144 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



the winter. Should the Indian return, his supply of 

 sturgeon would go a very little way towards satisfying 

 his winter needs. 



Even more striking is the case of the bony gar. This 

 fish is now so rare in the river, that but few people 

 have any knowledge of it ; yet, in pre-colonial times, it 

 was exceedingly abundant, and judging from the frag- 

 ments of jawbones, they were formerly found in Cross- 

 wicks Creek of the very largest size. 



So few bird-bones were to be found, as compared with 

 the remains of fishes, it would appear that the Indians, 

 while they tarried here, were strictly ichthyophagi ; the 

 birds eaten being such as were met Avith while the 

 men were engaged in fishing, and not regularly hunted. 

 This seems the more j)robable, as all were aquatic, fish- 

 eating birds — geese, ducks, and herons; with these was 

 found the breastbone of a pelican ; and a word here 

 about this once abundant bird. Speaking of birds which 

 have disappeared. Dr. Turnbull has written : " The rough- 

 billed pelican was also frequent on the Hudson and the 

 Delaware, but is now a very rare visitant to the last- 

 mentioned river only." At how late a date it was 

 frequent upon the Delaware I cannot satisfactorily de- 

 tern:iine, and probably the disappearance was largely 

 synchronous with the English settlements upon the river 

 two centuries ago. Early in the last century, however, 

 flocks of pelicans came up the river as far as the head 

 of tide-water, and their presence was recorded by a resi- 

 dent of the Falls of the Delaware. They were also seen 

 by the farmer-residents of the Crosswicks valley, on the 

 sand-bars and banks of the creek. I cannot learn of the 



