240 LAWSON'S HISTORY 



hard to be seen, though you hear them never so 

 plain. They are more plentiful in Virginia than 

 with us in Carolina ; for I never heard but one 

 that was near the settlement, and that was hard 

 by an Indian town. 



Red sparrow. This nearest resembles a spar- 

 row, and is the most common bird we have, 

 therefore we call them so. They are brown and 

 red, cinnamon color, striped. 



Of the swans, we have two sorts ; the one we 

 call trompeters, because of a sort of trompeting 

 noise they make. 



Swans. These are the largest sort we have, 

 which come in great flocks in the winter, and stay, 

 commonly, in the fresh rivers till February, that 

 the spring comes on, when they go to the lakes to 

 breed. A cygnet, that is, a last years' swan, is ac- 

 counted a delicate dish, as indeed it is. They are 

 known by their head and feathers, which are not 

 so white as old ones. 



The sort of swans called hoopers, are the least. 

 They abide more in the salt water, and are equally 

 valuable for food, with the former. It is observable 

 that neither of these have a black piece of horny 

 flesh down the head and bill, as they have in Eng- 

 land. 



Of geese, we have three sorts, differing from 

 each other only in size. Ours are not the common 

 geese that are in the fens in England, but the oth- 

 er sorts, with black heads and necks. 



