ve h ;
pny j '
Lay 4 Mi sae f ih MA
i! ' vii
mie » ve Yak
it s) ¥ ’
i
{ 1
b 7 if
1
De Tug ead b
Val
}
i
{
‘
:
i
\
j i
ii
7 Ani
j \
1 4 - |
. ’ , A 9 7)
\ 4 :
/ 1.
‘ i ye H ) ¥
a ea
j ie i fa
ADAM,
A A on th
4
by
i
ar
nt
vA th
te
ql) Hi yl
A
a
¥
My a #)
1d
aA.
ir re LP
- PROCEEDINGS
Rly OF
‘The Newport |
‘Natural History Society,
BY WM. C. RIVES, M. A., M. D,
; NEWPORT, R.-T. ;
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY BY T. T. PITMAN,
eee OcTOBER, 1890.
PROCEEDINGS
OF
The Newport
DOCUMENT VII.
A Catalogue of the Birds of the Virginias,
BY WM. C. RIVES, M. A., M. D.
NEWPORT; R. L.;
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY BY T. T. PITMAN,
OcToBER, 1890.
| (en
ne
“There 1s no Country more remarkable for the variety of
Birds in it than Virginia, where the Woods and Groves in the
Spring, Summer, Autumn, and almost all the year are ren-
der'd as delightful by the Musick of their feather'd Quires, as
by the Coolness of their shades, or the fragrancy of thewr
Flowers.’ Oldmixon. The British Empire in America.
London, 1708, Vol. 1, p. 312.
y: J
sat iy
PREFACE.
Since the publication of the list in Jeferson’s Notes, no catalogue,
purporting to treat of the birds of Virginia as a whole, has, I be-
lieve, appeared. The one here presented is based upon personal ob-
servation in different localities, especially in Albemarle County,and
upon the various papers already published, together with several
other sources of information of which I have been able to avail
myself. As the fauna of West Virginia does not differ very mark-
edly from that of its sister state, and as the separation between the
two has been of such recent origin and was made chiefly for
political rather than topographical considerations, I have included
in the catalogue the birds to be found in both; the notes
upon the water birds, however, principally relate to eastern Vir-
ginia, our knowledge of the West Virginia species being to a con-
siderable extent a matter of inference.
Iwould here express my obligations to those gentlemen who
have been kind enough to favor me with their aid, of whom I
would mention especially Dr. C. Hart Merriam and Dr. A. K.
Fisher of the Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., who besides
assisting me in many ways have kindly allowed me to examine
the local reports on ornithology returned by various observers in
Virginia and West Virginia in answer tothe circulars issued by the
Department and by the Committee on Migration of the American
Ornithologists’ Union. I have also received most valuable in-
formation with regard to the birds ofthe Eastern Shore from Cap-
tain Charles H. Crumb of the U. S. Lite Saving Station at Cobb’s
Island, an excellent ornithologist, who has devoted much atten-
tion to the subject, and am indebted for other important assistance
[6]
to Lieutenant Wirt Robinson, 4th U. 8S. Artillery. To Professor
J. A. Allen and Mr. Frank M. Chapman of the American Museum
of Natural History, N. Y., my thanks are due for their kindness
in allowing me free access to the library and ornithological col-
lections of that Institution. This little work is also associated in
my mind with unfailing memories of one who was my loved
companion in many of my field excursions.
The list is of course deficient in many respects, but will serve to
furnish a general knowledge of the characteristics of the Virginian
avifauna; much use it will be observed has been made of the
writings of the distinguished naturalists at Washington, who have
so thoroughly studied the ornithology of the District of Columbia
and the adjacent parts of Virginia.
Wie We:
I.
a
si G0
IV.
age
VI.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Early accounts of the Birds of Virginia, : he)
Recent Literature of Virginia Ornithology, : 22
Introductory Description—The Ornithological Position
of the Virginias, . : : ; Sires
Annotated Catalogue of Birds,. . ; . 40
Hypothetical List of Additional Species. . Soe
Index. ' ; : - : : 95
vi bt eal f
YRS
EARLY ACCOUNTS OF THE BIRDS OF VIRGINIA.
Although no systematic treatise upon the birds which are found
in Virginia is to be met with before Mark Catesby’s important
work, published in 1731, which did not relate exclusively to
the birds of the State, yet from the times of the settlement at
Jamestown in 1606 to the early part of the present century, we
find, in the works which have come down to us from the earlier
writers on Virginia, as well as from the travellers of later date,
constant allusions to the great abundance of game, and mention
made of many of the more conspicuous of our other birds. These
accounts, though usually brief and unscientific, and in many cases
fragmentary and incidental, are not devoid of interest, and throw
considerable light upon the former abundance of several species.
The most complete of the earliest accounts of the Virginia
birds given by the Jamestown colonists (not including the writings
of Thomas Hariot* a member of the earlier colony established
by Sir Richard Grenville on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, in
1585), is that of William Strachey,t 1610-12 which seems to
have been overlooked by ornithological writers, and reads as
follows: ‘* Likewise as they have fruicts and beasts, so have they
fowles and that great store. Of birdes, the eagle is the greatest
devourer and many of them there: there be divers sortes of
hawkes, sparhawkes, laneretts, goshawkes, falcons and ospreys ;
Turkeys there be great store, wild in the woods, like phesants in
England forty in a company as big as our tame here, and yt is
an excellent fowle and so passing good meat, as I maye well saie,
yt is the best of any kind of flesh which I have ever yet eaten
there. Partridges there are little bigger then our quailes! I have
knowne of our men to have killed them with their small shott,
sometime from off a tree five or six at a shoot. Cranes, white
and grey; herons, both grey and white; woosells, or black
byrds, with redd shoulders; thrushes, and divers sorts of small
byrdes, some carnation, some blew, and some other straunge
*A Briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia, etc., Frankfort
on the Main, 1590. Reprinted, New York, 1871.
+The Historie of travaile into Virginia Brittannia by William Strachey, Gent.
London, printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1849.
[10]
kyndes, to us unknowne by name. In winter there are great
store of swannes, geese, brants, duck, widgeon, dottrell, oxeyes,
mallard, teal, sheldrakes, and divers diving fowles, and of all
these sortes that aboundance, as I dare avowe yt, no country in
the world may have more. Parakitoes I have seen manie in the
winter, and knowne divers killed, yet be they a fowle most swift of
wing, their winges and breasts are of a greenish cullour, with
forked tayles, their heades, some crymsen, some yellowe, some
orange-tawny, very beautifull. Some of our colonie who have
seene of the East Indian parratts, affirm how they are like to
that kynde, which hath given us somewhat the more hope of the
nerenes of the South Sea, these parratts, by all probability, like
enough to come from some of the countryes upon that sea. A
kind of wood-pidgeon we see in the winter time and of them
such nombers, as I should drawe (from our homelings here, such
who have seene, peradventure, scarce one more then in the
markett) the creditt of my relation concerning all the other in
question, yf I should expresse what extended flocks, and how
manie thousands in one flock, I have seen in one daie, wonder-
ing (I must confesse) at their flight, when like so many thickned
clowdes, they (having fed to the norward in the daye time) re-
tourne againe more sowardly towards night to their roust; but
there be manie hundred witnesses, who maie convince this my
report yf herein yt testifieth an untruth.”
Similar but shorter lists are given by Capt. John Smith* and
Raphe Hamort the former emphasizing the comparative scarcity
of birds in summer and the latter mentioning a few kinds not re-
ferred to by the others, while he is also the first to speak of
‘* Turckie Bussards.”” Ata later period, the following list is
also given by an early writer:{ ‘‘ Birds are these, viz., above 25
*A Map of Virginia With a Description of the Countrey, the Commodities
People, Government and Religion. Written by Captaine Smith, sometime,
Governour of the Countrey, Oxford, 1612. Also reprinted in ‘‘The Generall
Historie of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles.’’?’ The Second Book,
1624.
+A True Discourse of the present estate of Virginia, till 18 June, 1614 by
Raphe Hamor the yonger, London 1615.
tA Perfect Description of Virginia: being, a full & true Relation of the present
State of the Plantation, their Health, Peace & Plenty: the number of people
with their abundance of Cattell, Fowl, Fish &c. London, printed for Richard
Wodenoth, at the Star under Peters Church in Cornhill, 1649, (Force’s Histor-
ical Tracts Vol. 2, No. VIII.)
[11]
severall kinds: 1 Eagles, 2 Hawkes, of six or severall kinds, 3
Parteridges, 4 Wild Turkies, some weighing sixtie pound weight,
5 Red Birds, that sing rarely, 6 Nightingales, 7 Blue Birds,
smaller than a Wren, 8 Black Birds, 9 Thrushes, 10 Heath
Cocks, 11 Swannes, 12 Cranes, 13 Hernes, 14 Geese, 15 Brants,
16 Ducks, 17 Widgeons, 18 Dottrells, 19 Oxeyes, 20 Parrots, 21
Pidgeons, 22 Owles. Many more that have no Axzglish Names ;
for one called the Mock-bird, that counterfeits all other severall
Birds cryes and tunes.”
Thomas Glover* (1676) writes asfollows: ‘‘ On the Bay [Ches-
apeake] and Rivers feed so many wild fowl, as in winter time
they do in some places cover the water for two miles; the chief
of which are wild Swaxs and Geese, Cormorants, Brants,
Shield-fowl, Duck and Mallard, Teal, Wigeons, with many
Others.) 75 7))*
The Fowls that keep the Woods are wild Turkies, Turkie Buz-
zards, Turtle-Doves, Partridges, Hawks of several sorts, with
many others of less note. There are also divers kinds of small
Birds, whereof the Mocking-bird, the Red-bird and Humming-
bird are the most remarkable; the first, for variety and sweetness
of notes, the second for his colour, and the last for the smalness
of his body. As to the Mocking-bird besides his own natural
notes, which are many and pleasant, he imitateth all the birds in
the woods, from whence he taketh his name; he singeth not only
in the day, but also at all hours in the night, on the tops of the
Chimneys; he is strangely antick in his flying, sometimes flutter-
ing in the air with his head right down and tail up, other times
with his tail down and head up; being kept tame he is very
docible. The Red-bird, as I hinted before taketh his name from
his colour, being all over of a pure blood red. The Humming-
bird taketh his name from the noise he makes in flying: This is
of divers colours, and not much bigger than a Hornet and yet
hath all the parts of a bird entire.”
From these extracts we observe, as might be expected that of
the more striking individual species, the Red-winged blackbird
*An Account of Virginia, its Scituation, Temperature, Productions. Inhab-
itants and their manner of planting and ordering, Tobacco etc. Communicated
by Mr. Thomas Glover an ingenious Chirurgion that hath lived some years in
that Country.—Philos. Trans. No. 126, June 20, 1676, pp. 626 and 631.
[12]
Agelaius pheniceus at once attracted the attention of the colon-
ists from the conspicuous colours of the male. Prof. Goode* in
his most interesting and instructive address states that Capt. John
Smith is the first to speak of this bird, but besides the reference
made to it by Strachey there is mention made of ** Black Birds
with crimson wings” in a fragment by another contemporaneous
writer.— The immense flocks of Wild Pigeons, Hctopistes mi-
gratorta such as are described in the above quotation from
Strachey are referred to in similar terms by several other authors
among them Hamor. At a subsequent date the following inci-
dental allusion is made by an unknown writer.
‘¢ Another [prodigy] was flights of pigeons in breadth nigh a
quarter of the midhemisphere and of their length was no visible
end; whose weights brake down the limbs of large trees whereon
these rested at nights, of which the ffowlers shot abundance and
eat ’em; this sight put the old planters under the more portent-
ous apprehensions, because the like was seen (as they said) in
the year 1640 when th’ Indians committed the last massacre, but
not after, untill the present year 1675.” A similar account of
their abundance is given in the letter of Clayton soon to be
quoted and afterwards by Col. Byrd (Westover Mss. p. 57) and
still more recently by Audubon and Wilson.
Regarding the Carolina Parrot, Conurus carolinensis, we
have the detailed description of Strachey given above, the brief
allusions by Capt. John Smith to ‘ Parrats” and by Hamor to
‘¢ Parakertoths,” and it is given in the list of 1649 above quoted,
(a further reference to ‘* most rare coloured Parraketoes” being
made on another page of the same document,) showing that the
species was well known. Col. Byrd writing in 1728-1736 speaks
as follows§ ‘‘ Very often, in autumn when the apples begin to
*The Beginnings of Natural History in America. An Address delivered at the
sixth anniversary meeting of the Biological Society of Washington By G. Brown
Goode, President of the Society, Washington 1886.
+Observations gathered out of a Discourse of the Plantation of the Southerne
Colonie in Virginia by the English 1606, written by that Honorable Gentleman
Master George Percy. Purchas IV. 1685-1690, Ed. 1625. Reprinted in Arber’s
edition of the Works of Capt. John Smith p. LVII.
tThe Beginning, Progress and Conclusion of Bacon’s Rebellion in Va. inthe
years 1675 and 1676, by T. M. Force’s Historical Tracts Vol. I.
§The Westover Manuscripts containing the history of the dividing line be-
twixt Virginia and North Carolina; A journey to the land of Eden 1733; and
a progress to the mines. Written from 1728 to 1736, and now first published
[13]
ripen, they [the farmers of North Carolina] are visited with
numerous flights of paroquets, that bite all the fruit to pieces in a
moment, for the sake of the kernels. The havoc they make is
sometimes so great that whole orchards are laid waste in spite of
all the noises that can be made or mawkins that can be dressed
up to fright them away. These ravenous birds visit North Car-
olina only during the warm season, and so soon as the cold be-
gins to come on, retire back towards the sun. They rarely
venture so far north as Virginia except in a very hot summer,
when they visit the most southern part of it.” The Wild Turkey
and Virginia Partridge are of course to be at once identified from
their descriptions and the writers were evidently acquainted with
the Cardinal and Bluebird with the former of which may have
been confounded the male Summer Red-bird and with the latter
the Blue Grosbeak and Indigo bird. _ Other species which appear
to have soon become objects of special attention are the Mocking-
bird, Humming-bird, Fish Hawk, Bald Eagle and Turkey Buz-
zard. It is somewhat surprising that there appears to be no
definite mention of the Whip-poor-will previous to Catesby’s
work.
In 1688 was published a most interesting account and much
fuller than any that had yet appeared by the Revd. John Clayton,
Vicar of Crofton* who made a journey to Virginia in 1685. Be-
sides speaking of the different kinds in general terms he refers in
more or less detail to thirty or forty species which are readily
identified from his descriptions, several of which he seems to
have been the first to describe such as the Meadow Lark, Night
Hawk and others. It is noteworthy to find that he mentions
the Snowy Owl which is a rare bird so far south.
The following very full extracts will be of interest: ‘‘ There
are three sorts of Eagles,t the largest I take to be that they call
By William Byrd of Westover—Petersburg: Printed by Edmund and Julian C.
Ruffin. Another edition of this work with additional matter was published at
Richmond in 1866.
*A letter from Mr, John Clayton Rector of Crofton at Wakefield in Yorkshire
to the Royal Society May 12th 1688, Giving an Account of several Observables
in Virginia, and in his voyage thither more particularly concerning the air—
Phil. Trans. XVII & XVIII and in Miscellanea Curiosa Vol. I1I—Force’s His-
torical Tracts Vol. III.
{Clayton doubtless here mistakes for several distinct species, the Bald Eagle
H, leucocephaius, in different states of plumage.
[14]
the grey Eagle, being much of the Colour of our Kite or Glead.
The second is the bald Eagle, for the Body and part of the Neck
being of a dark brown, the upper part of the Neck and Head is
covered with a white sort of down, whereby it looks very bald,
whence it is so named. ‘The third is the black Eagle resembling
most the Hxzplish Eagle, they build their Nests much after the
manner of that Dr W2lloughby describes, and generally at the
top of some tall old Tree, naked of Boughs and nigh the River-
side, and the People fell the Tree generally when they take the
young ; they are most frequently sitting on some tall Tree by the
River-side, whence they may have a Prospect up and down the
River, as I suppose to observe the fishing-Hawks ; for when they
see the fishing Hawk has struck a Fish, immediately they take
Wing, and ’tis sometimes very pleasant to behold the Flight;
for when the fishing-Hawk perceives her self pursued, she wil
scream and make a terrible noise, till at length she lets fall the
Fish to make her own Escape, which the Eagle frequently catches
before it reach the Earth or Water.
These Eagles kill young Lambs, Pigs @c. This fishing-Hawk
is an absolute Species of a Kings-fisher, but full as large or larger
than our Jay, much of the Colour and Shape of a Kings-fisher
tho’ not altogether so curiously feather’d; it has a large Crop as
I remember ; there is a little Kings-fisher much the same in every
respect with ours * * * There’s both a brown Owl and
White Owl, much what as large as a Goose, which oftens kills
their Hens and Poultry in the Night; the white Owl* is a very
delicate feathered Bird, all the Feathers upon his Breast and Back
being Snow-white and tipp’d with a punctal of Jet-black: besides
there is a Barn Owl much like ours; and a little sort of Scritch
Owl. The night Raven, which some call the Vzrgcnza Bat,t is
about the Bigness of a Cuckow, feathered like them but very
short, and short Leg’d, not discernable when it flies, which is
only in the Evening scudding like our Night Raven. There’s a
great ravenous Bird that feeds upon Carrion, as big very nigh as
an Eagle, which they call a Turky Bustard, its feathers are of a
duskish black, it has red Gills, resembling those of a Turky,
* Nyctea nyctea.
t Chordetles virginianus.
[15]
whence it has its name; it is nothing of the same sort of Bird
with our Axgl7sh Turky Bustard, but is rather a Species of the
Kites, for it will hover on the Wing something like them, and is
carnivorous; the Fat thereof dissolved into an Oil, is recom-
mended mightily against old Aches and Sciatica Pains.*
The Pca Glandaria or Jay is much less than our English
Jay, and of another colour, for its’ all blue where ours is brown,
the Wings marbled: as curiously as ours are, it has both the same
Cry and sudden jetting Motion.
There are great Variety and Curiosity in the Woodpeckers,
there’s one as big as our Magpye, with blackish brown Feathers,
and a large scarlet Tuft on the Top of the Head:+ There are
four or five sorts of Wood-peckers more, variegated with green,
yellow and red Heads, others spotted black and white, most
lovely to: behold:.\:*,. *.. *
Their mocking Birds may be compared to our singing Thrushes
being much of the same Bigness; there are two sorts,{ the grey
and the red, the gray has Feathers much of the Colour of our
grey Plovers with white in the wings like a Magpye; this has
the much softer Note, and will imitate in its singing, the Notes of
all Birds that it hears, and is accounted much the finest singing
Bird in the World. * * * Of Virgznza nightingale, or red
Bird, there are two sorts,§ the Cocks of both sorts are of a pure
Scarlet, the Hens of a duskish Red; I distinguish them into two
sorts, for the one has a tufted Cops on the head, the other is
smooth-feather’d. I never saw a tufted Cock with a smooth-
headed Hen, or on the contrary ; they generally resorting a Cock
and Hen together, and play in a Thicket of Thorns or Bryars in
the winter, nigh to which the Boys set their Traps, and so catch
them and sell them to the Merchants for about six Pence apiece ;
by whom they are brought for Hxgland; they are something
less thana Thrush. * * * They have a Lark nothing differ-
ing from our common Lark; they have another Bird
which they call a Lark|| that is much larger, as big as a Starling ;
"*[, Anburey (Travels in the interior parts of America Vol 2 p. 434) mentions a
similar belief.
tCeophleus pileatus.
tMimus polygiottus; Harporhynchus rufus.
§Cardinalis cardinalis; Piranga rubra.
\|Sturnella magna,
[16]
it has a soft Note, feeds on the Ground, and, as I remember, has
the specifical character of a long Heel; it is more inclined to yel-
low, and has a large half Moon on its breast of yellow; if it have
not a long Heel, Quwre, whether a Species of the Yellow-hammer.
There be wild Turkies extream large; they talk of Turkies
that have been kill’d, that have weigh’d something better than 38
Pound; they have very long Legs, and will run prodigiously fast.
I remember not that ever I saw any of them on the Wing, except
it were once: Their Feathers are of a blackish shining Colour,
that in the Sun shine likea Dove’s Neck, very specious * * *
Partridges there are much smaller than ours, and resort in
Covies as ours do; their Flesh is very white, and much excels
ours in my mind, Sed de gustibus non est disputandum. Their
Turtle-Doves are of a duskish blue Colour, much less than our
common Pigeon; the whole Train is longer much than the Tails
of our Pigeons, the middle Feather being the longest. There is
the strangest Story of a vast Number of these Pigeons that came
in a Flock a few Years before I came thither; They say they
came thro’ Mew Eugland, New York and Virginia, and were
so prodigious in Number as to darken the Sky for several Hours
in the place over which they flew, and brake massie Boughs
where they light; and many like things which I have had asserted
to me by many Eye-witness of Credit, that to me it was without
doubt, the Relators being very sober persons, and all agreeing in
a Story: Nothing of the like ever happen’d since, nor did I ever
see past ten in a Flock together that I remember. I am not fond
of such Stories, and had suppressed the relating of it, but that I
have heard the same from very many. * * *
The Snow-bird, which I take to be much the same with our
Hedge-sparrow ; this is so called because it seldom appears about
Houses but against Snow or very cold Weather.
The humming Bird that feeds upon the Honey of Flowers:
I have been told by some Persons that they have kept of these
humming Birds, alive and fed them with Water and Sugar: they
are much the smallest of all Birds, have long Bills and curious
coloured Feathers, but differ much in Colour. Herons three or
four several sorts, one larger than the Axglésh, feathered much
like a Spanzsh Goose. Another sort that only comes in Summer
[17]
Milk white, with red Legs very lovely to behold. The Bittern is
there less than in Hxgland, and does not make that sounding
Noise that ever I heard. * * * The Tewits* are smaller
than the Axgilish,t and have no long Toppins, but just like a
young one that begins to fly.”
Beverley’s History of Virginiaf published in 1705 speaks thus
of the Birds in the following passage. ‘*As in Summer, the
Rivers and Creeks are fill’d with Fish, so in Winter they are in
many Places cover’d with Fowl. There are such a Multitude of
Swans, Geese, Brants, Sheldrakes, Ducks of several Sorts, Mal-
lard, Teal, Blewings, and many other Kinds of Water-Fow] that
the plenty of them is incredible. I am but a small Sports-man,
yet with a Fowling-Peice, have kill’d above Twenty of them at a
shot. In like manner are the Mill-Ponds, and great Runs in the
Woods stor’d with these Wild-Fow] at certain seasons of the Year.
~The Shores, Marshy Grounds, Swamps, and Savanna’s are also
stor’d with the like Plenty of other Game, of all Sorts, as
Cranes, Curlews, Herons, Snipes, Woodcocks, Saurers, Ox-eyes,
Plover, Larks, and many other good Birds for the Table that
they have not yet found a name for.” The Mocking Bird and its
habits is described in the following extract: ‘‘ the merry Birds too,
join their pleasing Notes to this rural Consort, especially the
Mock-birds, who love Society so well, that whenever they see
Mankind, they will perch upon a Twigg very near them, and
sing the sweetest wild Airs in the World: But what is most re-
markable in these Melodious Animals, they will frequently fly at
small distances before a Traveller, warbling out their Notes sev-
eral Miles an end, and by their Musick make a Man forget the
Fatigues of his Journey.”
Beverly gives ina plate of Indians fishing (facing p. 34 Book
II) a representation of two Bald Eagles capturing fish from the
Fish Hawks and, like Clayton, an interesting description as
follows of the scene subsequently so graphically depicted, in the
classic passage in Wilson’s Ornithology. ‘*’Tis a good Diversion
to observe the Manner of the Fishing-Hawks preying upon Fish,
* #eialitis voctfera.
+Vanellus cristatus.
tThe History and Present State of Virginia—In Four Parts, By a Native and
Inhabitant of the Place—London 1705.
[18]
which may be seen every fair Day all the Summer long and es-
pecially in a Morning.
At the first coming of the Fish in the Spring, these Birds of
Prey are surprisingly eager. I believe in the Dead of Winter,
they Fish farther off at Sea, or remain among the craggy unin-
habited Islands, upon the Sea Coast. I have often been pleasantly
entertain’d, by seeing these Hawks take the Fish out of the
Water, and as they were flying away with their Quarry, the bald
Eagles take it from them again. I have often observ’d the first of
these hover over the Water, and rest upon the Wing some Minutes
together, without the least change of Place, and then from a vast
Height, dart directly into the Water, and there plunge down for
the Space of Half a Minute, or more, and at last bring up with
him a Fish, which he could hardly rise with; then having got
upon the Wing again, he wou’d shake himself so powerfully
that he threw the Water like a Mist about him; afterwards away
he’d fly to the Woods with his Game, if he were not overlook’d
by the Bald-Eagle, and robb’d by the Way, which very frequently
happens. For the Bald-Eagle no sooner perceives a Hawk that
has taken his Prey, but he immediately pursues, and strives to
get above him in the Air, which if he can once attain, the Hawk
for fear of being torn by him lets the Fish drop, and so by the
Loss of his Dinner, compounds for his own Safety.
The poor Fish is no sooner loosed from the Hawk’s Tallons,
but the Eagle shoots himself with wonderful Swiftness, after it,
and catches it in the Air, leaving all further pursuit of the Hawk,
which has no other Remedy but to go and fish for another.
Walking once with a Gentleman in an Orchard by the River-
side early in the Spring, before the Fish were by us perceiv’d to
appear in Shoal-Water, or near the Shores, and before any had
been caught by the People; we heard a great Noise in the Air
just over our Heads, and looking up, we see an Eagle in close
pursuit of a Hawk, that had a great Fish in his Pounces. The
Hawk was as low as the Apple-Trees, before he wou’d let go his
Fish, thinking to recover the Wood, which was just by, where
the Eagles dare never follow, for fear of bruising themselves.
But, notwithstanding the Fish was dropp’d so low and tho’ it did
not fall above Thirty Yards from us, yet we with our Hollowing,
Running, and casting up our Hats, could hardly save the Fish
[19]
from the Eagle, and if it had been dropp’d Two Yards higher he
wou’d have got it: But we at last took Possession of it alive,
carried it Home, and had it dressed forthwith. It serv’d Five of
us very plentifully, without any other Addition, and some to the
Servants. This Fish was a Rock near Two foot long, very fat,
and a great Rarity for the Time of Year, as well as for the
Manner of its being taken. These Fishing-Hawks, in more
plentiful Seasons, will catch a Fish, and loiter about with it in
the Air, on purpose to have a Chace with an Eagle; and when
he does not appear soon enough, the Hawk will make a sawcy
Noise, and insolently defie him. This has been frequently seen,
by Persons who have observ’d their Fishings.”
Beverley appears to be the first writer to make mention of
‘¢Saurers,” concerning which birds, the following interesting
fragment is taken from a work by the Rev. Andrew Burnaby.*
‘¢T departed from Williamsburg, Oct. 1, 1759 in company’
with another gentleman; and we travelled that day about forty
miles, to a plantation in King William county; beautifully sit-
uated upon a high hill, on the north side of Pamunky river. A
little below this place stands the Pamunky Indian town; where
at present are the few remains of that large tribe; the rest having
dwindled away through intemperance and disease.
They live in little wigwams or cabins upon the river; and have
a very fine tract of land of about 2000 acres which they are re-
strained from alienating by act of assembly. Their employment
is chiefly hunting or fishing for the neighbouring gentry. They
commonly dress like the Virginians and I have sometimes mis-
taken them for the lower sort of that people. The night I spent
here, they went out into an adjoining marsh to catch soruses ;
and one of them, as I was informed in the morning, caught near
a hundred dozen. The manner of taking these birds is re-
markable. The sorus is not known to be in Virginia except
for about six weeks from the latter end of September: at that
time they are found in the marshes in prodigious numbers, feeding
upon the wild oats, at first they are exceedingly lean, but in a
~ *Travels Through the Middle Settlements in North America in the years 1759
and 1760. With Observations upon the State of the Colonies—By the Rev.
Andrew Burnaby M. A. Vicar of Greenwich—London printed for T. Payne at
the Mews-Gate, 1775.
[20]
short time grow so fat, as to be unable to fly: in this state they
lie upon the reeds, and the Indians go out in canoes and knock
them on the head with their paddles. They are rather bigger
than a lark, and are delicious eating. During the time of their
continuing in season, you meet with them at the tables of most of
the planters, breakfast, dinner and supper.” It may interest the
reader to learn that the ‘‘ sorus” is still pursued in much the same
fashion in the locality referred to, by the surviving descendants of
the Pamunky tribe.
Thomas Jefferson, who although occupied with the more im-
portant matters which claimed his attention took no little interest
in Natural History,* in his Notes on the State of Virginia pub-
lished in 1781 gives a list of 125 birds chiefly taken from Catesby,
but asthe western limits of Virginia at the date the book was written
extended along the Ohio and Mississippi and included the pres-
ent State of Kentucky, a number of birds are included by him
which are not Virginian. This list, although the author was fa-
miliar with many of the native birds, is, however, plainly not the
result of much personal observation and has in itself no particular
interest.
In the travels of Isaac Weld in 1795-97 and of the Marquis de
Chastellux 1780-82 mention is briefly made of a few species of
birds noticed in Virginia and there are a few unimportant and in-
cidental allusions to be gathered from the works of one or two
other travellers.
The Valley of Virginia was not settled before 1732 and West
Virginia not until later, so that no early writings upon the birds
of these regions exist.
Much of West Virginia remains to the present day a wild for-
est covered region giving shelter to most of the wood loving birds
of Eastern Virginia and still abounding in Wild Turkeys, Ruffed
Grouse and at certain seasons, Wild Pigeons. The Histories of
these parts of the Virginias contain nothing of importance upon
their ornithology and in fact Mr. Scott’s paper (Birds of Kana-
wha Co.) appears to have been the first to throw definite light
upon the subject. In concluding this sketch} some reference
*See Jefferson as a Naturalist.—Magazine of American History, April, 1885.
+1 would refer those desirous of further study of the early writings on the sub-
ject of Natural History in America, to Dr. Coues’ Bibliography of North Ameri-
[21]
should not be neglected to the very important work of Bartram
(Travels through North and South Carolina) published in 1791,
which contains a catalogue of the birds of the Eastern United
States and other important ornithological matter, and though
this list is not limited to those occuring in Virginia it must, like
Catesby’s treatise, have tended to convey valuable information re-
garding the birds of the State.
The first half of the present century saw the appearance of
the great works of Audubon and Wilson which were followed by
the further development of American Ornithology that has made
such rapid progress in recent years.
can Ornithology contained in his Birds of the Colorado Valley and to the His-
torical Preface to his Key to North American Birds; Also to the Address of
Prof. Goode previously mentioned.
RECENT LITERATURE OF VIRGINIA ORNITHOLOGY.
Local catalogues of Virginia birds or other special papers re-
lating to its ornithology are of modern date. In the following
list of the more important publications are included the very
valuable papers on the birds of the District of Columbia, which
are practically the same as the birds of the north-eastern part of
the State. These writings contain also many special references
to the neighboring parts of Virginia. Many short notes or
articles are also to be found in the pages of ‘‘ The Auk,”
‘¢ Forest and Stream,” ‘* The American Field” and other period-
icals while frequent allusions to Virginia are contained in several
of the more general works on birds such as Audubon, Baird
Brewer and Ridgway, and Trumbull’s ‘‘ Names and Portraits of
Birds.”
1862 (1) Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for
1861, pp. 399-421. List of Birds ascertained to inhabit the
District of Columbia, with the times of arrival and depart-
ure of such as are non-resident, and brief notices of habits,
etc. By Elliott Coues and D. Webster Prentiss.
1870 (2) Observations on the Fauna of the Southern Alle-
ghanies. By E. D. Cope. American Naturalist, Vol. IV.
PP- 395-399, 1870.
1873 (3) Partial List of the Summer Birds of Kanawha
County West Virginia, with Annotations. By W. D.
Scott. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. Vol. XV, pp. 219-230,
Oct. 1872. [A list of eighty-six species with notes. ]
1875 (4) The Vacation of an Ornithologist, being observations
in spring on birds at Petroleum, Ritchie Co.,. West Virginia.
By Ernest Ingersoll. Forest and Stream, Vol. IV, p. 358,
1875.
1876 (5) Some observations on the Birds of Ritchie County,
West Virginia. By Wm. Brewster. Ann. Lyceum. Nat.
Hist. N. Y., Vol. XI, pp. 129-146, June 1875. [An an-
notated list of one hundred species. ]
1876 (6) Notes on birds found breeding on Cobb’s Island, Va.,
between May 25th and May 29th 1875. By H. B. Bailey.
[23]
Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club. Vol. I. No. 1 January, 1876, pp.
24-28. [Notes on twenty-one species. |
1876 (7) Nesting of the Worm-eating Warbler. By Robert
Ridgway. Field and Forest, Vol. I, p. 10, 1876.
1876 (8) Birds of the District of Columbia. By R. W.
Shufeldt. Field and Forest, Vol. I, p. 79. [A list with-
out notes of 67 permanent and winter residents. ]
1876 (9) Schoolboys as Naturalists, list of birds observed at
Leesburg, Va., in March and April by the pupils of a school
there. By E. Ingersoll. Forest and Stream, Vol. VI, p.
163, 1876.
1877. (10) Notes on Forster’s Tern. By P. L. Jouy. Field
and Forest, Vol. II, p. 29, 1877.
1877. (11) Catalogue of the Birds of the District of Columbia,
prepared by Pierre Louis Jouy with remarks on the Birds of
the District by Drs. Coues and Prentiss. Field and Forest,
Vol. II, 1877; also reprinted as a separate pamphlet. [A
list without notes of 240 species. |
1877. (12) Our Washington Letter. By R. F. Boiseau. [Sev-
eral articles in Forest and Stream, Vols. VIII and IX, 1877.]
1877. (13) Field Notes on some of the Birds of the District of
Columbia. By P. L. Jouy. Field and Forest, Vol. III,
Baste Lory:
1877. (14) Southern Notes at Randolph Macon College, Va.
By Jesse T. Littleton. Forestand Stream, Vol. VIII. p. 224.
TO 77s
1880 (15) Description of the eggs of the Caspian Tern (Sterna
Caspia). By Robert Ridgway, Bull. Nuttall Club, Oct.
1880, Vol. V:.p. 221:
1881 (16) On Birds observed in Amelia County, Virginia. By
Percy E. Freke. Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin
Society, Vol. III, Part III [An annotated list of 112 species].
1883 (17) Bulletin of the U. S. National Museum, No. 26.
Avifauna Columbiana: being a list of Birds ascertained to
inhabit the District of Columbia, with the times of arrival
and departure of such as are non-resident, and brief notices
of habits, etc. The second edition, revised to date and en-
tirely re-written. By Elliott Coues, M. D. Ph. D., and D.
[24]
Webster Prentiss, A. M., M. D., Washington, 1883. [A
list of 248 species with very full notes. ]
1884 (18) Birds of the ‘* Panhandle,” W. Va. The Journal
of Rev. W. E. Hill, from January to June (inclusive), 1883.
Ornithologist and Oologist, Vol. 9, 1884.
1884 (19) Notes from Fairfax Co. Va. By H. K. Jamison. Or-
nithologist and Oologist, Vol. 9, 1884, pp. 144-145.
1884 (20) List of the Birds of Cobham, Va. By Wm. C.
Rives, Jr., M. D., Newport, R. I., Davis & Pitman, 1884.
[An annotated list of 128 species. ]
1884 (21) Avifauna Columbiana. 272)2) Mr VE. A) Brooks’ of )Prench) @reek;
Upshur County, West Virginia, has reported it to the Department
of Agriculture as a rare winter visitor.
129. Aquila chrysaetos. GoL_pEN EacrLe.—Drs. Coues
and Prentiss report this eagle to be apparently not very rare near
Washington in winter. ‘Two specimens from that neighborhood
are preserved in the Smithsonian Institution. It has been taken
near Gaithersburg, Maryland. Mr. Doan mentions having seen
portions of a specimen captured in Pocahontas County, West
Virginia.
130. Halizetus leucocephalus. Batp Eacte.—Common
resident on the coast and along the larger rivers of the Tidewater
region. Stragglers are occasionally to be found in the interior ;
breeds. Said by Mr. Doan to be of frequent occurrence through-
out the Ohio Valley in early spring and fall, and to breed in
suitable places in the eastern portions of West Virginia. At
Cobb’s Island they destroy many water-fowl in winter. Mr.
[62]
Brewster gives an interesting account of their habits as observed
at that place (Bull Nuttall Orn. Club, Vol. V, p. 57).
131. Falco peregrinus anatum. Duck Hawx.—Not un-
common on the Eastern Shore especially in autumn. I have ex-
amined specimens taken at Cobb’s Island.