Cn the Natural History of North America. 205 



I lately ascertained a fact in ornithology, at once singular 

 and interesting;. It is well known that the anas spoum of 

 Linnaeus, called in the United States summer duck, breeds 

 hi the hollows of trees, on the banks of rivers, or in islands 

 at a considerable height from the ground. The young ones, 

 rioon after they are hatched, descend the sides of the tree, 

 and thus make their way into the water. 1 do not know 

 of a similar fact in the history of birds. 



I have read, with much pleasure, count Morozzo's letter 

 to you respecting a parrot hatched at Rome*. I am sorry, 

 however, to find so sensible a writer adhering to the para- 

 dox, that " the parrots both of the old and new continent 

 never pass the tropics, and seem confined to a zone ot: 23" 

 on each side of the equator ; and that " in their wild state 

 they never pass these limits, which nature seems to have 

 prescribed to them." The parrots of America are, I assure 

 vou, much greater vovagers than count Morozzo- supposes. 

 They sail far beyond the tropics. They are frequently found 

 in immense flocks upon the river Ohio as high as the lati- 

 tude of 40°: nay, a very large flight of these birds has been 

 seen, on the eastern side of the United Slates, as high as 



the latitude of 42° t- 



From the birds T pass to the oviparous quadrupeds and 

 other amphibia. The American animals of this class have 

 been very imperfectly investigated. Notvv'ithstanding your 

 labours in your inestimable work on the Oiiadriipedes Ovi- 

 pares, and the labours of Schoepf, we possess several spe- 

 cies of testudo which have entirely escaped your attention. 

 In the western parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, &c. there 

 is a species of this genus considerably allied to, but still 

 different from, the one which you have called la molle. The 

 new species is called by some of our Indians pl-si-li-Tid-pe, 

 which literally signifies " the soft-sht-lled turtle." They 

 are very prolific, and both their flesh and eggs are deemed 

 excellent eating. Our western rivers, such as the Ohio and 

 its branches, likewise possess a very remarkable undcscribed 

 species of laccrta, if, indeed, it be not entirely a new genus. 

 It is sometimes seen near twenty inches in length. By the 

 white people it is called alligator, though it is very different 

 from the southern animal of this name. Its whole body, 

 but in particular the head, contains a milk-like fluid. This 

 animal lives upon fish, frogs, &:c. It is often taken with 

 the line and hook. Tlie Indians say it is poisonous : but. 



• See Philosophical Mag'azine, vol. xvi. p. 318. 



t See my rra^Tiieiits of the Natural History of Pennsylvania, part 1.. 



this 



