[19] 



from the Eagle, and if it had been dropp'd Two Yards higher he 

 wou'd have got it : But we at last took Possession of it alive, 

 carried it Home, and had it dressed forthwith. It serv'd Five of 

 us ver}' plentifully, without any other Addition, and some to the 

 Servants. This Fish was a Rock near Two foot long, very fat, 

 and a great Rarity for the Time of Year, as well as for the 

 Manner of its being taken. These Fishing-Hawks, in more 

 plentiful Seasons, will catch a Fish, and loiter about with it in 

 the Air, on purpose to have a Chace with an Eagle ; and when 

 he does not appear soon enough, the Hawk will make a sawcy 

 Noise, and insolently defie him. This has been frequently seen, 

 by Persons who have observ'd their Fishings." 



Beverley appears to be the first writer to make mention of 

 " Saurers," concerning which birds, the following interesting 

 fragment is taken from a work by the Rev. Andrew Burnaby.* 



"I departed from Williamsburg, Oct. i, 1759 in company" 

 with another gentleman ; and we travelled that day about forty 

 miles, to a plantation in King William county ; beautifully sit- 

 uated upon a high hill, on the north side of Pamunky river. A 

 little below this place stands the Pamunky Indian town ; where 

 at present are the few remains of that large tribe ; the rest having 

 dwindled away through intemperance and disease. 



They live in little wigwams or cabins upon the river ; and have 

 a very fine tract of land of about 2000 acres which they are re- 

 strained from alienating by act of assembly. Their employment 

 is chiefly hunting or fishing for the neighbouring gentry. They 

 commonly dress like the Virginians and I have sometinfies mis- 

 taken them for the lower sort of that people. The night I spent 

 here, they went out into an adjoining marsh to catch soruses ; 

 and one of them, as I was informed in the morning, caught near 

 a hundred dozen. The manner of taking these birds is re- 

 markable. The sorus is not known to be in Virginia except 

 for about six weeks from the latter end of September : at that- 

 time they are found in the marshes in prodigious numbers, feeding 

 upon the wild oats, at first they are exceedingly lean, but in a 



*Travels Through the Middle Settlements in North America in the years 1759 

 and 1760. With Observations upon the State of the Colonies — By the Rev. 

 Andrew Burnaby M. A. Vicar of Greenwich — London printed for T. Payne at 

 the Mews-Gate, 1775. 



