2C8 Trotter, A'irr/;H"5 Ornithological Observatio)is. I lulv 



else. By its song it attracted others of its species to the court- 

 yard, and after we had put some maize on the ground under the 

 window where I had it, the others came there every day to get 

 their food ; it was then easy to catch them by means of traps. 

 Some of them, especially old ones, both cocks and hens, would 

 die of grief on being put into cages. Those on the other hand 

 which were grown tame, began to sing exceedingly sweet. Their 

 note very nearly resembles that of our European nightingale, and 

 on account of their agreeable song, they are sent abundantly to 

 London, in cages. They have such strength in their bill that 

 when you hold your hand to them they pinch it so hard as to 

 cause the blood to issue forth. In spring they sit warbling on the 

 tops of the highest trees in the woods, in the morning. But in 

 cages they sit quite still for an hour ; the next hour they hop up 

 and down, singing; and so they go on alternately all day." (Eng. 

 Trans., II, p. 71.) 



Snowbird. — In the journal at Raccoon, New Jersey, dated 

 January 21, 1749, is the following note: "A small kind of birds, 

 which the Siaedes call S?iow-bird, and the English Chuck-bird, come 

 into the houses about this time. At other times, they sought 

 their food along the roads. They are seldom seen, but when it 

 snows. Cateshy, in his Natural History of Carolina, calls it Passer 

 Nivalis ; and Dr. Linnceus, in his Sy sterna Naturce, calls it Einberiza 

 hyemalis.''^ (Eiig- Trans., II, p. 51.) 



Again, under date of March 3, 1749, at Raccoon, is the follow- 

 ing : " The Sivedes call a species of little birds, Snofogel, and the 

 E?iglish call it Snoiv-bird. This is Dr. Linna;us^s Eniberiza hyema- 

 lis. The reason why it is called snow-bird is because it never 

 appears in summer, but only in winter, when the fields are cov- 

 ered with snow. In some winters they come in as great numbers 

 as the maize -thieves, fly about the houses and barns, into the gar- 

 dens, and eat the corn, and the seeds of grass, which they find 

 scattered on the hills." (Eng. Trans., II, p. 81.) 



Swallows. — "April the i6th [1749]. This morning I returned 

 to Raccoon [from Chester, Penna., on the opposite side of the 

 Delaware]. This country has several kinds of swallows, viz. such 

 as live in barns, in chimneys, and under ground; there are like- 

 wise martens. 



