they sometimes do, they drop them in spots from which the water can
escape without injuring them; but when they breed in deep fissures,
which is more frequently the case, many of them lie close together,
and the eggs are deposited on small beds of pebbles or broken stones
raised a couple of inches or more, to let the water pass beneath them.
Call this instinct if you will:—I really do not much care; but you
must permit me to admire the wonderful arrangements of that Nature
from which they have received so much useful knowledge. When they lay
their eggs in such a horizontal cavern as that which I have mentioned
above, you find them scattered at the distance of a few inches from
each other; and there, as well as in the fissures, they sit flat upon
them like Ducks, for example, whereas on an exposed rock, each bird
stands almost upright upon its egg. Another thing quite as curious,
which I observed, is, that, while in exposed situations, the Auk
seldom lays more than one egg, yet in places of greater security
I have, in many instances, found two under a single bird. This may
perhaps astonish you, but I really cannot help it.
The Razor-billed Auks begin to drop their eggs in the beginning of
May. In July we found numerous young ones, although yet small. Their
bill then scarcely exhibited the form which it ultimately assumes.
They were covered with down, had a lisping note, but fed freely on
shrimps and small bits of fish, the food with which their parents
supply them. They were very friendly towards each other, differing
greatly in this respect from the young Puffins, which were continually
quarrelling. They stood almost upright. Whenever a finger was placed
within their reach, they instantly seized it, and already evinced the
desire to bite severely so cordially manifested by the old birds of
this species, which in fact will hang to your hand until choked rather
than let go their hold. The latter when wounded threw themselves on
their back, in the manner of Hawks, and scratched fiercely with their
claws. They walked and ran on the rocks with considerable ease and
celerity, taking to wing, however, as soon as possible. When thus
disturbed while breeding, they fly round the spot many times before
they alight again. Sometimes a whole flock will alight on the water
at some distance, to watch your departure, before they will venture
to return.
This bird lays one or two eggs, according to the nature of the place.
The eggs measure at an average three inches and one-eighth, by two
and one-eighth, and are generally pure white, greatly blotched with
dark reddish-brown or black, the spots generally forming a circle
towards the larger end. They differ considerably from those of the
Common and the Thick-billed Guillemots, being less blunted at the
smaller end. The eggs afford excellent eating; the yolk is of a pale
orange colour, the white pale blue. The eggers collect but few of
the eggs of this bird, they being more difficult to be obtained than
those of the Guillemot, of which they take vast numbers every season.
The food of the Razor-billed Auk consists of shrimps, various other
marine animals, and small fishes, as well as roe. Their flesh is by the
fishers considered good, and I found it tolerable, when well stewed,
although it is dark and therefore not prepossessing. The birds are
two years in acquiring the full size and form of their bill, and,
when full grown, they weighed about a pound and a half. The stomach
is an oblong sac, the lower part of which is rather muscular, and
answers the purpose of a gizzard. In many I found scales, remnants
of fish, and pieces of shells. The intestines were upwards of three
feet in length.
Immediately after the breeding season, these birds drop their quills,
and are quite unable to fly until the beginning of October, when they
all leave their breeding grounds for the sea, and move southward. The
young at this period scarcely shew the white streak between the bill
and the eye; their cheeks, like those of the old birds at this time,
and the fore part of the neck, are dingy white, and remain so until
the following spring, when the only difference between the young and
the old is, that the former have the bill smaller and less furrowed,
and the head more brown. The back, tail, and lower parts do not seem
to undergo any material change.
ALCA TORDA, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 210.—_Lath._ Ind.
Ornith. vol. ii. p. 793.—_Ch. Bonap._ Synops. of Birds of
the United States, p. 431.
RAZOR-BILL, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 547.
Adult Male in summer. Plate CCXIV. Fig. 1.
Bill shorter than the head, feathered as far as the nostrils, beyond
which it is very high, exceedingly compressed, and obliquely furrowed
on the sides. Upper mandible with the dorsal line curved so as to form
the third of a circle, the ridge extremely narrow but rounded, the
sides nearly flat, with five grooves, the one next the base deeper
and more narrow, the edges inflected and sharp, the tip decurved
and obtuse. Nostrils medial, marginal, linear, short, pervious, but
concealed by the feathers. Lower mandible with the angle very narrow,
and having a horny triangular appendage, the base at first horizontal
and extremely narrow, then sloping forwards and rounded, the dorsal
outline rounded, towards the end concave, the sides slightly concave,
the edges inflected, the tip decurved.
Head large, oblong, anteriorly narrowed. Eyes small. Neck short and
strong. Body full, rather depressed. Wings small. Feet placed far
behind, short, rather strong; tibia bare a short way above the joint;
tarsus very short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate, laterally covered
with reticulated angular scales, posteriorly granulate. Hind toe
wanting; toes of moderate length, rather slender, scutellate above,
connected by reticulated entire membranes, the inner toe having also
a projecting margin; outer toe slightly longer than middle one; inner
considerably shorter. Claws rather small, arched, compressed, obtuse.
Plumage close, blended, very soft, on the head very short and velvety.
Wings short, curved, narrow, acute. Primary quills narrow, incurved,
acute, first longest, second slightly shorter, the rest rapidly
graduated; secondary quills very short, obliquely rounded. Tail short,
tapering, of twelve narrow, pointed feathers.
Bill black, with a white line across each mandible; inside of the
mouth gamboge-yellow. Iris deep hazel. Feet black. Fore part of neck
below, and all the lower parts, white; the rest black, the head, hind
neck, and back, glossed with olive-green, the throat and sides of
the neck tinged with chocolate, the wings with brown, the tips of the
secondary quills, and a narrow line from the bill to the eye, white.
Length to the end of tail 17 inches, to the end of claws 17-3/4; extent
of wings 29-1/2; wing from flexure 8-1/4, tail 4; bill along the ridge
1-7/12, along the edge 2-2/12, its greatest depth 11/12; tarsus 1-2/12,
middle toe 1-8/12, its claw 5/12. Weight 1-1/2 pound.
Adult Female in summer. Plate CCXIV. Fig. 2.
The female is precisely similar to the male.
The Young in their winter plumage have the colouring distributed as
in the old birds, but with the black duller, the wings more brown,
the throat and sides of the head mottled with white, the white line
from the bill to the eye existing, but the bill much smaller, without
furrows or a white line.
The Old Birds in winter have the throat and sides of the neck mottled
as described above; but in other respects their colours are the same
as in summer.
The gullet wide, dilated towards the lower extremity, its mucous
coat longitudinally corrugated; the proventriculus very wide and
glandular; the stomach rather small, oblong, muscular, with an inner,
longitudinally corrugated and horny cuticular coat. Pylorus very
small; intestine near its commencement 4/12 of an inch in diameter,
gradually contracted to the cæca, where it is 2/12: cæca half an inch
long, tapering. The length of the gullet and stomach together is 8,
that of the intestine 41 inches.
HYPERBOREAN PHALAROPE.
_PHALAROPUS HYPERBOREUS_, LATH.
PLATE CCXV. MALE, FEMALE, AND YOUNG.
Few individuals of this species are ever seen to the South of New
York. Near Boston I procured several, and my learned friend THOMAS
NUTTALL presented me with some that had been shot in the neighbourhood
of that city, as did Mr JOHN BETHUNE and Mr RODMAN of New Bedford.
As we advanced eastward in the month of May, we saw more and more of
them, and while at Eastport in Maine my son John shot several out
of flocks of sixty or more. At one time a flock consisting of more
than a hundred was seen in the Bay of Fundy. They were exceedingly
shy, and the gunners of Eastport, who knew them under the name of
Sea Geese, spoke of them as very curious birds.
They procure their food principally upon the water, on which they
alight like Ducks, float as light as Gulls, and move about in search of
food with much nimbleness. The sight of a bank of floating sea-weeds
or garbage of any kind induces them at once to alight upon it, when
they walk about as unconcernedly as if on land. Their notes, which
resemble the syllables _tweet, tweet, tweet_, are sharp and clear,
and in their flight they resemble our common American Snipe. At the
approach of an enemy, they immediately close their ranks, until they
almost touch each other, when great havock is made among them; but
if not immediately shot at, they rise all at once and fly swiftly
off emitting their shrill cries, and remove to a great distance.
These Phalaropes congregate in this manner for the purpose of moving
northwards to their breeding grounds, although some remain and breed
as far south as Mount Desert Island. I have met with them in equally
large flocks at a distance of more than a hundred miles from the
shores. They were feeding on great beds of floating seaweeds, and in
several instances some Red Phalaropes were seen in their company.
Whilst in Labrador, I observed that the Hyperborean Phalarope occurred
only in small parties of a few pairs, and that instead of keeping
at sea or on the salt-water bays, they were always in the immediate
vicinity of small fresh-water lakes or ponds, near which they bred.
The nest was a hollow scooped out among the herbage, and covered
with a few bits of dried grass and moss. The eggs are always four;
they measure at an average an inch and three-sixteenths in length,
seven-eighths in their greatest diameter, are rather pointed at the
smaller end, and are more uniform in their size and markings than
those of most water-birds. The ground colour is a deep dull buff,
and is irregularly marked with large and small blotches of dark
reddish-brown, which are larger and more abundant on the crown. The
birds shewed great anxiety for the safety of their eggs, limping
before us, or running with extended wings, and emitting a feeble
melancholy note as if about to expire. When we approached them, they
resumed all their natural alacrity, piped in their usual manner, flew
off and alighted on the water. Captain Emery and myself followed some
nearly an hour, assisted by a pointer dog, in the hope of tiring them
out; but they seemed to laugh at our efforts, and when Dash was quite
close to them, they would suddenly fly off in another direction, and
with great swiftness, always leading us farther from their nests. The
young leave the nest shortly after they are hatched, and run after
their parents over the moss, and along the edges of the small ponds;
but I saw none on the water that were not fully fledged. Both young
and old had departed by the beginning of August.
The Hyperborean Phalarope seems to undergo an almost continual moult,
and is in full plumage only about six weeks each year. The young when
fledged are nearly grey above, and all white beneath. Some of them
breed before they have acquired what may be considered the perfect
plumage; and the very old birds become greyish also at the approach
of winter, the red of the throat and other parts becoming bright
again in the beginning of May, or sometimes in April. The scapulars
of the young are conspicuously shorter than the longest primaries,
but after the first moult are equal in length. The upper wing-coverts
are then also short.
I have never met with this species in any part of the interior,
although I have procured the Red Phalarope and Wilson’s Phalarope in
many parts to the west of the Alleghany Mountains, at a distance of
more than a thousand miles from the sea coast.
PHALAROPUS HYPERBOREUS, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p.
774.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. of Birds of the United States,
p. 342.—_Swains. and Richards._ Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii.
p. 406.
HYPERBOREAN PHALAROPE, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Amer. Ornith. vol.
iii.—_Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 239.
Adult Male in Summer. Plate CCXV. Fig. 1.
Bill long, very slender, flexible, nearly cylindrical, but towards
the point tapering. Upper mandible with the dorsal line straight,
excepting at the end, where it is a little curved, the ridge broad
and depressed, the sides slightly sloping, the edges rounded, and
inflected towards the narrow slightly curved, acute tip. Nasal groove
long, linear; nostrils basal, linear, pervious. Lower mandible with
the angle very long and narrow, the sides convex, the tip narrowed.
Head small, with the fore part high and rounded. Eyes small. Neck
rather long and slender. Body slender. Wings long. Feet of moderate
length, slender; tibia bare a considerable way above the joint; tarsus
much compressed, narrowed before, very thin behind, covered anteriorly
with numerous scutella; toes slender; first extremely small, free,
with a slight membrane beneath; second slightly shorter than fourth,
third considerably longer; toes all scutellate above, margined on
both sides with lobed and pectinated membranes, which are united at
the base, so as to render the foot half webbed; the outer web much
longer than the inner. Claws very small, compressed, arched, that of
the middle toe with a recurved sharp edge.
Plumage soft and blended. Feathers of the back, and especially the
scapulars, elongated. Wings long and pointed; primary quills tapering,
but rounded, the first longest, the second scarcely shorter, the
rest rapidly graduated; secondary quills rather short and narrow,
the inner tapering and elongated so as nearly to equal the longest
primaries when the wing is closed. Tail rather short, much rounded,
of twelve feathers.
Bill black. Iris dark brown. Feet bluish-grey; claws black. The general
colour of the upper parts is greyish-black, the head lighter and more
tinged with grey, the scapulars and some of the feathers of the back
edged with yellowish-red, of which colour also are the sides of the
head and neck; throat and sides of the upper part of the neck white.
Wing-coverts and quills brownish-black, tinged with grey, the shafts
of the quills, the margins and tips of the secondaries, and a broad
bar on the tips of the secondary coverts, white. Tail light grey, the
feathers margined with white, the two middle ones dark brownish-grey,
the lateral upper tail-coverts white, barred with dusky. The breast
and abdomen white.
Length to end of tail 6 inches, to end of claws 6-1/4, to end of wing
5-3/4; extent of wings 13-1/2; wing from flexure 4-1/2; tail 2-1/4;
bill along the back 11/12, along the edge of lower mandible 11/12;
tarsus 10/12,middle toe 10/12, its claw 2/12.
Adult Female. Plate CCXV. Fig. 2.
The Female is similar to the male, but the red markings are not so
deep in tint.
Young fully fledged. Plate CCXV. Fig. 3.
The young bird has the markings similarly disposed, but the upper parts
are in general of a dull dark grey, the red of the neck much fainter,
and that of the scapulars much paler, and inclining to greyish-yellow.
FISHING IN THE OHIO.
It is with mingled feelings of pleasure and regret that I recall to my
mind the many pleasant days I have spent on the shores of the Ohio.
The visions of former years crowd on my view, as I picture to myself
the fertile soil and genial atmosphere of our great western garden,
Kentucky, and view the placid waters of the fair stream that flows
along its western boundary. Methinks I am now on the banks of the
noble river. Twenty years of my life have returned to me; my sinews are
strong, and the “bowstring of my spirit is not slack;” bright visions
of the future float before me, as I sit on a grassy bank, gazing on
the glittering waters. Around me are dense forests of lofty trees
and thickly tangled undergrowth, amid which are heard the songs of
feathered choristers, and from whose boughs hang clusters of glowing
fruits and beautiful flowers. Reader, I am very happy. But now the
dream has vanished, and here I am in the British Athens, penning an
episode for my Ornithological Biography, and having before me sundry
well-thumbed and weather-beaten folios, from which I expect to be
able to extract some interesting particulars respecting the methods
employed in those days in catching Cat-fish.
But, before entering on my subject, I will present you with a brief
description of the place of my residence on the banks of the Ohio.
When I first landed at Henderson in Kentucky, my family, like the
village, was quite small. The latter consisted of six or eight houses;
the former of my wife, myself, and a young child. Few as the houses
were, we fortunately found one empty. It was a log-_cabin_, not a
log-_house_; but as better could not be had, we were pleased. Well,
then, we were located. The country around was thinly peopled, and all
purchasable provisions rather scarce; but our neighbours were friendly,
and we had brought with us flour and bacon-hams. Our pleasures were
those of young people not long married, and full of life and merriment;
a single smile from our infant was, I assure you, more valued by us
than all the treasures of a modern Crœsus would have been. The woods
were amply stocked with game, the river with fish; and now and then
the hoarded sweets of the industrious bees were brought from some
hollow tree to our little table. Our child’s cradle was our richest
piece of furniture, our guns and fishing-lines our most serviceable
implements, for although we began to cultivate a garden, the rankness
of the soil kept the seeds we planted far beneath the tall weeds that
sprung up the first year. I had then a partner, a “man of business,”
and there was also with me a Kentucky youth, who much preferred the
sports of the forest and river to either day-book or ledger. He was
naturally, as I may say, a good woodsman, hunter, and angler, and,
like me, thought chiefly of procuring supplies of fish and fowl. To
the task accordingly we directed all our energies.
Quantity as well as quality was an object with us, and although we
well knew that three species of Cat-fish existed in the Ohio, and that
all were sufficiently good, we were not sure as to the best method
of securing them. We determined, however, to work on a large scale,
and immediately commenced making a famous “trot-line.” Now, reader,
as you may probably know nothing about this engine, I shall describe
it to you.
A trot-line is one of considerable length and thickness, both
qualities, however, varying according to the extent of water, and
the size of the fish you expect to catch. As the Ohio, at Henderson,
is rather more than half a mile in breadth, and as Cat-fishes weigh
from one to an hundred pounds, we manufactured a line which measured
about two hundred yards in length, as thick as the little finger of
some fair one yet in her teens, and as white as the damsel’s finger
well could be, for it was wholly of Kentucky cotton, just, let me
tell you, because that substance stands the water better than either
hemp or flax. The main line finished, we made a hundred smaller ones,
about five feet in length, to each of which we fastened a capital
hook of KIRBY and Co.’s manufacture. Now for the bait!
It was the month of May. Nature had brought abroad myriads of living
beings: they covered the earth, glided through the water, and swarmed
in the air. The Cat-fish is a voracious creature, not at all nice in
feeding, but one who, like the vulture, contents himself with carrion
when nothing better can be had. A few experiments proved to us that,
of the dainties with which we tried to allure them to our hooks, they
gave a decided preference, at that season, to _live toads_. These
animals were very abundant about Henderson. They ramble or feed,
whether by instinct or reason, during early or late twilight more
than at any other time, especially after a shower, and are unable to
bear the heat of the sun’s rays for several hours before and after
noon. We have a good number of these crawling things in America,
particularly in the western and southern parts of the Union, and are
very well supplied with frogs, snakes, lizards, and even crocodiles,
which we call alligators; but there is enough of food for them all,
and we generally suffer them to creep about, to leap or to flounder
as they please, or in accordance with the habits which have been
given them by the great Conductor of all.
During the month of May, and indeed until autumn, we found an abundant
supply of toads. Many “fine ladies,” no doubt, would have swooned, or
at least screamed and gone into hysterics, had they seen one of our
baskets filled with these animals, all alive and plump. Fortunately
we had no tragedy queen or sentimental spinster at Henderson. Our
Kentucky ladies mind their own affairs, and seldom meddle with those of
others farther than to do all they can for their comfort. The toads,
collected one by one, and brought home in baskets, were deposited in
a barrel for use. And now that night is over, and as it is the first
trial we are going to give our trot-line, just watch our movements
from that high bank beside the stream. There sit down under the large
cotton-wood tree. You are in no danger of catching cold at this season.
My assistant follows me with a gaff hook, while I carry the paddle of
our canoe; a boy bears on his back a hundred toads as good as ever
hopped. Our line—oh, I forgot to inform you that we had set it last
night, but without the small ones you now see on my arm. Fastening
one end to yon sycamore, we paddled our canoe, with the rest nicely
coiled in the stern, and soon reached its extremity, when I threw
over the side the heavy stone fastened to it as a sinker. All this
was done that it might be thoroughly soaked, and without kinks or
snarls in the morning. Now, you observe, we launch our light bark,
the toads in the basket are placed next to my feet in the bow; I have
the small lines across my knees all ready looped at the end. NAT,
with the paddle, and assisted by the current, keeps the stern of our
boat directly down stream; and DAVID fixes, by the skin of the back
and hind parts, the living bait to the hook. I hold the main line
all the while, and now, having fixed one linelet to it, over goes the
latter. Can you see the poor toad kicking and flouncing in the water?
“No”—well, I do. You observe at length that all the lines, one after
another, have been fixed, baited, and dropped. We now return swiftly
to the shore.
“What a delightful thing is fishing!” have I more than once heard
some knowing angler exclaim, who, with “the patience of Job,” stands
or slowly moves along some rivulet twenty feet wide, and three or
four feet deep, with a sham fly to allure a trout, which, when at
length caught, weighs half a pound. Reader, I never had such patience.
Although I have waited ten years, and yet see only three-fourths of
the Birds of America engraved, although some of the drawings of that
work were patiently made so long ago as 1805, and although I have
to wait with patience two years more before I see the end of it, I
never could hold a line or a rod for many minutes, unless I had—not
a “nibble,” but a hearty bite, and could throw the fish at once over
my head on the ground. No, no—If I fish for trout, I must soon give
up, or catch, as I have done in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh, or the streams
of Maine, fifty or more in a couple of hours. But the trot-line is in
the river, and there it may patiently wait, until I visit it toward
night. Now I take up my gun and note-book, and, accompanied by my
dog, intend to ramble through the woods until breakfast. Who knows
but I may shoot a turkey or a deer? It is barely four o’clock; and
see what delightful mornings we have at this season in Kentucky!