C. H. Merriam — Birds of Connecticut.. 101 



in West/ord, Connecticut.''''* That our ancestors were foinl of " fowl- 

 intj," and that it sometimes cost them their lives, may be seen from 

 the foHowing: In ()ctol)er, 1636, one "Joseph Tilly, master of a bark, 

 came to anchor nearly opposite Calve's Island, and taking- one man 

 Avitli him, went on shore for the pnri)Ose of fowling. As soon as he 

 liad diseliarged his piece, a large numl)er of Pequots, rising from their 

 conceahnent, took liim and killed his companion; and then gratified 

 their malice by putting him to torture. They first cut off his hands 

 and then his feet; after which he lived three days. But as nothing 

 Avhich they inflicted upon liim excited a groan, they pronounced him a 

 stout man."f And this occurred in the town of Saybrook, Conn;, at 

 a time when many of our forefathers perished at the hands of the 

 Indians, before bringing them to sul)mission. One Thomas Morton, 

 writing in 16.32, speaks of the jjresence of this bird in New England 

 in the following language: " There are a kinde of fowles Avhich are 

 commoidy called Pheisants, but whether they be pheysants or no, I 

 will not take upon rnee, to determine. They are in form like our 

 pheisant-henne of England. Roth the male and the female are alike ; 

 but they are rough footed: and have stareing feathers about the 

 head and neck, the body is as bigg as the pheysant-henne of Eng- 

 land ; and are excellent white flesh, and delicate white mcate, yet we 

 seldom bestowe a shoot at them. "J The " white flesh" must have 

 been a mistake unless he referred to the Rufted (li-ouse which is 

 immediately spoken of under the name of " Partridge." Nuttall 

 says of its habits : " The season ibr pairing is early in the S])ring, in 

 March or Aj)ril. At this time the behavior of the male becomes 

 remarkable. Early in the morning he comes forth from his bushy 

 roost, and struts al)Out with a curving neck, raising his ruft", expand- 

 ing his tail like a fan, and seeming to mimic the ostentation of the 

 Turkey. He now seeks out or meets his rival, and several pairs at a 

 time, as soon as they become visil)le through the dusky dawn are 

 seen preparing for combat."§ 



* Manual of Ornithology, vol. i, p. 662. 1832. 



f A Statistical Account of the County of Middlesex, in Connecticut. By David D. 

 Field, p. 3f>. 1819. 



Ij. Force's Historical Tracts, vol. ii. Tract .5, p. 48. 



§ Nuttall's Manual of Ornithology, vol. i, pp. 003-04. 1832. 



