92 LONG -TAILED DUCK. 



the family supply is easily obtained quite pure enough for family 

 purposes. The pond would therefore supply a large number both 

 of cattle and of families. Though I have seen no evidence either 

 for or against the theory that the early colonists had cattle with them, 

 it seems to me at least very probable that such were, as I have sug- 

 gested, the intentions of the people in making this peculiar structure. 

 I will not now speak at length of the curious superstition of some 

 of the people whom I have seen, that this structure in some way con- 

 ceals large pots of gold left by the French, but will leave this and 

 other superstitions of a like nature for some other time and place, if 

 indeed they are worth mentioning at all. 



Though there is little or no beach, properly speaking, the land 

 slopes down quite close to the sea in one or two places ; these have 

 been chosen for building spots and houses erected accordingly. 

 Back of the houses all is a dense mass of low, tangled spruce and 

 fir, extending on and over the hills some distance into the interior. 



I must here yield to a natural desire and describe to you two 

 new species of birds which were procured here. The first, the 

 Canada or tree span'ow {Spizella monticold) which is rare except 

 in its migrations, apparently ; the second, the long tailed duck 

 (^Harelda glacialis). The latter bird is called the ^''coc-cau-wee,^^ 

 from the sound made by the males which resembles the pronunci- 

 ation of these words. Another name for the birds is that of 

 "hounds." The female resembles the female of another bird called 

 the dipper or buffle head, sometimes the butter ball and spirit 

 duck, but which is here called "sleepy diver," from the slowness of 

 its movements in the water. The marked difference between the 

 two is the absence of white on the wing of the long tailed duck ; 

 whether the young birds of the two species are distinguishable or 

 not I could not ascertain. The people here cannot tell you which 

 is the sleepy diver, as they call it, and which the female of the long 

 tailed duck, or even distinguish the young, but call them all indis- 

 criminately sleepy divers. It will never do for a stranger to tell 

 them they are wrong ; they think that you are the one wrong in all 

 cases, and you cannot possibly convince them that a stranger can 



