that cover the undulating grounds in the vicinity of the Green River
in Kentucky, I was overtaken by night. With slow and cautious steps
I proceeded, feeling some doubt as to my course, when the moon came
forth, as if purposely to afford me her friendly light. The air I
thought was uncommonly keen, and the gentle breeze that now and then
shook the tops of the tall trees, more than once made me think of
halting for the night, and forming a camp. At times I thought of the
campaigns of my old friend DANIEL BOON, his strange adventures in
these very woods, and the extraordinary walk which he performed to
save his fellow-creatures at Fort Massacre from the scalping knives of
the irritated Indians. Now and then a racoon or opossum, causing the
fallen leaves to rustle, made me pause for a moment; and thus I was
forcing my way, thinking on many things dismal as well as pleasing,
when the glimmer of a distant fire suddenly roused me from my reveries,
and inspired me with fresh animation. As I approached it, I observed
forms of different kinds moving to and fro before it, like spectres;
and ere long, bursts of laughter, shouts, and songs apprised me of
some merrymaking. I thought at first that I had probably stumbled
upon a camp-meeting; but I soon perceived that the mirth proceeded
from a band of sugar-makers. Every man, woman, and child stared as
I passed them, but all were friendly, and, without more ceremony
than was needful, I walked up to the fire, at which I found two or
three old women, with their husbands, attending to the kettles. Their
plain dresses of Kentucky homespun were far more pleasing to my sight
than the ribboned turbans of city dames, or the powdered wigs and
embroidered waistcoats of antique beaux. I was heartily welcomed, and
supplied with a goodly pone of bread, a plate of molasses, and some
sweet potatoes.
Fatigued with my long ramble, I lay down under the lee of the smoke,
and soon fell into a sound sleep. When day returned, the frost lay
thick around; but the party arose cheerful and invigorated, and after
performing their orisons, resumed their labour. The scenery around was
most pleasing; the ground all round looked as if it had been cleared
of underwood; the maples, straight and tall, seemed as if planted in
rows; between them meandered several rills, which gently murmured as
they hastened toward the larger stream; and as the sun dissolved the
frozen dews, the few feathered songsters joined the chorus of the
woodsmen’s daughters. Whenever a burst of laughter suddenly echoed
through the woods, an Owl or Wild Turkey would respond to it, with a
signal welcome to the young men of the party. With large ladles the
sugar-makers stirred the thickening juice of the maple; pails of sap
were collected from the trees and brought in by the young people;
while here and there some sturdy fellow was seen first hacking a cut
in a tree, and afterwards boring with an auger a hole, into which he
introduced a piece of hollow cane, by which the sap was to be drained
off. About half a dozen men had felled a noble yellow poplar, and
sawed its great trunk into many pieces, which, after being split,
they were scooping into troughs to be placed under the cane-cocks,
to receive the maple juice.
Now, good Reader, should you ever chance to travel through the maple
grounds that lie near the banks of that lovely stream the Green
River of Kentucky, either in January or in March, or through those
on the broader Monongahela in April; nay, should you find yourself
by the limpid streamlets that roll down the declivities of the Pocano
Mountains to join the Lehigh, and there meet with a sugar-camp, take my
advice and tarry for a while. If you be on foot or on horseback, and
are thirsty, you can nowhere find a more wholesome or more agreeable
beverage than the juice of the maple. A man when in the Floridas may
drink molasses diffused in water; in Labrador he may drink what he
can get; and at New York or Philadelphia he may drink what he chooses;
but in the woods a draught from the sugar-maple is delicious and most
refreshing. How often, when travelling, have I quenched my thirst
with the limpid juice of the receiving troughs, from which I parted
with regret; nay, even my horse, I have thought, seemed to desire to
linger as long as he could.
But let me endeavour to describe to you the manner in which the sugar
is obtained. The trees that yield it (_Acer saccharinum_) are found
more or less abundantly in all parts of the Union from Louisiana to
Maine, growing on elevated rich grounds. An incision is made into the
trunk, at a height of from two to six feet; a pipe of cane or of any
other kind is thrust into the aperture; a trough is placed beneath
and receives the juice, which trickles by drops, and is as limpid as
the purest spring water. When all the trees of a certain space have
been tapped, and the troughs filled, the people collect the juice,
and pour it into large vessels. A camp has already been pitched in
the midst of a grove, several iron boilers have been fixed on stone
or brick supports, and the business proceeds with vigour. At times
several neighbouring families join, and enjoy the labour as if it
were a past-time, remaining out day and night for several weeks; for
the troughs and kettles must be attended to from the moment when they
are first put in requisition until the sugar is produced. The men and
boys perform the most laborious part of the business, but the women
and girls are not less busy.
It takes ten gallons of sap to produce a pound of fine-_grained sugar_;
but an inferior kind in lumps, called _cake-sugar_, is obtained in
greater quantity. When the season is far advanced, the juice will
no longer grain by boiling, and only produces a syrup. I have seen
maple sugar so good, that some months after it was manufactured
it resembled candy; and well do I remember the time when it was an
article of commerce throughout Kentucky, where, twenty-five or thirty
years ago, it sold at from 6-1/4 to 12-1/2 cents per pound, according to
its quality, and was daily purchased in the markets or stores.
Trees that have been thus bored rarely last many years; for the cuts
and perforations made in their trunks injure their health, so that
after some years of _weeping_ they become sickly, exhibit monstrosities
about their lower parts, gradually decay, and at length die. I have
no doubt, however, that, with proper care, the same quantity of sap
might be obtained with less injury to the trees; and it is now fully
time that the farmers and land-owners should begin to look to the
preservation of their sugar-maples.
THE WHOOPING CRANE.
_GRUS AMERICANA_, TEMM.
PLATE CCLXI. YOUNG.
The specimen from which the figure in this plate was drawn, was that
mentioned at p. 209, as having been presented to me by Captain CLACK.
It has already been described at p. 213. In this state, the Whooping
Crane has been considered as a distinct species, to which the name
of Brown or Canada Crane, _Grus canadensis_, has been given.
On referring to one of my journals, written on the Gulf of Mexico, I
find it stated that one of these birds came on board one dark night,
and, after passing the man at the helm, fell into the yawl hanging
at the stern of the ship, where in the morning it was discovered and
secured. Although to appearance in good health, it refused every kind
of food, and in a few days died. Knowing the great power of flight
of this species, I could only conjecture that some disease operating
powerfully at the moment, had caused the bird to take refuge in the
boat.
THE TROPIC BIRD.
_PHAETON ÆTHEREUS_, LINN.
PLATE CCLXII. ADULT MALE AND FEMALE.
The specimens from which the figures in the plate were taken, were
obtained on the Tortugas, in the summer of 1832, by my kind friend
ROBERT DAY, Esq. of the United States’ Revenue Cutter, the Marion. They
were shot out of a flock of eight or ten, and were in fine condition.
I have represented the Male and Female, in what I suppose to be their
full summer or breeding plumage; but not having had an opportunity
of studying the habits of this remarkable bird, I am unable to give
any information respecting them.
PHAETON ÆTHEREUS, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 219.—_Lath._
Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 893.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synops. of
Birds of the United States, p. 409.
TROPIC BIRD, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 503.
Adult Male in summer. Plate CCLXII. Fig. 1.
Bill as long as the head, stout, very much compressed, slightly
curved, tapering, acute. Upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly
arched, the ridge narrow, but rounded, the sides sloping and slightly
convex at the base, nearly perpendicular towards the end, the edges
sharp, irregularly broken, the tip acute. Nasal groove short, near
the ridge; nostrils linear, very small. Lower mandible with the angle
of moderate length, extremely narrow, the dorsal line straight and
ascending, the sides erect and slightly convex, the edges sharp but
irregularly serrated, the tip very acute.
Head rather large, ovate. Neck short and thick. Body rather full. Feet
very short; tibia bare for a considerable space; tarsus extremely
short, roundish, covered all round with small round scales; toes
rather small, placed in the same place, and connected by reticulated
webs; the first toe very small, the third and fourth about equal,
all scutellate above. Claws small, arched, compressed, rather sharp,
that of middle toe largest, with an undulated thin inner edge.
Plumage soft, blended, on the back and wings rather compact. Wings
long, acute; primaries strong, tapering, the first longest, the rest
rapidly graduated; secondaries very short, incurved, rounded, the
inner longer. Tail of twelve feathers, wedge-shaped, the two middle
feathers extremely elongated, narrow, and tapering.
Bill orange-red. Iris brown. Tarsi and base of toes yellow, the
rest and the webs black, as are the claws. The general colour of the
plumage is pale pink, or white tinged with carmine, the two middle
tail feathers redder. A curved spot before the eye, and band behind
it, black. A band of the same colour extends across the wing from the
flexure, running narrow along the middle coverts, much enlarged on
the inner secondaries and their coverts, and including the extremities
of the scapulars. The outer webs, shafts, and a portion of the inner
webs of the first four primary quills, are also black, and there
is a spot of the same on some of the primary coverts. The shafts of
the two middle tail feathers are black, excepting towards the end;
and some of the long hypochondrial feathers are greyish-black in the
centre.
Length to end of tail 29-1/2 inches, to end of wings 16; to end of claw
14; extent of wings 38; wing from flexure 11-1/4; tail 19-1/8; bill
along the ridge 2, along the edge of lower mandible 2-3/4; tarsus
1-10/12; middle toe 1-4/12, its claw (4-1/2)/12. Weight 15 oz.
Adult Female. Plate CCLXII. Fig. 2.
The Female resembles the male, but is less tinged with red. The bill
is yellow, the iris and feet as in the male. The tail-feathers are
also less elongated.
Length to end of tail 26 inches, to end of wings 14-1/4, to end of claws
13; wing from flexure 11; tail 16; extent of wings 34; bill along
the ridge 11/12, along the edge of lower mandible 2-1/2; tarsus 10/12;
middle toe 1-4/12, its claw (4-1/2)/12. Weight 12 oz.
THE CURLEW SANDPIPER.
_TRINGA SUBARQUATA_, TEMM.
PLATE CCLXIII. ADULT AND YOUNG.
In the course of my extensive rambles along our coasts and in the
interior, I have seen only three birds of this species, all of which
I have kept with care, considering the Cape Sandpiper or Pigmy Curlew
as the rarest of its genus with us. It appears to resort to particular
districts; two of my birds were shot at Great Egg Harbour in New
Jersey, in the spring of 1829, the other on Long Island near Sandy
Hook. No other birds were near them, and I approached them without
much difficulty. They were wading along the shores up to the knees,
picking up floating garbage and sand worms. In their stomachs I found
fragments of minute shells, slender red worms, and bits of marine
plants. The one killed on Long Island was a fine male in full plumage,
and from it I made the figure that has been engraved in the plate.
The others were females or young birds of the preceding year. One, in
plain plumage, was drawn; the other, mottled beneath with patches of
white and dull rufous, I considered as a female which might perhaps
have perfected its colouring that season. I have seen a few specimens
in New York, and two in Boston; and my friend JOHN BACHMAN has one
or two in his possession.
TRINGA SUBARQUATA, _Temm._ Man. d’Ornith. part ii. p.
609.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of the United
States, p. 317.
NUMENIUS AFRICANUS, _Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. 712.
CAPE CURLEW OR SANDPIPER, _Nuttall_, Manual, p. 104.
Adult Male. Plate CCLXIII. Fig. 1.
Bill longer than the head, slender, subcylindrical, flexible, very
slightly decurved, compressed at the base, the point obtuse. Upper
mandible with the dorsal line at first slightly sloping, then nearly
straight, and towards the end slightly decurved, the ridge convex
but narrow, the sides sloping, the edges rather blunt and soft. Nasal
groove extending to near the tip; nostrils basal, linear, pervious.
Lower mandible with the angle long and very narrow, the dorsal line
straight, the sides nearly erect, with a long narrow groove, the tip
tapering but rounded.
Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Eyes of moderate size.
Neck of moderate length, rather slender. Body rather slender. Feet
rather long, slender; tibia bare about a third of its length; tarsus
compressed, anteriorly and posteriorly covered with numerous scutella;
hind toe very small; the rest of moderate length, slender, the
fourth a little longer than the second, the third longest, all free,
scutellate above, flat beneath, slightly marginate; claws small,
slightly arched, compressed, acute, that of third toe largest, with
the inner edge slightly dilated.
Plumage very soft, blended beneath, slightly distinct above. Wings
long and pointed; primaries tapering, obtuse, the first longest, the
second scarcely shorter, the rest rapidly graduated; outer secondaries
short, incurved, obliquely truncate, the inner web extending beyond
the outer; the inner secondaries elongated, tapering. Tail rather
short, slightly rounded, of twelve rounded feathers, the two middle
a little longer.
Bill dark olive-green, dusky towards the point. Iris hazel. Feet
light olive, claws dusky. The head, neck and breast, are bright
yellowish-red, the sides whitish, the lower tail-coverts white,
with a brownish-black spot towards the end. The central parts of the
feathers on the upper part of the head are dark brown, and there are
slight streaks of the same on the hind neck and sides of the breast.
The upper parts are mottled with brownish-black and dull red, the
rump pale brownish-grey, as are the smaller wing-coverts. Quills
greyish-brown, the primaries dark, the outer secondaries light and
tipped with white, the inner darker and glossed with green. Upper
tail-coverts white, spotted with brown and red; tail pale brownish
grey, glossed with green.
Length to end of tail 8-3/4 inches, to end of wings 9-2/12; extent of
wings 16; wing from flexure 5; tail 2-2/12; bill along the back 1-1/2,
along the edge of lower mandible 1-5/12; bare parts of tibia 1/2; tarsus
1-1/12, middle toe 1, its claw 2/12. Weight 2-1/4 oz.
Adult Female, Plate CCLXIII. Young in autumn.
The bill, iris, and feet as in the adult. On the upper parts the
feathers are brown, edged with darker, and margined with greyish
yellow; the lore, cheeks and sides of the neck and body are
greyish-yellow, with dusky lines, a broad band from the mandible over
the eye, the fore part of the neck, and the rest of the lower parts,
white. Quills and tail as in the adult, but lighter.
Length to end of tail 7-3/4 inches; extent of wings 14-1/2. Weight
1-3/4 oz.
THE FULMAR PETREL.
_PROCELLARIA GLACIALIS_, LINN.
PLATE CCLXIV. MALE.
Though not a large bird, the Fulmar is possessed of considerable
strength, and has a powerful and sustained flight. In autumn and
winter it is seen on our eastern coasts, from which it retires early
in summer, to betake itself to the northern retreats in which it
rears its young. I have never seen it farther south than Long Island,
but I have often found it on the banks of Newfoundland, and in the
space intervening between them and our shores. From the beginning of
September to that of May it may be said to be pretty common, especially
around the banks, to which the cod-fishers resort, and where it feeds
chiefly on the rejected garbage.
One calm day in August, when on a voyage from England to New York, of
which I have already spoken when describing the Forked-tailed Petrel,
I procured several Fulmars. They came up and alighted near the boat,
whenever we threw any thing overboard, and did not seem to be in the
least alarmed by the report of a gun. In one instance I shot one on
the water, when it was so near that I could distinctly see the colour
of its eye. A great number of them were swimming in small detached
flocks of eight or ten, their colour at a distance appearing as if
pure white, and contrasting beautifully with the dark blue of the
sea. They floated very buoyantly, some swimming about with great ease,
others to appearance sound asleep. Most of them had the wing and tail
feathers ragged, and some were much soiled with greasy matter, which
gave them an unpleasant appearance. Those which were caught, on being
wounded, emitted quantities of oily matter by their nostrils, and
disgorged much of the same substance; but did not attempt to bite,
which seemed strange in birds having the bill so powerful and hooked.
They fly with less grace than the Shearwaters, proceeding in a direct
line, and at a small height, towards the objects on which they feed.
I was much disappointed at not finding the Fulmar along the rocky
shores of Labrador, where I had expected to meet with it, as it
is regularly observed in spring moving northward in files opposite
the entrance of the Straits of Belle Isle. Its passage towards the
Arctic Regions has been observed by Captain SABINE on the coast of
Greenland. “Whilst the ships,” he says, “were detained by the ice
in Jacob’s Bay, in latitude 71°, from the 24th of June to the 3d of
July, Fulmars were passing in a continual stream to the northward,
in numbers inferior only to the flight of the Passenger Pigeon in
America.” While on my way to Labrador, I was told that they bred on
the Seal Islands off the entrance of the Bay of Fundy. The egg, which
is of a regular ovate form, with a smooth brittle pure white shell,
measures two inches and seven-eighths in length, by two inches in
breadth.
My much esteemed friend Mr SELBY, in his Illustrations of British
Ornithology, gives the following account of this species. “The steep
and rocky St Kilda, one of the western islands of Scotland, is the
only locality within the British dominions annually resorted to by
the Fulmar, the rest of the Scottish and our more southern coasts
being rarely visited even by stragglers. Upon St Kilda these birds
are found in vast numbers during the spring and summer months,
breeding in the caverns and holes of the rocks; and, from the various
uses to which the down, feathers, and oil of the young are applied,
contribute essentially to the comfort of the inhabitants. They lay
but one egg each, white, and of a large size, with a shell of very
brittle texture. The young are hatched about the middle of June,
and are fed with _oil_ thrown up by the parents (the produce of the
food upon which they subsist), and, as soon as fledged, are eagerly
sought for by the natives, although often at the risk of life, in
scaling the tremendous and overhanging cliffs in which they nestle.
Like most of the group, these birds have the power of ejecting oil
with much force through their tubular nostrils, which is used as the
principal mode of defence; it becomes an essential point, therefore,
that they should be taken and killed by surprise, in order to prevent
the loss of a liquid so requisite for the comfort of the inhabitants,
by supplying them with the necessary fuel for their lamps. The Fulmar
is of voracious appetite, feeding upon all sorts of animal substance,
particularly of an oily nature, such as the blubber of whales, seals,
&c.; and for this purpose it follows in great numbers the track of
the whale vessels, and is so greedy of its favourite food, as to be
often seen alighting upon the wounded animal, when not quite dead,
and immediately proceeding to break the skin with its strong hooked
bill, and gorging itself with the blubber to repletion.”
The Rev. Mr SCORESBY, in his “Arctic Regions,” vol. i. p. 528, gives
the following account of its habits as observed by him in the polar
seas.
“The Fulmar is the constant companion of the whale-fisher. It joins
his ship immediately on passing the Shetland Islands, and accompanies
it through the trackless ocean to the highest accessible latitudes.
It keeps an eager watch for any thing thrown overboard; the smallest
particle of fatty substance can scarcely escape it. As such, a hook
baited with a piece of fat meat or blubber, and towed by a long twine
over the ship’s stern, is a means employed by the sailor boys for
taking them. In the spring of the year, before they have glutted
themselves too frequently with the fat of the whale, they may be
eaten; and when cleared of the skin, and of every particle of yellow
fatty substance lying beneath it, and well soaked in water, they are
pretty good, particularly in ‘sea pies.’ They are remarkably easy and
swift on the wing. They can fly to windward in the highest storms,
and rest on the water with great composure in the most tremendous
seas. But it is observed that, in heavy gales, they fly extremely
low, generally skimming along by the surface of the water. The Fulmar
walks awkwardly, and with the legs so bent that the feet almost touch
the belly. When on ice it rests with its body on the surface, and
presents its breast to the wind. Like the Duck, it sometimes turns
its head backward, and conceals its bill beneath its wing.
“Fulmars are extremely greedy of the fat of the whale. Though few
should be seen when a whale is about being captured, yet, as soon as
the flensing process commences, they rush in from all quarters, and
frequently accumulate to many thousands in number. They then occupy
the greasy track of the ship; and being audaciously greedy, fearlessly
advance within a few yards of the men employed in cutting up the
whale. If, indeed, the fragments of fat do not float sufficiently
away, they approach so near the scene of operations, that they are
knocked down with boat hooks in great numbers, and sometimes taken up
by the hand. The sea immediately about the ship’s stern, is sometimes
so completely covered with them, that a stone can scarcely be thrown
overboard, without striking one of them. When any thing is thus cast
among them, those nearest the spot where it falls take the alarm,
and these exciting some fear in others more remote, sometimes put
a thousand of them in motion; but as, in rising into the air, they
assist their wings, for the first few yards, by striking the water
with their feet, there is produced by such a number of them, a loud and
most singular splashing. It is highly amusing to observe the voracity
with which they seize the pieces of fat that fall in their way; the
size and quantity of the pieces they take at a meal; the curious
chuckling noise which in their anxiety for dispatch they always make;
and the jealousy with which they view, and the boldness with which
they attack, any of this species that are engaged in devouring the
finest morsels. They frequently glut themselves so completely, that
they are unable to fly; in which case, when they are not relieved by a
quantity being disgorged, they endeavour to get on the nearest piece
of ice, where they rest until the advancement of digestion restores
their wonted powers. Then, if opportunity admit, they return with
the same gust to the banquet as before; and though numbers of the
species may be killed, and allowed to float about among them, they
appear unconscious of danger to themselves.
“The Fulmar never dives, but when incited to it by the appearance
of a morsel of fat under water. When in close view of any men, it
keeps a continual watch both on the men and its prey; having its feet
continually in motion, and yet perhaps not moving at all through the
water. Its boldness increases with the numbers of its species that
surround it. It is a very hardy bird. Its feathers being thick it
is not easily killed with a blow. Its bite, from the crookedness,
strength, and sharpness of its bill, is very severe.
“When carrion is scarce, the Fulmars follow the living whale; and
sometimes, by their peculiar motions, when hovering at the surface
of the water, point out to the fisher the position of the animal
of which he is in pursuit. They cannot make much impression on the
dead whale, until some more powerful animal tears away the skin; the
epidermis and rete mucosum they entirely remove, but the true skin
is too tough for them to make way through it.”
PROCELLARIA GLACIALIS, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p.
213.—_Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 823.—_Ch. Bonaparte_,
Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 369.
FULMAR PETREL, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 330.