1853, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



79 



seription. He says, "The Pond Frog, will chip in 

 the Spring like SpaiTows, and crokc like Toads in 

 autumn ; iSome of these, when they set upon their 

 breech, are a Fool high ; the Indians will tell you 

 that, up in the Country, there are Pond Frogs as 

 bijr as a child of a year old/'' Our author describes 

 a bird, which he calls the Troculus, and says "it 

 is a small bird, black and white, no bigger than a 

 swallow, the points of whose Feathers are sharp, 

 which they stick into the sides of the Chimney, to 

 rest themselves [their Legs being exceedingly 

 short] where they breed in Nests, made like a swal- 

 lows Nests, but of a glevvey substance, and which 

 is not fiistened to the Chimney as a, swallows Nest, 

 but hangs down the Chimney by a clew like siring 

 a yard long and when they go away, they never fail 

 to throw down one of their young Birds into the 

 room by ivay of Gratitude. ^^ 



The above relation of the Troculus, is no doubt 

 intended for our chimney svfallow ; and if we can 

 credit any of Josselyn's description of it, we may 

 notice that this bird, very early in the settlement 

 of the country, forsook its natural abode in hollow 

 trees, to seek the habitations of men, and the pro- 

 tection they aiford. We are not one of those per- 

 sons, who entertain the idea that this swallow 

 hangs its nests in our chimneys by a string, as a 

 sailn* does his hammock, between decks, or that 

 gratitude to the owner of the chimney in furnish- 

 ing these birds with a breeding place, prompts 

 them to leave behind them one of their own off- 

 spring. In point of fact, the chimney swallow 

 constructs its nest of very small twigs glued to- 

 gether, and to the chimney by a gum, which the 

 bird secretes from its mouth. This nest is small, 

 and to the young birds crowded, and not being 

 lined is hard and uncomfortable, thus inducing 

 them to leave it, when only a few days old, and 

 attach themselves by their sharp claws to the in- 

 side of the chimney. In this situation they fre- 

 quently lose their hold, and fJiU down the flue, 

 and perhaps flutter into the room. If we must be 

 compelled to believe strange relations in regard 

 to the habits of the swallow tribe, as related by 

 the old writers on Ornithology, with our own ob- 

 servations to assist in guiding us, we should give 

 a preference to those wdiich relate to the torpidi- 

 ty of these birds in winter, at the bottom of our 

 ponds immersed in mud and water. 



There were a few birds, that early attracted the 

 notice of the first settlers of our country. There 

 were others, to which their attention had been 

 called by the Indians, those close observers of na- 

 ture. One of the birds mentioned by the old wri- 

 ters, was called by the aborigines the Wakon Bird, 

 and is thus described. "The Wakon Bird, as it is 

 termed by the Indians, appears to be of the same 

 species as tha birds of paradise. The name they 

 have given it, is expressive of its superior excel- 

 lence, and the veneration they have for it ; the 

 wakon bird, being in their language, the bird of 

 the Groat Spirit. It is nearly the size of a swal- 

 low, of a brown colour, shaded about the neck, 

 with a briglit green ; its talc is composed of four 

 or five feathers, which are three times as long as 

 its body. It carries this fine length of plumage, 

 in the same manner that a peacock does his. Capt. 

 Jonathan Carver, the traveler through the interior 

 parts of North America inlTGG, says the Naudow- 

 essie Indians, cauglit several of them, wdien I was 

 in their Country, and seemed to treat them as if 



they were of a superior rank, to any other of the 

 feathered race. Mr. Loskiel, a missionary of the 

 United Brethren among the Indians of North 

 America, speaks of the bird of the Great Spirit— 

 or the Wakon Bird, and describes it nearly in the 

 same language as that used by Capt. Carver. It 

 is difficult at this time, to asd'ertain v/hat these 

 birds were that were seen and described by our 

 travelers, in the Indian Country. They were sup- 

 posed to exist up to the time of Wilson." The 

 description of our King-bird, as given by the old 

 travellers, is as follows. "The King Bird is like a 

 swallow, and seems to be of the same sjiecies as 

 the black martin, or swift ; it is called the King 

 Bird, because it is able to master almost every bird 

 that flies. I have often seen it bring down a hawk." 

 It would seem that the Indians observed tlie cour- 

 ageous and tyrannical habits of this bird, before 

 the arrival of our ancestors, and gave it the name 

 of Sachem Bird. Roger Williams, in his key to 

 the Indiaan tongue, says "the Sachem is a little 

 Bird, about the bignesse of a swallow, or lesse, to 

 whom the Indians give that name because of its 

 Sachim or Prineelike courage and Command our 

 greater Birds, that a man shall often see this small 

 Bird pursue and vanquish and put to flight the 

 Crow and other Birds, farre bigger than itselfe." 

 The generic description of the King bird, as given 

 by our old writers, is inaccurate, the description 

 of its habits is more correct. The Hnmmino- Bird 

 was very generally known by our ancestors, and 

 early attracted notice, and their descriptions of it, 

 are generally correct, with the exception of its size. 

 In Ogilby'sAmerica, published in 1071, the author 

 says, "The Humbird is one of the wonders of the 

 country, being no bigger than a Hormet, yet hath 

 all the dimensions of a Bird, and wings with quills, 

 spider-like legs, small claws : for color, she is as 

 glorious as the rainbow; as she flies, she makes a 

 little humming noise, like the Humble-bee, where- 

 fore she is called the Humbird." The Wild Pig- " 

 eon is mentioned by most of our old writers, and 

 they were vei-y abundant in New England in 1G40; 

 Josselyn says, "The Pidgeon, of which there are 

 millions of millions, I have seen a flight of Pidg- 

 eons in the spring, and at Michaslmas, when they 

 return back to the Southward, for four or five 

 miles, that to my thinking had neither beginning 

 nor ending, length nor breadth, and so thick that 

 I could see no sun, they joyn Nest to Nest, and 

 Tree to Tree by their Nests, many miles together 

 in Pine Trees. I have bought at Boston a dozen 

 of Pidgeons ready puU'd and garbidged for three 

 pence." 



The AVhip-poor-will was another bird which from 

 its singular note, attracted the attention of our 

 ancestors. It is well known, that it acquired its 

 n:ime Whip-poor-will, very early in the history of 

 our country. The Indians called it muck-a-wiss, 

 the note of the bird striking an Indian's ear and 

 imagination, differently from what it did the Eng- 

 lish. There was a bird described by our old trav- 

 ellers in 1762, and said to be found in our woods, 

 and called by ^lem the Whetsaw Bird. Their de- 

 scription of it wa^ as follows : "The Whetsaw is 

 of the cuckoo kind, being like that, a solitary bird 

 and scarcely ever seen. In the summer months, 

 it is heard in the groves, where it mixkes a noise 

 like the filing of a saw, from which it receives its 

 name." This solitary bird of the cuckoo kind, 

 above mentioned, was no doubt the little Acadian 



