372 Memorial of George Brozvn Goode. 



unfamiliar. He was the first to refer to the red-wing blackbird {Agelaacs 

 phoeniceus) . 



He catalogues twenty-five kinds of fish and shellfish, using the names 

 by which many of them are known to this day. 



He gives also a very judicious account of the useful trees of Virginia, 

 referring, among novel things, to the Chechinquamin (chinkapin), and 

 another which no one can fail to recognize. 



Phiins, [he says], are of three sorts. . . . That which they call Putchamins 

 grow as high as a Palme ta ; the fruit is like a Medler ; it is first greeiie, then yellow, 

 and red when it is ripe; if it be not ripe it will draw a man's mouth awry with much 

 torment.' 



In his description of New England, Smith mentions twelve species of 

 mammals, including the ."moos," now spoken of for the first time,^ 

 sixteen of birds, and twenty-seven "fishes." His descriptions of the 

 abundance of fishes are often quoted.^ 



Smith's first work upon Virginia was printed in 1612 and his General 

 History in 1624. In the interim, Ralphe Hamor, the j^ounger, secretary 

 of the colony, issued his True Discourse of the Present Estate of Vir- 

 ginia, published in lyondon in iGis.-* Hamor was not a naturalist, but 

 his name is usually referred to by zoological bibliographers, since he 

 mentions by name over sixty native animals. He was the first to describe 

 the great flocks of wild pigeons, of which he remarks: "In winter, 

 beyond number or imagination, myself e hath scene three or foure houres 

 together flockes in the aire so tliicke that even they have shadowed the 

 skie from us. ' ' ^ He gives an amusing description of the ' ' opossume, ' ' 

 and also speaks of the introduction and successful acclimation of the 

 Chinese silkworm. 



In 1620 the Plymouth Colony was planted, and its members also began 

 to record their impressions of the birds and the beasts and the plants 

 which they found, for the instruction of their kinsfolk at home. 



Bradford and Winslow's Journal, printed in London in 1622, contains 

 various passing allusions to the animals and plants observed by the 

 Pilgrims, as does also Bradford's History, which, however, was not 

 printed until long after its completion. They added nothing, however, 

 to what had already been said by Smith. 



Edward Winslow's News from New England, printed in London 



' Generall Historie, 1624, p. 27. 



=^From the Indian word Moosoa. Slafter, in his notes on Champlain's Voyages, 

 I, p. 265, supposes the Orignac referred to by this explorer in his De Sauvages, etc., 

 Paris, 1607, to have been the Moose, and his Cerfio have been the Caribou. 



3 Generall Historie, 1624, pp. 216, 217. 



4 A copy of this rare work was sold in London, 1883, for ^69. A reprint was issued 

 by Joel Munsell at Albany in i860, but this privately printed edition consisted of only 

 200 copies and it is already scarce. 



5 Page 21. 



