1854.] 11 



Silvery Fox, of Louisiana, Penn. I. c, p. 48. 



With a fine and thick coat of a deep brown color, overspread with long silvery- 

 hairs of a most elegant appearance. They differ from most other American 

 species in their habit of burrowing. The description is borrowed from Dupratz, 

 vol. ii., p. 92. 



This can hardly be the Canis velox. 



Pennant in Supp. to Arctic Zoology, p. 52, mentions a whitish grey fox, no 

 larger than a hare, common among the Archithinne Indians, 4000 skins of 

 which have been brought in one year to the British factories. 



The Comanche Dog : 



Common among the Comanche Indians. Naked, except a few stiff hairs about 

 the mouth. This dog is mentioned by Clavigero, vol. i., p. 56, as an inhabitant 

 of Mexico, called by the natives Holoitzuicintli. It is remarkable that though 

 some of these dogs have been brought within the United States, we have no 

 description of them : they are quite large, being upwards of two feet high, and 

 used by the natives for hunting. Here is an instance of the absurdity of those 

 writers who state, that climate has an influence in altering the appearance of 

 animals ; thus they tell you that the so-called Turkish dog, which is hairless, 

 has been made so by its progenitors living for numerous generations in a warm 

 climate ; now here we see an animal equally naked, which inhabits the moun- 

 tains and cold steppes of the south-west. Of a similar character is the assertion 

 that sheep lose their wool in the Southern States, and in the West India Islands. 



The Water Rat of Pennant, 1. c, p. 130. 



With small eyes, ears covered with fur, teeth yellow, body covered with long 

 black hair, mixed with a few of a rust color, belly of a deep grey. 



A Mouse of Louisiana : 



Mentioned by Dupratz. Not larger than Mus musculus, of a very bright bay. 



These are all the mammals which I can collect, as worthy of being called im- 

 perfectly known, or rather lost to modern naturalists. I now proceed to consider 

 the Birds. 



Vultur sacra : Bartram's Travels, p. 150. 



The head and neck are bare of feathers nearly down to the stomach, where 

 the feathers begin to cover the skin, and soon become long and of a soft texture, 

 forming a ruff or tippet, in which the bird, by contracting his neck, can hide that 

 as well as the head ; the bare skin on the neck appears loose and wrinkled, which 

 is of a very deep bright yellow color, intermixed with coral red as it approaches 

 the yellow of the sides and fore part. The crown of the head is red; there are 

 lobed lappets of a reddish orange color, which lie on the base of the upper man- 

 dible. But what is singular is, a large portion of the stomach hangs down on the 

 breast of the bird, in likeness of a sack or half wallet, and seems to be a dupli- 

 cature of the craw, which is naked and of a reddish flesh color, this is partly 

 concealed by the feathers of the breast, unless when it is loaded with food, and 

 then it appears prominent. The plumage of the bird is generally white or cream 

 colored, except the quill feathers of the wings and two or three rows of the co- 

 verts, which are of a beautiful dark brown; the tail which is large and white, is 

 tipt with this dark brown or black, the legs and feet are of a clear white ; the 

 irids golden ; the pupil black. 



The tail was used by the Seminoles as a war standard. Dupratz, vol. ii., p. 

 109, mentions this bird under the name of White Eagle, and says that the Indians 

 in whose neighborhood he lived, the Natchez, used the feathers for adorning their 

 pipe of peace. 



Ferruginous Woodpecker : Pennant, 1. C, p. 271. 



With a dusky bill, the crown and pendant crest of a pale yellow ; a crimson 

 bar extends from the mouth along the lower part of the cheek. The cheeks, 



