo-
derately fond. These reeds, which appear to be the Zizania
panicula effusa of Linnaeus, and the Zizania clavulosa of
Willdenow, grow up from the soft muddy shores of the tide
water, which are alternately dry, and covered with four or five
feet of water. They rise with an erect, tapering, stem to the
height of eight or ten feet, being nearly as thick below as a
man’s wrist, and cover tracts along the river, of many acres.
The cattle feed on their long green leaves with avidity, and
wade in after them, as far as they dare safely venture. They
grow up so close together that, except at or near high water,
a boat can with difficulty make its way through among them.
The seeds are produced at the top of the plant, the blossoms or
male parts occupying the lower branches of the pannicle, and
the seeds the higher. These seeds are nearly as long as a com-
mon-sized pin, somewhat more slender, white, sweet to the
taste, and very nutritive, as appears by their effects on the va-
rious birds that, at this season, feed on them.

190

RAIL.

When the reeds are in this state, and even while in blossom,
the Rail are found to have taken possession of them in great
numbers. These are generally numerous in proportion to the
full and promising crop of the former. As you walk along the
embankment of the river, at this season, you hear them squeak-
ing in every direction, like young puppies; if a stone be thrown
among the reeds, there is a general outcry, and a reiterated kuk
kuk kuk, something like that of a guinea-fowl. Any sudden
noise, or the discharge of a gun, produces the same effect. In
the meantime, none are to be seen, unless it be at or near high-
water; for when the tide is low, they universally secrete them-
selves among the interstices of the reeds, and you may walk
past, and even over them, where there are hundreds, without
seeing a single individual. On their first arrival they are gene-
rally lean, and unfit for the table; but as the reeds ripen, they
rapidly fatten, and from the twentieth of September to the
middle of October are excellent, and eagerly sought after. The
usual method of shooting them, in this quarter of the country,
is as follows. The sportsman furnishes himself with a light
batteau, and a stout experienced boatman, with a pole of twelve
or fifteen feet long, thickened at the lower end, to prevent it
from sinking too deep into the mud. About two hours or so
before high-water, they enter the reeds, and each takes his
post, the sportsman standing in the bow ready for action, the
boatman on the stern seat, pushing her steadily through the
reeds. The Rail generally spring singly, as the boat advances,
and at a short distance a-head, are instantly shot down, while
the boatman, keeping his eye on the spot where the bird fell,
directs the boat forward, and picks it up as the gunner is loading.
It is also the boatman’s business to keep a sharp look-out, and
give the word mark, when a Rail springs on either side, without
being observed by the sportsman, and to note the exact spot
where it falls, until he has picked it up; for this once lost sight
of, owing to the sameness in the appearance of the reeds, is
seldom found again. In this manner the boat moves steadily
through, and over the reeds, the birds flushing and falling, the

UAII..

191

gunner loading and firing, while the boatman is pushing and
picking up. The sport continues till an hour or two after high-
water, when the shallowness of the water, and the strength and
weight of the floating reeds, as also the backwardness of the
game to spring as the tide decreases, obliges them to return.
Several boats are sometimes within a short distance of each
other, and a perpetual cracking of musquetry prevails along the
whole reedy shores of the river. In these excursions it is not
uncommon for an active and expert marksman to kill ten or
twelve dozens in a tide. They are usually shot singly, though
I have known five killed at one discharge of a double-barrelled
piece. These instances, however, are rare.

The flight of these birds among the reeds is usually low; and,
shelter being abundant, is rarely extended to more than fifty or
one hundred yards. When winged, and uninjured in their legs,
they swim and dive with great rapidity, and are seldom seen to
rise again. I have several times, on such occasions, discovered
them clinging with their feet to the reeds under the water, and
at other times skulking under the floating reeds, with their bill
just above the surface. Sometimes, when wounded, they dive,
and rising under the gunwale of the boat, secrete themselves
there, moving round as the boat moves, until they have an op-
portunity of escaping unnoticed. They are feeble and delicate
in every thing but the legs, which seem to possess great vigour
and energy; and their bodies being so remarkably thin, or com-
pressed, as to be less than an inch and a quarter through trans-
versely, they are enabled to pass between the reeds like rats.
When seen, they are almost constantly jetting up the tail. Yet,
though their flight among the reeds seems feeble and fluttering,
every sportsman, who is acquainted with them here, must have
seen them occasionally rising to a considerable height, stretching
out their legs behind them, and flying rapidly across the river,
where it is more than a mile in width.

Such is the mode of Rail-shooting in the neighbourhood of
Philadelphia. In Virginia, particularly along the shores of James
river, within the tide water, where the Rail, or Sora, are in

192

RAIL.

prodigious numbers, they are also shot on the wing, but more
usually taken at night in the following manner: — A kind of iron
grate is fixed on the top of a stout pole, which is placed like a
mast, in a light canoe, and filled with fire. The darker the night
the more successful is the sport. The person who manages the
canoe is provided with a light paddle, ten or twelve feet in
length; and about an hour before high-water proceeds through
among the reeds, which lie broken and floating on the surface.
The whole space, for a considerable way round the canoe, is
completely enlightened; the birds stare with astonishment, and
as they appear, are knocked on the head with the paddle, and
thrown into the canoe. In this manner from twenty to eighty
dozens have been killed by three negroes, in the short space of
three hours.

At the same season, or a little earlier, they are very numerous
in the lagoons near Detroit, on our northern frontiers, where
another species of reed (of which they are equally fond) grows
in shallows, in great abundance. Gentlemen who have shot
them there, and on whose judgment I can rely, assure me, that
they differ in nothing from those they have usually killed on
the shores of the Delaware and Schuylkill; they are equally fat,
and exquisite eating. On the seacoast of New Jersey, where
these reeds are not to be found, this bird is altogether unknown;
though along the marshes of Maurice river, and other tributary
streams of the Delaware, and wherever the reeds abound, the
Rail are sure to be found also. Most of them leave Pennsylvania
before the end of October, and the southern states early in No-
vember; though numbers linger in the warm southern marshes
the whole winter. A very worthy gentleman, Mr. Harrison,
who lives in Kittiwan, near a creek of that name, on the borders
of James river, informed me, that in burning his meadows early
in March, they generally raise and destroy several of these
birds. That the great body of these Rail winter in countries
beyond the United States, is rendered highly probable from
their being so frequently met with at sea, between our shore.s
and the West India islands. A captain Douglass informed me,

RAIL.

193

that on his voyage from St. Domingo to Philadelphia, and more
than a hundred miles from the capes of the Delaware, one night
the man at the helm was alarmed by a sadden crash on deck,
that broke the glass in the binacle, and put out the light. On
examining into the cause, three Rail were found on deck, two
of which were killed on the spot, and the other died soon after.
The late bishop Madison, president of William and Mary col-
lege, Virginia, assured me, that a Mr. Skipwith, for some time
our consul in Europe, in his return to the United States, when
upwards of three hundred miles from the capes of the Chesa-
peake, several Rail or Soras, I think five or six, came on board,
and were caught by the people. Mr. Skipwith being well ac-
quainted with the bird, assured- him that they were the very
same with those usually killed on James river. I have received
like assurances from several other gentlemen, and captains of
vessels, who have met with these birds between the main land
and the islands, so as to leave no doubt on my mind of the fact.
For, why should it be considered incredible that a bird which
can both swim and dive well, and at pleasure fly with great
rapidity, as I have myself frequently witnessed, should be in-
capable of migrating, like so many others, over extensive tracts
of land or sea? Inhabiting, as they do, the remote regions of
Hudson’s Bay, where it is impossible they could subsist during
the rigors of their winter, they must either emigrate thence or
perish; and as the same places in Pennsylvania, which abound
with them in October are often laid under ice and snow during
the winter, it is as impossible that they could exist here in that
inclement season; Heaven has therefore given them, in common
with many others, certain prescience of these circumstances;
and judgment, as well as strength of flight, sufficient to seek
more genial climates, abounding with their suitable food.

The Rail is nine inches long, and fourteen inches in extent;
bill yellow, blackish towards the point; lores, front, crown,
chin, and stripe down the throat, black; line over the eye,
cheeks and breast, fine light ash; sides of the crown, neck, and
upper parts generally, olive brown, streaked with black, and

VOL. III. — c c

194

RAIL.

also with long lines of pure white, the feathers being centred
with black, on a brown olive ground, and edged with white;
these touches of white are shorter near the shoulder of the wing,
lengthening as they descend; wing plain olive brown; tertials
streaked with black and long lines of white; tail pointed, dusky
olive brown, centred with black, the four middle feathers bor-
dered for half their length with lines of white; lower part of
the breast marked with semicircular lines of white, on a light
ash ground; belly white; sides under the wings deep olive, barr-
ed with black, white, and reddish buff; vent brownish buff;
legs, feet, and naked part of the thighs, yellowish green ; exte-
rior edge of the wing white; eyes reddish hazel.

The females, and young of the first season, have the throat
white, the breast pale brown, and little or no black on the head.
The males may always be distinguished by their ashy blue
breasts, and black throats.

During the greater part of the months of September and Oc-
tober, the market of Philadelphia is abundantly supplied with
Rail, which are sold from half a dollar to a dollar a dozen. Soon
after the twentieth of October, at which time our first smart
frosts generally take place, these birds move off to the south.
In Virginia they usually remain until the first week in Novem-
ber.

Since the above was written, I have received from Mr.
George Ord, of Philadelphia, some curious particulars relative
to this bird, which, as they are new, and come from a gentle-
man of respectability, are worthy of being recorded, and merit
further investigation.

‘‘My personal experience,” says Mr. Ord, “has made me
acquainted with a fact in the history of the Rail, which perhaps
is not generally known; and I shall, as briefly as possible, com-
municate it to you. Some time in the autumn of the year 1809,
as I was walking in a yard, after a severe shower of rain, I
perceived the feet of a bird projecting from a spout. I pulled it
out, and discovered it to be a Rail, very vigorous, and in perfect
health. The bird was placed in a small room, on a gin-case; and

RAIL.

195

I was amusing myself with it, when, in the act of pointing my
finger at it, it suddenly sprang forward, apparently much irri-
tated, fell to the floor, and stretching out its feet, and bending
its neck, until the head nearly touched the back, became to all
appearance lifeless. Thinking the fall had killed the bird, I took
it up, and began to lament my rashness in provoking it. In a
few minutes it again breathed; and it was some time before it
perfectly recovered from the fit, into which, it now appeared
evident, it had fallen. I placed the Rail in a room, wherein
Canary birds were confined; and resolved that, on the succeeding
day, I would endeavour to discover whether or not the passion
of anger had produced the fit. I entered the room at the ap-
pointed time, and approached the bird, which had retired, on
beholding me, in a sullen humour, to a corner. On pointing my
finger at it, its feathers were immediately ruffled; and in an
instant it sprang forward, as in the first instance, and fell into
a similar fit. The following day the experiment was repeated,
with the like effect. In the autumn of 1811, as I was shooting
amongst the reeds, I perceived a Rail rise but a few feet before
my batteau. The bird had risen about a yard when it became
entangled in the tops of a small bunch of reeds, and immediately
fell. Its feet and neck were extended, as in the instances above
mentioned ; and before it had time to recover, I killed it. Some
few days afterwards, as a friend and I were shooting in the same
place, he killed a Rail, and, as we approached the spot to pick
it up, another was perceived, not a foot off, in a fit. I took up
the bird, and placed it in the crown of my hat. In a few moments
it revived, and was as vigorous as ever. These facts go to prove,
that the Rail is subject to gusts of passion, which operate to so
violent a degree as to produce a disease, similar in its effects to
epilepsy. I leave the explication of the phenomenon to those
pathologists who are competent and willing to investigate it.
It may be worthy of remark, that the birds affected as described,
were all females of the Rallus Carolinus, or common Rail.

“The Rail, though generally reputed a simple bird, will
sometimes manifest symptoms of considerable intelligence. To

196

RAIL.

those acquainted with Rail-shooting, it is hardly necessary to
mention, that the tide, in its flux, is considered an almost in-
dispensable auxiliary ; for, when the water is oflf the marsh, the
lubricity of the mud, the height and compactness of the reed,
and the swiftness of foot of the game, tend to weary the sports-
man, and to frustrate his endeavours. Even should he succeed
in a tolerable degree, the reward is not commensurate to the
labour. I have entered the marsh in a batteau, at a common
tide, and in a well-known haunt have beheld but few birds. The
next better tide, on resorting to the same spot, I have perceived
abundance of game. The fact is, the Rail dive, and conceal
themselves beneath the fallen reed, merely projecting their heads
above the surface of the water for air, and remain in that situa-
tion until the sportsman has passed them; and it is well known,
that it is a common practice with wounded Rail to dive to the
bottom, and, holding upon some vegetable substance, support
themselves in that situation until exhausted. During such times,
the bird, in escaping from one enemy, has often to encounter
another not less formidable. Eels and cat-fish swarm in every
direction, prowling for prey; and it is ten to one if a wounded
Rail escapes them. I myself have beheld a large eel make ofi"
with a bird that I had shot, before I had time to pick it up; and
one of my boys, in bobbing for eels, caught one with a whole
Rail in its belly.

‘‘I have heard it observed, that on the increase of the moon
the Rail improves in fatness, and decreases in a considerable
degree with that planet. Sometimes I have conceited that the
remark was just. If it be a fact, I think it may be explained on
the supposition, that the bird is enabled to feed at night, as well
as by day, while it has the benefit of the moon, and with less
interruption than at other periods.”

GENUS 80. GALLINULA. GALINULE.
SPECIES 1. G, MARTINICA.
MARTINICO GALLINULE.*

[Plate LXXIIL— Fig. 2.]

Gailinula Martinica, Lath. Ind. Orn.p.769, 9. Gen. Syn.

255, r, pi. 88. — Fulica Martinica, Linn. Syst. ed. 12, i, p. 259,

7. — Fulica Martinicensis,. Gmel. Syst. p. TOO, 7. — La petite

Poule-Sultane, Briss. Orn. v, p. 526, pi. 42, jig. 2. — Buff. Ois.

8, p. 206. — La Favourite de Cayenne, PI. Enl. JVb. 897, young?

— Peale’s Museum Mo. 4294.

This splendid bird is a native of the southern parts of the
continent of North America. I have never learnt that it migrates
as far north as Virginia, though it is probable that it may be
occasionally seen in that state. It makes its appearance, in the
Sea-islands of Georgia, in the latter part of April; and after
spending the summer, it departs, with its young, in the autumn.
The marshes of Mexico appear to be its winter residence. It
frequents the rice fields and fresh water ponds, in company with
the Common Gallinule; but the latter, being of a more hardy
nature, remains all winter, both in Georgia and Florida.

During its migration, this bird is frequently driven to sea,
and I haveJcnown two or three instances of its having sought
refuge on board of vessels. On the 24th May, 1824, a brig ar-
rived at Philadelphia, from New Orleans, bringing a fine living
specimen, which had flown on board of her in the Gulf-stream.
This bird is now alive in the Philadelphia Museum.

In the month of August, 1818, a storm drove another indi-
vidual on board of a vessel, in her passage from Savannah to
Philadelphia. This also lived for some time in Peale’s Museum.

Named in the plate Purple Gallinule.

198

MARTINICO GALLINULE.

The Martinico Gallinule is a vigorous and active bird- It
bites hard, and is quite expert in the use of its feet. When it
seizes upon any substance with its toes, it requires a considera-
ble effort to disengage it. Its toes are long, and spread greatly.
It runs with swiftness; and, when walking, it jerks its tail in the
manner of the Common Rail. Its manners and food are some-
what similar to those of the far-famed Purple Gallinule, whose
history is so beautifully detailed in the works of Buffon.

In its native haunts it is vigilant and shy; and it is not easy
to spring it, without the assistance of a dog.

The specimen, from which our drawing was taken, came from
the state of Georgia, and is deposited in the Philadelphia Mu-
seum. It is reduced, as well as the rest of the figures in the
same plate, to one half of the size of life.

Length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail fourteen
inches; bill an inch and a quarter long, vermilion, greenish yel-
low at the tip; irides pale cornelian; naked crown dull azure;
head, part of the neck, throat and breast, of a rich violet purple;
back and scapulars olive green; rump, tail and its coverts,
brownish green; sides of the neck, and wings, ultramarine, the
latter tinged with green; shoulders of wings rich azure; inner
webs of the quills and tail feathers dusky brown; belly and
thighs dull purplish black; vent pure white; tail rounded; legs
and feet greenish yellow, claws long, sharp, and of a pale flesh
colour; span of the foot five inches.*

• From Mr. Ord’s supplementary volume.

ORDER VIII. PINNATIPEDES. PINNATED FEET.

GENUS 82. PHALAROPUS. PHALAROPE.
SPECIES 1. P. FULICARIUS.

GRAY PHALAROPE.*

[Plate LXXIII.— Fig. 4. ]

Tringa Fulicaria, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, tom. i, p. 148, 6. — Tringa
glacialis, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 675, 2. T. hyperborea, var. b,ld.p.
676. — Le Phalarope, Briss. Orn. vi, p. 12, JVo. 1. Phalaropus
rufescens, Id. p. 20. — Phalaropus lobatus, Lath. Ind. Orn. p.
776, 2. P. glacialis, Id. JVo. 3. lied Phalarope, fern. Gen. Syn.
3, p. 271. Gray Phalarope, Id.p. 272, 2. Plain Phalarope, Id.
p. 273, 3. — Gray Phalarope, Penn. Brit. Zool. JVo. 218. Urct.
Zool. JVo. 412. lied Phalarope, Id. JVo. 413. Plain Phalarope,
Id. J\o. 415. lied Coot-footed Tringa, Edwards, pi. 142. Gray
Coot-footed Tringa, Id. Gleanings, Pi. 308. — Le Phalarope
rouge, Buff. Ois. viii, p. 29,5. Le Phalarope afestons denteles.
Id. p. 226. — Gray Phalarope, Montagu, Orn. Die. and ,9ppen-
dix to Sup. — Bewick, II, p. 132. — Le Phalarope gris, Cuv.
Reg. An. i, p. 492. Le Phalarope rouge. Id. ibid.—Phaloropus
platyrhinchus, Temm. Jffan. d’Orn. p. 712. — Peale’s J\luseum,
JVo. 4088.

Bill pretty stout and wide, slightly compressed at the tip,
depressed on the lower half, upper mandible carinate; nostrils
subovate, a short distance from the base; feet semipalmate,
lobes of the toes broad and greatly scalloped; hind toe barely
touching the ground.

Bill reddish orange at the base, the remainder black, an inch
long; front and crown black, barred transversely with line^ of

'Named in the plate Red Phalarope.

800

GRAY PHALAROPE.

white; throat, sides of the neck, and lower parts, white, thick-
ly and irregularly harred with curving dashes of reddish choco-
late; upper parts of a deep cinereous blue, streaked with brown-
ish yellow and black; the black scapulars broadly edged with
brownish yellow; wings and rump dark cinereous; greater wing-
coverts broadly tipped with white, forming a large band; pri-
maries nearly black, and crossed with white below their coverts;
tail plain olive, middle of its coverts black, their sides bright
brownish yellow; vent white, those feathers immediately next
to the tail reddish chocolate; legs black on the outside, yellow-
ish within.

Length nine inches, breadth fifteen inches and a half; length
of hind toe, independent of the claw, one-eighth of an inch.
Male?

The inner toe is connected to the middle one, by a membrane,
as far as the first joint, the outer toe much further: hence
the feet may be properly termed semipalmate; webs and lobes
finely pectinated. This conformation of the feet is pretty accu-
rately exhibited in Edwards’s plate. No. 308.

The Gray Phalarope is a rare bird in Pennsylvania; and is
not often met with in any part of the United States. The indi-
vidual from which our figure and description were taken, was
shot in a pond, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, in the latter part
of May, 1812. There were three in company. The person
who shot it had never seen one of the species before, and was
struck with their singular manners. He described them as
swimming actively near the margin of the pond, dipping in
their bill very often, as if feeding, and turning frequently. In
consequence of our specimen being in a state of putridity when
received, it was preserved with considerable difficulty, and
the sex could not be ascertained.

In the spring of the year 1816, my friend, Mr. Le Sueur,
shot in Boston Bay a young individual of this species: crown
dark slate, tinged with yellowish brown; front, throat, line over
the eye, belly and vent, white; shoulders, breast and sides,
tawny or fawn colour; back dark slate, paler near the rump.

GRAY PHALAROPE.

201

the feathers edged with bright yellow ochre; wings pale cine-
reous, some of the lesser coverts edged with white, the greater
coverts largely so, forming the bar; primaries and tail black,
the latter edged with yellowish brown, the shafts of the former
white. Bill and feet as in the first described.

On tbe 20th of March, 1818, I shot in the river St. John, in
East Florida, an immature female specimen: irides dark brown;
around the base of the bill a slight marking of dark slate; front
and crown white, mottled with pale ash; at the anterior part of
each eye a black spot; beneath the eyes dark slate, which ex-
tends over the auriculars, the hind-head, and upper part of the
neck; upper parts cinereous gray, with a few faint streaks of
slate; throat, breast, whole lower parts, and under tail-coverts,
pure white; flanks with a few faint ferruginous stains; wings
slate brown, the coverts of the secondaries, and a few of the
primary coverts, largely tipped with white, forming the bar as
usual; tail brown, edged with cinereous; legs and feet pale
plumbeous, the webs, and part of the scalloped membranes,
yellowish. Bill and size as in the first specimen.

The tongue of this species is large, fleshy and obtuse.

A reference to the head of this article will show the variety
of names under which this bird has been described. What
could induce that respectable naturalist, M. Temminck, to give
it a new appellation, we are totally at a loss to conceive. That
his name is good, that it is even better than all the rest, we are
willing to admit; but that he had no right to give it a new name,
we shall boldly maintain, not only on the score of expediency,
but of justice. If the right to change be once conceded, there
is no calculating the extent of the confusion in which the whole
system of nomenclature will be involved. The study of metho-
dical natural history is sufficiently laborious, and whatever will
have a tendency to diminish this labour, ought to meet the cor-
dial support of all those who are interested in the advancement
of the natural sciences.

“The study of Natural history,” says the present learned
president of the Linnean society, “is, from the multitude of

VOL. III. — D d

202

GRAY PHALAROPE.

objects with which it is conversant, necessarily so encumbered
with names, that students require every possible assistance to
facilitate the attainment of those names, and have a just right
to complain of every needless impediment. Nor is it allowable
to alter such names, even for the better. In our science the
names established throughout the works of Linnaeus are be-
come current coin, nor can they be altered without great incon-
venience.”*

That there is a property in names as well as in things, will
not be disputed; and there are few naturalists who would not
feel as sensibly a fraud committed on their nomenclature as on
their purse. The ardour with which the student pursues his
researches, and the solicitude which he manifests in promulgat-
ing his discoveries under appropriate appellations, are proofs
that at least part of his gratification is derived from the suppos-
ed distinction which a name will confer upon him; deprive him
of this distinction, and you inflict a wound upon his self-love,
which will not readily be healed.

To enter into a train of reasoning to prove that he who first
describes and names a subject of natural history, agreeably to
the laws of systematic classification, is for ever entitled to his
name, and that it cannot be superseded without injustice, would
be useless, because they are propositions which all naturalists
deem self-evident. Then how comes it, whilst we are so tena-
cious of our own rights, we so often disregard those of others?

I would now come to the point. It will be perceived that I
have ventured to restore the long neglected name of fulicaria.
That I shall be supported in this restoration I have little doubt,
when it shall have been manifest that it was Linnaeus himself
who first named this species. A reference to the tenth edition
of the Systema Naturaet will show that the authority for Tringa

* An Introduction to Physiological and Systemical Botany, chap. 22.

t Of all the editions of the Systema Naturs, the tenth and the twelfth
are the most valuable; the former being the first which contains the syno-
nyma, and the latter being that which received the finislung hand of its
author. In tire United States, Linnaeus is principally known through two

GRAY PHALAROPE.

203

fulicaria is Edwards’s Red Coot-footed Tringa, pi. 142, and
that alone, for it does not appear that Linnseus had seen the
bird. The circumstance of the change of the generic appellation
can in nowise affect the specific name; the present improved
state of the science requires the former, justice demands that
the latter should be preserved. In this work I have preserved
it; and I flatter myself that this humble attempt to vindicate the
rights of Linseus, will be approved by all those who love those
sciences, of which he was so illustrious a promoter. ^

editors: — Gmelin, whose thirteenth edition of the Systema Naturse has in-
volved the whole science in almost inextricable confusion, and Turton,
whose English translation of Gmelin is a disgrace to science and letters.
All writers on Zoology and Botany should possess Linnasus’s tenth and
twelfth editions; they will be found to be of indispensible use in tracing
synonymes, and fixing nomenclature.

* From Mr. Ord’s supplementary Volume.

.SPECIES 2. PIMLJiROPUS LOBJiTUS.

BROWN PHALAROPE.*

[Plate LXXIII — Fig. 3.]

Iringct iobata, Lin. Syst, ed. 10, tom. i,p. 148, 5. T. hyperburea.
Id. ed, 12, tom. i, p. 249, 9. — Tringa lobuta, Gmel. Syst. i, j).
674, 6. T. fused. Id. p. Q75, 33. T. hyperboreu, Id. JVo. 9. —
Phalaropus cinereus, Buiss. Orn. \i, p. 15. I'.fuscus, Id.p. 18.
— Le Fhalarope cendre, Buff. Ois. viii, p. 224. FI. Enl. 766. —
Coot-footed Tringa, Edwards, pi, 46. Cock Coot-footed Trin-
ga, Id, pi. 143. — Red Fhalarope, Penn. Brit. Zool. J^o. 219.
Brown Fhalarope, Jlrct. Zool. JVo. 414. — Fhalaropus hyperbo-
reus. Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 775, 1. F.fuscus, Id. p. 776. 4. Red
Fhalarope, Gen. Syn. iii, p. 270, 1. Id. p. 272, var. A. Brown
Fhalarope, Id.p. 274, 4. — Red Fhalarope, Montagu, Orn. Die.
Id. Sup. and Appendix — Fhalaropus hyperboreus, Temm. Man.
d'Orn.p, 709. — Le Lobipede a hausse-col, Cuv. Reg. An. 1, p.
495.

Op this species only one specimen was ever seen by Wilson,
and that was preserved in Trowbridge’s Museum, at Albany,
in the state of New York. On referring to Wilson’s Journal,
j found an account of the bird, there called a Tringa, written
with a lead pencil, but so scrawled and obscured, that parts of
the writing were not legible. I wrote to Mr. Trowbridge, so-
liciting a particular description, but no answer was returned.
However, having had the good fortune, since publishing the
first edition, of examining a fine recent specimen of this rare
bird, I hope I shall be enabled to fix the species by such cha-
racters, as will prevent any ornithologist in future from con-
founding it with the species which follows; two birds which.

* Named in the plate Gray Fhalarope.

BROWN PHALAROPE.

205

owing to a want of precision, were involved in almost inextri-
cable confusion, until Temminck applied himself to the task of
disembroiling them; and this ingenious naturalist has fully prov-
ed that the seven species of authors constituted, in effect, only
two species.

Temminck’s distinctive characters are drawn from the bill;
and he has divided the genus into two sections, an arrangement
the utility of which is not evident, seeing that each section
contains but one species; unless we may consider that the Bar-
red Phalarope of Latham constitutes a third: a point not yet as-
certained, and not easy to be settled, for the want of characters.

In my examination of these birds, I have paid particular at-
tention to the feet, which possess characters equally striking
with those of the bill: hence a union of all these will afford a
facility to the student, of which he will be fully sensible, when
he makes them the subject of his investigation.

Our figure of this species betrays all the marks of haste; it is
inaccurately drawn, and imperfectly coloured; notwithstanding,
by a diligent study of it, I have been enabled to ascertain, that
it is the Coot-footed Tringa of Edwards, pi. 46, and 143, to
which bird Linnaeus gave the specific denomination of lobata,
as will be seen in the synonymes at the head of this article. In
the twelfth edition of the Sy sterna Naturae, the Swedish natura-
list, conceiving that he might have been in error, omitted, in
his description of the lobata, the synonyme of Edwards’s Cock
Coot-footed Tringa, No. 143, and recorded the latter bird un-
der the name of hyperborea, a specific appellation which Tem-
minck, and other ornithologists, have sanctioned, but which
the laws of methodical nomenclature prohibit us from adopt-
ing, as, beyond all question, hyperborea is only a synonyme
of lobata, which has the priority, and must stand.

M. Temminck differs from us in the opinion, that the T. lo-
bata of Gmelin, vol. i, p. 674, is the present species, and re-
fers it to that which follows. But if this respectable ornitholo-
gist will take the trouble to look into the twelfth edition of Lin-
naeus, vol. I, p. 249, No. 8, he will there find two false refe-

206

BROWN PHALAROPE.

rences, Edwards’s No. 308, and Brisson’s No. 1, which gave
rise to Gmelin’s confusion of synonymes, and a consequent con-
fusion in his description, as the essential character in both au-
thors being in nearly the same words, (rostro subulato, apice in-
Jlexo, ^'C. ) we are at no loss to infer that both descriptions have
reference to the same bird; and we are certain that the lohata of
the twelfth edition of the former is precisely the same as that
of the tenth edition, which cites for authority Edwards’s 46 and
143, as before mentioned.

I shall now give the short description of the bird figured in
the plate, as I find it in Wilson’s note book.

Bill black, slender, and one inch and three-eights* in length ;
lores, front, crown, hind-head, and thence to the back, very
pale ash, nearly white; from the anterior angle of the eye a
curving stripe of black descends along the neck for an inch or
more; thence to the shoulders dark reddish brown, which also
tinges the white on the side of the neck next to it; under parts
white; above dark olive; wings and legs black. Size of the Turn-
stone.

The specimen from which the following description was tak-
en, was kindly communicated to me by my friend, Mr. Titian
R. Peale, while it was yet in a recent state, and before it was
prepared for the museum. It was this individual which enabled
me to ascertain the species figured in our plate. It was shot
in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, on the seventh of May^
1818.

Bill narrow, slender, flexible, subulate, of equal width; nos-
trils basal and linear; lobes of the toes thick, narrow, and but
slightly scalloped; outer toe connected to the middle one as far

* In the orig-inal the bill is said to be one inch and tliree-quarters long;
but that this is a mistake, we have only to measure the bill of the figure,
drawn of half the size of natui-e, to be convinced, Wilson always mea-
sured his bills from the tip to the angle of the mouth. Om- figure, by this
admeasurement, indicates a bill of precisely the length of thatof Peale’s spe-
cimen, winch I have described in detail.

BROWN PHALAROPE.

207

as the first joint, inner toe divided nearly to its base; hind toe
resting on the ground.

Bill black, one inch and three-eighths in length; head above
of an ash gray; hind-head whitish, which colour extends a short
distance down the neck; over the eyes a white stripe, below
them a white spot; throat and lower parts white; a line of black
passes through the eyes, spreads out towards the hind-head, and
descends along the neck ; lower part of the neck pale ferruginous;
back part of the neck deep ferruginous, which descends on each
side, and mingles with the plumage of the back and scapulars,
which are of a clove brown, the feathers tipt with whitish; wings
and tail dark clove brown, some of the lesser coverts having a
reddish tinge; the upper tail feathers tinged with red at their
tips, the under feathers marked with white on their inner webs;
irides dark brown; legs and feet dark plumbeous; claws long,
of a dark horn colour; hind toe, independent of the claw, five-
sixteenths of an inch long; the tertials, when the wing is closed,
extend to within three-eighths of an inch of the tip of the pri-
maries; weight an ounce and three-quarters; length nine inches
and a half, breadth sixteen inches. This was a female, her eggs
very small.

In the grand chain of animated nature, the Phalaropes con-
stitute one of the links between the waders and the wed-footed
tribes, having the form of the Sandpipers, with some of the ha-
bits of the gulls: the scalloped membranes on their toes enabling
them to swim with facility. They are clothed with a thick coat
of feathers, beneath which, as in the Ducks, lies a mass of down,
to protect them from the rigours of the northern climates, of
which they are natives. They do not appear to be fond of the
neighbourhood of the ocean, and are generally found in the in-
terior, about the lakes, ponds, and streams of fresh water, where
they delight to linger, swimming near the margin in search of
seeds and insects.

They are nowhere numerous, are commonly seen in pairs,
and are so extremely tame and unsuspicious, that one may ap-
proach to within a few feet of them.

208

BROWN PHALAROPE.

The genus Lobipes, of the Baron Cuvier, is founded upon
this species; and it must be confessed, that its characters are
sufficiently distinct, from those of the bird which follows, to
authorize such a separation; but unless some new species should
be discovered, we see no impropriety in associating the two
birds already known, taking care, however, to preserve a con-
sistency in the generic characters, which Temminck, in his Ma-
nuel, has not sufficiently observed.

In the appendix to Montagu’s Supplement to the Ornitholo-
gical Dictionary, we find the following remarks on this species,
there n?LvaeCifuKcaria: “We have before mentioned, that this
bird had been observed in the Orknies, in considerable abund-
ance, in the suinmer, and that no doubts were entertained of its
breeding there, although the nest had not been found. To Mr.
Bullock, therefore, we are indebted for the further elucidation
of the natural history of this elegant little bird. In a letter to the
author, this gentlemen says, “I found the Red Phalarope common
in the marshes of Sanda and Westra, in the breeding season,
but which it leaves in the autumn. This bird is so extremely
tame that I killed nine without moving out of the same spot,
being not in the least alarmed at the report of a gun. It lays
four eggs, of the shape of that of a snipe, but much less, of an
olive colour, blotched with dusky. It swims with the greatest
ease, and when on the water looks like a beautiful miniature of
a duck, carrying its head close to the back, in the manner of a
Teal.”

Mr. Bullock further observes, “that the plumage of the fe-
male is much lighter, and has less of the rufous than the other
sex.”*

Note. — Since the foregoing was written, I have had an op-
portunity of examining the identical specimen, from which Wil-
son’s drawing was taken, as it still remains in the Albany Mu-
seum. It is of ihe same species as the individual in the Phila-
delphia Museum, and wliich is described, above, in detail. That

* From Mr. Ord’s supplementary volume.

BROWN RHALAROPE.

209

Edwards’s plate 46 represents this very bird, I have little hesi-
tation in reasserting, notwithstanding all that has been advanc-
ed to the contrary, in some recent publications. Let it be re-
membered, that Edwards expressly informs us, his bird was
captured on board of a vessel, on the coast of Maryland, it hav-
ing been driven thither by an off-shore wind. At the foot of
plate 308, Edwards has represented the bill of this Phalarope,
as well as that oi \\\q Julicarius.

AmL. III. — E e

GENUS 83. FULICA. COOT.

SPECIES 8. F. JiMERIC^NA.
CINEREOUS COOT.*

[Plate LXXIIL— Fig. 1.]

h'ldica Americana, Gmel. Syst, i, p. 704, 23. — Lath. Ind. Orn.p.

779, 5. Cinereous Coot, Gen. Syn. ni,p. 279. — Peale’s Muse-
um, JSTc. 4322.

This species makes its appearance in Pennsylvania about the
first of October. Among the muddy flats and islands of the ri-
ver Delaware, which are periodically overflowed, and which
are overgrown with the reed or wild-oats, and rushes, the Coots
are found. They are not numerous, and are seldom seen, ex-
cept their places of resort be covered with water: in that case
they are generally found sitting on the fallen reed, waiting for
the ebbing of the tide, which will enable them to feed. Their
food consists of various aquatic plants, seeds, insects, and, it is
said, small fish. The Coot has an aversion to take wing, and can
seldom be sprung in its retreat at low water; for although it
walks rather awkwardly, yet it contrives to skulk through the
grass and reeds with great speed, the compressed form of its
body, like that of the Rail genus, being well adapted to the pur-
pose. It swims remarkably well, and, when wounded, will dive
like a duck. When closely pursued in the water, it generally
takes to the shore, rising with apparent reluctance, like a wound-
ed duck, and fluttering along the surface with its feet pattering
on the water.t It is known in Pennsylvania by the name of
the Mud-hen.

* Named in the plate Common Coot.

t In Carolina they are called Flusterers, from the noise they make in flying
along the surface of the water. A voyage to Carolina by John Lawson, p. I49.

COOT.

211

I have never yet discovered that this species breeds with us;
though it is highly probable that some few may occupy the marsh-
es of the interior, in the vicinity of the ponds and lakes, for this
purpose: those retired situations being well adapted to the hatch-
ing and rearing of their young. In the southern states, parti-
cularly South Carolina, they are well known; but the Floridas
appear to be their principal rendezvous, for the business of in-
cubation. ‘‘The Coot,” says William Bartram, “is a native
of North America, from Pennsylvania to Florida. They inha-
bit large rivers, fresh water inlets or bays, lagoons, &c. where
they swim and feed amongst the reeds and grass of the shores;
particularly in the river St. Juan, in East Florida, where they
are found in immense flocks. They are loquacious and noisy,
talking to one another night and day; are constantly on the wa-
ter, the broad lobated membranes on their toes enabling them
to swim and dive like ducks.”*'

I observed this species to be numerous, during the winter,
in the fresh water ponds, situated in the vicinity of the river
St. Juan or St. John, in East Florida; but I did not see them in
the river. The food which they obtain in these places must be
very abundant and nutricious; as the individuals which I shot
were excessively fat. One male specimen weighed twenty -four
ounces, avoirdupois. They associate with the Common Galli-
nule; {Gallinula chloropus) but there is not, perhaps, one of
the latter for twenty of the former.

The Cinereous Coot is sixteen inches in length, and twenty-
eight in extent; bill one and a half inch long, white, the upper
mandible slightly notched near the tip, and marked across with
a band of chestnut, the lower mandible marked on each side with
a squarish spot of the like colour, edged on the lower part with
bright yellow or gamboge, thence to the tip pale horn colour;
membrane of the forehead, dark chestnut brown; irides corne-
lian red; beneath the eyes, in most specimens, a whitish spot;
the head and neck are of a deep shining black, resembling sa-

* Letter from Mr. Bartram to the author.

212

COOT.

tin; back and scapulars dirty greenish olive; shoulders, breast,
and wing-coverts, slate blue; the under parts are hoary; vent
black; beneath the tail pure white; primaries and secondaries
slate, the former tipped with black, the latter with white, which
does not appear when the wing is closed; outer edges of the
wings white; legs and toes yellowish green, the scalloped mem-
brane of the latter lead colour; middle toe, including the claw,
three inches and three-quarters long.

The bird from which the foregoing description was taken,
was shot on the Delaware, below Philadelphia, the 29th of Oc-
tober, 1813. It was an old male, an uncommonly fine speci-
men, and weighed twenty-three ounces avoirdupois. It is de-
posited in Peale’s Museum.

The young birds differ somewhat in their plumage, that of the
head and neck being of a brownish black; that of the breast and
shoulders pale ash; the throat gray or mottled; the bill bluish
white; and the membrane on the forehead considerably smaller.

The young females very much resemble the young males; all
the difference which I have been enabled to perceive is as fol-
lows: breast and shoulders cinereous; markings on the bill less;
upper parts of the head, in some specimens, mottled; and being
less in size.

The lower parts of these birds are clothed with a thick down,
and, particularly between the thighs, covered with close fine
feathers. The thighs are placed far behind, are fleshy, strong,
and bare above the knees.

The gizzard resembles a hen’s, and is remarkably large and
muscular. That of the bird which has been described, was fill-
ed with sand, gravel, shells, and the remains of aquatic plants.

Buffon describes the mode of shooting Coots in France, par-
ticularly in Lorraine, on the great pools of Tiaucourt and of In-
dre; hence we are led to suppose that they are esteemed as an
article of food. But with us who are enabled, by the abundance
and variety of game, to indulge in greater luxuries in that sea-
son when our Coots visit us, they are considered as of no ac-
count, and are seldom eaten.

COOT.

213

The European ornithologists represent the membrane on the
forehead of the Fulica atra as white, except in the breeding
season, when it is said to change its colour to pale red. In eve-
ry specimen of the Cinereous Coot which I have seen, except
one, the membrane of the forehead was of a dark chestnut brown
colour. The one alluded to was a fine adult male, shot in the
Delaware, at Philadelphia, on the 11th of May; the membrane
was of s^piire white; no white marking beneath the eye; legs
and feet of a bright grass green.

In Wilson’s figure of the Coot, accompanying this volume,
there are some slight errors: the auriculars are designated, which
should not have been done, as they are not distinguishable from
the rest of the plumage of the head and neck, which is all of a fine
satiny texture; and the outline of the bill is not correct.

Latham states that the Common European Coot, F. atra, is
“met with in Jamaica, Carolina, and other parts of North Ame-
rica.” This I presume is a mistake, as I have never seen but
one species of Coot in the United States. Brown, in speaking
of the birds of Jamaica, mentions a Coot, which, in all probabi-
lity, is the same as ours. The Coot mentioned by Sloane, is
the Common Gallinule. So is also that spoken of in the Natu-
ral History of Barbadoes, by Hughes, p. 71.

In Lewis and Clark’s History of their expedition, mention
is made of a bird, which is common on the Columbia; is said
to be very noisy, to have a sharp, shrill whistle, and to associ-
ate in large flocks; it is called the Black Buck. This is doubt-
less a species of Coot, but whether or not different from ours
cannot be ascertained. How much is it to be regretted, that in
an expedition of discovery, planned and fitted out by an enlight-
ened government, furnished with every means for safety, sub-
sistence and research, not one naturalist, not one draftsman,

* History of the Expedition, vol. ii, p. 194. Under date of November
30th, 1805, they say; “The hunters brought in a few hlaok ducks of a spe-
cies common in the United States, living in large flocks, and feeding on
grass, they are distinguished by a sharp while heak, toes separated, and by hav-
ing no craw."

214

COOT.

should have been sent, to observe and perpetuate the infinite
variety of natural productions, many of which are entirely un-
known to the community of science, which that extensive tour
must have revealed !

The Coot leaves us in November, for the southward.

The foregoing was prepared for the press, when the author,
in one of his shooting excursions on the Delaware, had the good
fortune to kill a full plumaged female Coot. This was on the
twentieth of April. It was swimming at the edge of a cripple
or thicket of alder bushes, busily engaged in picking something
from the surface of the water, and while thus employed it turn-
ed frequently. The membrane on its forehead was very small,
and edged on the fore part with gamboge. Its eggs were of the
size of partridge shot. And on the thirteenth of May, another
fine female specimen was presented to him, which agreed with
the above, with the exception of the membrane on the forehead
being nearly as large and prominent as that of the male. From
the circumstance of the eggs of all these birds being very small,
it is probable that the Coots do not breed until July.

GENUS 85. RECURVIROSTRA. AVOSET.

SPECIES 1. E. AMERICANJi.
AMERICAN AVOSET.

[Plate LXIIL— Fig. 2.]

Arct. Zool. JVb. 421. — Lath. Syn. v. in, p. 295, JVo. 2. — Peale’s
Museum, i/Vo. 4250.

This species, from its perpetual clamour, and flippancy of
tongue, is called by the inhabitants of Cape May, the Lawyer;
the comparison, however, reaches no farther: for our Lawyer is
simple, timid, and perfectly inoffensive.

In describing the Long-legged Avoset of this volume, the
similarity between that and the present was taken notice of.
This resemblance extends to every thing hut their colour. I
found both these birds associated together in the salt marshes
of New Jersey, on the twentieth of May. They were then
breeding. Individuals of the present species were few in respect
to the other. They flew around the shallow pools, exactly in
the manner of the Long-legs, uttering the like sharp note of
click click click, alighting on the marsh, or in the water, in-
discriminately, fluttering their loose wings, and shaking their
half-bent legs, as if ready to tumble over, keeping up a continual
yelping note. They were, however, rather more shy, and kept
at a greater distance. One which I wounded, attempted repeat-
edly to dive; but the water was too shallow to permit him to do
this with facility. The nest was built among the thick tufts of
grass, at a small distance from one of these pools. It was com-
posed of small twigs, of a sea-side shrub, dry grass, sea weed,
&c., raised to the height of several inches. The eggs were four,
of a dull olive colour, marked with large irregular blotches of
black, and with others of a fainter tint

216

AMERICAN AVOSET.

This species arrives on the coast of Cape May late in April ;
rears its young, and departs again to the south early in October.
While here, it almost constantly frequents the shallow pools in
the salt marshes; wading about, often to the belly, in search of
food, viz. marine worms, snails, and various insects that abound
among the soft muddy bottoms of the pools.

The male of this species is eighteen inches and a half long,
and two feet and a half in extent; the bill is black, four inches
in length, flat above, the general curvature upwards, except at
the extremity, where it bends slightly down, ending in an ex-
tremely fine point; irides reddish hazel; whole head, neck and
breast, a light sorrel colour; round the eye, and on the chin,
nearly white; upper part of the back and wings black; scapulars,
and almost the whole back, white, though generally concealed
by the black of the upper parts; belly, vent and thighs, pure
white; tail equal at the end, white, very slightly tinged with
cinereous; tertials dusky brown; greater coverts tipt with white;
secondaries white on their outer edges, and whole inner vanes;
rest of the wing deep black; naked part of the thighs two and a
half inches; legs four inches, both of a very pale light blue, ex-
actly'- formed, thinned and netted, like those of the Long-legs;
feet half- webbed; the outer membrane somewhat the broadest;
there is a very slight hind toe, which, claw and all, does not
exceed a quarter of an inch in length. In these two latter cir-
cumstances alone it differs from the Long-legs; but is in every
other strikingly alike.

The female was two inches shorter, and three less in extent;
the head and neck a much paler rufous, fading almost to white
on the breast; and separated from the black of the back by a
broader band of white; the bill was three inches and a half long;
the leg half an inch shorter; in every other respect marked as
the male. She contained a great number of eggs, some of them
nearly ready for exclusion. The stomach was filled with small
snails, periwinkle shell-fish, some kind of mossy vegetable food,
and a number of aquatic insects. The intestines were infested

AMERICAN AVOSET. 217

with tape-worms, and a number of smaller bot-like worms, some
of which wallowed in the cavity of the abdomen.

In Mr. Peale’s collection there is one of this same species,
said to have been brought from New Holland, differing little in
the markings of its plumage from our own. The red brown on
the neck does not descend so far, scarcely occupying any of the
breast; it is also somewhat less.*

In every stuffed and dried specimen of these birds which I
have examined, the true form and flexure of the bill is altogether
deranged; being naturally of a very tender and delicate substance.

Note. — It is remarkable, that, in the Atlantic states, this
species invariably affects the neighbourhood of the ocean; we
never having known an instance of its having been seen in the
interior; and yet captain Lewis met with this bird at the ponds,
in the vicinity of the Falls of the Missouri. That it was our
species, I had ocular evidence, in a skin brought by Lewis him-
self, and presented, among other specimens of Natural History,
to the Philadelphia Museum. See History of Lewis and
Clarke’s Expedition, vol. ii, p. 343. G. Ord.

* This is a different species; it is the R. rubricollis of Temminck, Manuel
d’Ornithologie, p. 592.

VOL. III. F f

SPECIES 2. RECURVIROSTRJi HIMjlNTOPUS.^
LONG-LEGGED AVOSET.

[Plate LVIIL— Fig. 2.]

Long-legged Plover, Jlrct. Zool. p. 487, JVb. 405. — Turton, p.

416. Bewick, ii, 21. — L’Echasse, Buff, viii, 114. PI. Enl.878.

— Peale’s Museum, JVo. 4210.

Naturalists have most unaccountably classed this bird with
the genus Charadrius, or Plover, and yet affect to make the
particular conformation of the bill, legs and feet, the rule of their
arrangement. In the present subject, however, excepting the
trivial circumstance of the want of a hind toe, there is no re-
semblance whatever of those parts to the bill, legs or feet, of the
Plover; on the contrary, they are so entirely different, as to
create no small surprise at the adoption, and general acceptation,
of a classification, evidently so absurd and unnatural. This ap-
pears the more reprehensible, when we consider the striking
affinity there is between this bird and the common Avoset, not
only in the particular form of the bill, nostrils, tongue, legs, feet,
wings and tail, but extending to the voice, manners, food, place
of breeding, form of the nest, and even the very colour of the
eggs of both, all of which are strikingly alike, and point out, at
once, to the actual observer of nature, the true relationship of
these remarkable birds.

Strongly impressed with these facts, from an intimate ac-
quaintance with the living subjects, in their native wilds, I have
presumed to remove the present species to the true and proper
place assigned it by nature; and shall now proceed to detail
some particulars of its history.

* This bird belongs to the genus Himmtopm of Brisson.

LONG-LEGGED AVOSET.

219

This species arrives on the seacoast of New Jersey about the
twenty-fifth of April, in small detached flocks, of twenty or
thirty together. These sometimes again subdivide into lesser
parties; but it rarely happens that a pair is found solitary, as
during the breeding season they usually associate in small com-
panies. On their first arrival, and indeed during the whole of
their residence, they inhabit those particular parts of the salt
marshes pretty high up towards the land, that are broken into
numerous shallow pools, but are not usually overflowed by the
tides during the summer. These pools, or ponds are generally so
shallow, that with their long legs the Avosets can easily wade
them in every direction, and as they abound with minute shell-
fish, and multitudes of aquatic insects and their larvae, besides
the eggs and spawn of others deposited in the soft mud below,
these birds find here an abundant supply of food, and are almost
continually seen wading about in such places, often up to the
breast in water.

In the vicinity of these bald places, as they are called by the
country people, and at the distance of forty or fifty yards ofiT,
among the thick tufts of grass, one of these small associations,
consisting perhaps of six or eight pair, takes up its residence
during the breeding season. About the first week in May they
begin to construct their nests, which are at first slightly formed
of a small quantity of old grass, scarcely sufficient to keep the
eggs from the wet marsh. As they lay and sit, however, either
dreading the rise of the tides, or for some other purpose, the
nest is increased in height, with dry twigs of a shrub very
common in the marshes, roots of the salt grass, sea-weed, and
various other substances, the whole weighing between two and
three pounds. This habit of adding materials to the nest, after
the female begins sitting, is common to almost all other birds
that breed in the marshes. The eggs are four in number, of a
dark yellowish clay colour, thickly marked with large blotches
of black. These nests are often placed within fifteen or twenty
yards, of each other, but the greatest harmony seems to prevail
among the proprietors.

220

LONG-LEGGED AVOSET.

While the females are sitting, the males are either wading
through the ponds, or roaming over the adjoining marshes; but
should a person make his appearance, the whole collect together
in the air, flying with their long legs extended behind them,
keeping up a continual yelping note of tlick click click. Their
flight is steady, and not in short sudden jerks like that of the
Plover. As they frequently alight on the bare marsh, they drop
their wings, stand with their legs half bent, and tremble as if
unable to sustain the burden of their bodies. In this ridiculous
posture they will sometimes stand for several minutes, uttering
a curring sound, while from the corresponding quiverings of
their wings and long legs, they seem to balance themselves with
great difficulty. This singular manoeuvre is, no doubt, intended
to induce a belief that they may be easily caught, and so turn
the attention of the person from the pursuit of their nests and
young to themselves. The Red-necked Avoset, which we have
introduced in the present volume, practises the very same de-
ception, in the same ludicrous manner, and both alight indis-
criminately on the ground, or in the water. Both will also
occasionally swim for a few feet, when they chance in wading
to lose their depth, as I have had several times an opportunity
of observing.

The name by which this bird is known on the seacoast is the
Stilt, or Tilt, or Long-shanks. They are but sparingly dispersed
over the marshes, having, as has been already observed, their
particular favourite spots; while in large intermediate tracts,
there are few or none to be found. They occasionally visit the
shore, wading about in the water, and in the mud, in search of
food, which they scoop up very dexterously with their delicately
formed bills. On being wounded while in the water, they at-
tempt to escape by diving, at which they are by no means ex-
pert. In autumn, their flesh is tender, and well tasted. They
seldom raise more than one brood in the season, and depart for
the south early in September. As they are well known in Ja-
maica, it is probable some of them may winter in that and other
of the West India Islands.

LONG-LEGGED AVOSET. 221

Mr. Pennant observes that this bird is not a native of northern
Europe; and there have been but few instances where it has
been seen in Great Britain. It is common, says Latham, in
Egypt, being found there in the marshes in October. It is like-
wise plentiful about the salt lakes; and is often seen on the shores
of the Caspian sea, as well as by the rivers which empty them-
selves into it; and in the southern deserts of independent Tartary.
The same author adds, on the authority of Ray, that it is known
at Madrass in the East Indies.

All the figures and descriptions which I have seen of this
curious bird, represent the bill as straight, and of almost an
equal thickness throughout, which I have never found so in
any of the numerous specimens I have myself shot and exami-
ned. Many of these accounts, as well as figures, have been ta-
ken from dried and stuffed skins, which give but an imperfect?
and often erroneous, idea of the true outlines of nature. The
dimensions, colours and markings, of a very beautiful specimen,
newly shot, were as follow:

Length from the point of the bill to the end of the tail four-
teen inches, to the tips of the wings sixteen; extent twenty-
eight inches; bill three inches long, slightly curved upwards,
tapering to a fine point, the upper mandible rounded above, the
whole of a deep black colour; nostrils an oblong slit, pervious;
tongue short, pointed; forehead, spot behind the eye, lower eye-
lid, sides of the neck, and whole lower parts, pure white; back,
rump and tail-coverts, also white, but so concealed by the sca-
pulars as to appear black; tail even, or very slightly forked,
and of a dingy white; the vent feathers reach to the tip of the
tail below; line before the eye, auriculars, back part of the
neck, scapulars, and whole wings, deep black, richly glossed
with green; legs and naked thighs a fine pale carmine; the latter
measure three, the former four inches and a half in length, ex-
ceedingly thin, and so flexible that they may he bent consid-
erably without danger of breaking. This thinness of the leg
enables the bird to wade with expedition, and without /atigue.
Feet three-toed, the outer toe connected to the middle one by

222

LONG-LEGGED AVOSET.

a broad membrane; wings long, extending two inches beyond
the tail, and sharp pointed; irides a bright rich scarlet; pupil
black. In some, the white from the breast extends quite round
the neck, separating the black of the hind neck from that of
the body; claws blackish horn.

TJie female is about half an inch shorter, and differs in hav-
ing the plumage of the upper back and scapulars, and also the
tertials, of a deep brown colour. The stomach, or gizzard, was
extremely muscular, and contained fragments of small snail
shells, winged bugs, and a slimy matter, supposed to be the re-
mains of some aquatic worms. In one of these females I counted
upwards of one hundred and fifty eggs, some of them as large
as buck-shot. The singular form of the legs and feet, with the
exception of the hind toe and one membrane of the foot, is ex-
actly like those of the Avoset. The upward curvature of the
bill, though not quite so great, is also the same as in the other,
being rounded above, and tapering to a delicate point in the
same manner. In short, a slight comparison of the two is suffi-
cient to satisfy the most scrupulous observer, that nature has
classed these two birds together; and so believing, we shall not
separate them.

GENUS 87. PHCENICOPTERUS. FLAMINGO.

SPECIES. P. RUBER.

RED FLAMINGO.

[Plate LX VI.— Fig. 4.]

/.e Flammant, Briss. vi, p. 533, pi. 47, fig. 1. — Buff, viii, 27.475,
pi. 39. PI. Enl. 63. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 299. — .irct. Zool. JVo.
422. — Catesby, I, pi. 73, 74. — Peale’s Museum, JVo. 3545, bird
of the first year; JVb. 3546, bird of the second year.

This very singular species being occasionally seen on the
southern frontiers of the United States, and on the peninsula of
East Florida, where it is more common, has a claim to a niche
in our Ornithological Museum, although the author regrets that
from personal observation he can add nothing to the particulars
of its history, already fully detailed in various European works.
From the most respectable of these. The Synopsis of Dr. Lath-
am, he has collected such particulars as appear authentic and
interesting.

‘‘This remarkable bird has the neck and legs in a greater
disproportion than any other bird, the length from the end of
the bill to that of the tail is four feet two or three inches, but
to the end of the claws measures sometimes more than six feet.
The hill is four inches and a quarter long, and of a construction
different fi’om that of any other bird; the upper mandible very
thin and flat, and somewhat moveable; the under thick, both
of them bending downwards from the middle; the nostrils are
linear, and placed in a blackish membrane; the end of the bill
as far as the bend is black, from thence to the base reddish yel-
low, round the base quite to the eye covered with a flesh col-
oured cere; the neck is slender, and of a great length; the tongue
large, fleshy, filling the cavity of the bill, furnished with twelve
or more hooked papillse on each side, turning backwards; the

224

RED FLAMINGO.

tip a sharp cartilaginous substance. The bird when in full plu-
mage is wholly of a most deep scarlet, (those of Africa said to
be the deepest) except the quills, which are black; from the
base of the thigh to the claws measures thirty-two inches, of
which the feathered part takes up no more than three inches;
the bare part above the knee thirteen inches, and from thence
to the claws sixteen; the colour of the bare parts is red, and the
toes are furnished with a web as in the Duck genus; but is deep-
ly indented. The legs are not straight, but slightly bent, the
shin rather projecting.

“These birds do not gain their full plumage till the third
year. In the first they are of a grayish white for the most part;
the second of a clearer white, tinged with red, or rather rose
colour; but the wings and scapulars are red; in the third year a
general glowing scarlet manifests itself throughout; the bill and
legs also keep pace with the gradation of colour in the plumage,
these parts changing to their colours by degrees as the bird ap-
proaches to an adult state.

“Flamingoes prefer a warm climate, in the old continent not
often met with beyond forty degrees north or south. Every
where seen on the African coast, and adjacent isles, quite to
the Cape of Good Hope,^ and now and then on the coasts of
Spain,! Italy, and those of France lying in the Mediterranean
sea; being at times met with at Marseilles, and for some way
up the Rhone. In some seasons frequents Aleppo,! parts
adjacent. Seen also on the Persian side of the Caspian sea, and
from thence along the western coast as far as the Wolga; though
this at uncertain times, and chiefly in considerable flocks, com-
ing from the north coast mostly in October and November; but
so soon as the wind changes they totally disappear. || They
breed in the Cape Verd isles, particularly in that of Sal. IT The

* In Zee Coow river. Phil. Trans. Once plenty in the Isle of France. Voy.
to Mauritius, p. 66.

t About Valencia, in the lake Albufere. Dillon’s Trav. p. 374.
t Russel’s Aleppo, p. 69. |1 Decouv. Russ, ii, p. 248,

1 Damp. Voy. i, p. 70.

RED FLAMINGO. ^

225

nest is of a singular construction, made of mud, in shape of a
hillock, with a cavity at top; in this the female lays generally
two white eggs,* of the size of those of a Goose, but more
elongated. The hillock is of such an height as to admit of the
bird’s sitting on it conveniently, or rather standing, as the legs
are placed one on each side at full length, f The young cannot
fly till full grown, but run very fast.

‘‘ Flamingoes, for the most part, keep together in flocks; and
now and then are seen in great numbers together, except in
breeding time. Dampier mentions having, with two more in
company, killed fourteen at once; but this was effected by se-
creting themselves; for they are very shy birds, and will by no
means suffer any one to approach openly near enough to shoot
them. X Kolben observes that they are very numerous at the
Cape, keeping in the day on the borders of the lakes and ri-
vers, and lodging themselves of nights in the long grass on the
hills. They are also common to various places in the warmer
parts of America, frequenting the same latitudes as in other
quarters of the world; being met with in Peru, Chili, Cayenne, ||
and the coast of Brasil, as well as the various islands of the
West Indies. Sloane found them in Jamaica; but particularly
at the Bahama islands, and that of Cuba, where they breed.
When seen at a distance they appear as a regiment of soldiers,
being arranged alongside of one another, on the borders of the
rivers, searching for food, which chiefly consists of small fish, IT
or the eggs of them, and of water insects, which they search
after by plunging in the bill and part of the head; from time to
time trampling with their feet to muddy the water, that their
prey may be raised from the bottom. In feeding are said to

* They never lay more than three, and seldom fewer. Phil. Trans.

t Sometimes will lay the egg's on a projecting part of a low rock, if it
be placed sufficiently convenient so as to admit of the legs being placed
one on each side. Linn.

i Davies talks of the gunner disguising himself in an ox hide, and by this
means getting within gun-shot. Hist. Barbad. p. 88.

II Called there by the name of Tococo. ^ Small shell fish. Gesner.

VOL. III. — G g

226

RED FLAMINGO.

twist the neck in such a manner that the upper part of the bill
is applied to the ground;* during this one of them is said to
stand centinel, and the moment he sounds the alarm, the whole
flock take wing. This bird when at rest stands on one leg, the
other being drawn up close to the body, with the head placed
under the wing on that side of the body it stands on.

“The flesh of these birds is esteemed pretty good meat; and
the young thought by some equal to that of a Partridge;! but
the greatest dainty is the tongue, which was esteemed by the
ancients an exquisite morsel. J Are sometimes caught young
and brought up tame; but are ever impatient of cold, and in
this state will seldom live a great while, gradually losing their
colour, flesh and appetite; and dying for want of that food which
in a state of nature, at large, they were abundantly supplied
with.”

* Linnaeus. Brisson.

t Commonly fat and accounted delicate. Davies’s Hist. Barbad. p. 88.
The inhabitants of Provence always throw away the flesh, as it tastes fishy,
and only make use of the feathers as ornaments to other birds at particular
entertainments. Dillons’s Trav. p. 374.

% See Plin. IX, cap. 48.

GENUS 90. URIA. GUILLEMOT.

SPECIES. URIA ALEE.

LITTLE GUILLEMOT.*

[Plate LXXIV.— Fig. 5.]

llria alle, Teajm. Olan. dWrn.p. 928. — Jlca alle, Linn. Syst. ed.

12, tom. I, p. 211, 5. — Gmel. Syst. i, p. 554, 5. — Ind. Orn. p.

795, 10. — Ur ia minor, Briss. vi, p. 73, 2. — Le Petit Guillemot

femetle, PL Enl. 917. — Small black and white Diver, Edwards,

pi. 91. — Little Auk, Lath. Gen. Syn., iu, p. 327. — Penn. Arct.

ZooL JVo. 429. — Bewick, ii, p. 158. — Peai.e’s Museum, JVo.

2978.

Of the history of this little stranger, but few particulars are
known. With us it is a very rare bird; and, when seen, it is
generally in the vicinity of the sea. The specimen from which
the figure in the plate was taken, was killed at Great Egg-Har-
bour, in the month of December, 1811, and was sent to Wilson
as a great curiosity. It measured nine inches in length, and
fourteen in extent; the bill, upper part of the head, back, wings
and tail, were black; the upper part of the breast and hind-head,
were gray, or white mixed with ash; the sides of the neck,
whole lower parts, and tips of secondaries, were pure white;
feet and legs black, shins pale flesh colour; above each eye there
was a small spot of white;! the lower scapulars streaked slightly
with the same.

The little Guillemot is said to be but a rare visitant of the
British isles. It is met with in various parts of the north, even
as far as Spitzbergen; is common in Greenland, in company with

* Named in the plate Little Auk.

t In Peale’s Museum there is an excellent specimen of this species, which
has hkewise a smaller spot below each eye.

228

LITTLE GULLEMOT.

the black-billed Aux, and feeds upon the same kind of food.
The Greenlanders call it the Ice-bird, from the circumstance of
its being the harbinger of ice. It lays two bluish white eggs,
larger than those of the Pigeon. It flies quick, and dives well;
and is always dipping its bill into the water while swimming,
or at rest on that element. Walks better on land than others of
the genus. It grows fat in the stormy season, from the waves
bringing plenty of crabs and small fish within its reach. It is
not a very crafty bird, and may be easily taken. It varies to
quite white; and sometimes is found with a reddish breast.*

To the anatomist, the internal organization of this species is
deserving attention: it is so constructed as to be capable of con-
tracting or dilating itself at pleasure. We know not what Na-
ture intends by this conformation, unless it be to facilitate diving,
for which the compressed form is well adapted; and likewise
the body when expanded will be rendered more buoyant, and
fit for the purpose of swimming upon the surface of the water.!

* Latham. Pennant.

t From Mr. Ord’s supplementary Volume.

GENUS 91. COLYMBUS. DIVER.

SPECIES. C. GL^CMLIS.

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER OR LOON,

[Plate LXXIV.— Fig. 3.]

Colymbus glacialis, Linn. Syst. ed. 12, tom. i, p. 221, 5. C. immer,
Id.p. 222, JV’o. 6. — Ind. Orn.p. 799, 1. C, immer Id. p. 800, 2. —
Le grand Plongeon, Briss. vi, /j. 105, pi. 10, Jig. 1. Le grand
Plongeontachete, Id.p. 120, 11,/^. 2. — Le grand Plongeon,

Buff. Ois. viii, p. Z5\. VImbrim, ou grand Plongeon de la mer
du nord, Id.p. 258, tab. 22. PI. Enl. 952. — J^orthern Diver,
Lath. Gen. Syn. iii, p. 337. Imber Diver, Id. p. 340. — Penn.
Drit. Zool.JVo. 237, 238. .Bret. Zool. JSTo. 439, 440. — Bewick,
II, p. 16B, 170. — Montagu, Orn. Die. Sup. dipp. — Low, Fauna
Oreadensis, p 108, 110. — Plongeon Imhrim, Temm. Man.
d’’ Orn.p. 910. — Peale’s Museum, JV*o. 3262, male and young.
— 3263, female.

This bird in Pennsylvania is migratory. In the autumn it
makes its appearance with the various feathered tribes that fre-
quent our waters; and when the streams are obstructed with ice,
it departs for the southern states.* In the months of March and
April it is again seen; and after lingering awhile, it leaves us
for the purpose of breeding. The loons are found along the coast
as well as in the interior; but in the summer they retire to the
fresh water lakes and ponds. We have never heard that they
breed in Pennsylvania; but it is said they do in Missibisci pond,
near Boston, Massachusetts. The female lays two large brownish
eggs. They are commonly seen in pairs, and procure their food,
which is fish, in the deepest water of our rivers, diving after it,
and continuing under for a length of time. Being a wary bird,
it is seldom they are killed, eluding their pursuers by their as-
* The Loon is said to winter in the Chesapeake Bay.

230

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.

tonishing faculty of diving. They seem averse from flying, and
are but seldom seen on the wing. They are never eaten.

The Loon is restless before a storm; and an experienced mas-
ter of a coasting vessel informed me, that he always knew when
a tempest was approaching by the cry of this bird, which is very
shrill, and may be heard at the distance of a mile or more.
The correctness of this observation I have myself since experi-
enced, in a winter voyage on the southern coasts of the United
States.

This species seldom visits the shores of Britain, except in
very severe winters; but it is met with in the north of Europe,
and spreads along the arctic coast as far as the mouth of the
river Ob, in the flominions of Russia. It is found about Spitz-
bergen, Iceland and Hudson’s Bay. Makes its nest, in the more
northern regions, on the little isles of fresh water lakes; every
pair keep a lake to themselves. It sees well, flies very high,
and, darting obliquely, falls secure into its nest. Appears in
Greenland in April or the beginning of May; and goes away
in September or October, on the first fall of snow. * It is also
found at Nootka Soundt, and Kamtschatka.

The Barabinzians, a nation situated between the river Ob
and the Irtisch, in the Russian dominions, tan the breasts of this
and other water fowl, whose skins they prepare in such a man-
ner as to preserve the down upon them; and, sewing a number
of these together, they sell them to make pelises, caps, &c.
Garments made of these are very warm, never imbibing the
least moisture; and are more lasting than could be imagined. §

The natives of Greenland use the skins for clothing; and the
Indians about Hudson’s Bay adorn their heads with circlets of
their feathers.lF

Lewis and Clark’s party, at the mouth of the Columbia, saw
robes made of the skins of Loons;** and abundance of these birds
during the time that they wintered at Fort Clatsop on that river. ft

* Pennant. f Cook’s last voy. ii, p. 237, Am. ed.

§ I.atham. ^ Arctic Zoology.

*’ Gass’s Journal. ff History of the Expedition, vol. ii, p. 189.

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.

231

The Laplanders, according to Regnard, cover their heads
with a cap made of the skin of a Loom (Loon), which word
signifies in their language lame^ because the bird cannot walk
well. They place it on their head in such a manner, that the
bird’s head falls over their brow, and its wings cover their ears.

“ Northern Divers,” says Hearne, ‘‘ though common in Hud-
son’s Bay, are by no means plentiful; they are seldom found
near the coast, but more frequently in fresh water lakes, and
usually in pairs. They build their nests at the edge of small
islands, or the margins of lakes or ponds; they lay only two
eggs, and it is very common to find only one pair and their
young in one sheet of water: a great proof of their aversion to
society. They are known in Hudson’s Bay by the name of
Loons.”*

The Great Northern Diver measures two feet ten inches
from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, and four feet six
inches in breadth; the bill is strong, of a glossy black, and four
inches and three-quarters long to the corner of the mouth; the
edges of the bill do not fit exactly into each other, and are rag-
ged, the lower mandible separates into two branches, which are
united by a thin elastic membrane, and are easily moveable ho-
rizontally or receding from each other, so as to form a wider
gap to facilitate the swallowing of large fish; tongue bifid; iri-
des dark blood red; the head, and half of the length of the neck,
are of a deep black, with a green gloss, and purple reflections;
this is succeeded by a band, consisting of interrupted white and
black lateral stripes, which encompasses the neck, and tapers
to a point on its fore part, without joining — this band measures
about an inch and a half in its widest part, and to appearance is
not continuous on the back part of the neck, being concealed by
some thick, overhanging, black feathers, but on separating the
latter the band becomes visible: tbe feathers which form these
narrow stripes are white, streaked down their centre with black,
and, what is a remarkable peculiarity, their webs project above

Hearne’s Journey, p. 429, quai-to.

232

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.

the common surface; below this a broad band of dark glossy
green and violet, which is blended behind with the plumage of
the back; the lower part of the neck, and the sides of the breast,
are ribbed in the same manner as the band above; below the
chin a few stripes of the same; the whole of the upper parts are
of a deep black, slightly glossed with green, and thickly spot-
ted with white, in regular transverse or semicircular rows, two
spots on the end of each feather — those on the upper part of
the back, shoulders, rump and tail-coverts, small and roundish,
those on the centre of the back, square and larger, those on the
scapulars are the largest, and of an oblong square shape; the
wing feathers and tail are plain brown black, the latter com-
posed of twenty feathers; the lower parts are pure white, a slight
dusky line across the vent; the scapulars descend over the wing,
when closed, and the belly feathers ascend so as to meet them,
by which means every part of the wing is concealed, except
towards the tip; the outside of the legs and feet is black, inside
lead colour; the leg is four inches in length, and the foot mea-
sures, along the exterior toe to the tip of its claw, four inches
and three-quarters; both legs and feet are marked with five-si-
ded polygons. Weight of the specimen described eight pounds
and a half.

The adult male and female are alike in plumage.

The young do not appear to obtain their perfect plumage un-
til the second or third year. One which I saw, and which was
conjectured to be a yearling, had its upper parts of a brown or
mouse colour; a few spots on the back and scapulars; but none
of those markings on the neck, which distinguish the full-grown
male. Another had the whole upper parts of a pale brown; the
plumage of part of the back and scapulars tipped with pale ash;
the lower parts white, with a yellowish tinge; no bands on the
neck, nor spots on the body.

The conformation of the ribs and bones of this species is re-
markable, and merits particular examination.

In the account which some of the European ornithologists give
of their Northern Diver, we presume there is an inaccuracy.

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.

333

They say it measures three feet six inches in length, and four
feet eight in breadth; and weighs sixteen pounds. If this be a
correct statement, it would lead to the surmise that our Diver
is a differerent species; for of several specimens which we ex-
amined, the best and largest has been described for this work,
the admeasurement of which bird comes considerably short of
that of the European, mentioned above. The weight, as has
been stated, was eight pounds and a half.

On a re-examination of the Supplement to the Ornithological
Dictionary of Montagu, I find, upon this subject, the following
remarks, which should seem to put the question at rest respect-
ing the identity of the European and American species: “It
should appear that the size of this species has been commonly
exaggerated, or they must vary materially, since those which
have come under our examination did not exceed ten pounds;
and an old or matured male measured only two feet eight in-
ches. A young female, before the plumage was perfected, weigh-
ed eight pounds six ounces, and measured two feet seven inches
in length.

“ A Northern Diver taken alive, was kept in a pond for some
months, which gave us an opportunity of attending to its man-
ners. In a few days it became extremely docile, would come
at the call, from one side of the pond to the other, and would
take food from the hand. The bird had received an injury in
the head, which had deprived one eye of its sight, and the other
was a little impaired, but notwithstanding, it could by inces-
santly diving, discover all the fish that was thrown into the
pond. In defect of fish it would eat flesh.

“ It is observable that the legs of this bird are so constructed
and situated, as to render it incapable of walking upon them.
This is probably the case with all the divers, as well as the
Grebes.

“ When this bird quitted the water, it shoved its body along
upon the ground, like a seal, by jerks, rubbing the breast against
the ground; and it returned again to the water in a similar man-

VOL. III. — H h

234

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.

iier. In swimming and diving,* only the legs are used, and
not the wings, as in the Guillemot and Auk tribes; and by their
situation so far behind, and their little deviation from the line
of the body, the bird is enabled to propel itself in the water
with great velocity in a straight line, as well as turn with asto-
nishing quickness.”t

* I have never seen this bird diving in pursuit of fish, but I have seen it
in the act of diving to avoid danger, and took notice, that its wings, when
beneath the surface of the water, did not lie close to the body, but they
were not as much extended as when in the act of flying. They had no vi-
sible motion, hence the presumption is, that then* only use is to balance the
body.

t From Mr. Ord’s supplementary volume.

GENUS 92. RYNCHOPS. SKIMMER.

SPECIES. RHYNCHOPS NIGR^.

BLACK SKIMMER, OR SHEARWATER.

[Plate LX. — Fig. 4.]

Arct. Zool. JVb. 445. — Catesby, i, 90. — Le Bee en Ciseaux, Buff.

VIII, 454, tab. 36. — Peale’s Museum, JYo. 3530.*

This truly singular fowl is the only species of its tribe hith-
erto discovered. Like many others, it is a bird of passage in
the United States; and makes its first appearance, on the shores
of New Jersey, early in May. It resides there, as well as along
the whole Atlantic coast, during the summer; and retires early
in September. Its favourite haunts are low sand-bars, raised
above the reach of the summer tides; and also dry flat sands on
the beach, in front of the ocean. On such places it usually
breeds along the shores of Cape May, in New Jersey. On oc-
count of the general coldness of the spring there, the Shear-
water does not begin to lay until early in June, at which time
these birds form themselves into small societies, fifteen or twen-
ty pair frequently breeding within a few yards of each other.
The nest is a mere hollow, formed in the sand, without any
materials. The female lays three eggs, almost exactly oval, of
a clear white, marked with large round spots of brownish black,
and intermixed with others of pale Indian ink. These eggs
measure one inch and three quarters, by one inch and a quarter.
Half a bushel and more of eggs has sometimes been collected
from one sand bar, within the compass of half an acre. These
eggs have something of a fishy taste; but are eaten by many
people on the coast. The female sits on them only during the

PI. Enl. 357.

236

BLACK SKIMMKR.

night, or in wet and stormy weather. The young remain for
several weeks before they are able to fly; are fed with great as-
siduity by both parents; and seem to delight in lying with loos-
ened wings, flat on the sand, enjoying its invigorating warmth.
They breed but once in the season.

The singular conformation of the bill of this bird has excited
much surprise; and some writers, measuring the divine propor-
tions of nature by their own contracted standards of conception,
in the plenitude of their vanity have pronounced it to be ‘‘ an
awkward and defective instrument.”* Such ignorant presump-
tion, or rather impiety, ought to hide its head in the dust on a
calm display of the peculiar construction of this singular bird,
and the wisdom by which it is so admirably adapted to the pur-
poses, or mode of existence, for which it was intended. The
Shearwater is formed for skimming, while on wing, the surface
of the sea for its food, which consists of small fish, shrimps,
young fry, &c., whose usual haunts are near the shore, and to-
wards the surface. That the lower mandible, when dipt into
and cleaving the water, might not retard the bird’s way, it is
thinned and sharpened like the blade of a knife; the upper man-
dible being at such times elevated above water, is curtailed
in its length, as being less necessary, but tapering gradually to
a point, that, on shutting, it may offer less opposition. To pre-
vent inconvenience from the rushing of the water, the mouth
is confined to the mere opening of the gullet, which indeed
prevents mastication taking place there; but the stomach, or
gizzard, to which this business is solely allotted, is of uncom-
mon hardness, strength and muscularity, far surpassing, in
these respects, any other water bird with which I am acquaint-
ed. To all these is added a vast expansion of wing, to enable
the bird to sail with sufficient celerity while dipping in the
water. The general proportion of the length of our swiftest
Hawks and Swallows, to their breadth, is as one to two; but
in the present case, as there is not only the resistance of the

Vide Buffon.

BLACK SKIMMER.

237

air, but also that of the water, to overcome, a still greater volume
of wing is given, the Shearwater measuring nineteen inches
in length, and upwards of forty-four in extent. In short, who-
ever has attentively examined this curious apparatus, and ob-
served the possessor with his ample wings, long bending neck,
and lower mandible occasionally dipt into, and ploughing, the
surface, and the facility with which he procures his food, can-
not but consider it a mere playful amusement, when compared
with the dashing immersions of the Tern, the Gull, or the
Fish-Hawk, who, to the superficial observer, appear so superi-
orly accommodated.

The Shearwater is most frequently seen skimming close along
shore, about the first of the flood, at which time the young fry,
shrimp, &c., are most abundant in such places. There are also
numerous inlets, among the low islands between the sea beach
and main land of Cape May, where I have observed tbe Shear-
waters, eight or ten in company, passing and repassing at high-
water particular estuaries of those creeks that run up into the
salt marshes, dipping, with extended neck, their open bills in-
to the water, with as much apparent ease as Swallows glean up
flies from the surface. On examining the stomachs of several
of these, shot at the time, they contained numbers of a small
fish, usually called silver-sides^ from a broad line of a glossy
silver colour that runs from the gills to the tail. The mouths
of these inlets abound with this fry, or fish, probably feeding
on the various matters washed down from the marshes.

The voice of the Shearwater is harsh and screaming, resem-
bling that of the Tern, but stronger. It flies with a slowly flap-
ping flight, dipping occasionally, with steady expanded wings,
and bended neck, its lower mandible into the sea, and with
open mouth receiving its food as it ploughs along the surface.
It is rarely seen swimming on the water; but frequently rests
in large parties on the sand-bars at low water. One of these
birds which I wounded in the wing, and kept in the room be-
side me for several days, soon became tame and even familiar.
It generally stood with its legs erect, its body horizontal, and

238

BLACK SKIMMEE.

its neck rather extended. It frequently reposed on its belly,
and stretching its neck, rested its long bill on the floor. It
spent most of its time in this way, or in dressing and arranging
its plumage, with its long scissors-like bill, which it seemed to
perform with great ease and dexterity. It refused every kind
of food offered it, and I am persuaded never feeds but when on
the wing. As to the reports of its frequenting oyster beds, and
feeding on these fish, they are contradicted by all those persons
with whom I have conversed, whose long residence on the
coast, where those birds are common, has given them the best
opportunities of knowing.

The Shearwater is nineteen inches in length, from the point
of the bill to the extremity of the tail, the tips of the wings,
when shut, extend full four inches farther; breadth three feet
eight inches; length of the lower mandible four inches and a
half, of the upper three inches and a half, both of a scarlet red,
tinged with orange, and ending with black; the lower extreme-
ly thin, the upper grooved so as to receive the edge of the
lower; the nostril is large and pervious, placed in a hollow near
the base and edge of the upper mandible, where it projects great-
ly over the lower; upper part of the head, neck, back and sca-
pulars, deep black; wings the same, except the secondaries,
which are white on the inner vanes, and also tipt with white;
tail forked, consisting of twelve feathers, the two middle ones
about an inch and a half shorter than the exterior ones, all black,
broadly edged on both sides with white; tail-coverts white on
the outer sides, hlack in the middle; front, passing down the
neck below the eye, throat, breast, and whole lower parts,
pure white; legs and webbed feet bright scarlet, formed almost
exactly like those of the Tern. Weight twelve ounces avoir-
dupois. The female weighed nine ounceSj and measured only
sixteen inches in length, and three feet three inches in extent,
the colours and markings were the same as those of the male,
with the exception of the tail, which was white, shafted and
broadly centred with black.

The birds from which these descriptions were taken, were

BLACK SKIMMER.

239

shot on the twenty-fifth of May, before they had begun to breed.
The female contained a great number of eggs, the largest of
which were about the size of duck-shot; the stomach, in both,
was an oblong pouch, ending in a remarkably hard gizzard,
curiously puckered or plaited, containing the half dissolved
fragments of the small silver-sides, pieces of shrimps, small
crabs, and skippers, or sand fleas.

On some particular parts of the coast of Virginia, these birds
are seen, on low sand-bars, in flocks of several hundreds toge-
ther. There more than twenty nests have been found within
the space of a square rod. The young are at first so exactly of
a colour with the sand on which they sit, as to be with difficul-
ty discovered, unless after a close search.

The Shearwater leaves our shores soon after his young are
fit for the journey. He is found on various coasts of Asia, as
well as America, residing principally near the tropics; and mi-
grating into the temperate regions of the globe only for the
purpose of rearing his young. He is rarely or never seen far
out at sea; and must not be mistaken for another bird of the
same name, a species of Petrel,* which is met with on every
paid of the ocean, skimming with bended wings along the sum-
mits, declivities, and hollows of the waves.

FrocdUma Puffimn, the Shearwater Petrel.

GENUS 93. STERNA. TERN.

SPECIES 1. STERNA HIRUNDO.

GREAT TERN.

[Plate LX. — Fig. 1.]

Jirct. Zool. p. 524. — JVb. 448. — Le pierre garin, ou grande Hiron-

delle de mer, Buff, viii, 331. PL Enl. 987. — Bewick, ii, 181. —

Peale’s Museum, JSTo. 3485.*

This bird belongs to a tribe very generally dispersed over
the shores of the ocean. Their generic characters are these: —
Bill straight, sharp pointed, a little compressed and strong; nos-
trils linear; tongue slender, pointed; legs short; feet webbed;
hind toe and its nail straight; wings long; tail generally forked.
Turton enumerates twenty-five species of this genus, scattered
over various quarters of the world ; six of which, at least, are
natives of the United States. From their long pointed wings
they are generally known to seafaring people, and others resi-
ding near the seashore, by the name of Sea Swalloios; though
some fevq from their near resemblance, are confounded with
the Gulls.

The present species, or Great Tern, is common to the shores
of Europe, Asia and America. It arrives on the coast of New
.Jersey about the middle or twentieth of April, led no doubt by
the multitudes of fish which at that season visit our shallow bays
and inlets. By many it is called the Sheep’s-head Gull, from
arriving about the same time with the fish of that name.

About the middle or twentieth of May this bird commences
laying. The preparation of a nest, which costs most other birds
so much time and ingenuity, is here altogether dispensed with.

* Sterna Hirundo. Gmel. Syst. i, p. 60G. — Ind. Orn, p. 807, JVb. 15. — Briss.
VI, p. 203. pi. 13, fig. 1. — Temm. J\Ian. d'Orn, p. 740.

GREAT TERN.

241

The eggs generally three in number, are placed on the surface
of the dry drift grass, on the beach or salt marsh, and covered
by the female only during the night, or in wet, raw or stormy
weather. At all other times the hatching of them is left to the
heat of the sun. These eggs measure an inch and three-quarters
in length, by about an inch and two-tenths in width, and are of
a yellowish dun colour, sprinkled with dark brown and pale
Indian ink. Notwithstanding they seem thus negligently aban-
doned during the day, it is very different in reality. One or both
of the parents are generally fishing within view of the place,
and on the near approach of any person, instantly make their
appearance over head; uttering a hoarse jarring kind of cry,
and flying about with evident symptoms of great anxiety and
consternation. The young are generally produced at intervals
of a day or so from each other, and are regularly and abundantly
fed for several weeks, before their wings are sufficiently grown
to enable them to fly. At first the parents alight with the fish,
which they have brought in their mouth, or in their bill, and
tearing it in pieces distribute it in such portions as their young
are able to swallow. Afterwards they frequently feed them
without alighting, as they skim over the spot; and as the young
become nearly ready to fly, they drop the fish among them,
where the strongest and most active has the best chance to gob-
ble it up. In the mean time, the young themselves frequently
search about the marshes, generally not far apart, for insects of
various kinds; but so well acquainted are they with the peculiar
language of their parents, that warn them of the approach of an
enemy, that on hearing their cries they instantly squat, and re-
main motionless until the danger be over.

The flight of the Great Tern, and indeed of the whole tribe,
is not in the sweeping shooting manner of the land Swallows,
notwithstanding their name; the motions of their long wings
are slower, and more in the manner of the Gull. They have,
however, great powers of wing and strength in the muscles of
the neck, which enable them to make such sudden and violent

VOL. III. — I i

242

GREAT TERN.

plunges, and that from a considerable height, too, headlong on
their prey, which they never seize but with their bills. In the
evening, I have remarked, as they retired from the upper parts
of the bays, rivers and inlets, to the beach for repose, about
breeding time, that each generally carried a small fish in his bill.

As soon as the young are able to fly, they lead them to the
sandy shoals and ripples where fish are abundant; and while they
occasionally feed them, teach them by their example to provide
for themselves. They sometimes penetrate a great way inland,
along the courses of rivers; and are occasionally seen about all
our numerous ponds, lakes and rivers, most usually near the
close of the summer.

This species inhabits Europe as high as Spitzbergen; is found
on the arctic coasts of Siberia and Kamtschatka, and also on our
own continent as far north as Hudson’s Bay. In New England
it is called by some the Mackerel Gull, It retires from all these
places, at the approach of winter, to more congenial seas and
seasons.

The Great Tern is fifteen inches long, and thirty inches in
extent; bill reddish yellow, sometimes brilliant crimson, slightly
angular on the lower mandible, and tipt with black; whole up-
per part of the head black, extending to a point half way down
the neck behind, and including the eyes; sides of the neck, and
whole lower parts, pure white; wing quills hoary, as if bleached
by the weather, long and pointed; whole back, scapulars and
Aving, bluish white, or very pale lead colour; rump and tail-co-
verts white; tail long and greatly forked, the exterior feathers
being three inches longer than the adjoining ones, the rest short-
ening gradually for an inch and a half to the middle ones, the
whole of a pale lead colour; the outer edge of the exterior ones
black; legs and webbed feet brilliant red lead; membranes of
the feet deeply scalloped; claws large and black, middle one the
largest. The primary quill feathers are generally dark on their
inner edges. The female differs in having the two exterior
feathers of the tail considerably shorter. The voice of these
birds is like the harsh jarring of an opening door, on its rusted

GREAT TERN.

243

hinges. The bone of the skull is remarkably thick and strong,
as also the membrane that surrounds the brain; in this respect
resembling the Woodpecker’s. In both, this provision is doubt-
less intended to enable the birds to support, without injury, the
violent concussions caused by the plunging of the one, and the
chiseling of the other.

SPECIES 2. STEENS MINUTA,

LESSER TERN.

[Plate LX. — Fig. 2.]

Jirct. Zool. .iV*o. 449. — La petite Hirondelle de mer, Buff, viii,

337. PL Enl. 996, — Bewick, ii, 183. — Peace’s Mseum, JV*o.

3505.*

This beautiful little species looks like the preceding in mi-
niature, but surpasses it far in the rich glossy satin-like white
plumage with which its throat, breast, and whole lower parts,
are covered. Like the former, it is also a bird of passage, but
is said not to extend its migrations to so high a northern lati-
tude, being more delicate, and susceptible of cold. It arrives
on the coast somewhat later than the other, but in equal and per-
haps greater numbers; coasts along the shores, and also over the
pools, in the salt marshes, in search of prawns, of which it is
particularly fond; hovers, suspended in the air, for a few mo-
ments above its prey, exactly in the manner of some of our
small Hawks, and dashes headlong down into the water after
it, generally seizing it with its bill; mounts instantly again to
the same height, and moves slowly along as before, eagerly ex-
amining the surface below. About the twenty-fifth of May, or
beginning of June, the female begins to lay. The eggs are dropt
on the dry and warm sand, the heat of which, during the day,
is fully sufficient for the purpose of incubation. This heat is
sometimes so great, that one can scarcely bear the hand in it
for a few moments, without inconvenience. The wonder would
therefore be the greater should the bird sit on her eggs during

* Sterna minuta, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 608. — /nrf. Orn. p. 809, No. 19. — Sterna
metopoleucos, lb. No. 22. — Briss. vi, p. 206, pi. 19. fig. 2. — Temm. Man d'Orn.
p. 752,

LESSER TERN.

245

the day, when her warmth is altogether unnecessary, and per-
haps injurious, than that she should cover them only during the
damps of night, and in wet and stormy weather; and furnishes
another proof that the actions of birds are not the effect of mere
blind impulse, but of volition, regulated by reason, depending
on various incidental circumstances, to which their parental
cares are ever awake. I lately visited those parts of the beach
on Cape May, where this little bird breeds. The eggs, generally
four in number, where placed on the flat sands, safe beyond the
reach of the highest summer tide. They were of a yellowish
brown colour, blotched with rufous, and measured nearly an
inch and three-quarters in length. During my whole stay, these
birds flew in crowds around me, and often within a few yards
of my head, squeaking like so many young pigs, which their
voice strikingly resembles. A Humming-bird, that had acci-
dentally strayed to the place, appeared suddenly among this
outrageous group, several of whom darted angrily at him ; but
he shot like an arrow from them, directing his flight straight
towards the ocean. I have no doubt but the distressing cries of
the Terns had drawn this little creature to the scene, having
frequently witnessed his anxious curiosity on similar occasions
in the woods.

The Lesser Tern feeds on beetles, crickets, spiders, and other
insects, which it picks up from the marshes; as well as on small
fish, on which it plunges at sea. Like the former, it also makes
extensive incursions, inland, along the river courses, and has
frequently been shot several hundred miles from the sea. It
sometimes sits for hours together on the sands, as if resting af-
ter the fatigues of flight to which it is exposed.

The Lesser Tern is extremely tame and unsuspicious, often
passing you in its flight, and within a few yards, as it traces the
windings and indentations of the shore in search of it favourite
prawns and skippers. Indeed at such times it appears either
altogether heedless of man, or its eagerness for food overcomes
its apprehensions for its own safety. We read in ancient au-
thors, that the fishermen used to float a cross of wood, in the

246

LESSER TERN.

middle of which was fastened a small fish for a bait, with limed
twigs stuck to the four corners, on which the bird darting was
entangled by the wings. But this must have been for mere
sport, or for its feathers, the value of the bird being scarcely
worth the trouble, as they are generally lean, and the flesh sa-
vouring strongly of flsh.

The Lesser Tern is met with in the south of Russia, and about
the Black and Caspian sea; also in Siberia about the Irtish.^
With the former, it inhabits the shores of England during the
summer, where it breeds, and migrates, as it does here, to the
south, as the cold of autumn approaches.

This species is jiine and a half inches long, and twenty in-
ches in extent; bill bright reddish yellow; nostril pervious; low-
er mandible angular; front white, reaching in two narrow points
over the eye; crown, band through the eye, and hind-head,
black, tapering to a point as it descends; cheeks, sides of the
neck, and whole lower parts, of the most rich and glossy white,
like the brightest satin; upper parts of the back and wings a pale
glossy ash or light lead colour; the outer edges of the three ex-
terior primaries black, their inner edges white; tail pale ash,
but darker than the back, and forked, the two outer feathers an
inch longer, tapering to a point; legs and feet reddish yellow;
webbed feet, claws and hind toe, exactly formed like those of
the preceding. The female nearly resembles the male, with
the exception of having the two exterior tail feathers shorter.

Pennant.

SPECIES 3. STERNA ARANEA.

MARSH TERN.

[Plate LXXIL— Fig. 6.]

Peale’s Museum^ No. 3521.

This new species I first met with on the shores of Cape May,
particularly over the salt marshes, and darting down after a kind
of large black spider, plenty in such places. This spider can
travel under water as well as above, and, during summer at
least, seems to constitute the principal food of the present Tern.
In several which I opened, the stomach was crammed with a
mass of these spiders alone; these they frequently pick up from
the pools as well as from the grass, dashing down on them in
the manner of their tribe. Their voice is sharper and stronger
than that of the Common Tern; the bill is differently formed,
being shorter, more rounded above, and thicker; the tail is also
much shorter, and less forked. They do not associate with the
others; but keep in small parties by themselves.

The Marsh Tern is fourteen inches in length, and thirty-four
in extent; bill thick, much rounded above, and of a glossy
blackness; whole upper part of the head and hind neck black;
whole upper part of the body hoary white; shafts of the quill
and tail feathers pure white; line from the nostril under the eye,
and whole lower parts pure white; tail forked, the outer feath-
ers about an inch and three-quarters longer than the middle ones,
the wings extend upwards of two inches beyond the tail; legs
and feet black, hind toe small, straight, and pointed.

The female, as to plumage, differs in nothing from the male.
The yearling birds, several of which I met with, have the plu-
mage of the crown white at the surface, but dusky below; so
that the boundaries of the black, as it will be in the perfect bird,

248

MARSH TERN.

are clearly defined; through the eye a line of black passes down
the neck for about an inch, reaching about a quarter of an inch
before it; the bill is not so black as in the others; the legs and
feet dull orange, smutted with brown or dusky; tips and edges
of the primaries blackish; shafts white.

This species breeds in the salt marshes, the female drops her
eggs, generally three or four in number, on the dry drift grass,
without the slightest appearance of a nest; they are of a green-
ish olive, spotted with brown.

A specimen of this Tern has been deposited in the Museum
of this city.

SPECIES 4. STERNA PLUMBED.*
SHORT-TAILED TERN.

[Plate LX. — Fig. 3.]

Peale’s Museum, JV*o. 3519.

A SPECIMEN of this bird was first sent me by Mr. Beasley
of Cape May; but being in an imperfect state, I could form no
correct notion of the species; sometimes supposing it might be
a young bird of the preceding Tern. Since that time, however,
I have had an opportunity of procuring a considerable number
of this same kind, corresponding almost exactly with each other.
I have ventured to introduce it in this place as a new species;
and have taken pains to render the figure in the plate a correct
likeness of the original.

On the sixth of September, 1812, after a violent north-east
storm, which inundated the meadows of Schuylkill in many
places, numerous flocks of this Tern all at once made their ap-
pearance, flying over those watery spaces, picking up grasshop-
pers, beetles, spiders, and other insects, that were floating on
the surface. Some hundreds of them might be seen at the same
time, and all seemingly of one sort. They were busy, silent
and unsuspicious, darting down after their prey without hesita-
tion, though perpetually harassed by gunners, whom the novelty
of their appearance had drawn to the place. Several flocks of
the Yellow-shanks Snipe, and a few Purres, appeared also in
the meadows at the same time, driven thither, doubtless, by
the violence of the storm.

I examined upwards of thirty individuals of this species, by

* Prince Musignano asserts that this is the young of the Sterna nigra, a bird
inhabiting Europe as well as this country, and of which many nominal spe-
cies have been made. In this opinion he is probably correct.

VOL. III. K k

250

SHORT-TAILED TERN.

dissection, and found both sexes alike in colour. Their sto-
machs contained grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, &c, but no fish.
The people on the seacoast have since informed me, that this
bird comes to them only in the fall, or towards the end of sum-
mer; and is more frequently seen about the mill-ponds, and
fresh water marshes, than in the bays; and add, that it feeds on
grasshoppers, and other insects, which it finds on the meadows
and marshes, picking them from the grass, as well as from the
surface of the water. They have never known it to associate
with the Lesser Tern, and consider it altogether a different bird.
Tliis opinion seems confirmed by the above circumstances, and
by the fact of its greater extent of wing, being full three inches
wider than the Lesser Tern; and also making its appearance
after the others have gone off.

The Short-tailed Tern measures eight inches and a half, from
the point of the hill to the tip of the tail, and twenty-three in-
ches in extent; the bill is an inch and a quarter in length, sharp
pointed, and of a deep black colour; a patch of black covers the
crown, auriculars, spot before the eye, and hind-head; the fore-
head, eyelids, sides of the neck, passing quite round below the
hind-head, and whole lower parts, are pure white; the back is
dark ash, each feather broadly tipt with brown; the wings a
dark lead colour, extending an inch and a half beyond the tail,
which is also of the same tint, and slightly forked; shoulders of
the wing brownish ash; legs and webbed feet tawny. It had a
sharp shrill cry when wounded and taken.

This is probably the Brown Tern mentioned by Willough-
by, of which so many imperfect accounts have already been
given. The figure in the plate, like those which accompany it,
is reduced to one half the size of life.

SPECIES 5. STERNA FULIGINOS^.

SOOTY TERN.

[Plate LXXIL— Fig. 7.]

Le Hirondelle de Mer & grande envergiier, Buff, viii, j). 345. —
Egg bird, Forsi . Voy.p. 113. — Damp. Voy. iii, 142.
— ,irct. Zool. JSTo. 447'.~Lath. Syn. m, p. 352. — Peale’s JIu-
seiim, JVo. 3459.*

This bird has been long known to navigators, as its appear-
ance at sea usually indicates the vicinity of land; instances, how-
ever, have occurred in which they have been met with one
hundred leagues from shore, f The species is widely dispersed
over the various shores of the ocean. They were seen by Dam-
pier in New Holland; are in prodigious numbers in the island
of Ascension; and in Christmas Island are said to lay, in De-
cember, one egg on the ground, the egg is yellowish, with brown
and violet spots. X In passing along the northern shores of Cu-
ba and the coast of Florida and Georgia, in the month of July,
I observed this species very numerous and noisy, dashing down
headlong after small fish. I shot and dissected several, and
found their stomachs uniformly filled with fish. I could per-
ceive little or no difference between the colours of the male and
female.

Length of the Sooty Tern seventeen inches, extent three feet
six inches; bill an inch and a half long, sharp pointed and round-
ed above, the upper mandible serrated slightly near the point;
nostril an oblong slit, colour of the bill glossy black; irides
dusky; forehead as far as the eyes white; whole lower parts and

* Sterna fuliginosa, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 605. — Ind. Orn. p. 804, No. 4. Gen.
Sijn. Ill, p. 352, No. 4.
t Cook, Voy. I, p. 275

t Turton.

252

SOOTY TEEN.

sides of the neck pure white; rest of the plumage black; wings
very long and pointed, extending, when shut, nearly to the ex-
tremity of the tail, which is greatly forked, and consists of
twelve feathers, the two exterior ones four inches longer than
those of the middle, the whole of a deep black, except the two
outer feathers, which are white, but towards the extremities a
little blackish on the inner vanes; legs and webbed feet black,
hind toe short.

The secondary wing feathers are eight inches shorter than
the longest primary.

This bird frequently settles on the rigging of ships at sea,
and, in common with another species, S, Stolida, is called by
sailors the Noddy.

GENUS 94. LAKUS. GULL.

SPECIES. L. ^TRICILLA.

LAUGHING GULL.

[Plate LXXIV.— Fig. 4.]

Larus atrici/Za, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, tom. i, p. 136, 5. — Gmel. Syst.

I, p. 600, 8. — Ind. Orn. p. 813, 4. — Laughing Gull, Catesby, i,

n. 89. — Lath. Gen, Syn. ui, p. 383, 12. — Jlrct. Zool. JVo.

454. — La Mouette rieuse, Bmss. vi, p. 192, 13, pi. 18, jig. 1.

— Mouette d capuchon plombd, Temm. Man. d^Orn. p. 779. —

Peale’s Museum, JV’o. 3381.

Length seventeen inches, extent three feet six inches; bill,
thighs, legs, feet, sides of the mouth and eyelids, dark blood
red; inside of the mouth vermilion; bill nearly two inches and
a half long; the nostril is placed rather low; the eyes are black;
above and below each eye there is a spot of white; the head and
part of the neck are black, remainder of the neck, breast, whole
lower parts, tail-coverts and tail, pure white; the scapulars,
wing-coverts, and whole upper parts, are of a fine blue ash
colour; the first five primaries are black towards their extremi-
ties; the secondaries are tipt largely with white, and almost all
the primaries slightly; the bend of the wing is white, and nearly
three inches long; the tail is almost even, it consists of twelve
feathers, and its coverts reach within an inch and a half of its
tip; the wings extend two inches beyond the tail; a delicate
blush is perceivable on the breast and belly. Length of tarsus
two inches.

The head of the female is of a dark dusky slate colour, in
other respects she resembles the male.

In some individuals, the crown is of a dusky gray; the upper
part and sides of the neck of a lead colour; the bill and legs of

254

LAUGHING GULL.

a dirty, dark, purplish brown. Others have not the white spots
above and below the eyes; these are young birds.

The changes of plumage, to which birds of this genus are
subject, have tended not a little to confound the naturalist; and
a considerable collision of opinion, arising from an imperfect
acquaintance with the living subjects, has been the result. To
investigate thoroughly their history, it is obviously necessary
that the ornithologist should frequently explore their native
haunts; and to determine the species of periodical or occasional
visiters, an accurate comparative examination of many speci-
mens, either alive, or recently killed, is indispensable. Less
confusion would arise among authors, if they would occasion-
ally abandon their accustomed walks — their studies and their
museums, and seek correct knowledge in the only place where
it is to be obtained — in the grand Temple of Nature. As it
respects, in particular, the tribe under review, the zealous in-
quirer would find himself amply compensated for all his toil,
by observing these neat and clean birds coursing along the
rivers and coast, enlivening the prospect by their airy move-
ments: now skimming closely over the watery element, watch,
ing the motions of the surges, and now rising into the higher
regions, sporting with the winds; while he inhaled the invigo-
rating breezes of the ocean, and listened to the soothing mur-
murs of its billows.

The Laughing Gull, known in America by the name of the
Black-headed Gull, is one of the most beautiful and most sociable
of its genus. They make their appearance, on the coast of New
Jersey, in the latter part of April; and do not fail to give notice
of their arrival, by their familiarity and loquacity. The inhabi-
tants treat them with the same indifference that they manifest
towards all those harmless birds, which do not minister either
to their appetite or their avarice; and hence the Black-heads
may be seen in companies around the farm-house; coursing along
the river shores, gleaning up the refuse of the fishermen, and
the animal substances left by the tide; or scattered over the
marshes, and newly-ploughed fields, regaling on the worms.

LAUGHING GULL.

255

insects and their larvae, which, in the vernal season, the bounty
of Nature provides for tlie sustenance of myriads of the feathered
race.

On the Jersey side of the Delaware bay, in the neighbourhood
of Fishing-creek, about the middle of May, the Black-headed
Gulls assemble in great multitudes, to feed upon the remains of
the King Crabs, which the hogs have left, or upon the spawn,
which those curious animals deposite in the sand, and which is
scattered along the shore by the waves. At such times, if any
one approach to disturb them, the Gulls will rise up in clouds,
every individual squalling so loud, that the roar may be heard
at the distance of two or three miles.

It is an interesting spectacle to behold this species when about
recommencing their migrations. If the weather be calm, they
will rise up in the air, spirally, chattering all the while to each
other, in the most sprightly manner, their notes, at such times,
resembling the singing of a hen, but far louder, changing often
into a haw, ha ha ha haw! the last syllable lengthened out like
the excessive laugh of a negro. When mounting and mingling
together, like motes in the sunbeams, their black heads and wing
tips, and snow-white plumage, give them a very beautiful ap-
pearance. After gaining an immense height, they all move off,
with one consent, in a direct line towards the point of their
destination.

IJiis bird breeds in the marshes. The eggs are three in num-
ber, of a dun clay colour, thinly marked with small irregular
touches of a pale purple, and pale brown; some are of a deeper
dun, with larger marks, and less tapering than others; the egg
measures two inches and a quarter by one inch and a half.

The Black-heads frequently penetrate into the interior, espe-
cially as far as Philadelphia; but they seem to prefer the neigh-
bourhood of the coast, for the purpose of breeding. They retire
southward early in the autumn. *

* From Mr. Ord’s supplementary volume.

GENUS 95. PROCELLARIA. PETREL.

SPECIES. P. PELAGIC A.*

STORMY PETREL.

[Plate LX.— Fig. 6.]

Jlrct. Zool. JSTo. 464. — Le Petrel; ou I'Oiseau tempete, PL Enl. 993.

— Bewick, ii, 223 Peale’s Museum, 3034.

There are few persons who have crossed the Atlantic, or
traversed much of the ocean, who have not observed these soli-
tary wanderers of the deep, skimming along the surface of the
wild and wasteful ocean; flitting past the vessel like Swallows,
or following in her wake, gleaning their scanty pittance of food
from the rough and whirling surges. Habited in mourning, and
making their appearance generally in greater numbers previous
to or during a storm, they have long been fearfully regarded by
the ignorant and superstitious, not only as the foreboding mes-
sengers of tempests and dangers to the hapless mariner; but as
wicked agents, connected, some bow or other, in creating them.
“Nobody,” say they, “can tell any thing of where they come
from, or how they breed, though (as sailors sometimes say) it
is supposed that they hatch their eggs under their wings as they
sit on the water.” This mysterious uncertainty of their origin,
and the circumstances above recited, have doubtless given rise
to the opinion so prevalent among this class of men, that they
are in some way or other connected with that personage who
has been styled the prince of the Power of the Air. In every
country where they are known, their names have borne some

* Procellaria Wilsonii, Bokaparte, Journal .Scad. JVal. Sc. Ph. vol. iii, p. 231.
— It is not the P. pelagica; of course the synonymes quoted by our author
do not belong to this bird.

STORMY PETREL.

257

affinity to this belief. They have been called Witches Stormy
Petrels; the Devil’s Birds; Mother Carey’s Chickens, \ pro-
bably from some celebrated ideal hag of that name; and their
unexpected and numerous appearance has frequently thrown a
momentary damp over the mind of the hardiest seaman.

It is the business of the naturalist, and the glory of philosophy,
to examine into the reality of these things; to dissipate the
clouds of error and superstition wherever they begin to darken
and bewilder the human understanding; and to illustrate Nature
with the radiance of truth. With these objects in view, we shall
now proceed, as far as the few facts we possess will permit, in
our examination into the history of this celebrated species.

The Stormy Petrel, the least of the whole twenty -four species
of its tribe enumerated by ornithologists, and the smallest of all
palmated fowls, is found over the whole Atlantic ocean, from
Europe to North America, at all distances from land, and in all
weathers; but is particularly numerous near vessels immediately
preceding and during a gale, when flocks of them crowd in her
wake, seeming then more than usually active in picking up va-
rious matters from the surface of the water. This presentiment
of a change of weather is not peculiar to the Petrel alone; but
is noted in many others, and common to all, even to those long
domesticated. The Woodpeckers, the Snow-birds, the Swallows,
are all observed to be uncommonly busy before a storm, search-
ing for food with great eagerness, as if anxious to provide for
the privations of the coming tempest. The common Ducks and
the Geese are infallibly noisy and tumultuous before falling
weather; and though, with these, the attention of man renders
any extra exertions for food at such times unnecessary, yet they
wash, oil, dress and arrange their plumage with uncommon
diligence and activity. The intelligent and observing farmer
remarks this bustle, and wisely prepares for the issue; but he

* Arct Zool. p. 464.

f This name seems to have been originally given them by c.aptain Carte-
ret’s sailors, who met with these birds on the coast of Chili. See Hawkes-
worth’s Voyages, vol. i, p. 203.

VOL. III. L 1

258

STORMY PETREL.

is not so ridiculously absurd as to suppose, that the storm which
follows is produced by the agency of these feeble creatures,
who are themselves equal sufferers by its effects with man. He
looks on them rather as useful monitors, who from the delicacy
of their organs, and a perception superior to his own, point out
the change in the atmosphere before it has become sensible to
his grosser feelings; and thus, in a certain degree, contribute to
his security. And why should not those who navigate the ocean
contemplate the appearance of this unoffending little bird in
like manner, instead of eyeing it with hatred and execration?
As well might they curse the midnight light-house, that, star-
like, guides them on their watery way, or the buoy, that warns
them of the sunken rocks below, as this harmless wanderer,
whose manner informs them of the approach of the storm, and
thereby enables them to prepare for it.

The Stormy Petrels, or Mother Carey’s Chickens, breed in
great numbers on the rocky shores of the Bahama and the Ber-
muda islands, and in some places on the coast of East Florida
and Cuba. They breed in communities like the Bank Swallows,
making their nests in the holes and cavities of the rocks above
the sea, returning to feed their young only during the night,
with the superabundant oily food from their stomachs. At these
times they may be heard making a continued cluttering sound
like frogs during the whole night. In the day they are silent,
and wander widely over the ocean. This easily accounts for
the vast distance they are sometimes seen from land, even in
the breeding season. The rapidity of their flight is at least equal
to the fleetness of our Swallows. Calculating this at the rate of
one mile per minute, twelve hours would be sufficient to waft
them a distance of seven hundred and twenty miles; but it is
probable that the far greater part confine themselves much
nearer land during that interesting period.

In the month of July, while on a voyage from New Orleans
to New York, I saw few or none of these birds in the gulf of
Mexico, although our ship was detained there by calms for
twenty days, and carried by currents as far south as cape An-

STORMY PETREL.

259

tonio, the westernmost extremity of Cuba. On entering the
gulf stream, and passing along the coasts of Florida and the
Carolinas, these birds made their appearance in great numbers,
and in all weathers; contributing much, by their sprightly evo-
lutions of wing, to enliven the scene; and affording me every
day several hours of amusement. It is indeed an interesting
sight to observe these little birds in a gale, coursing over the
waves, down the declivities, up the ascents of the foaming surf,
that threatens to burst over their heads; sweeping along the
hollow troughs of the sea, as in a sheltered valley, and again
mounting with the rising billow, and, just above its surface,
occasionally dropping their feet, which, striking the water,
throw them up again with additional force; sometimes leaping,
with both legs parallel, on the surface of the roughest waves
for several yards at a time. Meanwhile they continue coursing
from side to side of the ship’s wake, making excursions far and
wide, to the right and to the left, now a great way ahead, and
now shooting astern for several hundred yards, returning again
to the ship as if she were all the while stationary, though per-
haps running at the rate of ten knots an hour! But the most
singular peculiarity of this bird is its faculty of standing, and
even running, on the surface of the water, which it performs
with apparent facility. When any greasy matter is thrown over-
board, these birds instantly collect around it, and facing to
windward, with their long wings expanded, and their webbed
feet patting the water, the lightness of their bodies, and the
action of the wind on their wings, enable them to do this with
ease. In calm weather they perform the same manoeuvre, by
keeping their wings just so much in action as to prevent their
feet from sinking below the surface. According to Buffon,* it
is from this singular habit that the whole genus have obtained
the name Petrel, from the apostle Peter, who, as Scripture in-
forms us, also walked on the water.

As these birds often come up immediately under the stern,

* Tome xxiii, p. 299.

260

STORMY PETREL.

one can examine their form and plumage with nearly as much
accuracy as if they were in the hand. They fly with the wings
forming an almost straight horizontal line with the body, the
legs extended behind, and the feet partly seen stretching beyond
the tail. Their common note of weet, weet,” scarcely
louder than that of a young Duck of a week old, and much re-
sembling it. During the whole of a dark, wet and boisterous,
night which I spent on deck, they flew about the after rigging,
making a singular hoarse chattering, which in sound resembled
the syllables tu cuk cuk tu tu, laying the accent strong-

ly on the second syllable iret. Now and then I conjectured
that they alighted on the rigging, making then a lower curring
noise. _ .

Notwithstanding the superstitious fears of the seamen, who
dreaded the vengeance of the survivors, I shot fourteen of these
birds one calm day, in lat. 33°, eighty or ninety miles off the
coast of Carolina, and had the boat lowered to pick them up.
These I examined with considerable attention, and found the
most pei’fect specimens as follow:

Length six inches and three quarters; extent thirteen inches
and a half; bill black, nostrils united in a tubular projection, the
upper mandible grooved thence, and overhanging the lower
like that of a bird of prey; head, back and lower parts, brown
sooty black; greater wing-coverts pale brown, minutely tipt
with white; sides of the vent, and whole tail-coverts, pure
white; wings and tail deep black, the latter nearly even at the
tip, or very slightly forked; in some specimens, two or three
of the exterior tail feathers were white for an inch or so at the
root; legs and naked part of the thighs black; feet webbed, with
the slight rudiments of a hind toe, the membrane of the foot is
marked with a spot of straw yellow, and finely serrated along
the edges; eyes black. Male and female differing nothing in
colour.

On opening these I found the first stomach large, containing
numerous round semitransparent substances, of an amber colour,
which I at first suspected to be the spawn of some fish; but on a

STORMY PETREL.

261

more close and careful inspection, they proved to be a vegetable
substance, evidently the seeds of some marine plant, and about
as large as mustard seed. The stomach of one contained a fish,
half digested, so large that I should have supposed it too bulky
for the bird to swallow; another was filled with the tallow which
I had thrown overboard; and all had quantities of the seeds al-
ready mentioned, both in their stomaches and gizzards; in the
latter were also numerous minute pieces of barnacle shells. On
a comparison of the seeds above mentioned with those of the
gulf-weed, so common and abundant in this part of the ocean,
they were found to be the same. Thus it appears, that these
seeds floating perhaps a little below the surface, and the barna-
cles with which ships’ bottoms usually abound, being both oc-
casionally thrown up to the surface by the action of the vessel
through the water, in blowing weather, entice these birds to fol-
low in the ship’s wake at such times, and not, as some have
imagined, merely to seek shelter from the storm, the greatest
violence of which they seem to disregard. There is also the
greasy dish washings, and other oily substances, thrown over by
the cook, on which they feed with avidity; but with great good
nature, their manners being so gentle, that I never observed
the slightest appearance of quarrelling or dispute among them.

One circumstance is worthy of being noticed, and shows the
vast range they take over the ocean. In firing at these birds, a
quill feather was broken in each wing of an individual, and
hung fluttering in the wind, which rendered it so conspicuous
among the rest, as to be known to all on board. This bird, not-
withstanding its inconvenience, continued with us for nearly a
week, during which we sailed a distance of more than four hun-
dred miles to the north. Flocks continued to follow us until
near Sandy Hook.

The length of time these birds remain on wing is no less sur-
prising. As soon as it was light enough in the morning to per-
ceive them, they were found roaming about as usual; and I have
often sat in the evening, in the boat which was suspended at

262

STORMY PETREL.

tlie ship’s stern, watching their movements, until it was so dark
that the eye could no longer follow them, though I could still
hear their low note of weet weet, as they approached near to
the vessel below me.

These birds are sometimes driven by violent storms to a con-
siderable distance inland. One was shot some years ago on the
river Schuylkill, near Philadelphia; and Bewick mentions their
being found in various quarters of the interior of England.
From the nature of their food, their flesh is rank and disagree-
able; though they sometimes become so fat, that, as Mr. Pen-
nant, on the authority of Brunnich, asserts, ‘'the inhabitants
of the Feroe isles make them serve the purposes of a candle,
by drawing a wick through the mouth and rump, which being
lighted, the flame is fed by the fat and oil of the body.”*

Note. When this work was published, its author was not aware
that those birds observed by navigators in almost every quarter of
the globe, and known under the name of Stormy Petrels, form-
ed several distinct species; consequently, relying on the labours
of his predecessors, he did not hesitate to name the subject of
this chapter the Pelagica, believing it to be identical with that
of Europe. But the investigations of later ornithologists hav-
ing resulted in the conviction that Europe possessed at least two
species of these birds, it became a question whether or not those
which are common on the coasts of the United States would
form a third species; and an inquiry has established the fact that
the American Stormy Petrel, hitherto supposed to be the true
Pelagica, is an entirely distinct species. For this discovery
we are indebted to the lal)ours of Charles Bonaparte, from
whose interesting paper on the subject, published in the Jour-
nal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, we
shall take the liberty of making an extract. The author of the
paper in question first describes and figures the true Pelagica
of the systems; secondly, the Leachii, a species described by
Temminck, and restricted to the vicinity of the island of St.

Brit. Zool. vol. ii, p. 434.

STORMY PETREL.

263

Kilda, but which the former found diffused over a great part of
the Atlantic, east of the Banks of Newfoundland; and thirdly,
the species of our coasts. He also indicates a fourth, which in-
habits the Pacific ocean; but whether or not this last be in rea-
lity a species different from those named, has not yet been de-
termined.*

“ When I first procured this species,” says Mr. Bonaparte,
“I considered it a nondescript, and noted it as such; the cita-
tion of Wilson’ spelagica, among the synonymes of the truejoe-
lagica, by the most eminent ornithologist of the age, M. Tem-
minck, not permitting a doubt of their identity. But having an
opportunity of inspecting the very individual from which Wil-
son took his figure, and drew up his description, I was unde-
ceived, by proving the unity of my specimens with that of Wil-
son, and the discrepancy of these with that of Temminck. The
latter had certainly never seen an individual from America,
otherwise the difference between the two species would not
have eluded the accurate eye of this naturalist. I propose for
this species the name of Wilsonii, as a small testimony of
respect to the memory of the author of the American Ornitho-

* Charles Bonaparte, Prince of Musignano, has recently established this
species under the name of Procdlavia Oceanica; and assigns to it the follow-
ing essential characters. — Tail slightly emarginate, the wings when closed
extending more than an inch beyond its tip; length of the tarsus nearly one
inch and three quarters (eighteen French lines.)

We extract from his paper, in the Zoological Journal the following ob-
servations: “In comparing this species (7-*. oceanica) to the three others
(P. pelagica, P. Leachii, and P. Wilsonii,) it will be seen that it is the largest
and the most varied with white of the subgenus, and that it can be con-
founded only with P. Wilsonii, to which it bears a strong resemblance in
shape and colour, both having the tarsi greatly elongated, the tube of the
nostrils equally recurved, the upper tail-coverts entirely white, &c. But
in addition to its much greater size, proportionally longer bill and tarsi, and
lighter colour, this new species may at first sight be distinguished from it
by its wings extending so much beyond the tail, and by the want of the
yellow spot on the interdigital membrane, which is found in P. Wilsonii
only.” J. H.

364

STORMY PETREL.

logy, whose loss science and America will long deplore. The
yellow spot upon the membrane of the feet distinguishes this
species, at first sight, from the others; and this character remains
permanent in the dried specimens.” G. Ord.

GENUS 96. MERGUS. MERGANSER.

SPECIES 1. M. MERGANSER,

GOOSANDER.

[Plate LXVIII.— Fig. 1, Male.-]

JjHarle, Briss. vi, p. 231. 1. pL 22. — Buff, viii, p. 26". pi. 23.

— ^rct. Zool. No. 465. — Lath. Syn, in, p. 418. — Peale’s Mu-
seum, No. 2932.*

This large and handsomely marked bird belongs to a genus
different from that of the Duck, on account of the particular
form and serratures of its bill. The genus is characterised as
follows; Bill toothed, slender, cylindrical, hooked at the
point; nostrils small, oval, placed in the middle of the bill;yee^
four toed, the outer toe longest.” Naturalists have denominat-
ed it Merganser. In this country the birds composing this ge-
nus are generally known by the name of Fishermen, or Fisher
ducks. The whole number of known species amount to only
nine or ten, dispersed through various quarters of the world;
of these, four species, of which the present is the largest, are
known to inhabit the United States.

From the common habit of these birds in feeding almost en-
tirely on fin and shell fish, their flesh is held in little estima-
tion, being often lean and rancid, both smelling and tasting
strongly of fish; but such are the various peculiarites of tastes,
that persons are not wanting who pretend to consider them ca-
pital meat.

The Goosander, called by some the Water Pheasant, and by

* Mergus Merganser, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 544, Ao. 2. — Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 828,
Mb. 1. — Le Harle, Buff. PI. 951, male. — Grand Harle, Tejim. Man. d'Orn.

p. 881.

VOL. III. — M m

266

GOOSANDER.

others the Sheldrake, Fisherman, Diver, &c. is a winter inha-
bitant only, of the seashores, fresh water lakes, and rivers of
the United States. They usually associate in small parties of
six or eight, and are almost continually diving in search of food.
In the month of April they disappear, and return again early in
November. Of their particular place and manner of breeding
we have no account. Mr. Pennant observes that they continue
the whole year in the Orkniesj and have been shot in the Fle-
brides, or Western islands of Scotland in summer. They are
also found in Iceland, and Greenland, and are said to breed
there; some asserting that they build on trees; others that they
make their nests among the rocks.

The male of this species is twenty-six inches in length, and
three feet three inches in extent, the bill three inches long, and
nearly one inch thick at the base, serrated on both mandibles;
tlie upper overhanging at the tip, where each is furnished with
a large nail; the ridge of the bill is black, the sides crimson red;
irides red; head crested, tumid, and of a black colour glossed
with green, which extends nearly half way down the neck, the
rest of which, with the breast and belly, are white tinged with
a delicate yellowish cream; back and adjoining scapulars black;
primaries and shoulder of the wing brownish black; exterior
part of the scapulars, lesser coverts, and tertials white; second-
aries neatly edged with black, greater coverts white, their up-
per halves black, forming a bar on the wing, rest of the upper
parts and tail brownish ash; legs and feet the colour of red seal-
ing wax; flanks marked with fine semicircular dotted lines of
deep brown; the tail extends about three inches beyond the
wings.

This description was taken from a full plumaged male. The
young males, which are generally much more numerous than
the old ones, so exactly resemble the females in their plumage
for at least the first, and part of the second year, as scarcely to
be distinguished from them; and what is somewhat singular,
the crests of these and of the females are actually longer than
those of the full grown male, though thinner towards its extre-

GOOSANDER. 267

mites. These circumstances have induced some late Ornitholo-
gists to consider them as two different species, the young, or fe-
male, having been called the Dun Diver. By this arrangement
they have entirely deprived the Goosander of his female; for
in the whole of my examinations and dissections of the present
species, I have never yet found the female in AeVdress. What I
consider as undoubtedly the true female of this species is figured
beside him. They were both shot in the month of April, in
the same creek, unaccompanied by any other, and on examina-
tion the sexual parts of each were strongly and prominently
marked. The windpipe of the female had nothing remarkable
in it; that of the male had two very large expansions, which
have been briefly described by Willoughby, who says; ‘‘It hath
a large bony labyrinth on the windpipe, just above the divari-
cations; and the windpipe hath besides two swellings out, one
above another, each resembling a powder puff. ” These laby-
rinths are the distinguishing characters of the males; and are
always found even in young males who have not yet thrown
off the plumage of the female, as well as in the old ones. If we
admit these Dun divers to be a distinct species, we can find no
difference between their pretended females and those of the
Goosander, only one kind of female of this sort being known,
and this is contrary to the usual analogy of the other three spe-
cies, viz. the Red breasted Merganser, the Hooded and the
Smew, all of whose females are well known, and bear the same
comparative resemblance in colour to their respective males, the
length of crest excepted, as the female Goosander we have fi-
gured bears to him.

Having thought thus much necessary on this disputed point,

I leave each to form his own opinion on the facts and reasoning
produced, and proceed to describe the female.

MERGUS. MERGANSER.

GOOSANDER.

[Plate LXVIII. — Fig. 2. Female,']

Pkale’s Museum, JVo. 2933. — Dun Diver, Lath. Syn. iii,p. 420.
— Jirci. Zool. JVo. 465. — Bewick’s Brit. Birds, ii, p. 23. —
’Fort. Syst.p. 335. — UHarle femelle, Briss. vi,p. 236. — Buff.
viii, p. 272.— -PL Enl. 953.*

This generally measures an inch or two shorter than the
male; the length of the present specimen was twenty -five inches,
extent thirty-five inches; bill crimson on the sides, black above;
irides i-eddish; crested head and part of the neck dark brown,
lightest on the sides of the neck, where it inclines to a sorrel
colour; chin and throat white; the crest shoots out in long ra-
diating flexible stripes; upper part of the body, tail, and flanks
an ashy slate, tinged with brown; primaries black; middle se-
condaries white, forming a large speculum on the wing; great-
er coverts black, tipt for half an inch with white; sides of the
breast, from the sorrel coloured part of the neck downwards,
very pale ash, with broad semicircular touches of white; belly
and lower part of the breast a fine yellowish cream colour, a
distinguishing trait also in the male; legs and feet orange red.

^Mergus Castor, Gmei. Syst. i, p. 545, etvar — Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 829, No. 2.
— Dun Diver, Mosttagu, Orn. Diet. Sup.

SPECIES 2. MEEGUS SERRATOR.

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.

[Plate LXIX.— Fig. 2.]

L’Harle hujjpe, Briss. vi, p. 237. 2. pi. 23. — Buff, vin, p. 273.

— ri. Enl. 207. — Bf.wick, ii, p. 235. Euw.pi. 95. — Lath. Syn.

Ill, p. 432. — Peale’s Museum, JVb. 2936.

This is much more common in our fresh waters than either
of the preceding, and is frequently brought to the Philadelphia
market from the shores of the Delaware. It is an inhabitant of
both continents. In the United States it is generally migratory;
though a few are occasionally seen in autumn, but none of their
nests have as yet come under my notice. They also frequent
the seashore, keeping within the bays and estuaries of rivers.
They swim low in the water, and when wounded in the wing,
very dexterously contrive to elude the sportsman or his dog,
by diving and coming up at a great distance, raising the bill
only, above water, and dipping down again with the greatest
silence. The young males of a year old are often found in the
plumage of the female; their food consists of small fry, and va-
rious kinds of shell fish.

The Red-Breasted Merganser is said by Pennant to breed on
Loch Mari in the county of Ross, in North Britain; and also
in the isle of Hay. Latham informs us that it inhabits most parts
of the north of Europe on the continent, and as high as Iceland;
also in the Russian dominions about the great rivers of Siberia,
and the lake Baikal. Is said to be frequent in Greenland, where
it breeds on the shores. The inhabitants often take it by darts
thrown at it, especially in August, being then in moult. At
Hudson’s Bay, according to Hutchins, they come in pairs about
the beginning of June, as soon as the ice breaks up, and build

270

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.

soon after their arrival, chiefly on dry spots of ground in the
islands; lay from eight to thirteen white eggs, the size of those
of a duck; the nest is made of withered grass, and lined with
the down of the breast. The young are of a dirty brown like
young goslins. In October they all depart southward to the
lakes, where they may have open water.

This species is twenty-two inches in length, and thirty-two
in extent; the bill is two inches and three quarters in length,
of the colour of bright sealing wax, ridged above with dusky;
the nail at the tip large, blackish, and overhanging; both man-
dibles are thickly serrated; irides red; head furnished with a
long hairy- crest which is often pendent, but occasionally erect-
ed, as represented in the plate; this and part of the neck is black
glossed with green ; the neck under this for two or three inches
is pure white; ending in a broad space of reddish ochre spotted
with black, which spreads over the lower part of the neck and
sides of the breast; shoulders, back, and tertials deep velvetty
black, the first marked with a number of singular roundish
spots of white; scapulars white; wing coverts mostly white,
crossed by two narrow bands of black; primaries black, secon-
daries white, several of the latter edged with black; lower part
of the back, the rump and tail coverts gray speckled with black;
sides under the wings elegantly crossed with numerous waving
lines of black; belly and vent white; legs and feet red; the tail
dusky ash; the black of the back passes up the hind neck in a
narrow band to the head.

The female is twenty-one inches in length, and thirty in ex-
tent; the crested head and part of the neck are of a dull sorrel
colour; irides yellow; legs and bill red, upper parts dusky slate;
wings black, greater coverts largely tipt with white, seconda-
ries nearly all white; sides of the breast slightly dusky; whole
lower parts pure white; the tail is of a lighter slate than the back.
The crest is much shorter than in the male, and sometimes there
is a slight tinge of ferruginous on the breast.

The windpipe of the male of this species is very curious, and
differs something from that of the Goosander. About two in-

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 271

ches from the mouth it swells out to four times its common di-
ameter, continuing of that size for about an inch and a half.
This swelling is capable of being shortened or extended; it then
continues of its first diameter for two inches or more, when it
becomes flattish, and almost transparent for other two inches;
it then swells into a bony labyrinth of more than two inches in
length by one and a half in width, over the hollow sides of which
is spread a yellowish skin like parchment. The left side of this,
fronting the back of the bird, is a hard bone. The divarications
come out very regularly from this at the lower end, and enter
the lungs.

The intention of Nature in this extraordinary structure is
probably to enable the bird to take down a supply of air to sup-
port respiration while diving; yet why should the female, who
takes the same submarine excursions as the male, be entirely
destitute of this apparatus?

SPECIES 3. MERGES ALBELLUS.

THE SMEW, OR WHITE NUN.

[Plate LXXL— Fig. 4.]

Le petit Hark huppe, ou laPiette, Buiss. vi, p. 243. 3. pi. 24. fig. 1.

— Buff, viii, p. 275. pi. 24. — PI. Enl. 449, male 450, female.

— Bewick, ii, p. 238. — Lath. Syn. iii, p 428. — Arei. ZnuL J^o.

468.

This is another of those Mergansers commonly known in
this country by the appellation of Fishermen, Fisher Ducks, or
Divers. The present species is much more common on the coasts
of New England than farther to the south. On the shores of
New Jersey it is very seldom met with. It is an admirable di-
ver, and can continue for a long time under water. Its food is
small fry, shell fish, shrimps, &c. In England, as with us, the
Smew is seen only during winter; it is also found in France, in
some parts of which it is called la Piette, as in parts of England
it is named the Magpie Diver. Its breeding place is doubtless
in the Arctic regions, as it frequents Iceland; and has been ob-
served to migrate with other Mergansers and several kinds of
Ducks up the river Wolga in February.*

The Smew, or White Nun is nineteen inches in length, and
two feet three inches in extent; bill black, formed very much
like that of the Red-breasted M., but not so strongly toothed;
indes dark; head crested; crown white, hind head black, round
the area of the eye a large oval space of black; whole neck, breast,
and belly white, marked on the upper and lower part of the
breast with a curving line of black; back black; scapulars white,
crossed with several faint dusky bars; shoulder of the wing and
primaries black, secondaries and greater coverts black broadly

Dec. Russ. II, p. 145.

THE SMEW.

273

tipt with white; across the lesser coverts a large band of white;
sides and flanks crossed with waving lines; tail dark ash; legs
and feet pale bluish slate.

The female is considerably less than the male; the bill a dark
lead colour; crest of the same peculiar form as that of the male,
but less, and of a reddish brown; marked round the area of the
eyes with dusky; cheeks, fore part of the neck, and belly white;
round the middle of the neck a collar of pale brown; breast and
shoulders dull brown and whitish intermixed; wings and back
marked like those of the male; but of a deep brownish ash in
those parts which in him are black; legs and feet pale blue.
The young birds, as in the other three species, strongly resem-
ble the female during the first and part of the second year. As
these changes of colour, from the garb of the female to that of
the male, take place in the remote regions of the north, we have
not the opportunity of detecting them in their gradual progress
to full plumage. Hence, as both males and females have been
found in the same dress, some writers have considered them as
a separate species from the Smew, and have given to them the
title of the Red-headed Smew.

In the ponds of New England, and some of the Lakes in the
state of New York, where the Smew is frequently observed,
these red-headed kind are often found in company, and more
numerous than the other, for very obvious reasons, and bear,
in the markings, though not in the colours, of their plumage,
evident proof of their being the same species, but younger birds
or females. The male, like the Muscovy Drake and many
others, when arrived at his full size is nearly one-third heavier
than the female, and this disproportion of weight, and difference
of colour, in the full grown males and females are characteristic
of the whole genus.

VOL. III. — N n

SPECIES 4. MEEGC'S CUCULLATUS.

HOODED MERGANSER.
[Plate LXIX.— Fig. 1.]

UHaiie Impede Virginie, Bkiss. \i, p. 258.8. — FI. EnLQSS,
male, 936 female. — IJHarle couronne. Buff, viii, p. 280. —
Round crested Duck. Kdw. pi, 360. — Catesb. i, pi. 94. — <drct.
Zool. JVb. 467. — Lath. Syn. 10. p. 426. — Peale’s Museum, JS'^o.
2930.

This species on the seacoast is usually called the Hairy head.
They are more common however along our lakes and fresh wa-
ter rivers than near the sea; tracing up creeks, and visiting mill
ponds, diving perpetually for their food. In the creeks and
rivers of the southern states they are very frequently seen dur-
ing the winter. Like the Red breasted they are migratory,
the manners, food, and places of resort of both being very much
alike.

The Hooded Merganser is eighteen inches in length, and two
feet in extent; bill blackish red, narrow, thickly toothed, and
furnished with a projecting nail at the extremity; the head is
ornamented with a large circular crest, which the bird has the
faculty of raising or depressing at pleasure; the fore part of this,
as far as the eye, is black, thence to the hind head white and
elegantly tipt with black; it is composed of two separate rows
of feathers, radiating from each side of the head, and which
may be easily divided by the hand; irides golden; eye very small;
neck black, which spreads to and over the back; part of the
lesser wing coverts very pale ash, under which the greater co-
verts and secondaries form four alternate bars of black and
white, tertials long, black, and streaked down the middle with

HOODED MEEGANSER.

275

Avhite; the black on the back curves handsomely round in two
points on the breast, which, with the whole lower parts are
pure white; sides under the wings and flanks reddish brown,
beautifully crossed with parallel lines of black; tail pointed,
consisting of twenty feathers of a sooty brown; legs and feet
flesh coloured; claws large and stout. The windpipe has a small
labyrinth.

The female is rather less, the crest smaller and of a light rust
or dull ferruginous colour, entirely destitue of the white; the
upper half of the neck a dull drab, with semicircles of lighter,
the white on the wings is the same as in the male; but the ter-
tials are shorter and have less white; the back is blackish brown;
the rest of the plumage corresponds very nearly with the male.

This species is peculiar to America; is said to arrive at Hud-
son’s Bay about the end of May; builds close to the lakes; the
nest is composed of grass lined with feathers from the breast; is
said to lay six white eggs. The young are yellow, and fit to fly
in July.*

Hutchins, as quoted by Latham.

GENUS 97. ANAS. DUCK.

SPECIES 1. rdN^S C^N^DENSIS.
CANADA GOOSE.

[Plate LXVIL— Fig. 4.]

VOxje suuvage de Canada, Briss. vi, p. 272, 4, pi. 26. — UOie a
cvavate, Bufk. ix, p. 82. — Ewd. pi. 151. — .Bret. Zool. JVb. 471.
— Catesby,!, 92. — Lath. Syn. in, p. 430. — Peai.e’s Muse-

um, m. 2704.*

This is the common Wild Goose of the United States, uni-
versally known over the whole country; whose regular perio-
dical migrations are the sure signals of returning spring, or ap-
proaching winter. The tracts of their vast migratory journies
are not confined to the seacoast or its vicinity. In their aerial
voyages to and from the north, these winged pilgrims pass
over the interior on both sides of the mountains, as far west,
at least, as the Osage river, and I have never yet visited any
quarter of the country where the inhabitants are not familiarly
acquainted with the regular passing and repassing of the Wild
Geese. The general opinion here is that they are on their way
to the lakes to breed; but the inhabitants on the confines of the
great lakes that separate us from Canada, are equally ignorant
with ourselves of the particular breeding places of those birds.
There their journey north is but commencing, and how far it
extends it is impossible for us at present to ascertain, from our
little acquaintance with these frozen regions. They were seen
by Hearne in large flocks within the arctic circle, and were then
pursuing their way still farther north. Captain Phipps speaks

* Aiuib Canadensis, Gmel. Sijst i, p. 514. — PI. Enl. 346. — Ind. Orn. p. 83S,
No. 17.

CANADA GOOSE.

277

of seeing Wild Geese feeding at the water’s edge, on the drea-
ry coazt of Spitzbergen, in lat. 80° 21'. It is highly probable
that they extend their migrations under the very pole itself,
amid the silent desolation of unknown countries shut out ever
since creation from the prying eye of man by everlasting and
insuperable barriers of ice. That such places abound with their
suitable food we cannot for a moment doubt; Avhile the absence
of their great destroyer man, and the splendours of a perpetual
day, may render such regions the most suitable for their pur-
pose.

Having fulfilled the great law of nature, the approaching ri-
gours of that dreary climate oblige these vast congregated flocks
to steer for the more genial regions of the south. And no soon-
er do they arrive at those countries of the earth inhabited by
man, than carnage and slaughter is commenced on their ranks.
The English at Hudson’s Bay, says Pennant, depend greatly
on geese, and in favourable years kill three or four thousand,
and barrel them up for use. They send out their servants as
well as Indians to shoot these birds on their passage. It is in
vain to pursue them; they therefore form a row of huts, made
of boughs, at musquet-shot distance from each other, and place
them in a line across the vast marshes of the country. Each
stand, or hovel, as they are called, is occupied by only a single
person. These attend the flight of the birds, and on their ap-
proach mimic their cackle so well, that the Geese will answer
and wheel and come nearer the stand. The sportsman keeps
motionless, and on his knees with his gun cocked the whole
time, and never fires till he has seen the eyes of the Geese. He
fires as they are going from him, then picks up another gun
that lies by him and discharges that. The Geese which he has
killed he sets upon sticks, as if alive, to decoy others; he also
makes artificial birds for the same purpose. In a good day, for
they fly in very uncertain and unequal numbers, a single Indian
will kill two hundred. Notwithstanding every species of Goose
has a different call, yet the Indians are admirable in their imi-
tations of every one. The autumnal flight lasts from the mid-

278

CANADA GOOSE.

die of August to the middle of October; those which are taken
in this season, when the frosts begin, are preserved in their
feathers, and left to he frozen for the fresh provisions of the
winter stock. The feathers constitute an article of commerce,
and are sent to England.

The vernal flight of the Geese lasts from the middle of April
until the middle of May. Their first appearance coincides with
the thawing of the swamps, when they are very lean. Their
arrival from the south is impatiently attended; it is the harbin-
ger of the spring, and the month named by the Indians the
Goose moon. They appear usually at their settlements about St.
George’s day, 0. S. and fly northward to nestle in security. They
prefer islands to the continent, as farther from the haunts of man.*

After such prodigious havoc as thus appears to be made
among these birds, and their running the gauntlet, if I may so
speak, for many hundreds of miles through such destructive
fires, no wonder they should have become more scarce, as well
as shy, by the time they reach the shores of the United States.

Their first arrival on the coast of New Jersey is early in Oc-
tober, and their first numerous appearance is the sure prognos-
tic of severe weather. Those which continue all winter frequent
the shallow bays and marsh islands; their principal food being
the broad tender green leaves of a marine plant which grows
on stones and shells, and is usually called sea-cabbage; and also
the roots of the sedge, which they are frequently observed in
the act of tearing up. Every few days they make an excursion
to the inlets on the beach for gravel. They cross, indiscrimi-
nately, over land or water, generally taking the nearest course
to their object; differing in this respect from the Brant, which
will often go a great way round by water rather than cross over
the land. They swim well; and if wing-broken, dive and go
a great way under water, causing the sportsman a great deal of
fatigue before he can kill them. Except in very calm weather
they rarely sleep on the water, but roost all night in the marsh-

* Arct. Zool.

CANADA GOOSE.

279

es. When the shallow bays are frozen, they seek the mouths
of inlets near the sea, occasionally visiting the air holes in the
ice; but these bays are seldom so completely frozen as to pre-
vent them from feeding on the bars.

The flight of the Wild Geese is heavy and laborious, gene-
ally in a stright line, or in two lines approximating to a point,
thus, O ; in both cases the van is led by an old gander, who
every now and then pipes his well known honk, as if to ask how
they come on, and the honk of ‘‘all’s well” is generally re-
turned by some of the party. Their course is in a straight line,
with the exception of the undulations of their flight. When be-
wildered in foggy weather, they appear sometimes to be in
great distress, flying about in an irregular manner, and for a
considerable time over the same quarter, making a great cla-
mour. On these occasions should they approach the earth, and
alight, which they sometimes do, to rest and recollect them-
selves, the only hospitality they meet with is death and de-
struction from a whole neighbourhood already in arms for their
ruin.

Wounded Geese have, in numerous instances, been complete-
ly domesticated, and readily pair with the tame Gray Geese,
The ofispring are said to be larger than either; but the charac-
teristic marks of the Wild Goose still predominate. The gun-
ners on the seashore have long been in the practice of taming
the wounded of both sexes, and have sometimes succeeded in
getting them to pair and produce. The female always seeks out
the most solitary place for her nest, not far from the water.
On the approach of every spring, however, these birds disco-
ver symptoms of great uneasiness, frequently looking up into
the air, and attempting to go off. Some whose wings have been
closely cut, have travelled on foot in a northern direction, and
have been found at the distance of several miles from home.
They hail every flock that passes overhead, and the salute is
sure to be returned by the voyagers, who are only prevented
from alighting among them by the presence and habitations of
man. The gunners take one or two of these domesticated Geese

280

CANADA GOOSE.

with them to those parts of the marshes over which the wild
ones are accustomed to fly; and concealing themselves within
gun shot, wait for a flight, which is no sooner perceived by the
decoy Geese, than they begin calling aloud, until the whole
flock approaches so near as to give them an opportunity of dis-
charging two and sometimes three loaded musquets among it,
by which great havoc is made.

The Wild Goose, when in good order, weighs from ten to
twelve, and sometimes fourteen pounds. They are sold in the
Philadelphia markets at from seventy-five cents to one dollar
each; and are estimated to yield half a pound of feathers a piece,
which produces twenty-five or thirty cents more.

The Canada Goose is now domesticated in numerous quarters
of the country, and is remarked for being extremely watchful,
and more sensible of approaching changes in the atmosphere
tlian the common Gray Goose. In England, France, and Ger-
many, they have also been long ago domesticated. Bufibn, in
his account of this bird, observes, “within these few years
many hundreds inhabited the great canal at Versailles, where
they breed familiarly with the Swans; they were oftener on the
grassy margins than in the water;” and adds, “there is at pre-
sent a great number of them on the magnificent pools that de-
corate the charming gardens of Chantilly.” Thus has America
already added to the stock of domestic fowls two species, the
Turkey and the Canada Goose, superior to most in size, and
inferior to none in usefulness; for it is acknowledged by an
English naturalist of good observation, that this last species “ is
as familiar, breeds as freely, and is in every respect as valuable
as the common Goose.”*

The strong disposition of the wounded Wild Geese to migrate
to the north in spring, has been already taken notice of. In-
stances have occurred where, their wounds having healed, they
have actually succeeded in mounting into the higher regions of
the air, and joined a passing party to the north; and, extraor-

* Bewick, v. ii, p. 255.

CANADA GOOSE.

281

dinary as it may appear, I am well assured by the testimony of
several respectable persons, who have been eye-witnesses to the
fact, that they have been also known to return again in the suc-
ceeding autumn to their former habitation. These accounts are
strongly corroborated by a letter which I some time ago re-
ceived from an obliging correspondent at New Yorkj which I
shall here give at large, permitting him to tell his story in his
own way, and conclude my history of this species.

“Mr. Platt, a respectable farmer on Long Island, being out
shooting in one of the bays which, in that part of the country,
abound with water-fowl, wounded a Wild Goose. Being wing-
tipped, and unable to fly, he caught it, and brought it home
alive. It proved to be a female; and turning it into his yard,
with a flock of tame Geese, it soon became quite tame and fa-
miliar, and in a little time its wounded wing entirely healed.
In the following spring, when the Wild Geese migrate to the
northward, a flock passed over Mr. Platt’s barn yard; and just
at that moment their leader happening to sound his bugle-note,
our Goose, in whom its new habits and enjoyments had not
quite extinguished the love of liberty, and remembering the
well known sound, spread its wings, mounted into the air,
joined the travellers, and soon disappeared. In the succeeding
autumn the Wild Geese (as was usual) returned from the north-
ward in great numbers, to pass the winter in our bays and rivers.
Mr. Platt happened to be standing in his yard when a flock
passed directly over his barn. At that instant, he observed three
Geese detach themselves from the rest, and after wheeling round
several times, alight in the middle of the yard. Imagine his
surprise and pleasure, when by certain well remembered signs,
he recognized in one of the three his long-lost fugitive. It was
she indeed ! She had travelled many hundred miles to the lakes;
had there hatched and reared her ofispring; and had now re-
turned with her little family, to share with them the sweets of
civilized life.

“The truth of the foregoing relation can be attested by many
respectable people, to whom Mr. Platt has related the circum-

VOL. III.— -o o

282

CANADA GOOSE.

stances as above detailed. The birds were all living, and in his
possession, about a year ago, and had shown no disposition what-
ever to leave him. ”

The length of this species is three feet, extent five feet two
inches; the bill is black; irides dark hazel; upper half of the neck
black, marked on the chin and lower part of the head with a
large patch of white, its distinguishing character; lower part of
the neck before white; back and wing-coverts brown, each fea-
ther tipt with whitish; rump and tail black; tail coverts and vent
white; primaries black, reaching to the extremity of the tail;
sides pale ashy brown; legs and feet blackish ash.

The male and female are exactly alike in plumage.

SPECIES 2. ANAS HYPERBOREA.

SNOW GOOSE.

[Plate LXVIIL— Fig. 5, Male.-]

UOye de Neige, Biuss. vi, p. 288. 10. — White Brant, Lawson’s

Carolina, p. 157. — Jlrct. Zool. No. A77. — Phil. Trans. 62, p.

413. — Lath. Syn. ui,p. 445. — Peale’s Museum, No. 2635.*

This bird is particularly deserving of the further investiga-
tion of naturalists; for, if I do not greatly mistake, English wri-
ters have, from the various appearances which this species as-
sumes in its progress to perfect plumage, formed no less than
four different kinds, which they describe as so many distinct
species, viz. the Snow Goose, the White fronted or Laughing
Goose, the Bean Goose, and the Blue winged Goose; all of
which, I have little doubt, will hereafter be found to be nothing
more than perfect and imperfect individuals, male and female,
of the Snow Goose, now before us.t

This species, called on the seacoast the Red Goose, arrives
in the river Delaware from the north, early in November, some-
times in considerable flocks, and is extremely noisy, their notes
being shriller and more squeaking than those of the Canada, or
Common Wild Goose. On their first arrival they make but a
short stay, proceeding, as the depth of winter approaches, farther
to the south; but from the middle of February until the breaking
up of the ice in March, they are frequently numerous along both
shores of the Delaware, about and below Reedy Island, particu-

* Jinas hyperborea, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 504, JVb. 54. — Ind. Orn. p. 837, Jto. 14.
— Temm. Man. d'Orn.p. 816.

t This conjecture of our author is partly erroneous. The Snow Goose
and the Blue-winged Goose are synonymous; but the other two named are
distinct species, tlie characters of which are well defined by late omitholo-

284

SNOW GOOSE.

larly near Old Duck Creek, in the state of Delaware. They feed
on the roots of the reeds there, tearing them up from the marshes
like hogs. Their flesh, like most others of their tribe that feed
on vegetables, is excellent.

'I’he Snow Goose is two feet eight inches in length, and five
feet in extent; the bill is three inches in length, remarkably thick
at the base, and rising high in the forehead; but becomes small
and compressed at the extremity, where each mandible is fur-
nished with a whitish rounding nail; the colour of the bill is a
purplish carmine; the edges of the two mandibles separate from
each other in a singular manner for their whole length, and this
gibbosity is occupied by dentated rows resembling teeth, these
and the parts adjoining being of a blackish colour; the whole
plumage is of a snowy whiteness, with the exception, first of
the fore part of the head all round as far as the eyes, which is
of a yellowish rust colour intermixed with white, and second,
the nine exterior quill feathers, which are black shafted with
white, and white at the root, the coverts of these last, and also
the bastard wing, is sometimes of a pale ash colour; the legs and
feet of the same purplish carmine as the bill; iris dark hazel;
the tail is rounded, and consists of sixteen feathers; that and the
witigs when shut, nearly of a length.

The bill of this bird is singularly curious; the edges of the
upper and lower gibbosities have each twenty-three indenta-
tions, or strong teeth on each side; the inside or concavity of
the upper mandible has also seven lateral rows of strong pro-
jecting teeth; and the tongue, which is horny at the extremity,
is armed on each side with thirteen long and sharp bony teeth,
placed like those of a saw with their points directed backwards;
the tongue, turned up and viewed on its lower side, looks very
much like a human finger with its nail. This conformation of
the mandibles, exposing two rows of strong teeth, has probably
given rise to the epithet Laughing, bestowed on one of its
varieties; though it might with as much propriety have been
named the Grinning Goose.

The specimen from which the above figure and description

SNOW GOOSE.

285

were taken, was shot on the Delaware, below Philadelphia, on
the fifteenth of February; and on dissection proved to be a male;
the windpipe had no labyrinth, but for an inch or two before
its divarication into the lungs, was inflexible, not extensile like
the rest, and rather wider in diameter. The gullet had an ex-
pansion before entering the stomach; which last was remarkably
strong, the two great grinding muscles being nearly five inches
in diameter. The stomach was filled with fragments of the roots
of reeds, and fine sand. The intestines measured eight feet in
length, and were not remarkably thick. The liver was small.
For the young and female of this species, see Plate Ixix, fig. 5.

Latham observes that this species is very numerous at Hud-
son’s Bay; that they visit Severn river in May, and stay a fort-
night, but go farther north to breed; they return to Severn Fort
the beginning of September, and stay till the middle of October,
when they depart for the south, and are observed to be attended
by their young in flocks innumerable. They seem to occupy
also the Western side of America, as they were seen at Aoo-
nalashka* as well as at Kamtschatka.t White Brant with black
tips to their wings, were also shot by captains Lewis and Clark’s
exploring party, near the mouth of the Columbia river, which
were probably the same as the present species. % Mr. Pennant
says “they are taken by the Siberians in nets, under which
they are decoyed by a person covered with a white skin, and
crawling on all-fours; when others driving them, these stupid
birds mistaking him for their leader, follow him, when they are
entangled in the nets, or led into a kind of pound made for the
purpose!” We might herewith propriety add — This wants
confirmation.

* Ellis’s Narr.

t Hist. Kamtsch.

t Gass’s Journal, p. 161.

HYPERBOREA.

w.

YOUNG OF THE SNOW GOOSE.

[Plate LXIX. — Fig. 5. Female.']

Bean Goose? Lath. Syn. in, p. 464. — White fronted Goose? Ibid.

Ill, p. 463. — Jlrct. Zool. A’o. 474. Blue winged Goose? Lath.

Syn. Ill, p. 469. — Pealh’s Museum, JYo, 2636,*

The full plumaged perfect male bird of this species has already
been figured in the preceding plate, and I now hazard a conjec-
ture, founded on the best examination I could make of the young
bird here figured, comparing it with the descriptions of the dif-
ferent accounts above referred to, that the whole of them have
been taken from the various individuals of the present, in a
greater or lesser degree of approach to its true and perfect co-
lours.

These birds pass along our coasts, and settle in our rivers,
every autumn; among thirty or forty there are seldom more
than six or eight pure white, or old birds. The rest vary so
much that no two are exactly alike; yet all bear the most evi-
dent marks in the particular structure of their bills, &c. of be-
ing the same identical species. A gradual change so great, as
from a bird of this colour to one of pure white, must necessari-
ly produce a number of varieties, or differences in the appear-
ance of the plumage, but the form of the bill and legs remain the
same, and any peculiarity in either is the surest mean we have
to detect a species under all its various appearances. It is there-
fore to be regretted, that the authors above referred to in the
synonyms, have paid so little attention to the singular confor-

*.4«as cccrulescens, Gmei. Syst. i, p, 513, No. 12. — Ind. Orn. p. 836, No. 13.
Blue winged Goose, L.vrH. Sup. ii, p. 346, No. 8. — L’Oye sauvage de la Baye de
Hudson, Bniss. vi, p. 275, No. 5 — L’Oye des Esquimaux, Buff, ix, p. 80.

YOUNG OF THE SNOW GOOSE.

286

mation of the bill; for even in their description of the Snow
Goose, neither that nor the internal peculiarities, are at all men-
tioned.

The length of the bird represented in our plate, was twenty-
eight inches, extent four feet eight inches; bill gibbous at the
sides both above and below, exposing the teeth of the upper
and lower mandibles, and furnished with a nail at the tip on
both; the whole being of a light reddish purple or pale lake,
except the gibbosity, which is black, and the two nails, which
are of a pale light blue; nostril pervious, an oblong slit, placed
nearly in the middle of the upper mandible; irides dark brown;
whole head and half of the neck white; rest of the neck and breast,
as well as upper part of the back, of a purplish brown, darkest
where it joins the white; all the feathers being finely tipt with pale
brown; whole wing coverts very pale ash, or light lead colour, pri-
maries and secondaries black; tertials long, tapering, centred with
black, edged with light blue, and usually fall over the wing;
scapulars cinereous brown; lower parts of the back and rump
of the same light ash as the wing coverts; tail rounded, black-
ish, consisting of sixteen feathers edged and tipt broadly with
white; tail coverts white; belly and vent whitish, intermixed
with cinereous; feet and legs of the same lake colour as the bill.

This specimen was a female; the tongue was thick and fleshy,
armed on each side with thirteen strong bony teeth, exactly
similar in appearance as well as in number, to those on the
tongue of the Snow Goose; the inner concavity of the upper
mandible was also studded with rows of teeth. The stomach
was extremely muscular, filled with some vegetable matter, and
clear gravel.

With this another was shot, differing considerably in its
markings, having little or no white on the head, and being
smaller; its general colour dark brown intermixed with pale
ash, and darker below, but evidently of the same species with
the other.

SPECIES 3. AN^S BERNICLA.

THE BRANT.

[Plate LXXIL— Fig. 1.]

Lc CravantfBiiiss.vi, p. 304. 16. pi. 31. — Buff. i\, p. 87. — Be-
wick, II, p. '3177. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 467. — Arct. Zool. JV’o. 478.
— Peale’s Museum, JYo. 2704.^

The Brant, or as it is usually written Brent, is a bird well
known on both continents, and celebrated in former times
throughout Europe for the singularity of its origin, and the
strange transformations it was supposed to undergo previous to
its complete organization. Its first appearance was said to be in
the form of a barnacle shell adhering to old water-soaked logs,
trees, or other pieces of wood taken from the sea. Of this Goose-
bearing tree Gerard, in his Herbal, published in 1597, has
given a formal account, and seems to have reserved it for the
conclusion of his work as being the most wonderful of all he
had to describe. The honest naturalist however, though his be-
lief was fixed, acknowledges that his own personal information
was derived from certain shells, which adhered to a rotten tree
that he dragged out of the sea between Dover and Romney in
England; in some of which he found “ living things without
forme or shape; in others which were nearer come to ripeness,
living things that were very naked, in shape like a birde; in
others the birds covered with soft downe, the shell half open
and the birde readie to fall out, which no doubt were the foules
called Barnakles.”t Ridiculous and chimerical as this notion
was, it had many advocates, and was at that time as generally
believed, and with about as much reason too, as the present

* Jinas Bernicla, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 513, A'b. 13. — Ind. Orn. p. S44, ATs. 32 —
Le Cramnt, Burr. PL Enl. 342. Oie Cravant, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 824.
t See Gerard’s Herbal, Art. Goose-bearing: Tree.

THE BRANT.

289

opinion of the annual submersion of swallows, so tenaciously
insisted on by some of our philosophers, and which, like the
former absurdity, will in its turn disappear before the penetra-
ting radiance and calm investigation of truth.

The Brant and Barnacle Goose, though generally reckoned
two different species, I consider to be the same. * Among those
large flocks that arrive on our coasts about the beginning of
October, individuals frequently occur corresponding in their
markings with that called the Barnacle of Europe, that is, in
having the upper parts lighter, and the front, cheeks, and chin
whitish. These appear evidently a variety of the Brant, proba-
bly young birds; what strengthens this last opinion is the fact
that none of them are found so marked on their return north-
ward in the spring.

The Brant is expected at Egg Harbour on the coast of New
Jersey about the first of October, and has been sometimes seen
as early as the twentieth of September. The first flocks gener-
ally remain in the bay a few days, and then pass on to the
south. On recommencing their journey, they collect in one large
body, and making an extensive spiral course, some miles in di-
ameter, rise to a great height in the air, and then steer for the
sea, over which they uniformly travel; often making wide cir-
cuits to avoid passing over a projecting point of land. In these
aerial routes they have been met with many leagues from shore,
travelling the whole night. Their line of march very much re-
sembles that of the Canada Goose, with this exception, that
frequently three or four are crowded together in the front, as if
striving for precedency. Flocks continue to arrive from the
north, and many remain in the bay till December, or until the
weather becomes very severe, when these also move off south-

* The ridiculous account of the origin of the Barnacle Goose, extracted
from the Herbal of Gerard is retained for the amusement of the reader; but
it is necessary to state, that the opinion of our author, with respect to the
identity of the Brant and Barnacle is erroneous, these birds forming dis-
tinct species.

VOL. III. P p

290

THE BRANT.

wardly. During their stay they feed on the bars at low water,
seldom or never in the marshes; their principal food being a
remarkably long and broad-leaved marine plant, of a bright
green colour, which adheres to stones, and is called by the coun-
try people sea cabbage; the leaves of this are sometimes eight
or ten inches broad by two or three feet in length; they also eat
small shell fish. They never dive, but wade about feeding at
low water. During the time of high water they float in the bay
in long lines, particularly in calm weather. Their voice is hoarse
and honking, and when some hundreds are screaming together,
reminds one of a pack of hounds in full cry. They often quar-
rel among themselves, and with the Ducks, driving the latter off
their feeding ground. Though it never dives in search of food,
yet when wing broken the Brant will go one hundred yards at
a stretch under water; and is considered, in such circumstances,
one of the most difficult birds to kill. About the fifteenth or
twentieth of May they re-appear on their way north; but sel-
dom stop long, unless driven in by tempestuous weather.

The breeding place of the Brant is supposed to be very far
to the north. They are common at Hudson’s Bay, very nume-
rous in winter on the coasts of Holland and Ireland; are called
in Shetland Harra geese, from their frequenting the sound of
that name; they also visit the coast of England. Buffbn relates,
that in the severe winters of 1740 and 1765, during the preva-
lence of a strong north wind, the Brant visited the coast of
Picardy in France, in prodigious multitudes, and committed
great depredations on the corn, tearing it up by the roots, tramp-
ling and devouring it; and notwithstanding the exertions of the
inhabitants, who were constantly employed in destroying them,
they continued in great force until a change of weather carried
them off.

The Brant generally weighs about four pounds avoirdupois,
and measures two feet in length, and three feet six inches in
extent; the bill is about an inch and a half long, and black; the
nostril large, placed nearly in its middle; head neck, and breast
black, the neck marked with a spot of white, about two inches

THE BRANT.

291

below the eye; belly pale ash edged with white; from the thighs
backwards white; back and wing coverts dusky brownish black,
the plumage lightest at the tips; rump and middle of the tail co-
verts black, the rest of the tail coverts pure white, reaching
nearly to the tip of the tail, the whole of which is black, but
usually concealed by the white coverts; primaries and seconda-
ries deep black; legs also black; irides dark hazel.

The only material difference observable between the plumage
of the male and female, is, that in the latter the white spot on
the neck is less, and more mottled with dusky. In young birds
it is sometimes wanting, or occurs on the front, cheeks, and
chin; and sometimes the upper part of the neck, only, is black,*
but in full plumaged birds, of both sexes, the markings are very
much alike.

The Brant is often seen in our markets for sale. Its flesh,
though esteemed by many, tastes somewhat sedgy, or fishy.

* The figure of this bird given by Bewick, is in that state.

SPECIES 4. ^NAS CLYPEATA.

SHOVELLER.

[Plate LXVIL— Fig. 7.]

/>e Souchet, Briss. vi, p. 329. 6. pi. 32. Jig. 1. — Buff, ix, 191. —

PI. Enl. 971. — Jlrct. Zool. JSTo. 485. — Catesb. i, pi. 96, female.

— La’I'h. Si/n. HI, p. 509. — Pe/lLfIs Museum, J^o. 2734.*

If we except the singularly formed and disproportionate size
of the bill, there are few Ducks more beautiful, or more ele-
gantly marked than this. The excellence of its flesh, which is
uniformly juicy, tender, and well tasted, is another recommen-
dation to which it is equally entitled. It occasionally visits the
seacoast; but is more commonly found on our lakes and rivers,
particularly along their muddy shores, where it spends great
part of its time in searching for small worms, and the larvae of
insects, sifting the watery mud through the long and finely set
teeth of its curious bill, which is admirably constructed for the
purpose; being large, to receive a considerable quantity of mat-
ter, each mandible bordered with close-set, pectinated rows,
exactly resembling those of a weaver’s reed, which fitting into
each other form a kind of sieve, capable of retaining very mi-
nute worms, seeds, or insects, which constitute the principal
food of the bird.

The Shoveller visits us only in the winter, and is not known
to breed in any part of the United States. It is a common bird

* We add the following Synonymes. — Jinas clyptata, Gmei. Sysl. i, p. 518,
No. 19. A. Mex'icana, Id. p. 519, JSIo. SI? — J}. 7-ubens, Id. So- 82. — Lath. hid.
Orn. p. 856, Ifo. 60; p. 857, JVb. 61, TVo. 62. Gen. Syn. iir, p. 511, JVo. 56; p.
512, J^o. 57. Blue-wing shoveller, Catesbt, i, pi. 96, female. — Br. Zool. No.
280, No. 281. — Le Soiichel du Jilexique, Bmss. Ti,p. 337. Le Canard Sauvage
du Mexique, Id. p. 327. No. 5. — Canard Souchel, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 842.
— Bewick, ii, p. 310, 313. Peaie’s Museum, No. 2735, female.

SHOVELLER.

293

of Europe, and, according to M. Baillon, the correspondent of
Buffon, breeds yearly in the marshes in France. The female is
said to make her nest on the ground, with withered grass, in
the midst of the largest tufts of rushes or coarse herbage, in the
most inaccessible part of the slaky marsh, and lays ten or twelve
pale rust coloured eggs; the young, as soon as hatched, are con-
ducted to the water by the parent birds. They are said to be
at first very shapeless and ugly, for the bill is then as broad as
the body, and seems too great a weight for the little bird to
carry. Their plumage does not acquire its full colours until af-
ter the second moult.

The Blue winged Shoveller is twenty inches long, and two
feet six inches in extent; the bill is brownish black, three inches
in length, greatly widened near the extremity, closely pecti-
nated on the sides, and furnished with a nail on the tip of each
mandible; irides bright orange; tongue large and fleshy; the in-
side of the upper and outside of the lower mandible are groov-
ed so as to receive distinctly the long separated reed-like teeth;
there is also a gibbosity in the two mandibles, which do not
meet at the sides, and this vacuity is occupied by the sifters
just mentioned; head and upper half of the neck glossy, change-
able green; rest of the neck and breast white, passing round
and nearly meeting above; whole belly dark reddish chestnut;
flanks a brownish yellow, pencilled transversely with black,
between which and the vent, which is black, is a band of white;
back blackish brown, exterior edges of the scapulars white; les-
ser wing coverts and some of the tertials a fine light sky-blue;
beauty spot on the wing a changeable resplendent bronze green,
bordered above by a band of white, and below with another of
velvetty black; rest of the wing dusky, some of the tertials
streaked down their middles with white; tail dusky, pointed,
broadly edged with white; legs and feet reddish orange, hind
toe not finned.

With tlie above another was shot, which differed in having
the breast spotted with dusky, and the back with white; the
green plumage of the head intermixed with gray, and the bel-

294

SHOVELLER.

ly with circular touches of white; evidently a young male in
its imperfect plumage.

The female has the crown of a dusky brown; rest of the head
and neck yellowish white, thickly spotted with dark brown;
these spots on the breast become larger, and crescent-shaped;
back and scapulars dark brown, edged and centered with yel-
low ochre; belly slightly rufous, mixed with white; wing nearly
as in the male.

On dissection the labyrinth in the windpipe of the male was
found to be small; the trachea itself seven inches long; the in-
testines nine feet nine inches in length, and about the thickness
of a crow quill.

SPECIES 5. >aN^S BOSCHAS.

THE MALLARD.

[Plate LXX.— Fig. 7.]

Lath. Syn. iii, p. 489. — Bewick, 291. — Le Canard Sauvage,

Briss. VI, 2^.518. 4. — Buff, ix, p. 115. pi. 7, 8. — Peai.e’s Mh'
sewn, tM a. 2864.*

The Mallard, or common Wild Drake, is so universally
known as scarcely to require a description. It measures twen-
ty-four inches in length, by three feet in extent, and weighs
upwards of two pounds and a half;! the bill is greenish yellow;
irides hazel; head and part of the neck deep glossy changeable-
green, ending in a narrow collar of white; the rest of the neck
and breast are of a dark purplish chestnut; lesser wing coverts
brown ash, greater crossed near the extremities with a band of
white, and tipt with another of deep velvetty black; below this
lies the speculum, or beauty spot, of a rich and splendid light
purple, with green and violet reflexions, bounded on every
side with black; quills pale brownish ash; back brown, skirted
with paler; scapulars whitish, crossed with fine undulating lines
of black; rump and tail coverts black glossed with green, ter-
tials very broad and pointed at the ends; tail consisting of eigh-
teen feathers, whitish, centred with brown ash, the four middle
ones excepted, which are narrow, black glossed with violet, re-

* Jlnas Boschas, Gmei. Syst. i, p. 638, JVo. 40. — Jnd. Orn, p. 850, JVo. 49.-^
.Bret, Zool. JVb. 494. — Br. Zool- JVo. 279. — Le canard Sauvage, PI. Enl. 776,
male; 777, female. — Peale’s Museum, No. 2865, female.

t Mr. Ord shot a male on the Delaware, in the month of April, which
weighed three pounds five ounces; and he saw them in Florida, in the win-
ter, when they are fatter than in the spring, of greater weight. In the
month of March he shot two females, in East Florida, weighing two pounds
each.

296

THE MALLARD.

markably concave, and curled upwards to a complete circle;
belly and sides a fine gray, crossed by an infinite number of
fine waving lines, stronger and more deeply marked as they
approach the vent; legs and feet orange red.

The female has the plumage of the upper parts dark brown
broadly bordered with brownish yellow; and the lower parts
yellow ochre spotted and streaked with deep brown; the chin
and throat for about two inches, plain yellowish white; wings,
bill, and legs, nearly as in the male.

The windpipe of the male has a bony labyrinth, or bladder-
like knob puffing out from the left side. The intestines mea-
sure six feet, and are as wide as those of the Canvas-back. The
windpipe is of uniform diameter until it enters the labyrinth.

This is the original stock of the common domesticated Duck,
reclaimed, time immemorial, from a state of nature, and now
become so serviceable to man. In many individuals the gene-
ral garb of the tame Drake seems to have undergone little or
no alteration ; but the stamp of slavery is strongly imprinted in
his dull indifferent eye, and grovelling gait; while the lofty look,
long tapering neck, and sprightly action of the former, bespeak
his native spirit and independence.

The common Wild Duck is found in every fresh water lake
and river of the United States in winter; but seldom frequents
the seashores or salt marshes. Their summer residence is the
north, the great nursery of this numerous genus. Instances
have been known of some solitary pairs breeding here in au-
tumn. In England these instances are more common. The
nest is usually placed in the most solitary recesses of the marsh,
or bog, amidst coarse grass, reeds, and rushes, and generally
contains from twelve to sixteen eggs of a dull greenish white.
The young are led about by the mother in the same manner as
those of the tame duck; but with a superior caution, a cunning
and watchful vigilance peculiar to her situation. The male at-
taches himself to one female, as among other birds in their na-
tive state, and is the guardian and protector of her and her fee-
ble brood. The Mallard is numerous in the rice fields of the

THE MALLAED.

297

southern states during winter, many of the fields being covered
with a few inches of water, and the scattered grains of the for-
mer harvest lying in abundance, the ducks swim about and feed
at pleasure.

The flesh of the common Wild Duck is in general and high
estimation; and the ingenuity of man, in every country where
it frequents, has been employed in inventing stratagems to
overreach these wary birds, and procure a delicacy for the ta-
ble. To enumerate all these various contrivances would far ex-
ceed our limits; a few, however, of the most simple and efiec-
tive may be mentioned.

In some ponds frequented by these birds, five or six wooden
figures, cut and painted so as to represent ducks, and sunk, by
pieces of lead nailed on their bottoms, so as to float at the usu-
al depth on the surface, are anchored in a favourable position
for being raked from a concealment of brush, &c. on shore.
The appearance of these usually attracts passing flocks, which
alight, and are shot down. Sometimes eight or ten of these
painted wooden ducks are fixed on a frame in various svvimming
postures, and secured to the bow of the gunner’s skiflf, project-
ing before it in such a manner that the weight of the frame sinks
the figures to their proper depth; the skiff is then drest with
sedge or coarse grass in an artful manner, as low as the water’s
edge; and under cover of this, which appears like a party of
ducks swimming by a small island, the gunner floats down
sometimes to the very skirts of a whole congregated multitude,
and pours in a destructive and repeated fire of shot among them.
In winter, when detached pieces of ice are occasionally floating
in the river, some of the gunners on the Delaware paint their
whole skiff or canoe white, and laying themselves flat at the
bottom, with their hand over the side silently managing a small
paddle, direct it imperceptibly into or near a flock, before the
Ducks have distinguished it from a floating mass of ice, and ge-
nerally do great execution among them. A whole flock has
sometimes been thus surprised asleep, with their heads under their
wings. On land, another stratagem is sometimes practised with
VOL. III. — Q q

298

THE MALLARD.

great success. A large tight hogshead is sunk in the flat marsh,
or mud, near the place where Ducks are accustomed to feed at
low water, and where otherwise there is no shelter; the edges
and top are artfully concealed with tufts of long coarse grass and
reeds, or sedge. From within this the gunner, unseen and un-
suspected, watches his collecting prey, and when a sufiicient
number offers, sweeps them down with great effect. The mode
of catching Wild Ducks, as practised in India,* China,t the is-
land of Ceylon, and some parts of South America, f has been
often described, and seems, if reliance may be placed on those
accounts, only practicable in water of a certain depth. The
sportsman covering his head with a hollow wooden vessel or
calabash, pierced with holes to see through, wades into the wa-
ter, keeping his head only above, and thus disguised, moves in
among the flock, which take the appearance to be a mere float-
ing calabash, while suddenly pulling them under by the legs,
he fastens them to his girdle, and thus takes as many as he can
conveniently stow away, without in the least alarming the rest.
They are also taken with snares made of horse hair, or with
hooks baited with small pieces of sheep’s lights, which floating
on the surface, are swallowed by the ducks, and with them the
hooks. They are also approached under cover of a stalking horse,
or a figure formed of thin boards or other proper materials, and
painted so as to represent a horse or ox. But all these methods
require much watching, toil, and fatigue, and their success is but
trifling when compared with that of the Decoy now used both in
France and England,|| which, from its superiority over every oth-
er mode, is well deserving the attention of persons of this country
residing in the neighbourhood of extensive marshes frequented
by Wild Ducks; as, by this method, Mallard and other kinds
may be taken by thousands at a time. The following circum-
stantial account of these decoys, and the manner of taking Wild

* Naval Chron. vol. ii, p. 473. t Du Halde, Hist, China, vol. ii, p. 142.

I Ulloa’s Voy. i, p. 53. || Particularly in Picardy, in the former

country, and Lincolnshire in the latter.

THE MALLARD.

299

Ducks in them in England, is extracted from Bewick’s History
of British Birds, vol. ii, p. 294.

“In the lakes where they resort,” says the correspondent of
that ingenious author, “ the most favourite haunts of the fowl
are observed: then in the most sequestered part of this haunt,
they cut a ditch about four yards across at the entrance, and
about fifty or sixty yards in length, decreasing gradually in
width from the entrance to the farther end, which is not more
than two feet wide. It is of a circular form, but not bending
much for the first ten yards. The banks of the lake, for about
ten yards on each side of this ditch (or pipe, as it is called) are
kept clear from reeds, coarse herbage, &c. in order that the
fowl may get on them to sit and dress themselves. Across this
ditch, poles on each side, close to the edge of the ditch, are
driven into the ground, and the tops bent to each other and tied
fast. These poles at the entrance form an arch, from the top
of which to the water is about ten feet. This arch is made to
decrease in height, as the ditch decreases in width, till the far-
ther end is not more than eighteen inches in height. The poles
are placed about six feet from each other, and connected togeth-
er by poles laid lengthwise across the arch and tied together.
Over them a net with meshes sufficiently small to prevent the
fowl getting through, is thrown across, and made fast to a reed
fence at the entrance, and nine or ten yards up the ditch, and
afterwards strongly pegged to the ground. At the farther end
of the pipe, a tunnel net, as it is called, is fixed, about four
yards in length, of a round form, and kept open by a number
of hoops about eighteen inches in diameter, placed at a small
distance from each other, to keep it distended. Supposing the
circular bend of the pipe to be to the right, when you stand with
your back to the lake, on the left hand side a number of reed
fences are constructed, called shootings, for the purpose of
screening from sight the decoy-man, and in such a manner,
that the fowl in the decoy may not be alarmed, while he is
driving those in the pipe: these shootings are about four yards
in length, and about six feet high, and are ten in number. They

300

THE MALLARD.

are placed in the following
manner —

From the end of the last shooting, a person cannot seethe lake,
owing to the bend of the pipe: there is then no farther occasion
for shelter. Were it not for those shootings, the fowl that re-
main about the mouth of the pipe would he alarmed, if the per-
son driving the fowl already under the net should be exposed,
and would become so shy as to forsake the place entirely. The
first thing the decoy-man does when he approaches the pipe, is
to take a piece of lighted turf or peat and hold it near his mouth,
to prevent the fowl smelling him. He is attended by a dog
taught for the purpose of assisting him: he walks very silently
about half way up the shootings, where a small piece of wood
is thrust through the reed fence, which makes an aperture just
sufficient to see if any fowl are in ; if not, he walks forward to
see if any are about the mouth of the pipe. If there are, he
stops and makes a motion to his dog, and gives him a piece of
cheese or something to eat; upon receiving it he goes directly
to a hole through the reed fence, (No. 1.) and the fowl imme-
diately fly off the bank into the water; the dog returns along the
bank between the reed fences and the pipe, and comes out to
his master at the hole (No. 2.) The man now gives him an-
other reward, and he repeats his round again, till the fowl are
attracted by the motions of the dog, and follow him into the
mouth of the pipe. This operation is called working them. The
man now retreats farther back, working the dog at different
holes till the fowl are sufficiently under the net: he now com-
mands his dog to lay down still behind the fence, and goes for-
ward to the end of the pipe next the lake, where he takes off
his hat and gives it a wave between the shooting; all the fowl
under the net can see him, but none that are in the lake can.
The fowl that are in sight fly forward; and the man runs for-
ward to the next shooting and waves his hat, and so on, driv-

THE MALLAllD.

301

ing them along till they come to the tunnel net, where they
creep in: when they are all in, he gives the net a twist, so as to
prevent their getting back: he then takes the net off from the
end of the pipe with what fowl he may have caught, and takes
therh out one at a time, and dislocates their necks and hangs
the net on again; and all is ready for working again.

“In this manner five or six dozen have been taken at one
drift. When the wind blows directly in or out of the pipe, the
fowl seldom work well, especially when it blows in. If many
pipes are made in a lake, they should be so constructed as to
suit different winds.

“Duck and Mallard are taken from August to June. Teal
or Wigeon, from October to March. Becks, Smee, Golden Eyes,
Arps, Cricks, and Pintails or Sea Pheasants, in March and April.

“Poker Ducks are seldom taken, on account of their diving
and getting back in the pipe.

It may be proper to observe here, that the Ducks feed during
the night, and that all is ready prepared for this sport in the
evening. The better to entice the Ducks into the pipe, hemp
seed is strewed occasionally on the water. The season allowed
by act of parliament for catching these birds in this way, is from
the latter end of October till February.

“Particular spots or decoys, in the fen countries, are let to
the fowlers at a rent of from five to thirty pounds per annum;
and Pennant instances a season in which thirty-one thousand
two hundred Ducks, including Teals and Wigeons, were sold
in London only, from ten of these decoys near Wainfleet, in
Lincolnshire. Formerly, according to Willoughby, the Ducks,
while in moult and unable to fly, were driven by men in boats,
furnished with long poles, with which they splashed the water
between long nets, stretched vertically across the pools, in the
shape of two sides of a triangle, into lesser nets placed at the
point; and in this way, he says, four thousand were taken at one
driving in Deeping-Fen; and Latham has quoted an instance of
two thousand six hundred and forty-six being taken in two days,
near Spalding in Lincolnshire; but this manner of catching them
while in moult is now prohibited.”

302

THE MALLARD.

REFERENCES TO THE CUT.

No. 1. Dog’s hole, where he goes to unbank the fowl.

2. Reed fences on each side of the mouth of the pipe.

3. Where the decoy-man shows himself to the fowl first, and after-

wards at the end of every shooting.

4. Small reed fence to prevent the fowl seeing the dog when he goes

to unbank them.

5. The shootings.

6. Dog’s holes between the shootings, used when working.

7. Tunnel net at the end of the pipe.

8. Mouth of the pipe.

SPECIES 6. ANAS STREPERA.

THE GADWALL.

[Plate LXXI. — Fig. 1, Male.']

Le Chipeau, Briss. vi, p. 339. 8. pi. 55. jig. 1. — Buff, ix, 187. —

PL Enl. 958. — ^rct. Zool. p. 575. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 515. —

Peale’s Museum, JVo. 2750.*

This beautiful Duck 1 have met with in very distant parts of
the United States, viz. on the Seneca lake in New York, about
the twentieth of October, and at Louisville on the Ohio, in Feb-
ruary. I also shot it near Big Bone Lick in Kentucky. With
its particular manners or breeding place, I am altogether unac-
quainted.

The length of this species is twenty inches, extent thirty-one
inches; bill two inches long, formed very much like that of the
Mallard, and of a brownish black; crown dusky brown, rest of
the upper half of the neck brownish white, both thickly spec-
kled with black; lower part of the neck and breast dusky black,
elegantly ornamented with large concentric semicircles of white;
scapulars waved with lines of white on a dusky ground, but
narrower than that of the breast; primaries ash; greater wing-
coverts black, and several of the lesser coverts immediately
above chestnut red; speculum white, bordered below with black,
forming three broad bands on the wing of chestnut, black, and
white; belly dull white; rump and tail coverts black, glossed
with green; tail tapering, pointed, of a pale brown ash edged
with white; flanks dull white elegantly waved; tertials long,
and of a pale brown, legs orange red.

The female I have never seen. Latham describes it as follows :

* vJnas strepera, Gmei. Sysl. i, p. 520, JVb. 20. — Ind. Orn. p. 849, JVo. 69. —
Temm. Man. d’Orn. p. 837. — Bewick, ii, p. 314. — Peale’s Museum, JVo.
2751, female.

304

THE GADWALL.

“differs in having the colours on the wings duller, though
marked the same as the male; the breast reddish brown spotted
with black; the feathers on the neck and back edged with pale
red; rump the same instead of black; and those elegant semi-
circular lines on the neck and breast wholly wanting.”

The flesh of this duck is excellent, and the windpipe of the
male is furnished with a large labyrinth.

The Gad wall is very rare in the northern parts of the United
States; is said to inhabit England in winter, and various parts
of France and Italy; migrates to Sweden, and is found through-
out Russia and Siberia. *

It is a very quick diver, so as to make it difficult to be shot;
flies also with great rapidity, and utters a note not unlike that
of the Mallard, but louder. Is fond of salines and ponds over-
grown with reeds and rushes. Feeds during the day, as well as
in the morning and evening.

Note. A male specimen shot by Mr. Ord in East Florida, in
the month of February, had its crownof a pale ferruginous, mixed
with brown; head and neck yellowish white, barred and mottled
with brown; back, outer scapulars, vent and flanks, brown, with
pale zigzag lines; some of the inner scapulars reddish and cine-
reous brown; upper and under tail-coverts velvet black; legs
and feet yellow ochre, part of the webs dusky. Weight two
pounds.

This species is very rare on the Delaware; but in East Flo-
rida it is common. On the fresh water ponds, in the vicinity of
the river St. John, Mr. Ord shot many of them; and found them
in good condition, and excellent eating.

’ Latham.

SPECIES'!. ANAS ACUTA.

PINTAIL DUCK.

[Plate LXVIIL— Fig. 3.]

Z,e Canard a longue queue, Bris. vi, p. 369. 16. pi. 54. jig. 1, 2. —
Buff, ix, p. 199. pi. 13. — Pi. Enl. 954. — Arct. Zool. No. 500. —
L/Vth. Syn. ni,p. 526. — Peale’s Museum, No, 2806.

The Pintail, or as it is sometimes called, the Sprigtail, is a
common and well known Duck in our markets, much esteemed
for the excellence of its flesh, and is generally in good order.
It is a shy and cautious bird, feeds in the mud flats, and shallow
fresh water marshes; but rarely resides on the seacoast. It sel-
dom dives, is very noisy, and has a kind of chattering note.
When wounded they will sometimes dive, and coming up con-
ceal themselves under the bow of the boat, moving round as it
moves. Are vigilant in giving the alarm on the approach of the
gunner, who often curses the watchfulness of the Sprigtail. Some
Ducks when aroused disperse in different directions; but the
Sprigtails when alarmed cluster confusedly together as they
mount, and thereby afford the sportsman a fair opportunity of
raking them with advantage. They generally leave the Dela-
ware about the middle of March, on the way to their native re-
gions the north, where they are most numerous. They inhabit
the whole northern parts of Europe and Asia, and doubtless the
corresponding latitudes of America. Are said likewise to be
found in Italy. Great flocks of them are sometimes spread along
the isles and shores of Scotland and Ireland, and on the interior
lakes of both these countries. On the marshy shores of some of
the bays of lake Ontario they are often plenty in the months of
October and November. I have also met with them at Louis-
ville on the Ohio.

VOL. III. — R r

306

PINTAIL DUCK.

The Pintail Duck is twenty-six inches in length, and two feet
ten inches in extent; the bill is a dusky lead colour; irides dark
hazel; head and half of the neck pale brown, each side of the
neck marked with a band of purple violet, bordering the white,
hind part of the upper half of the neck black, bordered on each
side by a stripe of white, which spreads over the lower part of
the neck before; sides of the breast and upper part of the back
white, thickly and elegantly marked with transverse undulating
lines of black, here and there tinged with pale buff; throat and
middle of the belly white tinged with cream; flanks finely pen-
cilled with waving lines, vent white, under tail coverts black;
lesser wing coverts brown ash, greater the same, tipt with
orange, below which is the speculum or beauty spot of rich
golden green bordered below with a band of black, and another
of white; primaries dusky brown; tertials long, black, edged
with white, and tinged with rust; rump and tail coverts pale ash
centered with dark brown; tail greatly pointed, the two middle
tapering feathers being full five inches longer than the others
and black, the rest brown ash edged with white; legs a pale lead
colour.

The female has the crown of a dark brown colour; neck of a
dull brownish white, thickly speckled with dark brown; breast
and belly pale brownish white, interspersed with white; back
and root of the neck above black, each feather elegantly waved
with broad lines of brownish white, these wavings become ru-
fous on the scapulars; vent white, spotted with dark brown; tail
dark brown spotted with white; the two middle tail feathers
half an inch longer than the others.

The Sprigtail is an elegantly formed, long bodied Duck, the
neck longer and more slender than most others.

SPECIES 8. ^N^S AMERICANA.

AMERICAN WIDGEON.

[Plate LXIX.— Fig. 4.]

ho Canard Jensen, FI. Enl. 955. — Buff, ix, f. 174. — .irct. Zool.
No. 502. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 520. — Peale’s Museum, No. 2798.

This is a handsomely marked and sprightly species, very
common in winter along our whole coast, from Florida to Rhode
Island; but most abundant in Carolina, where it frequents the
rice plantations. In Martinico great flocks take short flights
from one rice field to another during the rainy season, and are
much complained of by the planters. The Widgeon is the con-
stant attendant of the celebrated Canvass back Duck, so abun-
dant in various parts of the Chesapeake Bay, by the aid of
whose labour he has ingenuity enough to contrive to make a
good subsistence. The Widgeon is extremely fond of the tender
roots of that particular species of aquatic plant on which the
Canvass back feeds, and for which that Duck is in the constant
habit of diving. The Widgeon, who never dives, watches the
moment of the Canvass back’s rising, and before he has his eyes
well opened, snatches the delicious morsel from his mouth and
makes off. On this account the Canvass backs and Widgeons,
or as they are called round the bay. Bald pates, live in a state
of perpetual contention. The only chance the latter have is to
retreat, and make their approaches at convenient opportunities.
They are said to be in great plenty at St. Domingo and Cayenne,
where they are called Vingeon or Gingeon. Are said some-
times to perch on trees. Feed in company and have a centinel
on the watch, like some other birds. They feed little during the
day, but in the evenings come out from their hiding places, and
are then easily traced by their particular whistle or whew whew.
This soft note or whistle is frequently imitated with success, to

308

AMERICAN WIDGEON.

entice them within gunshot. They are not known to breed in
any part of the United States. Are common in the winter
months along the bays of Egg Harbour and Cape May, and also
those of the Delaware. They leave these places in April, and
appear upon the coasts of Hudson’s Bay in May, as soon as the
thaws come on, chiefly in pairs; lay there only from six to eight
eggs; and feed on flies and worms in the swamps; depart in
flocks in autumn.*

These birds are frequently brought to the market of Balti-
more, and generally bring a good price, their flesh being ex-
cellent. They are of a lively frolicksome disposition, and with
proper attention might easily be domesticated.

The Widgeon or Bald pate measures twenty-two inches in
length, and thirty inches in extent, the bill is of a slate colour,
the nail black; the front and crown cream coloured, sometimes
nearly white, the feathers inflated; from the eye backwards to
the middle of the neck behind, extends a band of deep glossy
green gold and purple; throat, chin, and sides of the neck be-
fore, as far as the green extends, dull yellowish white, thickly
speckled with black; breast and hind part of the neck hoary bay,
running in under the wings, where it is crossed with fine waving
lines of black, whole belly white; vent black; back and scapu-
lars black, thickly and beautifully crossed with undulating lines
of vinous bay; lower part of the back more dusky; tail coverts
long, pointed, whitish, crossed as the back; tail pointed, brown-
ish ash, the two middle feathers an inch longer than the rest,
and tapering; shoulder of the wing brownish ash, wing coverts
immediately below white, forming a large spot; primaries
brownish ash, middle secondaries black glossed with green,
forming the speculum; tertials black edged with white, between
which and the beauty spot several of the secondaries are white.

The female has the whole head and neck yellowish white,
thickly speckled with black, very little rufous on the breast; the
back is dark brown. The young males, as usual, very much
like the females during the first season, and do not receive their

* Hutchins.

AMERICAN WIDGEON.

309

full plumage until the second year. They are also subject to a
regular change every spring and autumn.

Note. — A few of these birds breed annually in the marshes
in the neighbourhood of Duck creek, in the state of Delaware.
An acquaintance, brought me thence, in the month of June, an
egg, which had been taken from a nest situated in a cluster of
alders; it was very much of the shape of the common Duck’s
egg; the colour a dirty white; length two inches and a quarter,
breadth one inch and five-eights. The nest contained eleven eggs.

This species is seen on the Delaware as late as the first week
of May. On the thirtieth of April last, I observed a large flock
of them, accompanied by a few Mallards and Pintails, feeding
upon the mud-flats, at the lower end of League Island, below
Philadelphia. In the fresh water ponds, situated in the neigh-
bourhood of the river St. John, in East Florida, they find an
abundance of food during the winter; and they become excess-
ively fat. It is needless to add that they are excellent eating.

G. Ord.

SPECIES 9. JiNJiS OB SC UR Jl.

DUSKY DUCK.

[Plate LXXIL— Fig. 5.]

Arct. Zool. JV’o. 4<)9.~LArH. Sijn. in, p.545. — Peale’s Museum,
JVo, 2880.

This species is generally known along the seacoast of New
.Jersey and the neighbouring country by the name of the Black
Duck, being the most common and most numerous of all those
of its tribe that frequent the salt marshes. It is only partially
migratory. Numbers of them remain during the summer, and
breed in sequestered places in the marsh, or on the sea islands
of the beach. The eggs are eight or ten in number, very near-
ly resembling those of the domestic duck. Vast numbers, how-
ever, regularly migrate farther north on the approach of spring.
During their residence here in winter they frequent the marsh-
es, and the various creeks and inlets with which those exten-
sive flats are intersected. Their principal food consists of those
minute snail shells so abundant in the marshes. They occasion-
ally visit the sandy beach in search of small bivalves, and on
these occasions sometimes cover whole acres with their num-
bers. They roost at night in the shallow ponds, in the middle
of the salt marsh, particularly on Islands, where many are
caught by the foxes. They are extremely shy during the day; and
on the most distant report of a musquet, rise from every quar-
ter of the marsh in prodigious numbers, dispersing in every di-
rection. In calm weather they fly high, beyond the reach of
shot; but when the wind blows hard, and the gunner conceals
himself among the salt grass in a place over which they usual-
ly fly, they are shot down in great numbers, their flight being
then low. Geese, Brant, and Black Duck are the common game

DUSKY DUCK.

311

of all our gunners along this part of the coast during winter;
but there are at least ten Black Duck for one Goose or Brant,
and probably many more. Their voice resembles that of the Duck
and Mallard ; but their flesh is greatly inferior, owing to the
nature of their food. They are, however, large, heavy bodied
Ducks, and generally esteemed.

I cannot discover that this species is found in any of the re-
mote northern parts of our continent; and this is probably the
cause why it is altogether unknown in Europe. It is abundant
from Florida to New England; but is not enumerated among
the birds of Hudson’s Bay, or Greenland. Its chief residence
is on the seacoast, though it also makes extensive excursions
up the tide waters of our rivers. Like the Mallard they rarely
dive for food, but swim and fly with great velocity.

The Dusky, or Black Duck, is two feet in length, and three
feet two inches in extent; the bill is of a dark greenish ash,
formed very much like that of the Mallard, and nearly of the
same length; irides dark; upper part of the head deep dusky
brown, intermixed on the fore part with some small streaks of
drab; rest of the head and greater part of the neck pale yellow
ochre, thickly marked with small streaks of blackish brown;
lower part of the neck, and whole lower parts, deep dusky,
each feather edged with brownish white, and with fine seams
of rusty white; upper parts the same, but rather deeper; the
outer vanes of nine of the secondaries bright violet blue, form-
ing the beauty spot, which is bounded on all sides by black;
wings and tail sooty brown; tail feathers sharp pointed; legs
and feet dusky yellow; lining of the wings pure white.

The female has more brown on her plumage; but in other re-
spects differs little from the male, both having the beauty spot
on the wing.

Note. — Of all our Ducks this is perhaps the most sagacious
and the most fearful of man. In the neighbourhood of Phila-
delphia they are found in great numbers, they are notwithstand-
ing hard to be obtained, in consequence of their extreme vigi-

312

DUSKY DUCK.

lance, and their peculiar habits. During the day they chiefly
abandon the marshes; and float in considerable bodies on the
Delaware, taking their repose, with the usual precaution of em-
ploying wakeful sentinels, to give notice of danger. In the
evening they resort to the muddy flats and shores, and occupy
themselves throughout the greater part of the night in seeking
for food. When searching out their feeding grounds, every in-
dividual is on the alert; and on the slightest appearance of an
enemy the whole mount and scatter, in such a manner, that,
in a flock of a hundred, it would be difficult to knock down
more than two or three at one shot. Their sense of smelling is
uncommonly acute, and their eyesight, if we may judge from
their activity at night, must be better than that of most species.
When wounded on the water, they will immediately take to the
shore, if in the vicinity, and conceal themselves under the first
covert, so that one accustomed to this habit can have no diffi-
culty in finding them. G. Ord.

SPECIES 10. ^NAS SPONSA.

SUMMER DUCK, OR WOOD DUCK.

[Plate LXX. — Fig. 3, Male.'\

Le Canard d’Etd, Bkiss. vi, p. 351. 11. pi. 52. Jig. 2. — Le beau
Canard huppd, Buff, ix, p. 245. — PI. Enl. 980. 981. — Summer
Duck, Catesby, I, pi. 97. — Edw. pi. 101. — .drct. Zool. JS'’o. 943.
— Lath. Syn. iii, p. 546. — Peale’s Museum, JVo. 2872, male,
2873, female.*

This most beautiful of all our Ducks, has probably no supe-
rior among its whole tribe for richness and variety of colours.
It is called the Wood Duck, from the circumstance of its breed-
ing in hollow trees; and the Summer Duck, from remaining
with us chiefly during the summer. It is familiarly known in
every quarter of the United States, from Florida to Lake On-
tario, in the neighbourhood of which latter place I have myself
met with it in October. It rarely visits the seashore, or salt
marshes; its favourite haunts being the solitary deep and muddy
creeks, ponds, and mill dams of the interior, making its nest
frequently in old hollow trees that overhang the water.

The Summer Duck is equally well known in Mexico and
many of the West India islands. During the whole of our winters
they are occasionally seen in the states south of the Potowmac.
On the tenth of January I met with two on a creek near Peters-
hurgh in Virginia. In the more northern districts, however,
they are migratory. In Pennsylvania the female usually begins
to lay late in April or early in May. Instances have been known
where the nest was constructed of a few sticks laid in a fork of
the branches; usually, however, the inside of a hollow tree is
selected for this purpose. On the eighteenth of May I visited

* .^nas sponsa, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 539, JVo. 43. — Ind. Orn. p. 876, JVo. 97.
VOL. III. S S

314

SUMMER DUCK.

a tree containing the nest of a Summer Duck, on the banks of
Tuckahoe river, New Jersey. It was an old grotesque white
oak, whose top had been torn off by a storm. It stood on the
declivity of the bank, about twenty yards from the water. In
this hollow and broken top, and about six feet down, on the
soft decayed wood, lay thirteen eggs, snugly covered with down,
doubtless taken from the breast of the bird. These eggs were of
an exact oval shape, less than those of a hen, the surface exceed-
ingly fine grained, and of the highest polish and slightly yel-
lowish, greatly resembling old polished ivory. The egg mea-
sured two inches and an eighth by one inch and a half. On
breaking one of them, the young bird was found to be nearly
hatched, but dead, as neither of the parents had been observed
about the tree during the three or four days preceding; and were
conjectured to have been shot.

This tree had been occupied, probably by the same pair, for
four successive years, in breeding time; the person who gave
me the information, and whose house was within twenty or
thirty yards of the tree, said that he had seen the female, the
spring preceding, carry down thirteen young, one by one, in
less than ten minutes. She caught them in her bill by the wing
or back of the neck, and landed them safely at the foot of the
tree, whence she afterwards led them to the water. Under this
same tree, at the time I visited it, a large sloop lay on the stocks,
nearly finished, the deck was not more than twelve feet distant
from the nest, yet notwithstanding the presence and noise of
the workmen, the ducks would not abandon their old breeding
place, but continued to pass out and in as if no person had been
near. The male usually perched on an adjoining limb, and kept
watch while the female was laying; and also often while she
was sitting. A tame Goose had chosen a hollow space at the
root of the same tree, to lay and hatch her young in.

The Summer Duck seldom flies in flocks of more than three
or four individuals together, and most commonly in pairs, or
singly. The common note of the drake ispeet, peet; but, when
standing centinel, he sees danger, he makes a noise not unlike

SUMMER DUCK.

315

the crowing of a young cock, oe eek! oe eek! Their food consists
principally of acorns, seeds of the wild oats, and insects. Their
flesh is inferior to that of the Blue-winged Teal. They are fre-
quent in the markets of Philadelphia.

Among other gaudy feathers with which the Indians orna-
ment the calumet or pipe of peace, the skin of the head and
neck of the Summer Duck is frequently seen covering the stem.

This beautiful bird has often been tamed, and soon becomes
so familiar as to permit one to stroke its back with the hand. I
have seen individuals so tamed in various parts of the Union.
Captain Boyce, collector of the port of Havre-de- Grace, informs
me that about forty years ago, a Mr. Nathan Nicols, who lived
on the west side of Gunpowder creek, had a whole yard swarm-
ing with Summer Ducks, which he had tamed and completely
domesticated, so that they bred and were as familiar as any
other tame fowls; that he (Capt. Boyce) himself saw them in
that state, but does not know what became of them. Latham
says that they are often kept in European menageries, and will
breed there.*

The Wood Duck is nineteen inches in length, and two feet
four inches in extent, bill red, margined with black; a spot of
black lies between the nostrils, reaching nearly to the tip, which
is also of the same colour, and furnished with a large hooked
nail; irides orange red; front, crown, and pendent crest rich
glossy bronze green ending in violet, elegantly marked with a
line of pure white running from the upper mandible over the
eye, and with another band of white proceeding from behind the
eye, both mingling their long pendent plumes with the green
and violet ones, producing a rich effect; cheeks and sides of the
upper neck violet; chin, throat, and collar round the neck pure
white, curving up in the form of a crescent nearly to the pos-
terior part of the eye; the white collar is bounded below with
black; breast dark violet brown, marked on the fore part with
minute triangular spots of white, increasing in size until they

Gen. Syh. iii, p. 547.

316

SUMMER DUCK.

spread into the white of the belly; each side of the breast is
bounded by a large crescent of white, and that again by a broader
one of deep black; sides under the wings thickly and beautifully
marked with fine undulating parallel lines of black, on a ground
of yellowish drab; the flanks are ornamented with broad alternate
semicircular bands of black and white; sides of the vent rich light
violet; tail-coverts long, of a hair-like texture at the sides, over
which they descend, and of a deep black glossed with green;
back dusky bronze, reflecting green; scapulars black; tail taper-
ing, dark glossy green above, below dusky; primaries dusky,
silvery hoary without, tipt with violet blue; secondaries greenish
blue, tipt with white; wing-coverts violet blue tipt with black;
vent dusky; legs and feet yellowish red, claws strong and hooked.

The above is as accurate a description as I can give of a very
perfect specimen now before me, from which the figure in the
plate was faithfully copied.

The female has the head slightly crested, crown dark purple,
behind the eye a bar of white; chin, and throat for two inches,
also white; head and neck dark drab; breast dusky brown,
marked with large triangular spots of white; back dark glossy
bronze brown, with some gold and greenish reflections. Spe-
culum of the wings nearly the same as in the male, but the fine
pencilling of the sides, and the long hair-like tail-coverts, are
wanting; the tail is also shorter.

SPECIES 11. AN^S DISCORS.

BLUE-WINGED TEAL.

[Plate LXVIIL— Fig. 4, Ma/e.]

La Sarcelle d^'Jlmerique, Biuss. vi, p. 452. 35. — Buff, ix, p. 279.

— Pl.Enl. 966. — Catfish. i,pl. 100. — While faced Duck, Lath.

Syn. iii,p. 502. — Jirct. Zool. dVo. 503. — Peale’s Jl/Msewm, a/Vo.

2846.*

The Blue winged Teal is the first of its tribe that returns to
us in the autumn from its breeding place in the north. They
are usually seen early in September, along the shores of the
Delaware, where they sit on the mud close to the edge of the
water, so crowded together that the gunners often kill great
numbers at a single discharge. When a flock is discovered thus
sitting and sunning themselves, the experienced gunner runs
his batteau ashore at some distance below or above them, and
getting out, pushes her before him over the slippery mud, con-
cealing himself all the while behind her; by this method he can
sometimes approach within twenty yards of the flock, among
which he generally makes great slaughter. They fly rapidly,
and when they alight drop down suddenly like the Snipe or
Woodcock, among the reeds or on the mud. They feed chiefly
on vegetable food, and are eagerly fond of the seeds of the reeds
or wild oats. Their flesh is excellent; and after their residence
for a short time among the reeds, becomes very fat. As the
first frosts come on, they proceed to the south, being a delicate
bird, very susceptible of cold. They abound in the inundated

* .^nas discors, Gmel. Syst. p. 535, No. 37. — Lath. Ind. Otn. p. 854, «A'o. 55.
— Biue-mnged Teal-, Catesh. pi. 99. female. — La Sarcelle de Virghne, Biiiss.
VI, p. 455, J^o. 36. — La Sarcelle Soucrourou, Buff, ix, p, 279. — PI- Eiil.
403, female.

318

BLUE-WINGED TEAL.

rice fields in the southern states, where vast numbers are taken
in traps placed on small dry eminences that here and there rise
above the water. These places are strewed with rice, and by
the common contrivance called a figure four, they are caught
alive in hollow traps. In the month of April they pass through
Pennsylvania for the north; but make little stay at that season.
I have observed them numerous on the Hudson opposite to the
Kaatskill mountains. They rarely visit the seashore.

This species measures about fourteen inches in length, and
twenty-two inches in extent; the bill is long in proportion, and
of a dark dusky slate; the front and upper part of the head are
black, from the eye to the chin is a large crescent of white, the
rest of the head and half of the neck is of a dark slate richly
glossed with green and violet, remainder of the neck and breast
is black or dusky, thickly marked with semicircles of brown-
ish white, elegantly intersecting each other; belly pale brown,
barred with dusky, in narrow lines; sides and vent the same
tint, spotted with oval marks of dusky; flanks elegantly waved
with large semicircles of pale brown; sides of the vent pure
white; under tail coverts black; back deep brownish black, each
feather waved with large semi-ovals of brownish white; lesser
wing coverts a bright light blue; primaries dusky brown; se-
condaries black; speculum or beauty spot, rich green, tertials
edged with black or light blue, and streaked down their mid-
dle with white; the tail, which is pointed, extends two inches
beyond the wings; legs and feet yellow, the latter very small;
the two crescents of white before the eyes meet on the throat.

The female differs in having the head and neck of a dull dusky
slate instead of the rich violet of the male, the hind head is also
whitish. The wavings on the back and lower parts more indis-
tinct; wing nearly the same in both.

SPECIES 12. AN^S CRECCJi.

GREEN-WINGED TEAL.

[Plate LXX.— Fig. 4, Mz/e.]

Lath. Sijn. iii, 554.— -Bewick’s Br. Birds, ii,p. 338. — Peale’s
Museum, JVo. 2832.*

The naturalists of Europe have designated this little Duck by
the name of the American Teal, as being a species different
from their own. On an examination, however, of the figure
and description of the European Teal by the ingenious and ac-
curate Bewick, and comparing them with the present, no dif-
ference whatever appears in the length, extent, colour, or mark-
ings of either, but what commonly occurs among individuals
of any other tribe; both undoubtedly belong to one and the same
species.

This, like the preceding, is a fresh water Duck, common in
our markets in autumn and winter; but rarely seen here in
summer. It frequents ponds, marshes, and the reedy shores of
creeks and rivers. Is very abundant among the rice plantations
of the southern states; flies in small parties, and feeds at night.
Associates often with the Duck and Mallard, feeding on the
seeds of various kinds of grasses and water plants, and also on
the tender leaves of vegetables. Its flesh is accounted excel-
lent.

The Green winged Teal is fifteen inches in length, and twen-

* Anas crecca, Gmei. Sijsi. i, p. 532, No. 23. — Anas Carotinensis, Id. p. 633,
No. 103. — Ind. Orn. p. 872, No. 100; p. 874, No. 101. — Common Teal, Gen-
Syn. Ill, p- 561, No. 88 — American Teal, Id. p. 534, No. 90 — European Teal,
Arct Zool. II, p. 305, P. 4to. American Teal, Id. No. 504. Br. Zool. No. 290.
— L.t petite Sarcelle, Bniss. i,p. 436, No. 32, p]. 40, fig". 1. — Buff, ix, p.
265, pi. 17, 18. — PI. Enl. 947. Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 846. Peale’s Museum,
2832, female.

320

GREEN-WINGED TEAL.

ty-four inches in extent; bill black, irides pale brown, lower
eye lid whitish, head glossy reddish chestnut; from the eye
backwards to the nape runs a broad band of rich silky green
edged above and below by a fine line of brownish white, the
plumage of the nape ends in a kind of pendent crest; chin black-
ish ; below the chestnut, the neck, for three quarters of an inch
is white, beautifully crossed with circular undulating lines of
black; back, scapulars, and sides of the breast white, thickly
crossed in the same manner; breast elegantly marked with round-
ish or heart shaped spots of black on a pale vinaceous ground,
variegated with lighter tints; belly, white; sides waved with
undulating lines; lower part of the vent feathers black; sides of
the same brownish white, or pale reddish cream; lesser wing
coverts brown ash, greater tipt with reddish cream; the first
five secondaries deep velvetty black, the next five resplendent
green, forming the speculum or beauty spot, which is bound-
ed above by pale bufiT, below by white, and on each side by
deep black; primaries ashy brown; tail pointed, eighteen feath-
ers, dark drab; legs and feet flesh coloured. In some a few
circular touches of white appear on the breast, near the shoul-
der of the wing. The windpipe has a small bony labyrinth
where it separates into the lungs; the intestines measure three
feet six inches, and are very small and tender.

The female wants the chestnut bay on the head, and the band
of rich green through the eye, these parts being dusky white
speckled with black; the breast is gray brown, thickly sprinkl-
ed with blackish, or dark brown ; the back dark brown, waved
with broad lines of brownish white; wing nearly the same as
in the male.

This species is said to breed at Hudson’s Bay, and to have
from five to seven young at a time.* In France it remains
throughout the year, and builds in April, among the rushes on
the edges of ponds. It has been lately discovered to breed also
in England, in the mosses about Carlisle.! It is not known to

* Latham.

t Bewick.

GREEN-WINGED TEAL.

321

breed in any part of the United States. The Teal is found in
thp north of Europe as far as Iceland; and also inhabits the Cas-
pian sea to the south. Extends likewise to China, having been
recognized by Latham among some fine drawings of the birds
of that country.

VOL. III.-— T t

SPECIES 13. ^NAS MOLLISSIMA.

EIDER DUCK.

[Plate LXXI. — Fig. 2, Male.'\

L’Oye d duvet, ou I’Eider, Briss. vi, p, 294. pi. 29, 30. — Buff, ix,
p. 103. pi. 6. — PL Enl. 209. — Great Black and White Buck,
Edvv. pi. 98. — Bewick, ii, p. 279. — Jlrct. Zool. JV* j. 480. — Lath.
Syn. HI, p. 470. — Peale’s Museum, JV'b. 2706.*

The Eider Duck has been long celebrated in Europe for the
abundance and excellence of its down, which for softness,
warmth, lightness, and elasticity surpasses that of all other Ducks.
The quantity found in one nest more than filled the crown of a
hat; yet weighed no more than three quarters of an ounce;t and
it is asserted that three pounds of this down may be compressed
into a space scarce bigger than a man’s fist; yet is afterwards so
dilatable as to fill a quilt five feet square. J

The native regions of the Eider Duck extend from 45° north
to the highest latitudes yet discovered, both in Europe and Ame-
rica. Solitary rocky shores and islands are their favourite haunts.
Some wandering pairs have been known to breed on the rocky
islands beyond Portland in the district of Maine, which is per-
haps the most southern extent of their breeding place. In En-
gland the Fern Isles, on the coast of Northumberland, are an-
nually visited by a few of these birds, being the only place in
South Britain where they are known to breed. They occur
again in some of the western isles of Scotland. Greenland and
Iceland abound with them, and here, in particular places, their
nests are crowded so close together that a person can scarcely
walk without treading on them. The natives of those countries

* Anai moUissima, Gmei. Syst. i, p. 514, .A/b. 15. — Ind. Orn. p, 845, Mi. 35.
t Pennant. t Salem. Orn. p. 416.

EIDER DUCK.

323

know the value of the down, and carry on a regular system of
plunder both of it and also of the eggs. The nest is generally
formed outwardly of drift grass, dry sea weed, and such like
materials, the inside composed of a large quantity of down
plucked from the breast of the female; in this soft elastic bed she
deposits five eggs, extremely smooth and glossy, of a pale olive
colour; they are also warmly covered with the same kind of
down. When the whole number is laid, they are taken away
by the natives, and also the down with which the nest is lined,
together with that which covers the eggs. The female once
more strips her breast of tbe remaining down, and lays a second
time; even this, with the eggs is generally taken away, and it
is said that the male in this extremity furnishes the third quan-
tity of down from his own breast; but if the cruel robbery be a
third time repeated, they abandon tbe place altogether. One
female, during the whole time of laying, generally gives half a
pound of down; and we are told, that in the year 1750, the Ice-
land Company sold as much of this article as amounted to three
thousand seven hundred and forty-five banco dollars, besides
wbat was directly sent to Gluckstadt.* The down from dead
birds is little esteemed, having lost its elasticity.

These birds associate together in flocks, generally in deep
water, diving for shell fish, which constitute their principal food.
They frequently retire to the rocky shores to rest, particularly
on the appearance of an approaching storm. They are numerous
on the coast of Labrador, and are occasionally seen in winter as
far south as the capes of Delaware. Their flesh is esteemed by
the inhabitants of Greenland; but tastes strongly of fish.

The length of this species is two feet three inches, extent three
feet; weight between six and seven pounds; the head is large,
and the bill of singular structure, being three inches in length,
forked in a remarkable manner, running high up in tbe forehead,
between which the plumage descends nearly to the nostril; the
whole of the bill is of a dull yellowish horn colour somewhat

* Letters on IceLand, by Uno Van Troih p. 146.

324

EIDER DUCK.

dusky in the middle; upper part of the head deep velvet black,
divided laterally on the hind head by a whitish band; cheeks
white; sides of the head pale pea green, marked with a narrow
line of white dropt from the ear feathers; the plumage of this
part of the head, to the throat, is tumid, and looks as if cut off
at the end, for immediately below the neck it suddenly narrows,
somewhat in the manner of the Buffel-head, enlarging again
greatly as it descends, and has a singular hollow between the
shoulders behind; the upper part of the neck, the back, scapu-
lars, lesser wing-coverts, and sides of the rump are pure white;
lower part of the breast, belly, and vent black; tail, primaries
and secondaries brownish black, the tertials curiously curved,
falling over the wing; legs short, yellow; webs of the feet dusky.

Latham has given us the following sketch of the gradual pro-
gress of the young males to their perfect colours: “In the first
year the back is white, and the usual parts, except the crown,
black; but the rest of the body is variegated with black and
white. In the second year the neck and breast are spotted black
and white, and the crown black. In the third the colours are
nearly as when in full plumage; but less vivid, and a few spots
of black still remaining on the neck; the crown black, and bifid
at the back part.

“The young of both sexes are the same, being covered with
a kind of hairy down: throat and breast whitish; and a cinereous
line from the bill through the eyes to the hind head.”*

Synopsis, iii, p. 471.

MOLLISSIM^.

EIDER DUCK.

[Plate LXXL — Fig. 3, Female.'\

Peale’s Museum, J\’o. 2707.

The difference of colour in these two birds is singularly great.
The female is considerably less than the male, and the bill does
not rise so high in the forehead; the general colour is a dark
reddish drab, mingled with lighter touches, and every where
spotted with black; wings dusky, edged with reddish; the greater
coverts and some of the secondaries are tipt with white; tail
brownish black, lighter than in the male; the plumage in general
is centred with bars of black, and broadly bordered with rufous
drab; cheeks and space over the eye light drab; belly dusky,
obscurely mottled with black; legs and feet as in the male.

Van Troil, in ^is Letters on Iceland, observes respecting this
Duck, that “the young ones quit the nest soon after they are
hatched, and follow the female, who leads them to the water,
where having taken them on her back, she swims with them a
few yards, and then dives, and leaves them floating on the
water ! In this situation they soon learn to take care of them-
selves, and are seldom afterwards seen on the land; but live
among the rocks, and feed on insects and sea weed.”

Some attempts have been made to domesticate these birds,
but hitherto without success.

SPECIES 14. ANAS PERSPICILLATA.

BLACK, OR SURF DUCK.

[Plate LXVIL— Fig. 1.]

Le grande Macreuse de la Baye de Hudson, Briss. vi, p. 425, 30.

— La Macreuse a large bee, Buff, ix, p. 244. — PL Enl. 995. —

Ewu. 155. — Lath. Syn, iii, p. 479. — Phil, Trans, lxh, v.

4ir. — Pe;ale’s Museum, No. 2788.*

This Duck is peculiar to America, and altogether confined
to the shores and bays of the sea, particularly where the waves
roll over the sandy beach. Their food consists principally of
those small bivalve shell fish already described, spout fish, and
others that lie in the sand near its surface. For these they dive
almost constantly, both in the sandy bays and amidst the tumbl-
ing surf. They seldom or never visit the salt marshes. They
continue on our shores during the winter; and leave us early in
May for their breeding places in the north. Their skins are
remarkably strong, and their flesh coarse, tasting of fish. They
are shy birds, not easily approached, and are common in win-
ter along the whole coast from the river St. Lawrence to Flo-
rida.

The length of this species is twenty inches, extent thirty-two
inches; the bill is yellowish red, elevated at the base, and mark-
ed on the side of the upper mandible with a large square patch
of black, preceded by another space of a pearl colour; the part
of the bill thus marked swells or projects considerably from the
common surface; the nostrils are large and pervious; the sides
of the bill broadly serrated or toothed; both mandibles are fur-
nished with a nail at the extremity; irides white, or very pale

* Anas perspicillttla, Gmel. Syst i,p. 524, No. 25. — /nd. Orn. p. 847, No. 42.
— Pbaie’s JHuseum, No. 2789, female.

BLACK DUCK.

327

cream; whole plumage a shining black, marked on the crown
and hind head with two triangular spaces of pure white; the
plumage on both these spots is shorter and thinner than the
rest; legs and feet blood red; membrane of the webbed feet
black, the primary quills are of a deep dusky brown.

On dissection the gullet was found to be gradually enlarged
to the gizzard, which was altogether filled with broken shell
fish. There was a singular hard expansion at the commence-
ment of the windpipe; and another much larger about three-
quarters of an inch above where it separates into the two lobes
of the lungs; this last was larger than a Spanish hazel nut, flat
on one side and convex on the other. The protuberance on
each side of the bill communicated with the nostril, and was
hollow. All these were probably intended to contain supplies
of air for the bird’s support while under water; the last may also
protect the head from the sharp edges of the shells.

The female is altogether of a sooty brown, lightest about the
neck; the prominences on the bill are scarcely observable and
its colour dusky.

This species was also found by captain Cooke at Nootka
Sound, on the north-west coast of America.

SPECIES 15. ANAS FUSCA.

VELVET DUCK.

[Plate LXXIL— Fig. 3. Male.}

Le grande Macreuse, Briss. vi, p. 423, 29. — Buff, ix, p. 242. —

PL Enl. 956. — .drct. Zool. No. 482. — Bf.wick, ii, p. 286. —

Lath. Syn. iii, p. 482. — Peale’s Museum, No. 2658, Female.*

This and the following are frequently confounded together
as one and the same species by our gunners on the sea coast.
The former, however, differs in being of greater size; in hav-
ing a broad band of white across the wing; a spot of the same
under the eye, and in the structure of its bill. The habits of
both are very much alike; they visit us only during the winter;
feed entirely on shell fish, which they procure by diving; and
return to the northern regions early in spring to breed. They
often associate with the Scoters, and are taken frequently in the
same nets with them. Owing to the rank fishy flavour of its flesh,
it is seldom sought after by our sportsmen or gunners, and is
very little esteemed.

The Velvet Duck measures twenty-three inches in length,
and two feet nine inches in extent, and weighs about three
pounds; the bill is broad, a little elevated at the base, where it
is black, the rest red, except the lower mandible, which is of a
pale yellowish white; both are edged with black, and deeply
toothed; irides pale cream; under the eye is a small spot of white;
general colour of the plumage brownish black, the secondaries
excepted, which are white, forming a broad band across the
wing; there are a few reflections of purple on the upper plu-

* Jlnas Fusca, Gmel. Syst. i, p. 507, No. 6. — Ind. Orn. p. 848, No. 44. — Ca-
nard double Macreuse, Temm. Man. d’Orn. p. 858.

VELVET DUCK.

329

mage; the legs are red on the outside, and deep yellow sprinkl-
ed with blackish on the inner sides; tail short and pointed.

The female is very little less than the male; but differs con-
siderably in its markings. The bill is dusky, forehead and
cheeks white, under the eye dull brownish; behind that a large
oval spot of white; whole upper parts and neck dark brownish
drab; tips of the plumage lighter, secondaries white; wing quills
deep brown; belly brownish white; tail hoary brown; the throat
is white, marked with dusky specks; legs and feet yellow.

Latham informs us that this species is sometimes seen on the
coast of England, but is not common there; that it inhabits Den-
mark and Russia, and in some parts of Siberia is very common.
It is also found at Kamtschatka, where it is said to breed, going
far inland to lay; the eggs are eight or ten, and white; the males
depart, and leave the females to remain with the young until
they are able to fly. In the river Ochotska they are so nume-
rous that a party of natives, consisting of fifty or more, go off
in boats and drive these ducks up the river before them, and
when the tide ebbs fall on them at once, and knock them on
the head with clubs, killing such numbers that each man has
twenty or thirty for his share.*

* Hist. Kamtschatka, p. 160.

VOL. III. U U

SPECIES 16. ^NAS NIGE^.

SCOTER DUCK.

[Plate LXXII.— Fig. 2.]

Le Macreuse, Biuss. vi, p. 420. pi. S8. Jig. 2.— Buff, ix, p. 234. pL

16. — FI. Enl. 978. — Bewick, ii, p. 288. — .Arct. Zool. JV*o. 484.

— Lath. Syn. iii,p. 480. — Peale’s Museum, JV*o. 2658;*

This Duck is but little known along our seacoast, being more
usually met with in the northern than southern districts; and
only during the winter. Its food is shell fish, for which it is
almost perpetually diving. That small bivalve so often mention-
ed, small muscles, spout fish, called on the coast razor handles,
young clams, &c. furnish it with abundant fare; and wherever
these are plenty the Scoter is an occasional visitor. They swim,
seemingly at ease, amidst the very roughest of the surf; but fly
heavily along the surface, and to no great distance. They rarely
penetrate far up our rivers, but seem to prefer the neighbour-
hood of the ocean; differing in this respect from the Cormorant,
which often makes extensive visits to the interior.

The Scoters are said to appear on the coasts of France in
great numbers, to which they are attracted by a certain kind
of small bivale shell fish called vaimeaux, probably diflfering
little from those already mentioned. Over the beds of these
shell fish the fishermen spread their nets, supporting them,
horizontally, at the height of two or three feet from the bottom.
At the flowing of the tide the Scoters approach in great num-
bers, diving after their favourite food, and .soon get entangled
in the nets. Twenty or thirty dozen have sometimes been taken
in a single tide. These are sold to the Roman Catholics, who

* Jlnasnigra, Gmei. Sijst. i, p. 508, Ao. I. — Ind. Ont. p. 848, .Vo. 43. — Tbmjt.
Man. d’Orn. p. 856 — Peale’s Musexm, .A/’o. 2659, female.

SCOTER DUCK.

331

eat them on those days on which they are forbidden by their
religion the use of animal food, fish excepted; these birds, and
a few others of the same fishy flavour, having been exempted
from the interdict, on the supposition of their being cold blood-
ed, and partaking of the nature of fish.*

The Scoter abounds in Lapland, Norway, Sweden, Russia,
and Siberia. It was also found by Osbeck, between the islands
of Java and St. Paul, Lat. 30 and 34, in the month of June.t

This species is twenty-one inches in length, and thirty-four
in extent, and is easily distinguished from all other Ducks by
the peculiar form of its bill, which has at the base a large ele-
vated knob, of a red colour, divided by a narrow line of yellow,
which spreads over the middle of the upper mandible, reaching
nearly to its extremity, the edges and lower mandible are black;
the eyelid is yellow, iris dark hazel; the whole plumage is
black, inclining to purple on the head and neck; legs and feet
reddish.

The female has little or nothing of the knob on the bill; her
plumage above a sooty brown, and below of a grayish white.

* Bewick.

t Voy. i, p. 120.

SPE CIES 1 7. ^NySS P UBID US.

RUDDY DUCK.

[Plate LXXI. — Fig. 5, Mult Male,'\

Peale’s Museum, J^o. 2808.

This very rare Duck was shot, some years ago, on the river
Delaware, and appears to be an entire new species. The speci-
men here figured, with the female that accompanies it, and
which was killed in the same river, are the only individuals of
their kind I have met with. They are both preserved in the
superb Museum of my much respected friend, Mr. Peale, of
this city.

On comparing this Duck with the description given by Latham
of the Jamaica Shoveller, I was at first inclined to believe I
had found out the species; but a more careful examination of
both satisfied me that they cannot be the same, as the present
differs considerably in colour; and besides has some peculiari-
ties which the eye of that acute ornithologist could not possibly
have overlooked, in his examination of the species said to have
been received by him from Jamaica. Wherever the general
residence of this species may be, in this part of the world, at
least, it is extremely rare, since among the many thousands of
Ducks brought to our markets during winter, I have never
heard of a single individual of the present kind having been
found among them.

The Ruddy Duck is fifteen inches and a half in length, and
twenty-two inches in extent; the bill is broad at the tip, the un-

RUDDY DUCK.

333

der mandible much narrower, and both of a rich light blue;
nostrils small, placed in the middle of the bill; cheeks and chin
white; front, crown, and back part of the neck down nearly to
the back, black; rest of the neck, whole back, scapulars, flanks
and tail coverts deep reddish brown, the colour of bright ma-
hogany; wings plain pale drab, darkest at the points; tail black,
greatly tapering, containing eighteen narrow pointed feathers;
the plumage of the breast and upper part of the neck is of a re-
markable kind, being dusky olive at bottom, ending in hard
bristly points of a silvery gray, very much resembling the hair
of some kinds of seal skins; all these are thickly marked with
transverse curving lines of deep brown; belly and vent silver
gray, thickly crossed with dusky olive; under tail coverts white;
legs and feet ash coloured.

Note. — It is a circumstance in ornithology well worthy of
note, that migratory birds frequently change their route, and,
consequently, become common in those districts where they
had been either unknown, or considered very rare. Of the Syl-
via magnolia, Wilson declares that he had seen but two indi-
viduals, and these in the western country; the Muscicapa
cucullata he says is seldom observed in Pennsylvania, and the
northern states; the Muscicapa pusilla, and the Muscicapa
Canadensis, he considered rare birds with us; notwithstanding^
in the month of May, 1815, all of these were seen in our gar-
dens; and the Editor noted the last mentioned as among the
most numerous of the passenger birds of that season.

The subject of this chapter affords a case in point. The year
subsequent to the death of our author this Duck began to make
its appearance in our waters. In October, 1814, the Editor
procured a female, which had been killed from a flock, consist-
ing of five, at Wind-mill Island, opposite to Philadelphia. In
October, 1818, he shot three individuals, two females and a
male; and in April last another male, all of which, except one,
were young birds. He has also at various times, since 1814,

334

RUDDY DUCK.

seen several other male specimens of this species, not one of
which was an adult. In effect, the only old males which he has
ever seen are that in Peale’s Museum, and another in the Cabi-
net of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

The Duck figured in the plate as the female was a young
male, as the records of the Museum show; the great difference
between its colours and markings, and those of the full-plumaged
male, having induced the author to conclude it was a female,
although he was perfectly familiar with the fact, that the young
males of several species of this genus so nearly resemble the
other sex, it requires a very accurate eye, aided by much ex-
perience, to distinguish them by their external characters. This
is precisely the case with the present species; the yearlings, of
both sexes, are alike; and it is not until the succeeding spring
that those characters appear in the males which enable one to
indicate them, independent on dissection.

The opinion of our author that this species is not the Jamaica
Shoveller of Latham the editor cannot subscribe to, it appearing
to him that the specimen from which Latham took his descrip-
tion was a young male of the Duck now before us. The latter
informs us that the species appears in Jamaica in October or
November; remains till March; and then retires to the north.
This account coincides with ours: we see the bird on its way to
the south in October; it reaches Jamaica in November; it departs
thence in March, and revisits us, in regular progression, in
April. Where its summer residence is we are not informed;
and we are equally ignorant whether the species is numerous in
any part of our continent or not.

Judging from the descriptions of the Ural Duck of European
writers, there should seem to be a great affinity between that
and the present. Through the polite attention of Mr. Charles
Bonaparte, the editor was enabled to examine a female speci-
men of the former; and as he perceived some differences, he will
here note them. The bill of the Ural Duck, from the angle of
the mouth, is two inches long: that of our Duck is one inch and

RUDDY DUCK.

335

three quarters, it is also less gibbous at the base than in the for-
mer, and it is less depressed above; the tail feathers of the Ural
Duck are guttered their whole length: those of the Ruddy Duck
are slightly canaliculated at their tips; the lateral membrane of
the inner toe of the latter is not half the breadth of that of the
former. In other respects the females of the two species much
resemble each other. In order to draw a just parallel, it would
be necessary to examine a male specimen of the European Bird,
which our cabinets do not possess.

The female is fifteen inches in length; bill to the angle of the
mouth one inch and three quarters long, its lower half very
broad, of a deep dusky olive, the nail resembling a narrow clasp
of iron; nostrils oval, with a curved furrow below them; eyes
small and dark; the upper part of the head, from the bill to the
hind-head, variegated with shining bronze and blackish brown,
the latter crossing the head in lines; cheeks white, mixed with
dusky, and some touches of bronze; lores drab and dusky, mixed
with a small portion of white; neck short and thick, its lower
half above, extending between the shoulders, drab, mixed with
dusky; throat, and whole lower parts, dusky ash, the plumage
tipt with dull white, having a silver gray appearance; the up-
per parts are dusky, marked or pencilled with pale ferruginous,
and dull white; breast slightly tinged with reddish brown; the
wings are small, greatly concave, and, when closed, are short
of the extremities of the tail-coverts about three quarters of an
inch — they are dusky, their coverts finely dotted or powdered
with white; tail dusky, marked at its extremity with a few very
fine dots of reddish white, it extends beyond its upper coverts
two inches and a half; under tail-coverts white; legs and feet
dusky slate; weight sixteen ounces and a half. The gizzard of
the above contained sand and some small seeds. Her eggs were
numerous and tolerably large; hence, as she was shot in the
month of October, it was conjectured that she was a bird of the
preceding year.

The young male, shot in April last, measured fifteen inches

336

RUDDY DUCK.

in length; its irides were dark brown; bill elevated at the base,
slightly gibbous, and blue ash, from the nostrils to the tip mixed
with dusky, lower mandible yellowish flesh colour, marbled
with dusky; crown brown black; throat and cheeks, as far as
the upper angle of the bill, white, stained with bright yellow
ochre; auriculars almost pure white; the black from the crown
surrounded the eyes, and passed round the white of the auricu-
lars; hind-head black, mixed with ferruginous; breast and shoul-
ders bright ferruginous; belly ash and silver white; back and
scapulars liver brown, finely penciled with gray and reddish
white; rump and upper tail-coverts the same ground colour, but
the markings not so distinct; wings light liver brown, the lesser
coverts finely powdered with gray; on the back and scapulars,
the flanks, and round the base of the neck, the brownish red or
bright mahogany coloured plumage, which distinguishes the adult
male, was coming out; inner webs of the tail partly dusky, out-
er webs, for two-thirds of their length, and the tip, dirty ferrugi-
nous; legs blue ash in front, behind, the toes and webs, dusky.
When the tail is not spread, it is somewhat conical, and its
narrow, pointed feathers, are slightly guttered at their tips;
when spread, it is wedge-shaped. The trachea is of nearly equal
diameter throughout; and has no labyrinth or enlargement at its
lower part.

Another young male, shot in October, measured fifteen and
a quarter inches in length, and twenty-three inches in breadth;
bill greenish black, lower mandible yellowish flesh colour, mixed
with dusky; from the bill to the hind-head a deep liver brown,
the tips of the plumage bronzed; whole upper parts dark um-
ber brown, pencilled with pale ferruginous, buff and white; from
the corner of the mouth a brown marking extended towards the
eye; tail dusky, ash coloured at its extremity; legs and feet
dusky ash, toes paler, having a yellowish tinge, webs dusky,
claws sharp.

The shafts of the tail feathers of all these specimens, except
that shot in April, projected beyond the webs; in one specimen

RUDDY DUCK.

337

the shaft of one of the middle feathers projected an inch, and
was ramified into rigid bristles, resembling those of the tail of
Bufibn’s Sarcellea queue epineuse de Cayenne, PI, Enl. 967;
in all the specimens there was the appearance of the tail feath-
ers having been furnished with the like process, but which had
been rubbed olf. Can it be that this Duck makes use of its tail
in climbing up the fissures of rocks, or the hollows of trees?
Its stiff, narrow feathers, notunlike those of the tail of a Wood-
pecker, would favour this supposition. It is worthy of note
that the tail of Mr. Bonaparte’s female specimen, alluded to
above, is thus rubbed.

The plumage of the neck and breast, which Wilson says is
of a remarkable kind, that is, stiff and bristly at the tips, is
common to several Ducks, and therefore is no peculiarity.

The body of this species is broad, flat and compact; its wings
short and concave; its legs placed far behind; and its feet un-
commonly large; it consequently is an expert diver. It flies
with the swiftness, and in the manner, of the Buffel-head; and
it swims precisely as Latham reports the Ural Duck to swim,
with the tail immersed in the water as far as the rump; but
whether it swims thus low with the view of employing its tail
as a rudder, as Latham asserts of the Ural, or merely to conceal
itself from observation, as the Scaup Duck is wont to do when
wounded, and as all the Divers do when pursued, I cannot
determine.

This is a solitary bird; and with us we never see more than
five or six together, and then always apart from other Ducks.
It is uncommonly tame, so much so, that, by means of my skiff,
I have never experienced any difficulty in approaching within
a few yards of it. Its flesh I do not consider superior to that of
the Buffel-head, which, with us, is a Duck not highly esteemed.

I should not be surprised if Buffon’s Sarcelle d queue epin-
euse de Cayenne should turn out to be this species. The char-
acters of the two certainly approximate; but as I have not been

VOL. III. X X

338

EUDDY DUCK.

enabled to settle the question of their identity in my own mind,
T shall, for the present, let the affair rest.

G. OnL

^ms HUB in us.

RUDDY DUCK.

[Plate LXXI — Fig. 6, Female. *]

Peale’s Museum, IN'o. 2809.

This is nearly of the same size as the male; the front, lores,
and crown, deep blackish brown; bill as in the male, very
broad at the extremity, and largely toothed on the sides, of the
same rich blue; cheeks a dull cream; neck plain dull drab, sprin-
kled about the auriculars with blackish; lower part of the neck
and breast variegated with gray, ash, and reddish brown; the
reddish dies off towards the belly, leaving this last of a dull
white shaded with dusky ash; wings as in the male, tail brown;
scapulars dusky brown thickly sprinkled with whitish, giving
them a gray appearance; legs ash.

A particular character of this species is its tapering sharp
pointed tail, the feathers of which are very narrow; the body
is short; the bill very nearly as broad as some of those called
Shovellers; the lower mandible much narrower than the upper.

This a young- male, and not a female.

SPECIES 18. AN^S VJiLISINERM.

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

[Plate LXX.— Fig. 5.]

Peale’s Museum, JVo. 2816.

This celebrated American species, as far as can be judged
from the best figures and descriptions of foreign birds, is alto-
gether unknown in Europe. It approaches nearest to the Pochard
of England, Jinas ferina, but differs from that bird in being
superior in size and weight, in the greater magnitude of its bill,
and the general whiteness of its plumage. A short comparison
of the two will elucidate this point. The Canvas-back measures
two feet in length, by three feet in extent, and when in the best
order weighs three pounds and upwards. The Pochard, accord-
ing to Latham and Bewick, measures nineteen inches in length,
and thirty in extent, and weighs one pound twelve or thirteen
ounces. The latter writer says of the Pochard, ‘‘ the plumage
above and below is wholly covered with prettily freckled slen-
der dusky threads disposed transversely in close set zig-zag lines,
on a pale ground, more or less shaded off with ash;” a descrip-
tion much more applicable to the bird figured beside it, the Red
Head, and which very probably is the species meant. In the
figure of the Pochard given by Mr. Bewick, who is generally
correct, the bill agrees very well with that of our Red Head;
but is scarcely half the size and thickness of that of the Canvas-
back; and the figure in the Planches Enluminees corresponds
in that respect with Bewick’s. In short, either these writers are
egregiously erroneous in their figures and descriptions, or the
present Duck was altogether unknown to them. Considering the
latter supposition the more probable of the two, I have desig-
nated this as a new species, and shall proceed to detail some
particulars of its history.

CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 341

The Canvas-back Duck arrives in the United States from the
north about the middle of October, a few descend to the Hud-
son and Delaware, but the great body of these birds resort to
the numerous rivers belonging to and in the neighbourhood of
the Chesapeake Bay, particularly the Susquehannah, the Pa-
tapsco, Potowmac, and James’ rivers, which appear to be their
general winter rendezvous. Beyond this to the south, I can find
no certain accounts of them. At the Susquehannah they are
called Canvas-backs, on the Potowmac White-hacks, and on
James’ river Sheldrakes. They are seldom found at a great
distance up any of these rivers, or even in the salt water bay;
but in that particular part of tide water where a certain grass-
like plant grows, on the roots of which they feed. This plant,
which is said to be a species of Valisineria, grows on fresh
water shoals of from seven to nine feet (but never where these
are occasionally dry,) in long narrow grass-like blades of four
or five feet in length; the root is white, and has some resem-
blance to small celery. This grass is in many places so thick
that a boat can with difficulty be rowed through it, it so impedes
the oars. The shores are lined with large quantities of it torn
up by the Ducks, and drifted up by the winds, lying like hay
in wind rows. Wherever this plant grows in abundance the
Canvas-backs may be expected, either to pay occasional visits
or to make it their regular residence during the winter. It oc-
curs in some parts of the Hudson; in the Delaware near Glou-
cester, a few miles below Philadelphia; and in most of the rivers
that fall into the Chesapeake, to each of which particular places
these Ducks resort; while in waters unprovided with this nutri-
tive plant they are altogether unknown.

On the first arrival of these birds in the Susquehannah, near
Havre-de-Grace, they are generally lean ; but such is the abun-
dance of their favourite food, that towards the beginning of
November they are in pretty good order. They are excellent
divers, and swim with great speed and agility. They sometimes
assemble in such multitudes as to cover several acres of the
river, and when they rise suddenly, produce a noise resembling

342

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

thunder. They float about these shoals, diving and tearing up
the grass by the roots, which is the only part they eat. They
are extremely shy, and can rarely be approached unless by stra-
tagem. When wounded in the wing they dive to such prodigious
distances, and with such rapidity, continuing it so perseveringly,
and with such cunning and active vigour, as almost always to
render the pursuit hopeless. From the great demand for these
Ducks, and the high price they uniformly bring in market,
various modes are practised to get within gunshot of them. The
most successful way is said to be, decoying them to the shore
by means of a dog, while the gunner lies closely concealed in a
proper situation. The dog, if properly trained, plays backwards
and forwards along the margin of the water, and the Ducks
observing his manoeuvres, enticed perhaps by curiosity, gradu-
ally approach the shore, until they are sometimes within twenty
or thirty yards of the spot where the gunner lies concealed, and
from which he rakes them, first on the water and then as they
rise. This method is called tolling them in. If the Ducks seem
difficult to decoy, any glaring object, such as a red handkerchief,
is fixed round the dog’s middle, or to his tail, and this rarely
fails to attract them. Sometimes by moonlight the sportsman
directs his skiff towards a flock whose position he had previously
ascertained, keeping within the projecting shadow of some wood,
bank, or headland, and paddles along so silently and impercep-
tibly as often to approach within fifteen or twenty yards of a
flock of many thousands, among whom he generally makes great
slaughter.

Many other stratagems are practised, and indeed every plan
that the ingenuity of the experienced sportsman can suggest, to
approach within gun shot of these birds; but of all the modes
pursued, none intimidate them so much as shooting them by
night; and they soon abandon the place where they have been
thus repeatedly shot at. During the day they are dispersed
about; but towards evening collect in large flocks, and come
into the mouths of creeks, where they often ride as at anchor,
with their head under their wing, asleep, there being always

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

343

centinels awake ready to raise an alarm on the least appearance
of danger. Even when feeding and diving in small parties, the
whole never go down at one time, but some are still left above
on the look out.

When the winter sets in severely, and the river is frozen, the
Canvas-backs retreat to its confluence with the bay, occasionally
frequenting air holes in the ice, which are sometimes made for
the purpose, immediately above their favourite grass, to entice
them within gun shot of the hut or bush which is usually fixed
at a proper distance, and where the gunner lies concealed, ready
to take advantage of their distress. A Mr. Hill, who lives near
James’ river, at a place called Herring Creek, informs me, that
one severe winter he and another person broke a hole in the ice
about twenty by forty feet, immediately over a shoal of grass,
and took their stand on the shore in a hut of brush, each having
three guns well loaded with large shot. The Ducks, which were
flying up and down the river in great extremity, soon crowded
to this place, so that the whole open space was not only covered
with them, but vast numbers stood on the ice around it. They
had three rounds firing both at once, and picked up eighty-eight
Canvas-backs, and might have collected more had they been
able to get to the extremity of the ice after the wounded ones.
In the severe winter of 177 9-80, the grass, on the roots of which
these birds feed, was almost wholly destroyed in James’ river.
In the month of January the wind continued to blow from W.
N. W. for twenty-one days, which caused such low tides in the
river that the grass froze to the ice every where, and a thaw
coming on suddenly, the whole was raised by the roots and
cai’ried off by the fresh. The next winter a few of these Ducks
were seen, but they soon went away again; and for many years
after, they continued to be scarce; and even to the present day,
in the opinion of my informant, have never been so plenty as
before.

The Canvas-back, in the rich juicy tenderness of its flesh,
and its delicacy and flavour, stands unrivalled by the whole of
its tribe in this or perhaps any other quarter of the world. Those

344

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

killed in the waters of the Chesapeake are generally esteemed
superior to all others, doubtless from the great abundance of
their favourite food which these rivers produce. At our pub-
lic dinners, hotels, and particular entertainments, the Canvas-
backs are universal favourites. They not only grace but digni-
fy the table, and their very name conveys to the imagination
of the eager epicure the most comfortable and exhilarating
ideas. Hence on such occasions it has not been uncommon to
pay from one to three dollars a pair for these ducks; and, in-
deed, at such times, if they can they must be had, whatever
may be the price.

The Canvas-back will feed readily on grain, especially wheat,
and may be decoyed to particular places by baiting them with
that grain for several successive days. Some few years since a
vessel loaded with wheat was wrecked near the entrance of
Great Egg Harbour, in the autumn, and went to pieces. The
wheat floated out in vast quantities, and the whole surface of
the bay was in a few days covered with Ducks of a kind alto-
gether unknown to the people of that quarter. The gunners of the
neighbourhood collected in boats, in every direction, shooting
them, and so successful were they, that, as Mr. Beasley informs
me, two hundred and forty were killed in one day, and sold among
the neighbours, at twelve and a half cents a piece, without the
feathers. The wounded ones were generally abandoned, as be-
ing too difficult to be come up with. They continued about for
three weeks, and during the greater part of that time a continu-
al cannonading was heard from every quarter. The gunners
called them Sea Ducks. They were all Canvas-backs, at that
time on their way from the north, when this floating feast at-
tracted their attention, and for a while arrested them in their
course. A pair of these very ducks I myself bought in Phila-
delphia market at the time, from an Egg Harbour gunner, and
never met with their superior either in weight or excellence of
flesh. When it was known among those people the loss they
had sustained in selling for twenty-five cents what would have

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

345

brought them from a dollar to a dollar and a half per pair, uni-
versal surprise and regret were naturally enough excited.

The Canvas-back is two feet long, and three feet in extent,
and when in good order weighs three pounds; the bill is large,
rising high in the head, three inches in length, and one inch
and three-eighths thick at the base, of a glossy black; eye very
small, irides dark red; cheeks and fore part of the head black-
ish brown; rest of the head and greater pai't of the neck bright
glossy reddish chestnut, ending in a broad space of black that
covers the upper part of the breast, and spreads round to the
back; back, scapulars, and tertials white, faintly marked with
an infinite number of transverse waving lines or points as if
done with a pencil; whole lower parts of the breast, also the
belly, white, slightly pencilled in the same manner, scarcely
perceptible on the breast, pretty thick towards the vent; wing
coverts gray with numerous specks of blackish; primaries and
secondaries pale slate, two or three of the latter of which near-
est the body are finely edged with deep velve tty black, the for-
mer dusky at the tips; tail very short, pointed, consisting of
fourteen feathers of a hoary brown; vent and tail coverts black;
lining of the wing white; legs and feet very pale ash, the latter
three inches in width, a circumstance which partly accounts for
its great powers of swimming.

The female is somewhat less than the male, and weighs two
pounds and three quarters; the crown is blackish brown, cheeks
and throat of a pale drab; neck dull brown; breast as far as the
black extends on the male, dull brown skirted in places with
pale drab; back dusky white crossed with fine waving lines;
belly of the same dull white, pencilled like the back; wings,
feet, and bill, as in the male; tail coverts dusky, vent white
waved with brown.

The windpipe of the male has a large flattish concave laby-
rinth, the ridge of which is covered with a thin transparent
membrane; where the trachea enters this it is a very narrow,
but immediately above swells to three times that diameter. The
intestines are wide, and measure five feet in length.

VOL. III. — y y

346

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

Note. — It is a circumstance calculated to excite our surprise,
that the Canvas-back, one of the commonest species of our coun-
try, a Duck which frequents the waters of the Chesapeake in
flocks of countless thousands, should yet have been either over-
looked by the naturalists of Europe, or confounded with the
Pochard, a species whose characters are so obviously difierent.
But that this is the fact 1 feel well assured, since I have care-
fully examined every author of repute, to which I have had ac-
cess, and have not been enabled to find any description which
will correspond to the subject before us. The species, then,
we hope, will stand as Wilson’s own; and it is no small addi-
tion to the fame of the American Ornithology that it contains
the first scientific account of the finest Duck that any country
can boast of.

The Canvas-back frequents the Delaware in considerable num-
bers. The Vallisneria grows pretty abundantly, in various
places, from Burlington, New Jersey, to Eagle Point, a few
miles below Philadelphia. Wherever this plant is found there
will the Ducks be; and they will frequently venture within
reach of their enemies’ weapons rather than abstain from the
gratification of their appetite for this delicious food. The shoot-
ers in the neghbourhood of Philadelphia for many years were in
the habit of supplying our markets with this species, which al-
ways bore the name of Red-heads or Red-necks; and their ig-
norance of its being the true Canvas-back was cunningly fos-
tered by our neighbours of the Chesapeake, who boldly assert-
ed that only their waters were favoured with this species, and
that all other Ducks, which seemed to claim affinity, were a
spurious race, unworthy of consanguinity. Hence at the same
time when a pair of legitimate Canvas-backs, proudly exhibit-
ed from the mail-coach, from Havre-de-Grace, readily sold for
two dollars and fifty cents, a pair of the identical species, as fat,
as heavy, as delicious, but which had been unfortunately killed
in the Delaware, brought only one dollar; and the lucky shoot-
er thought himself sufficiently rewarded in obtaining twenty-
five per cent, more for his Red-necks than he could obtain for

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

347

a pair of the finest Mallards that our waters could afibrd. But
the delusion is now passed; every shooter and huckster knows
the distinctive characters of the Canvas-back and the Red-head;
and prejudice no longer controverts the opinion that this spe-
cies is a common inhabitant of the Delaware; and epicures are
compelled to confess that they can discern no diflerence be-
tween our Canvas-back, when in season, and that from Spesu-
tie, or Carrol’s Island, the notorious shooting ground of the
bon-vivants of Baltimore.

The last mentioned place, though commonly termed an is-
land, is properly a peninsula, situated on the western side of
the Chesapeake bay, a few miles from Baltimore. It is a spot
highly favourable for the shooting of water fowl. It extends for
a considerable distance into the bay; and, being connected to
the main land by a narrow neck, the shooters are enabled to
post themselves advantageously on the isthmus, and intercept
the fowl, who, in roving from one feeding ground to another,
commonly prefer crossing the land to taking a long flight around
the peninsula. In calm weather the shooters have not much luck,
the Ducks keeping out in the coves, and, when they do move,
flying high; but should a fresh breeze prevail, especially one
from the eastward, rare sport may be anticipated; and it is no
unusual circumstance for a party of four or five gentlemen, re-
turning home, after a couple of days’ excursion, with fifty or
sixty Canvas-backs, besides some other Ducks of inferior note.
The greatest flight of Ducks commonly takes place between
daybreak and sunrise, and while it lasts the roaring of the fowl-
ing pieces, the bustle of the sportsmen, the fluttering of the
fowl, and the plunging of the dogs, constitute a scene produc-
tive of intense interest. The dog in most esteem for this amuse-
ment is a large breed, partaking of the qualities of the New-
foundland variety. They trust altogether to their sight, and it
is astonishing what sagacity they will manifest in watching a
flock of Ducks that had been shot at, and marking the birds
that drop into the water, even at a considerable distance off.
When at fault, the motion of their master’s hand is readily

348

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

obeyed by them; and when unable to perceive the object of
their search, they will raise themselves in the water for this
purpose, and will not abandon the pursuit while a chance re-
mains of succeeding. A generous, well-trained dog, has been
known to follow a Duck for more than half a mile; and, after
having been long beyond the reach of seeing or hearing his
master, to return, puffing and snorting under his load, which
seemed sufficient to drag him beneath the waves. The Editor
having been an eye-witness of similar feats of these noble ani-
mals, can therefore speak with confidence as to the fact.

On the Delaware but few of tliis species, comparatively, are
obtained, for the want of proper situations whence they may
be shot on the wing. To attempt to approach them, in open
day, with a boat, is unproductive labour, except there be float-
ing ice in the river, at which time, if the shooter clothe him-
self in white, and paint his skiff of the same colour, he may so
deceive the Ducks as to get within a few feet of them. At such
times it is reasonable to suppose that these valuable birds get no
quarter. But there is one caution to be observed, which expe-
rienced sportsmen never omit: it is to go always with the cur-
rent; a Duck being sagacious enough to know that a lump of
ice seldom advances against the stream. They are often shot,
with us, by moonlight, in the mode related in the foregoing ac-
count; the first pair the Editor ever killed was in this manner;
he was then a boy, and was not a little gi’atified with his un-
common acquisition.

As the Vallisneria, will grow in all our fresh water rivers,
in coves, or places not affected by the current, it would be worth
the experiment to transplant this vegetable in those waters
where it at present is unknown. There is little doubt the Can-
vas-backs would, by this means, be attracted; and thus would
aflbrd the lovers of good eating an opportunity of tasting a de-
licacy, which, in the opinion of many, is unrivalled by the
whole feathered race.

In the spring, when the Duck-grass becomes scarce, the Can-
vas-backs are compelled to subsist upon other food, particularly

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

349

shell-fish; their flesh then loses its delicacy of flavour, and al-
though still fat, it is not esteemed by epicures; hence the Ducks
are not much sought after; and are permitted quietly to feed
until their departure for the north.

Our author states that he had had no certain accounts of this
species to the southward of James’ river, Virginia. In the month
of January, 1818, 1 saw many hundreds of these Ducks feeding
in the Savannah river, not far from Tybee light-house. They
were known by tbe name of Canvas-backs; but the inhabitants
of that quarter considered them as fishing Ducks, not fit to be
eaten: so said the pilot of the ship which bore me to Savannah.
But a pair of these birds having been served up at table, after
my arrival, I was convinced, by their delicate flavour, that
they had lost little by their change of residence, but still
maintained their superiority over all the water fowl of that re-
gion. In the river St. John, in East Florida, I also saw a few
scattered individuals of this species; but they were too shy to
be approached within gunshot.

The Canvas-backs swim very low, especially when fat; and
when pursued by a boat, they stretch themselves out in lines,
in the manner of the Scaup Ducks, so that some of the flock are
always enabled to reconnoitre the paddler, and give information,
to the rest, of his motions. When the look-out Ducks appre-
hend danger, the stretching up of their necks is the signal, and
immediately the whole squadron, facing to the wind, rise with
a noise which may be heard at the distance of half a mile.

The guns employed in Canvas-back shooting should be of a
medium length and caliber; and of tbe most approved patent
breech. My experience has taught me that a barrel of three
feet seven inches, with a bore short of seven-eights of an inch,
is quite as effective as one of greater dimensions; and is cer-
tainly more convenient. It may appear a work of supereroga-
tion to speak of the quality of powder to be used in this kind
of sporting; and yet so often are shooters deceived in this arti-
cle, either through penuriousness or negligence, that a word of
advice may not be unprofitable. One should obtain the best

350

CANVAS-BACK DUCK.

powder, without regard to price; it being an indisputable max-
im in shooting, but which is too often forgotten, that the best is
always the cheapest.

SPECIES 19. ^N^S FERINA?

RED-HEADED DUCK.

[Plate LXX. — Fig. 6, Male.']

Peale’s Museum, JSTo. 2710.*

This is a common associate of the Canvas-back, frequenting
the same places, and feeding on the stems of the same grass,
the latter eating only the roots; its flesh is very little inferior,
and it is often sold in our markets for the Canvas-back, to those
unacquainted with the characteristic marks of each. Anxious
as I am to determine precisely whether this species be the Red-
headed Wigeon, Pochard, or Dun j bird of England, I have not
been able to ascertain the point to my own satisfaction; though
I think it very probably the same, the size, extent, and gene-
ral description of the Pochard agreeing pretty nearly with this.

The Red-head is twenty inches in length, and two feet six
inches in extent; bill dark slate, sometimes black, two inches
long, and seven-eights of an inch thick at the base, furnished
with a large broad nail at the extremity; irides flame-coloured;
plumage of the head long, velvetty, and inflated, running high
above the base of the bill; head, and about two inches of the
neck deep glossy reddish chestnut; rest of the neck and upper

* Anas Ferina, Gmei. i, p. 530, No. 31. — Anas rufa, Id. p. 515. — Ind. Orn.
p. 862, No. 77; p. 863, No. 78. — Rufotts necked-Duck, Gen. Syn. iii, p. 477,
No. 32. — Pochard, Id. -p. 523, No. 68. — Red-headed Duck, Lawson’s Carolina,
p. 150. — Bewick, ii, p. 320 — Arct. Zool. No. 491. Br. Zool. No. 284 — Le
Millouin, Baiss. vi, p. 384, Ao. 19, pi. 35. fig. 1; Le Millouin mis. Id. p. 389,
A. young male?; Le Millouin du Mexique, Id. p. 390, No. 20, female. Buff.
IX, p. 216. PI. Enl. 803. Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 669. — Wieioughbt, p. 367,
§ XI. — Montagu, Orn. Did. — Peaee’s Museum, No. 2711, female.

t Local names given to one and the same Duck. It is also called the
Poker.

352

RED HEADED DUCK.

part of the breast black, spreading round to the back; belly
white, becoming dusky towards the vent by closely marked un-
dulating lines of black; back and scapulars bluish white, ren-
dered gray by numerous transverse waving lines of black; les-
ser wing coverts brownish ash; wing quills very pale slate,
dusky at the tips; lower part of the back and sides under the
wings brownish black, crossed with regular zig-zag lines of whi-
tish; vent, rump, tail, and tail coverts black; legs and feet dark
ash.

The female has the upper part of the head dusky brown, rest
of the head and part of the neck a light sooty brown; upper part
of the breast asby brown, broadly skirted with whitish; back
dark ash, with little or no appearance of white pencilling; wings,
bill, and feet nearly alike in both sexes.

This Duck is sometimes met with in the rivers of North and
South Carolina, and also in those of Jersey and New York; but
always in fresh water, and usually at no great distance from
the sea. Is most numerous in the waters of the Chesapeake;
and with the connoisseurs in good eating, ranks next in excel-
lence to the Canvas-back. Its usual weight is about a pound and
three-quarters, avoirdupois.

The Red-head leaves the bay and its tributary streams in
March, and is not seen until late in October.

The male of this species has a large flat bony labyrinth on
the bottom of the windpipe, very much like that of the Canvas-
back, but smaller; over one of its concave sides is spread an ex-
ceeding thin transparent skin, or membrane. The intestines
are of great width, and measure six feet in length.

SPECIES 20. ^NAS MARILA.

SCAUP DUCK.

[Plate LXIX.— Fig. 3.]

Le petit Morillon ray^, Briss. vi, p. 416. 26. A.~Jlrct. Zool. JVo.

498. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 500. — Peale’s Museum, M. 2668.

This Duck is better known among us by the name of the
Rhie Bill. It is an excellent diver; and according to Willough-
by feeds on a certain small kind of shell fish called scaup,
whence it has derived its name. It is common both to our fresh
water rivers and seashores in winter. Those that frequent the
latter are generally much the fattest, on account of the greater
abundance of food along the coast. It is sometimes abundant in
the Delaware, particularly in those places where small snails,
its favorite shell fish abound; feeding also, like most of its tribe,
by moonlight. They generally leave us in April, though I
have met with individuals of this species so late as the middle
of May, among the salt marshes of New Jersey. Their flesh is
not of the most delicate kind, yet some persons esteem it.
That of the young birds is generally the tenderest and most
palatable.

The length of the Blue Bill is nineteen inches, extent twen-
ty-nine inches: bill broad, generally of a light blue, sometimes
of a dusky lead colour; irides reddish; head tumid, covered
with plumage of a dark glossy green, extending half way down
the neck; rest of the neck and breast black, spreading round to
the back; back and scapulars white, thickly crossed with wav-
ing lines of black; lesser coverts dusky, powdered with veins
of whitish, primaries and tertials brownish black; secondaries
white, tipt with black, forming the speculum; rump and tail co-
verts black; tail short, rounded, and of a dusky brown; belly
white, crossed near the vent with waving lines of ash ; vent black ;
legs and feet dark slate.

VOL. III. — z z

354

SCAUP DUCK.

Such is the colour of the bird in its perfect state. Young
birds vary considerably, some having the head black mixed
with gray and purple, others the back dusky with little or no
white, and that irregularly dispersed.

The female has the front and sides of the same white, head
and half of the neck blackish brown; breast, spreading round to
the back, a dark sooty brown, broadly skirted with whitish';
back black, thinly sprinkled with grains of white, vent whitish;
wings the same as in the male.

The windpipe of the male of this species is of large diameter;
the labyrinth similar to some others, though not of the largest
kind; it has something of the shape of a single cockle shell; its
open side or circular rim, covered with a thin transparent skin.
Just before the windpipe enters this, it lessens its diameter at
least two-thirds, and assumes a flattish form.

The Scaup Duck is well known in England. It inhabits Ice-
land and the more northern parts of the continent of Europe,
Lapland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. It is also common on
the northern shores of Siberia. Is very frequent on tbe river
Ob. Breeds in the north, and migrates southward in winter.
It inhabits America as high as Hudson’s Bay, and retires from
this last place in October. *

Note. Pennant and Latbam state that the male weighs a pound
and a half; and the female two ounces more. This is undoubtedly
an error, the female being less than the male, and the latter being
generally the fattest. Montagu says that the species weighs
sometimes as much as thirty-five ounces, which statement comes
nearer the truth than that of the foregoing. On the eighth of
April, of the present year, (1824,) I shot, on the Delaware,
an adult male which weighed two pounds and three quar-
ters. I have frequently shot them of two pounds and a half;
and on the Chesapeake, and on the coast, they are still heavier.

In the Delaware there are several favourite feeding grounds
of the Blue-bill along the Jersey shore, from Burlington to

Latham.

SCAUP DUCK.

355

Mantua creek; but the most noted spot appears to be the cove
which extends from Timber creek to Eagle Point, and known
by the name of Ladd’s cove. Thither the Blue-bills repair in
the autumn, and never quit it until they depart in the spring for
the purpose of breeding, except when driven away, in the win-
ter, by the ice. It is no uncommon circumstance to see many
hundreds of these bii’ds at once constantly diving for food; but
so shy are they, that even with the aid of a very small, and
well-constructed skiff, cautiously paddled, it is difficult to ap-
proach them within gunshot. So very sagacious are they, that
they appear to know the precise distance wherein they are safe;
and, after the shooter has advanced within this point, they then
begin to spread their lines in such a manner that, in a flock of
a hundred, not more than three or four can be selected in a group
at any one view. They swim low in the water; are strong feath-
ered; and are not easily killed. When slightly wounded, and
unable to fly, it is almost hopeless to follow them, in conse-
quence of their great skill in diving. Their wings being short
they either cannot rise with the wind, when it blows freshly,
or they are unwilling to do so, for they are invariably seen to
rise against the wind. In a calm they get up with considerable
fluttering.

The Blue-bills when disturbed by the fishermen along the
Jersey shore, in the spring, resort to other feeding places; and
they are frequently observed a short distance below the Phila-
delphia Navy-yard, particularly at the time when their favourite
snail-shells begin to crawl up the muddy shore for the purpose
of breeding. Though often seen feeding in places where they
can reach the bottom with their bills, yet they seldom venture
on the shore, the labour of walking appearing repugnant to
their inclinations. When wounded they will never take to the
land if they can possibly avoid it; and when compelled to walk
they waddle along in the awkward manner of those birds whose
legs, placed far behind, do not admit of a free and graceful
progression.

SPECIES 21. ^NAS FULIGULA.

TUFTED DUCK.

[Plate LXVII.— Fig. 5.]

Jirct. Zool. p. 5Tfl. — Le petit Morillon, Briss. vi, 411. 26. pi. 37.

1. — Buff, ix, p. 227. 231. pi. 15. — I.ath. Syn. in, p. 540. —

Pf. ale’s Museum, 2904.

This is an inhabitant of both continents; it frequents fresh
water rivers, and seldom visits the seashore. It is a plump,
short bodied Duck; its flesh generally tender, and well tasted.
They are much rarer than most of our other species, and are sel-
dom seen in market. They are most common about the begin-
ning of winter, and early in the spring. Being birds of passage
they leave us entirely during the summer.

The Tufted Duck is seventeen inches long, and two feet two
inches in extent; the bill is broad and of a dusky colour, some-
times marked round the nostrils and sides with light blue; head
crested, or tufted, as its name expresses, and of a black colour,
witli reflections of purple; neck marked near its middle by a
band of deep chestnut; lower part of the neck black, which
spreads quite round to the back; back and scapulars black, minute-
ly powdered with particles of white, not to be observed but on
a near inspection; rump and vent also black; wings ashy brown;
secondaries pale ash or bluish white; tertials black, reflecting
green, lower part of the breast and whole belly white; flanks
crossed with fine zigzag lines of dusky: tail short, rounded,
and of a dull brownish black; legs and feet greenish ash, webs
black, irides rich orange; stomach filled with gravel and some
vegetable food.

* dnas rujitorques, BoxAPAnTE, Journal of the Jicade.my of Jfalural Sciences of
Philadelphia, iii, p. 385; pi. IS. fig. 6, the trachea.

TUFTED DUCK.

357

In young birds the head and upper part of the neck are pur-
plish brown; in some the chestnut ring on the fore part of the
middle of the neck is obscure, in others very rich and glossy,
and in one or two specimens which I have seen it is altogether
wanting. The back is in some instances destitute of the fine
powdered particles of white; while in others these markings are
large and thickly interspersed.

The specimen from which the drawing was taken, was shot
on the Delaware on the tenth of March, and presented to me
by Dr. S. B. Smith of this city. On dissection it proved to be
a male, and was exceedingly fat and tender. Almost every spe-
cimen I have since met with has been in nearly the same state;
so that I cannot avoid thinking this species equal to most others
for the table, and greatly superior to many.

Note. — It is remarkable that our author should not have ob-
served the difference between this species and the fuligula of
Europe ; and still more worthy of note that Mr. Temminck,
whose powers of discrimination are unusually acute, should also
have been misled by the opinions of others, and concluded,
with Wilson, that the Tufted Duck figured in our plate was of
the same species as the Tufted Duck of Europe. The only
apology which we can make for our author is, that he had
never had an opportunity of examining a specimen of the fuli-
gula; otherwise the specific difterences of the two would have
been obvious at the first glance. The bill of the fuligula has
not those white bands or markings which are so conspicuous in
our bird, its neck is also destitute of the chestnut collar; the
speculum of the former is pure white, that of the latter is pale
ash; and, what is a still more striking characteristic, its head is
merely tufted, while the fuligula’ s is ornamented with a pend-
ent crest, of two inches in length.

The credit of having been tbe first to publicly announce our
bird as a new species belongs to Mr. Charles Bonaparte, who,
in the publication quoted at the head of this article, has given

358

TUFTED DUCK.

a comparative description of the two birds, and named the sub-
ject of this article rujitorques.

The American Tufted Duck is said to be common on the
Ohio, and the Mississippi; Messieurs Say and Peale procured
it on the Missouri; Lewis and Clark shot it on the Columbia;*
and myself in East Florida. It is, properly speaking, a fresh
water Duck, although it is sometimes found on the coast. On
the Delaware we observe it in the spring and autumn; and, if
the weather be moderate, we see it occasionally throughout the
winter. With us it is not a numerous species; and is rather a
solitary bird, seldom more than four or five being found together.
It is more common in the month of March than at any other
time. It is a plump, short-bodied Duck; its flesh tender, and
well tasted; but in no respect to be compared to that of the
Canvass-back; it is even inferior to the Mallard.

The American Tufted Duck is seventeen inches long, and
twenty-seven inches in breadth; the bill is broad, of a dull blu-
ish ash colour, the base of the upper mandible marked with a
stripe of pure white, which extends along its edges, and then
forms a wider band across near the tip, which is of a deep black
— this white band changes after death to gray or bluish white;
irides rich orange; a spot of white on the chin; head tufted, and,
with the upper part of the neck, black, with reflections of rich
purple, predominating on the back part of the neck; about the
middle of the neck there is an interrupted band of a rich deep
glossy chestnut; throat, lower part of the neck, breast, back,
scapulars, rump, and tail-coverts, of a silky brownish black;
primaries and wing-coverts brown; tertials dark brown, with
strong reflections of green; secondaries pale ash, or bluish white,
forming the speculum, some tipt with brown and others with
white; back and scapulars powdered with particles of dull white,
not to be observed but on a near inspection, and presenting the
appearance of dust; lower part of the breast, and whole belly,
white, with a yellowish tinge; vent dusky; sides under the

* Hist, of the Exped. vol. ii, p. 195, 8vo.

TUFTED DUCK.

359

wings, and flanks, beautifully marked with fine zigzag lines of
dusky; tail dull brown, cuneiform, and composed of fourteen
feathers; the primaries, wing-coverts, back and scapulars, are
glossed with green; webs of the feet black. The colour of the
legs and feet varies: those of the figure in the plate were green-
ish ash ; those of the specimen above described were pale yel-
low ochre, dashed with black; and those of Mr. Bonaparte’s
specimen were bluish ash. The above description was taken
from a fine adult male, shot by myself on the 1st of April, 1814.

On the 8th of March, 1815, I shot from a flock, consisting
of five individuals, two males; and an adult female in full plu-
mage.

Female: Length sixteen inches and a half; bill darker than
that of the male, without the white at its base, above the nail
with a band of dull bluish white; beneath the eyes a spot of
white; chin and front part of the lores white; throat spotted with
dusky; cheeks and auriculars finely powdered with white; neck
without the chestnut band; head, neck, breast, upper parts of the
back, lower parts of the belly, and vent, a snuff-coloured brown;
belly whitish; lower part of the back dusky; the under tail,-'
coverts pencilled with fine zigzag lines; neck rather thicker
than that of the male, but the head equally tufted; the wings,
feet, legs, tail and eyes, resemble those parts of the male. The
dust-like particles, which are so remarkable upon the back and
scapulars of the male, are wanting in the female.

In young males the head and upper part of the neck are
purplish brown; in some tbe chestnut band of the neck is ob-
scure.

The stomachs of those specimens which I dissected were filled
with gravel and vegetable food. The trachea, according to the
observations of Mr. Bonaparte, resembles that of the fuligula.

This species is in no respect so shy and cunning as the Scaup
Duck, and is more easily shot.

G. Ord,

SPECIES 22. M^S CLJINGULA.

GOLDEN EYE.

[Plate LXVII.— Fig. 6.]

Le, Garrot, Biiiss. vi, p. 416. 27. pi. 57. fig. 2. — Buff, ix, p. 222.

— Arct. Zool. JV*o. 486. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 555. — Peale’s .Mu-
seum, JV*o. 2921.*

This Duck is well known in Europe, and in various regions
of the United States, both along the seacoast and about the lakes
and rivers of the interior. It associates in small parties, and
may easily be known by the vigorous whistling of its wings, as
it passes through the air. It swims and dives well; but seldom
walks on shore, and then in a waddling awkward manner.
Feeding chiefly on shell fish, small fry, &c. their flesh is less
esteemed than that of the preceding. In the United States they
are only winter visitors, leaving us again in the month of April,
being then on their passage to the north to breed. They are
said to build, like the Wood Duck, in hollow trees.

The Golden-eye is nineteen inches long, and twenty-nine in
extent, and weighs on an average about two pounds; the bill is
black, short, rising considerably up in the forehead; the plumage
of the head and part of the neck is somewhat tumid, and of a
dark green with violet reflections, marked near the corner of
the mouth with an oval spot of white; the irides are golden yel-
low; rest of the neck, breast, and whole lower parts white, ex-
cept the flanks, which are dusky; back and wings black; over

* Le Garrot, PI- Enl. 802. — Morrillon, Arcl. Zool. ii, p. 300, F. — Br. Zool.
jYo. 276, 277.— Lath. Supp. ii, p- 535, M. 26.— Ind. Orn. p. 867, M. 87;
.3. glancion. Id. p. 868, ,\o. 88. — Gmel. Syst. i, p. 523, Jfo. 23; Id. p, 525, J^o.
26- — Texm. Man. d'Orn. i, p. 870. — Bewick, ii, p. 330. — Peaee’s Museum,
2922, female.

GOLDEN EYE.

361

the latter a broad bed of white extends from the middle of the
lesser coverts to the extremity of the secondaries; the exterior
scapulars are also white; tail hoary brown; rump and tail coverts
black; legs and toes reddish orange; webs very large, and of a
dark purplish brown; hind toe and exterior edge of the inner
one broadly finned; sides of the bill obliquely dentated; tongue
covered above with a fine thick velvetty down of a whitish colour.

The full plumaged female is seventeen inches in length, and
twenty-seven inches in extent; bill brown, orange near the tip;
head and part of the neck brown, or very dark drab, bounded
below by a ring of white; below that the neck is ash, tipt with
white; rest of the lower parts white; wings dusky, six of the
secondaries and their greater coverts pure white, except the
tips of the last, which are touched with dusky spots; rest of the
wing coverts cinereous, mixed with whitish; back and scapu-
lars dusky, tipt with brown; feet dull orange; across the vent a
band of cinereous; tongue covered with the same velvetty down
as the male.

The young birds of the first season very much resemble the
females; but may generally be distinguished by the white spot,
or at least its rudiments, which marks the corner of the mouth.
Yet, in some cases, even this is variable, both old and young
male birds occasionally wanting the spot.

From an examination of many individuals of this species of
both sexes, I have very little doubt that the Morillon of English
writers {Anas glaucion) is nothing more than the young male
of the Golden-eye.

The conformation of the trachea, or windpipe of the male of
this species, is singular. Nearly about its middle it swells out to
at least five times its common diameter, the concentric hoops
or rings, of which this part is formed, falling obliquely into one
another when the windpipe is relaxed; but when stretched, this
part swells out to its full size, the rings being then drawn apart;
this expansion extends for about three inches; three more be-
low this it again forms itself into a hard cartilaginous shell, of
an irregular figure, and nearly as large as a walnut; from the

VOL. in. — 3 A

362 GOLDEN EYE.

bottom of this labyrinth, as it has been called, the trachea
branches off to the two lobes of the lungs; that branch which
goes to the left lobe being three times the diameter of the right.
The female has nothing of all this. The intestines measure five
feet in length, and are large and thick.

I have examined many individuals of this species, of both
sexes and in various stages of colour, and can therefore affirm,
with certainty, that the foregoing descriptions are correct. Eu-
ropeans have differed greatly in their accounts of this bird, from
finding males in the same garb as the females; and other full
plumaged males destitute of the spot of white on the cheek; but
all these individuals bear such evident marks of belonging to
one peculiar species, that no judicious naturalist, with all these
varieties before him. can long hesitate to pronounce them the

same.

SPECIES 23. ^N^S ALBEOLA.

BUFFEL-HEADED DUCK.

[Plate LXVIL — Fig. 2, Male. — Fig. 3, Female.']

La Sarcellede la Louisiane,'BRiss.vi,p.46\,pl.4\,Jig. 1. — Le petit

Canard d grosse t^fe, Buff, ix, p. 249. — Enw. pi. 100. — .irct.

Zool. •N'o. 487. — Catesby, i, 95. — Lath. Sijn. iii, p. 533. —

Peale’s Museum, JV*o, 2730.*

This pretty little species, usually known by the name of the
Butter-box, or Butter-hall, is common to the seashores, rivers
and lakes of the United States, in every quarter of the country,
during autumn and winter. About the middle of April, or early
in May, they retire to the north to breed. They are dexterous
divers, and fly with extraordinary velocity. So early as the latter
part of February the males are observed to have violent disputes
for the females; at this time they are more commonly seen in
flocks; but during the preceding part of winter they usually
fly in pairs. Their note is a short quack. They feed much on
shell fish, shrimps, &c. They are sometimes exceedingly fat;
though their flesh is inferior to many others for the table. The
male exceeds the female in size, and greatly in beauty of
plumage.

The Buffel-headed Duck, or rather as it has originally been,
the Buff aloe-headed Duck, from the disproportionate size of
its head, is fourteen inches long, and twenty-three inches in ex-
tent; the bill is short, and of a light blue or leaden colour; the
plumage of the head and half of the neck is thick, long and
velvetty, projecting greatly over the lower part of the neck;
this plumage on the forehead and nape is rich glossy green
changing into a shining purple on the crown and sides of the

* Le Canard d’hyver, Bbiss.yi, p. 349; La sarcelle de la Caroline, Id. p. 464.

364

BUFFEL-HEADfiD DUCK.

neck; from the eyes backward passes a broad band of pure
white; iris of the eye dark; back, wings and part of the scapu-
lars black; rest of the scapulars, lateral band along the wing,
and whole breast, snowy white; belly, vent, and tail coverts
dusky white, tail pointed, and of a hoary colour.

The female is considerably less than the male, and entirely
destitute of the tumid plumage of the head; the head, neck and
upper parts of the body, and wings, are sooty black, darkest on
the crown; side of the head marked with a small oblong spot of
white, bill dusky; lower part of the neck ash, tipt with white;
belly dull white; vent cinereous; outer edges of six of the secon-
daries and their incumbent coverts white, except the tips of
the latter, which are black; legs and feet a livid blue; tail hoary
brown; length of the intestines three feet six inches; stomach
filled with small shell fish. This is the Spirit Duck of Pennant,
.so called from its dexterity in diving (Arct. Zool. No. 487.),
likewise the Little Brown Duck of Catesby (Nat. Hist. Car.
pi. 98.).

This species is said to come into Hudson’s Bay about Severn
river in June, and make their nests in trees in the woods near
ponds."* The young males during the first year are almost ex-
actly like the females in colour.

* Latham

SPECIES 24. JiN^S GLACMLIS.

LONG-TAILED DUCK.

[Plate LXX. — Fig. 1, Male.'\

Le Canard d longue queue de Terre JSTeuve, Briss. vi, p. 382. 18.

— Buff. IX, p. 202. — PI. Enl. 1008. — Ewo.pl. 280. — Jlrct. Zool.

JVo. 501. — Lath. Syn. iii, 2). 528. — Peale’s Museum, Ab.

2810.*

This Duck is very generally known along the shores of
the Chesapeake Bay by the name of South Southerly, from
the singularity of its cry, something imitative of the sound of
those words, and also, that when very clamorous they are sup-
posed to betoken a southerly wind; on the coast of New Jersey
they are usually called Old Wives. They are chiefly salt wa-
ter Ducks, and seldom ramble far from the sea. They inhabit
our bays and coasts during the winter only; are rarely found in
the marshes, but keep in the channel, diving for small shell
fish, which are their principal food. In passing to and from the
bays, sometimes in vast flocks, particularly towards evening,
their loud and confused noise may be heard in calm weather at
the distance of several miles. They fly very swiftly, take short
excursions, and are lively restless birds. Their native regions
are in the north, where great numbers of them remain during
the whole year; part only of the vast family migrating south to

* Jlnas Glacialis, Gmel, Syst. i, p. 529, ^o. 30; .i. hyemalis, Id. JVb. 29; Mer-
gus furcifer, Id. 548, Jfo. 1. — Ind. Orn. p. 864, JSTo. 82, et var.; Mergus furc’fer.
Id- p. 832, No. 8; Gen. Syn. p. 528, No. 73; Id. p. 529, young male called the
female; Id. p. 631, var. Jl.; Forked Merganser, Id. sup. ii, p. 339, No. S.^—Le
Canard d longue queue d'Islande, Briss. vi, p. 379. La Sarcelle de Ferroe, Id. p.
466, pi. 40. fig. 2. — Buff, ix, p. 278. PI. 1008, old male; 999, yearling. —
Edwards, pi. 280, old male, pi. 156, young male. — Br. Zool. J\'o. 283. — Be-
wick, II, p. 327. — Canard de Millon, Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 860.

366

LONG^TAILED DUCK-

avoid the severest rigours of that climate. They are common
to the whole northern hemisphere. In the Orkneys they are
met with in considerable flocks, from October to April; fre-
quent in Sweden, Lapland, and Russia; are often found about
St. Petersburgh, and also in Kamtschatka. Are said to breed
at Hudson’s Bay, making their nest among the grass near the
sea, like the Eider Duck, and about the middle of June, lay
from ten to fourteen bluish white eggs, the size of those of a
pullet. When the young are hatched the mother carries them
to the water in her bill. The nest is lined with the down of
her breast, which is accounted equally valuable with that of the
Eider Duck, were it to be had in the same quantity.* They
are hardy birds, and excellent divers. Are not very common
in England, coming there only in very severe winters; and
then but in small straggling parties; yet are found on the coast
of America as far south at least, as Charleston in Carolina, dur-
ing the winter. Their flesh is held in no great estimation, hav-
ing a fishy taste. The down and plumage, particularly on the
breast and lower parts of the body, are very abundant, and ap-
pear to be of the best quality.

The length of this species is twenty -two inches, extent thir-
ty inches; bill black, crossed near the extremity by a band of
orange; tongue downy; iris dark red; cheeks and frontlet dull
dusky drab, passing over the eye, and joining a large patch of
black on the side of the neck, which ends in dark brown; throat
and rest of the neck white; crown tufted, and of a pale cream
colour; lower part of the neck, breast, back, and wings black;
scapulars and tertials pale bluish white, long and pointed, and
falling gracefully over the wings; the white of the lower part
of the neck spreads over the back an inch or two, the white of
the belly spreads over the sides, and nearly meets at the rump;
secondaries chestnut, forming a bar across the wing; primaries,
rump, and tail coverts black; the tail consists of fourteen feath-
ers, all remarkably pointed, the two middle ones nearly four

* Latham.

LONG-TAILED DUCK.

367

inches longer than the others; these, with the two adjoining ones,
are black, the rest white; legs and feet dusky slate.

On dissection, the intestines were found to measure five
feet six inches. The windpipe was very curiously formed; be-
sides the labyrinth, which is nearly as large as the end of the
thumb, it has an expansion immediately above that, of double
its usual diameter, which continues for an inch and a half; this
is flattened on the side next the breast, with an oblong window-
like vacancy in it, crossed with five narrow bars, and covered
with a thin transparent skin, like the panes of a window; an-
other thin skin of the same kind is spread over the external side
of the laybrinth, which is partly of a circular form. This singu-
lar conformation is, as usual, peculiar to the male, the female
having the windpipe of nearly an uniform thickness throughout.
She differs also so much in the colours and markings of her plu-
mage as to render a figure of her in the same plate necessary;
for a description of which see the following article.

LONG-TAILED DUCK.

[Plate LXX. — Fig 2, Female.']

Jnas hyemalis, Linn. Syst. 202. 29. — Lath. Syn. iii, p. 529.*
— Peale’s Muslim, M. 2811.

The female is distinguished from the male by wanting the
lengthened tertials, and the two long pointed feathers of the
tail, and also by her size, and the rest of her plumage, which
is as follows: length sixteen inches, extent twenty-eight inches;
bill dusky; middle of the crown and spot on the side of the
neck blackish; a narrow dusky line runs along the throat for
two inches; rest of the head and upper half of the neck white,
lower half pale vinaceous bay blended with white; all the rest
of the lower parts of the body pure white; back, scapulars, and
lesser wing coverts bright ferruginous, centred with black, and
intei’spersed with whitish; shoulders of the wing, and quills
black; lower part of the back the same, tinged with brown;
tail pale brown ash, inner vanes of all but the two middle fea-
thers white; legs and feet dusky slate. The legs are placed far
behind, which circumstance points out the species to be great
divers. In some females the upper parts are less ferruginous.

Some writers suppose the singular voice, or call, of this spe-
cies, to be occasioned by the remarkable construction of its
windpipe; but the fact, that the females are uniformly the most
noisy, and yet are entirely destitute of the singularities of this
conformation, overthrows the probability of this supposition.

* This is a young male and not a female-

SPECIES 25. AN^S LABRADORA.

PIED DUCK.

[Plate LXIX.— Fig. 6.]

Arct. Znol. J^o. 488. — Lath. Sj/n. in,p. 497. — Peale’s Jl/wsfMm,
JSTo. 2858.*

This is rather a scarce species on our coasts, and is never
met with on fresh water lakes or rivers. It is called by some
gunners the Sand Shoal Duck, from its habit of frequenting sand
bars. Its principal food appears to be shell fish, which it pro-
cures by diving. The flesh is dry, and partakes considerably
of the nature of its food. It is only seen here during winter;
most commonly early in the month of March a few are observ-
ed in our market. Of their particular manners, place, or mode
of breeding nothing more is known. Latham observes that a
pair in the possession of Sir Joseph Banks were brought from
Labrador. Having myself had frequent opportunities of exa-
mining both sexes of these birds, I find that, like most others,
they are subject when young to a progressive change of colour.
The full plumaged male is as follows: length twenty inches,
extent twenty -nine inches; the base of the bill, and edges of
both mandibles for two-thirds of their length, are of a pale
orange colour, the rest black, towards the extremity it widens
a little in the manner of the Shovellers, the sides there having
the singularity of being only a soft, loose, pendulous skin; iri-
des dark hazel; head and half of the neck white, marked along
the crown to the hind-head with a stripe of black; the plumage
of the cheeks is of a peculiar bristly nature at the points, and

* Jlnas Labradora, Gmel. Si/s<. i, p. 326, No. 97. — fnd. Oni. j). SGI, JVo. 74. —
Le Canard Jansen, PI. Enl. 955. — Bupf. ix, p. 174. — Pealb’s Musexim, No.
2199, female.

VOL. in. — 3 B

370

PIED DUCK.

round the neck passes a collar of black, which spreads over the
back, rump, and tail coverts; below this colour the upper part
of the breast is white, extending itself over the whole scapulars,
wing coverts, and secondaries; the primaries, lower part of the
breast, whole belly, and vent are black; tail pointed, and of a
blackish hoary colour; the fore part of the legs and ridges of
the toes pale whitish ash; hind part the same bespattered
with blackish, webs black; the edges of both mandibles are
largely pectinated. In young birds, the whole of the white
plumage is generally strongly tinged with a yellowish cream
colour; in old males these parts are pure white, with the excep-
tion sometimes of the bristly pointed plumage of the cheeks,
which retains its cream tint the longest, and, with the skinny
part of the bill, form two strong peculiarities of this species.

The female measures nineteen inches in length, and twenty-
seven in extent; bill exactly as in the male; sides of the front
white; head, chin, and neck ashy gray; upper parts of the back
and wings brownish slate; secondaries only, white; tertials hoa-
ry; the white secondaries form a spot on the wing, bounded by
the black primaries, and four hoary tertials edged with black;
whole lower parts a dull ash skirted with brownish white, or
clay colour; legs and feet as in the male, the bill in both is
marked from the nostrils backwards by a singular heart shaped
outline.

The windpipe of the male measures ten inches in length, and
has four enlargements, viz. one immediately below the mouth,
and another at the interval of an inch; it then bends largely
down to the breast bone, to which it adheres by two strong
muscles, and has at that place a third expansion. It then be-
comes flattened, and before it separates into the lungs, has a
fourth enlargement much greater than any of the former, which
is bony, and round, puffing out from the left side. The intes-
tines measured six feet; the stomach contained small clams, and
some glutinous matter; the liver was remarkably large.

SPECIES .86. ^NAS HISTRIONICS.

HARLEQUIN DUCK.

[Plate LXXIL— Fig. 4, Male.-]

Le Canard (2 Collier de Terre Neuve, Briss. \i, p. 362. 14.— Buff.

IX, p. 250. — I'l. Enl. 798. — Jlrct. Zool. JST o. 490. — Lath. Syn.

Ill, p. 484.*

This species is very rare on the coasts of the middle and
southern states, though not unfrequently found off those of New
England, where it is known by the dignified title of the Lord,
probably from the elegant crescents and circles of white which
ornament its neck and breast. Though an inhabitant of both
continents, little else is known of its particular manners than
that it swims and dives well; flies swift, and to a great height;
and has a whistling note. It is said to frequent the small rivu-
lets inland from Hudson’s Bay, where it breeds. The female
lays ten white eggs on the grass; the young are prettily speck-
led. It is found on the eastern continent as far south as lake
Baikal, and thence to Kamtschatka, particularly up the river
Ochotska; and was also met with at Aoonalashka and Iceland.!
At Hudson’s Bay it is called the Painted Duck, at Newfound-
land and along the coast of New England, the Lord; it is an ac-
tive vigorous diver, and often seen in deep water, considerably
out at sea.

The Harlequin Duck, so called from the singularity of its
markings, is seventeen inches in length, and twenty-eight in-
ches in extent; the bill is of a moderate length, of a lead colour

*Jnas HiUrionica, Gmel. Sijst. i, p. 534, JVo. 35; .ft.minuta, lb. Ao. 36, fe-
male.— Ind. Orn.p. S49,A'o. 45. — Gen. Syn. iii, p. 4S4, 4S5, female. — Dusky and
Spotted Duck, Edwarbs, pi. 99; Litlte Brown and While Duck, Id.pl. 157, /e-
male. — La Sarcelle de la BayedeHu,dson,liniss.\j, p.469, No. 41,/67na;f. — Temm.
.Man. d'Orn. p. 878.

t Latham.

372

HARLEQUIN DUCK.

tipt with red, irides dark: upper part of the head black; between
the eye and bill a broad space of white, extending over the eye,
and ending in reddish; behind the ear a similar spot; neck black,
ending below in a circle of white; breast deep slate, shoulders
or sides of the breast, marked with a semicircle of white; belly
black; sides chestnut; body above black or deep slate, some of
the scapulars white; greater wing coverts tipt with the same;
legs and feet deep ash; vent and pointed tail black.

The female is described as being less, “ the forehead, and
between the bill and eye, white, with a spot of the same behind
the ear; head, neck, and back, brown, palest on the fore part of
the neck; upper part of the breast and rump red brown, lower
breast and belly barred pale rufous and white; behind the thighs
rufous and brown; scapulars and wing coverts rufous brown;
outer greater ones blackish; quills and tail dusky, the last inclin-
ing to rufous; legs dusky.

The few specimens of this Duck which I have met with,
were all males; and from the variation in tlieir colours it ap-
pears evident that the young birds undergo a considerable
change of plumage before they arrive at their full colours. In
some the white spot behind the eye was large, extending irre-
gularly half way down the neck; in others confined to a round-
ish spot.

The flesh of this species is said to be excellent.

Latham.

GENUS 101. PLOTUS. DARTER.

SPECIES. P. ANHINGA.

DARTER OR SNAKE-BIRD.*

[Plate LXXIV.— Fig. 1, Male.^

Plotiis anhmgu, Linn. Syst. ed. 12, tom. i, p. 218. — Gmel. Syst.
I, p. 580, 1. — Ind. Orn. p. 895, 1. Flatus melanogaster, Id. p.
896, var.B, var. C. — Jinhinga Brasiliensibus Tupinamh. Marc-
GRAv. Hist. JVat. Bras. p. 218. — UJlnliinga, Briss. vi, p. 476.
— Salerne, p. 375. — Buff. Ois. viii, p. 448. Jinhinga noir de
Cayenne, FI. Enl.9Q0. — IChite-bellied Barter, Lath. Gen. Syn.
Ill, p. 622, 1. Black-bellied Barter, Id. p. 624, var. A. pi. 106.
Id. p. 625, var. B. — Colymbus colubrinus. Snake-bird, Bartram,
p. 132. 295. — Peale’s Museum, JVb, 3188, Male.

Head, neck, whole body above and below, of a deep shining
black, with a green gloss, the plumage extremely soft, and
agreeable to the touch; the commencement of the back is orna-
mented with small oblong ashy white spots, which pass down
the shoulders, increasing in size according to the size of the
feathers, and running down the scapulars; wings and tail of a
shining black, the latter broadly tipped with dirty white; the
lesser coverts are glossed with green, and are spotted with ashy
white; the last row of the lesser coverts, and the coverts of the
secondaries, are chiefly ashy white, which forms a large bar
across the wing; the outer web of the large scapulars is crimped;
tail rounded, the two under feathers the shortest, the two upper
feathers, for the greater part of their length, beautifully crimped
on their outer webs, the two next feathers in a slight degree so;
bill dusky at the base and above, the upper mandible brownish
yellow at the sides, the lower mandible yellow ochre; inside

■* Named in the plate Black-bellied Darter.

374

SNAKE-BIRD.

of the mouth dusky; irides dark crimson; the orbit of the eye,
next to the plumage of the head, is of a greenish blue colour,
this passes round, in the form of a zigzag band, across the front
— the next colour is black, which entirely surrounds the eye;
eyelids of a bright azure, running into violet next to the eye
ball; lores greenish blue; naked skin in front black; jugular pouch
jet black; hind-head subcrested; along the sides of the neck
there runs a line of loose unwebbed feathers, of a dingy ash
colour, resembling the plumage of callow young, here and there
on the upper part of the neck one perceives a feather of the
same; on the forehead there is a small knob or protuberance;
the neck, near its centre, takes a singular bend, in order to
enable the bird to dart forward its bill, with velocity, when it
takes its prey; legs and feet of a yellowish clay colour, the toes,
and the hind part of the legs, with a dash of dusky; claws greatly
falcated; when the wings are closed, they extend to the centre
of the tail.

Length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail two feet
ten inches,* breadth three feet ten inches; bill to the angle of
the mouth full four inches; tail ten inches and a half, composed
of twelve broad and stiff feathers. Weight three pounds and a
half.

The serratures of the bill are extremely sharp, so much so,
that when one applies tow, or such like substance, to the bird’.s
mouth, it is with difficulty disengaged.

The lower mandible and throat, as in the Divers, are capable
of great expansion, to facilitate the swallowing of fish, which
constitute the food of this species. The position of these birds,
Avhen standing, is like that of the Gannets.

The above description was taken from a fine adult male spe-

* The admeasurement of the specimen, described in the first edition of
this work, was made by Wilson himself, from the stuffed bird in Peale’s
Museum. It differs considerably from that described above; but as our
specimen was a very fine one, there is room to conjecture that there was
some error in the admeasurement of the former, ours being described im-
mediately after death.

SNAKE-RIRD.

375

cimen, which was shot by my fellow-traveller, Mr. T. Peale,
on the first of March, 1818, in a creek below the Cow Ford,
situated on the river St. John, in East Florida. We saw some
others in the vicinity, but owing to their extreme vigilance and
shyness, we could not procure them.

From the description of the White-bellied Darter of Latham
and others, which is unquestionably this species, one would be
inclined to conjecture, that the bird figured in our plate, as the
female, is the young male. But this point it is not in my power
to ascertain. The specimens in Peale’s Museum, from which
Wilson took his figures, are labelled male and female. All the
Darters which I saw, while in Florida, were males.

The Snake-bird is an inhabitant of the Carolinas, Georgia,
the Floridas and Louisiana; and is common in Cayenne and
Brazil. It seems to have derived its name from the singular
form of its head and neck, which, at a distance, might be mis-
taken for a serpent. In those countries where noxious animals
abound, we may readily conceive, that the appearance of this
bird, extending its slender neck through the foliage of a tree,
would tend to startle the wary traveller, whose imagination had
portrayed objects of danger lurking in every thicket. Its habits,
too, while in the water, have not a little contributed to its name.
It generally swims with its body immerged, especially when
apprehensive of danger, its long neck extended above the sur-
face, and vibrating in a peculiar manner. The first individual
that I saw in Florida, was sneaking away to avoid me, along
the shore of a reedy marsh, which was lined with alligators,
and the first impression on my mind was that I beheld a snake;
but the recollection of the habits of the bird soon undeceived
me. On approaching it, it gradually sank; and my next view
of it was at many fathoms distance, its head merely out of the
water. To pursue these birds at such times is useless, as they
cannot be induced to rise, or even expose their bodies.

Wherever the limbs of a tree project over, and dip into, the
water, there the Darters are sure to be found, these situations
being convenient resting places for the purpose of sunning and

376

SNAKE-BIRD.

preening themselves; and, probably, giving them a better op-
portunity, than when swimming, of observing their finny prey.
They crawl from the water upon the limbs, and fix themselves
in an upright position, which they maintain in the utmost silence.
If there be foliage, or the long moss, they secrete themselves
in it in such a manner that they cannot be perceived, unless
one be close to them. When approached, they drop into the
water with such surprising skill, that one is astonished how so
large a body can plunge with so little noise, the agitation of the
water being, apparently, not greater than that occasioned by
the gliding of an eel.

Formerly the Darter was considered by voyagers as an ano-
malous production, a monster partaking of the nature of the
snake and the Duck; and in some ancient charts which 1 have
seen, it is delineated in all the extravagance of fiction.

From Mr. William Bartram we have received the following
account of the subject of our history:

“ Here is in this river,* and in the waters all over Florida,
a very curious and handsome bird, the people call them Snake-
birds; I think I have seen paintings of them on the Chinese
screens, and other Indian pictures; they seem to be a species of
Colymbus, but far more beautiful and delicately formed than
any other that I have ever seen. They delight to sit in little
peaceable communities, on the dry limbs of trees, hanging over
the still waters, with their wings and tails expanded, I suppose
to cool and air themselves, when at the same time they behold
their images in the watery mirror. At such times when we ap-
proach them, they drop off the limbs into the water as if dead,
and for a minute or two are not to be seen; when on a sudden,
at a great distance, their long slender head and neck appear,
like a snake rising erect out of the water; and no other part of
them is to be seen when swimming, except sometimes the tip
end of their tail. In the heat of the day they are seen in great
numbers, sailing very high in the air, over lakes and rivers.

* The river St. Juan, East Florida-

SNAKE-BIRD. 375

I doubt not but if this bird had been an inhabitant of the
Tiber in Ovid’s days, it would have furnished him with a sub-
ject for some beautiful and entertaining metamorphoses. I be-
lieve they feed entirely on fish, for their flesh smells and tastes
intolerably strong of it: it is scarcely to be eaten, unless one is
constrained by insufferable hunger. They inhabit the waters of
Cape Fear river, and, southerly, East and West Florida.*

* Bartram’s Travels, p. 132. — MS, in the possession of the author.f
t From Mr. Ord’s Supplementary Volume.

voi. III. — 3

PL O TUS ^NHINGA.

DARTER OR SNAKE-BIRD.

[Plate LXXIV. — Fig. 2, Female.']

ylnhingade. Cayenne, PL .Enl. 959.— -Peale’s Jl/wsewm, JVo. 3189,
P'emale.

The Female Darter measures three feet five inches in length;
and differs in having the neck before of a roan colour or iron
gray, the breast the same, but lighter and tinged with pale
chestnut; the belly as in the male; where the iron gray joins the
black on the belly, there is a narrow band of chestnut; upper
head, and back of the neck, dark sooty brown, streaked with
blackish; cheeks and chin pale yellow ochre; in every other
respect the same as the male, except in having only a few slight
tufts of hair along the side of the neck; the tail is twelve inches
long to its insertion, generally spread out like a fan, and crimped
like the other on the outer vanes of the middle feathers only.

The above is a description of the supposed female Darter,
which is preserved in Peale’s Museum; Wilson’s figure was
taken from this specimen. It was contrary to his practice to
make his drawings from stuffed birds, but as he had never had
an opportunity of beholding this species in a living or recent
state, he was compelled, in this instance, to resort to the Mu-
seum.

The author having written to Mr. John Abbot, of Georgia,
relative to this species, and some others, received from this dis-
tinguished naturalist a valuable communication, from which'the
following extract is made: Both the Darters I esteem as but
one species. I have now by me a drawing of the male, or Black-
bellied, only; but have had specimens of both at the same time.

I remember that the upper parts of the female were similar to

FEMAI,E SNAKE-BIRD.

377

those of the male, except that the colour and markings were
not so pure and distinct; length thirty-six inches, extent forty-
six. These birds frequent the ponds, rivers and creeks, during
the summer; build in the trees of the swamps, and those of the
islands in the ponds; they construct their nests of sticks; eggs
of a sky blue colour. I inspected a nest, which was not very
large, it contained two eggs and six young ones, the latter vary-
ing much in size; they will occupy the same tree for a series of
years. They commonly sit on a stump, which rises out of the
water, in the mornings of the spring, and spread their wings
to the sun, from which circumstance they have obtained the
appellation of Sun-birds. They are difficult to be shot when
swimming, in consequence of only their heads being above the
water.”

Never having seen a specimen of the Black-bellied Darter of
Senegal and Java, I cannot give an opinion touching its identity
with ours. *

From Mr. Ord’s Supplementary Volume.

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GENERAL INDEX.

VOL.

American Avoset iii

American Bittern ...... iii

American Buzzard i

American Crossbill . • . . . . ii

American Rail ..... ^. iii

American Redstart ...... ii

Young of ditto ..... ii

American Sparrow Hawk . . . . i

Male of ditto . . ‘ . . . i

American Stilt ...... iii

American Tufted Duck .... iii

American Widgeon . . . . . .iii

Anhinga . . . . . . . iii

Ash-coloured Hawk . . . . . . i

Ash-coloured Sandpiper iii

Autumnal Warbler ii

Avoset . . . . . . . iii

Long Legged . . . . . iii

Bald Eagle ....... i

Young of ditto i

Bald-pate Duck ...... iii

Baltimore Oriole ...... i

Female of ditto ..... i

Bank Swallow ...... ii

Barn Owl ....... i

Barn Swallow ....... ii

Barred Owl ....... i

Bartram’s Sandpiper ..... iii

Bay-breasted Warbler ..... ii

Bay-winged Bunting ..... ii

PAGE

215

52

85

157

185

281

285

38

42

218

356

307

373

80

142

368

215

218

46

57

307

201

207

424

124

412

121

124

341

206

380

INDEX.

Belted Kingsfisher

VOL.

ii

PAGE

59

Big Rail

. iii

177

Bittern . .

iii

52

Black and yellow Warbler

ii

365

Black and white Creeper

ii

68

Black-billed Cuckoo

. i

231

Black-bellied Darter

. iii

373

Black-bellied Plover

iii

162

Blackburnian Warbler .

ii

367

Black-capt Titmouse

ii

401

Black-capt Hawk . . . ,

. i

80

Black Duck . . .

iii

326

Black Hawk

i

103

Young of ditto .

i

105

Black-headed Gull

. iii

253

Black-poll Warbler

. ii

384

Female of ditto

ii

386

Black Skimmer

. iii

235

Black throated Blue Warbler

. ii

353

Black-throated Bunting

ii

163

Black-throated Green Warbler

ii

355

Black Vulture ....

i

20

Blue-bill Duck ....

iii

353

Blue-bird

ii

315

Blue Crane .....

. iii

54

Blue-eyed yellow Warbler

ii

351

Blue-gray Flycatcher

ii

287

Blue-green Warbler .

. ii

379

Blue Grosbeak ....

. ii

152

Blue Heron ....

. iii

54

Blue Jay .....

i

189

Blue Linnet ....

ii

262

Blue-mountain Warbler

ii

391

Blue-winged Teal .

,

. iii

317

Blue-winged Yellow Warbler

ii

347

INDEX.

381

VOI.. PAGE

Blue Yellow-back Warbler ... ii 381

Boblink . . . ^ ii 170

Brant iii 287

Broad-winged Hawk i 92

Brown Creeper ii 63

Brown-headed Nuthatch ..... ii 57

Brown Lark ii 313

Brown Phalarope ...... iii 204

Bufiel-headed Duck iii 363

Butcher-bird i 145

Butter-box Duck . . • . . . iii 363

Buzzard ..... . . i 85

Caerulean Warbler ii 361

Canada Flycatcher ii 302

Canada Goose ...... iii 276

Canada Jay i 198

Canvass-back Duck . . . . . iii 340

Cape-May Warbler ...... ii 394

Cardinal Grosbeak ii 145

Carolina Parrot . . . . . . i 153

Carolina Pigeon iii 12

Carrion-crow ....... i 20

Cat-bird ii 126

Cedar-bird, or Chatterer . • . . . ii 138

Chat ........ ii 396

Chewink ii 165

Chestnut-sided Warbler . . . , ii 343

Chimney Swallow ii 426

Chipping Sparrow ii 235

Chuck-will’s-widow ii 435

Cinereous Coot . . . . . . iii 210

Clapper Rail iii 177

Clark’s Crow ...... i 180

Common Rail iii 185

Connecticut Warbler ii 338

382

INDEX.

Coot

VOL. PAGE

hi 185

Cow Bunting

ii

177

Crested Crow

i

189

Crested Titmouse ,

ii

404

Crossbill

ii

157

Crow

i

171

Crow Blackbird

• • . • . i

222

Curlew, Long Billed

• . . . ; hi

96

do Esquimaux

iii

99

Darter, male

iii

373

Female

iii

376

Demi-Egret Heron

iii

73

Diver

iii

330

Downy Woodpecker

. . . . . ii

38

Duck Hawk

• . • . . i

30

Dunkadoo

iii

52

Dunlin

iii

136

Dusky, or Black Duck

iii

310

Eider Duck

. iii

322

Female of ditto

iii

325

English Snipe .

. iii

109

Esquimaux Curlew

iii

99

Ferruginous Thrush

ii

106

Field Martin

ii

265

Field Sparrow

ii

229

Fish Crow

i

182

Fish Hawk

i

67

Flamingo

iii

223

Flicker

ii

19

Fly-up-the-creek

iii

67

Fox-coloured Sparrow

ii

254

Fresh water Mud Hen

• • . . . iii

182

French Mocking-bird

ii

106

Gadwall Duck

iii

303

Gallinule

iii

197

INDEX.

383

VOL.

PAGE

Golden-crested Wren

ii

328

Golden-crowned Thrush

ii

124

Golden-eye Duck ....

iii

360

Golden Plover ....

iii

160

Goldfinch .....

ii

221

Golden-winged Warbler

ii

349

Golden-winged Woodpecker

ii

19

Goosander ......

iii

265

Female of ditto

. . iii

268

Grakle ......

i

219

Grass Plover .....

iii

124

Gray-back Sandpiper . . . .

iii

140

Gray Eagle .....

i

57

Gray Phalarope . . . . .

iii

199

Great American Shrike

i

145

Great Carolina Wren

ii

70

Great-crested Flycatcher

ii

273

Great Egret Heron . . . .

iii

64

Great-footed Hawk . . .

i

30

Great Heron . . . . .

iii

57

Great White Heron

. iii

64

Great-horned Owl . . . .

i

133

Great Marbled Godwit

. iii

102

Great Northern Diver . .

iii

229

Great Tern .....

iii

240

Green Black-capt Flycatcher

ii

303

Green Heron .....

iii

67

Green White-bellied Swallow

ii

422

Green-winged Teal .

. iii

319

Grosbeak ......

. ii

145

Ground Dove ....

. iii

15

Grous .......

24

Guillemot . . . .

. iii

227

Gull .......

iii

253

Hairy-head Merganser

iii

274

VOL. III. 3 D

384

INDEX.

VOL. PAGE

Hairy Woodpecker

ii

35

Hanging-bird . . . . .

201

Harlequin Duck ....

iii

371

Hawk Owl . . . . .

118

Hebridal Sandpiper

iii

145

Hemlock Warbler . . . .

393

Hemp-bird .....

224

Hermit Thrush . . . .

117

Heron ......

iii

56

High-hole . . . . .

19

Hittock

19

Hooded Flycatcher

. ii

300

Hooded Merganser

iii

274

Horse-foot Snipe . . . .

. iii

145

House Wren ....

331

Humming-bird . . . .

76

.Jamaica Shoveller

iii

332

Indigo-bird . . . ' .

262

Ivory -billed Woodpecker

9

Kentucky Warbler . . . .

375

Kildeer Plover ....

iii

157

King-bird . . . . .

265

Kingsfisher .....

59

Kite

98

Laughing Gull ....

253

Lawyer ......

215

Least Bittern ....

71

Le Pape ......

200

Lesser Red-poll ....

256

Lesser Tern . . . . .

. iii

244

Lettuce-bii’d ....

221

Lewis’s Woodpecker

46

Idttle Guillemot ....

. . iii

227

Little Plawk

42

Little Owl .....

129

INDEX.

385

Little Sandpiper
Little White Heron
Log-cock

Loggerhead Shrike
Long-billed Curlew .
Long-eared Owl
Long-legged Avoset
Long-tailed Duck
Female of ditto
Long-winged Goat-sucker
Loon

Lord Duck
Louisiana Heron
Louisiana Tanager
Magpie
Mallard
Manakin
Marsh Blackbird
Marsh Hawk
Marsh Tern .

Marsh Wren

Martin . . . .

Martinico Gallinule
Maryland Yellow-throat
Female of ditto
Meadow Clapper
Meadow Lark
Meadow Mouse
Merganser
Mississippi Kite
Mocking-bird
Mother Carey’s chicken
Mottled Owl
Mourning Warbler
Mouse Hawk

vox. PAGE

iii 134

iii 80

ii 16

i 151

iii 96

i 138

iii 218

iii 365

iii 368

ii 440

iii 229

iii 371

iii 73

ii 219

i 185

iii 295

ii 396

ii 85

i 111

iii 247

ii 73

ii 406

iii 197

ii 325

ii 327

iii 177

ii 306

i 126

iii 265

i 98

ii 94

iii 256

i 140

ii 345

i 111

386

INDEX.

VOL.

PAOE

Mud-hen

iii

177

Myrtle-bird

ii

356

Nashville Warbler

ii

380

Night-hawk

ii

440

Night Heron

iii

75

Nonpareil

ii

200

Northern Diver

iii

229

Nuthatch

ii

52

Old-field Lark

ii

306

Old-wife Duck

. iii

365

Orchard Oriole

. i

209

Oriole

i

201

Osprey

. i

67

Owls

i

114

Oyster-catcher

. iii

172

Painted Bunting

. ii

200

Parrot

. i

153

Partridge

iii

39

Passenger Pigeon

. iii

1

Peregrine Falcon

. i

30

Petrel

iii

256

Pewit Flycatcher

ii

275

Phalarope

iii

199

Pheasant

. iii

18

Pied Duck

. iii

369

Pied Oyster-catcher

. iii

172

Pigeon

iii

1

Pigeon Hawk

i

44

Pileated Woodpecker

. ii

16

Pine-creeping Warbler

. ii

363

Pine Finch

. ii

241

Pine Grosbeak

. ii

154

Pine-swamp Warbler

ii

389

Pinnated Grous

. iii

24

INDEX.

387

VOL.

PAGE

Pintail Duck

. iii

305

Piping Plover

iii

149

Piut . ,

. ii

19

Plover

iii

149

Poke

. iii

67

Prairie Warbler

ii

377

Prothonotary Warbler

. ii

369

Purple Finch

. ii

224

Young of ditto

. ii

227

Purple Grakle

. i

222

Purple Martin

. ii

406

Purre

. iii

138

Qua-bird

. iii

75

Quail

. iii

39

Rail

. iii

185

Raven

. i

164

Red Bat

. i

127

Red-backed Sandpiper

. iii

136

Red-bellied Nuthatch

ii

55

Red-bellied Woodpecker

ii

48

Red-bird

. ii

145

Red-breasted Merganser

. iii

269

Red-breasted Sandpiper

. iii

140

Red-breasted Snipe

. iii

112

Red-breasted Thrush

ii

133

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

ii

44

Red Curlew

iii

102

Red-eyed Flycatcher

ii

297

Red Flamingo

iii

223

Red-headed Duck

iii

351

Red -headed Woodpecker

. ii

27

Red Owl

. i

143

Red-poll Finch

ii

256

Red-shouldered Hawk

i

109

Redstart

ii

281

388

tNDEX.

Redstart, (young male)

VOL.

. ii

PAGE

28

Red-tailed Hawk

. i*

82

Red-winged Starling

. ii

85

Reed-bird . . .

ii

170

Rice Bunting

. ii

170

Ringed Plover

. iii

149

Ring Plover

iii

152

Ring-tailed Eagle

i

64

Robin

. ii

133

Roseate Spoonbill

. iii

49

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

ii

150

Rough-legged Falcon

i

101

Ruby-crowned Wren

. ii

323

Ruby-throated Humming-bird

. ii

76

Ruddy Duck, male

iii

332

female

iii

339

Ruddy Plover

iii

170

Ruffed Grous

iii

18

Rusty Grakle

. i

219

Sanderling

. iii

167

Sand Martin

ii

424

Sandpipers

iii

124

Sand-shoal Duck

iii

369

Savannah Sparrow

ii

251

Female of ditto

ii

252

Scarlet Ibis

iii

92

Scarlet Tanager

ii

208

Scaup Duck

iii

353

Scoter Duck

iii

330

Screech Owl

i

143

Sea Eagle

i

57

Sea-side Finch

ii

247

Semipalmated Sandpiper

iii

132

Semipalmated Snipe

. iii

115

Sharp-shinned Hawk

i

89

INDEX,

389

VOL. PAGE

Sharp-tailed Finch

. ii

249

Shearwater

iii

235

Sheldrake

iii

265

Shore Lark

ii

310

Short-billed Curlew

iii

99

Short-eared Owl

i

131

Short-tailed Tern

iii

249

Shoveller Duck

iii

292

Shrikes

i

145

Skimmer, or Shearwater

iii

235

Slate-coloured Hawk

i

87

Small Green-crested Flycatcher

ii

280

Smew

iii

272

Small-headed Flycatcher

ii

304

Snake-bird

iii

373

Female of ditto

iii

376

Snipe

iii

109

Snow-bird

ii

2S7

Snow Bunting

ii

195

Snow Goose

iii

283

Young of ditto

iii

285

Snow Owl

i

114

Snowy Heron

iii

80

Solitary Flycatcher

ii

291

Solitary Sandpiper

. iii

127

Song Sparrow

ii

233

Sooty Tern

iii

251

Sora

iii

185

South-southerly Duck

iii

365

Sparrow Hawk

i

42

Female of ditto

i

38

Spirit Duck

iii

363

Spoonbill

iii

49

Spotted Sandpiper

iii

129

Sprigtail Duck

iii

305

390

INDEX.

VOL.

PAGE

Starling

ii

85

Stork

. iii

84

Stormy Petrel

. iii

256

Straight-billed Curlew

iii

102

Summer Duck

iii

313

Summer Red-bird

ii

214

Summer Yellow-bird

ii

351

Surf Duck

iii

32 6

Swallows

ii

406

Swallow-tailed Hawk

i

95

Swamp Robin

ii

165

Swamp Sparrow

ii

245

Swift Lizard

i

91

Tanager

. ii

208

Tawny Thrush

ii

120

Tell-tale God wit, or Snipe

iii

118

Tennesee Warbler

ii

373

Tern

iii

240

Thrasher

ii

106

Thrush

ii

94

Tilt

iii

218

Titmouse

ii

401

Towhe Bunting

ii

165

Female of ditto

ii

168

Tree Sparrow

ii

231

Tufted Duck

iii

356

Turkey-buzzard

i

13

Turn-stone . .

iii

145

Turtle Dove

iii

12

Tyrant Flycatcher

ii

265

Velvet Duck

iii

328

Virginian Partridge

. iii

39

Vultures

i

13

Waders

iii

49

Warblers

. ii

315

INDEX.

391

VOL.

PAGE

Virginia Rail

iii

182

Virginia Nightingale

. ii

145

Virginia Red Bird .

ii

145

Warbling Flycatcher

ii

295

Water Thrush . ,

ii

122

Water Pheasant

iii

265

Whip-poor-will

ii

446

Whistling Field Plover

iii

162

White-bellied Swallow

ii

422

White-breasted Nuthatch

ii

52

White-crowned Bunting

ii

204

White-eyed Flycatcher

ii

293

White-headed Eagle

i

46

White Ibis

iii

94

White Nun .

iii

272

White Owl

i

124

White-throated Sparrow

ii

243

White-winged Crossbill

ii

161

Whooping Crane

. iii

84

Widgeon

. iii

307

Wild Pigeon

. iii

1

Willet

iii

115

Wilson’s Plover

. iii

155

Winter Hawk, or Falcon

. i

107

Winter Wren

ii

336

Woodcock .

iii

104

Wood Duck

iii

313

Wood Ibis

iii

90

Woodpeckers

ii

19

Wood-pewee Flycatcher

ii

278

Wood Thrush, or Wood Robin

. ii

111

Worm-eating Warbler

ii

371

Wren

. ii

70

Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

ii

32

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

i

228

VOL. III. 3 E

392

INDEX.

VOL.

PAGE

Yellow-bird

ii

221

Yellow-breasted Chat

. ii

396

Yellow-crowned Heron

. iii

87

Yellow Red-poll Warbler

. ii

383

Yellow-rump Wai'bler

ii

356

Ditto

. ii

359

Yellow-shanks Snipe

. iii

121

Yellow-throated Flycatcher

ii

289

Yellow-throat Warbler

ii

339

Yellow- winged Sparrow

ii

260

Yucker

. ii

19

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. do

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do
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do

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do

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Germantown.

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Pittsburg, Pa.
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do

James M'Bride,

• do

M. Van Beuren, .

do

D. M‘Carthy,

do

Nathl. Paulding, . -

. do

Cyrus Perkins,

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do

Isaac U. Coles,

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Sami. Wright,

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Robert Donaldson,

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Wm. Barrow,

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Danl. W. Kissam, Jr.

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Hamilton Wilkes,

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S. S. Howland,

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J. H. Paulding,

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S. Converse,

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Geo. T. Trimble,

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Henry Rutgers,

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Isaac Pierson,

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James Rogers,

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P. Perit,

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Francis Baretto, Jr.

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Isaac Hill,

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J. M. Scott McKnight,

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J. A. Vandenheuvel, .

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. . Providence, R. 1.

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Ralph Letton,

Cincinnati, do

Wilkins Tannehill,

. Nashville, Te.

J. Roane,

do do

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Chas. Pugsley,

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Robert Weakly,

do do

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. , Franklin, do

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FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS.

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do

Gm. Chegaray,

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i