C II. Jferriiim — />/n/s <>/ ('oinn'ctiriit. loi 



in Westfonl, ('oiniccticHf.'"'* TIkiI our anci'slors w ci'c IuimI ..I ■■ t'l.wl- 

 iuii"," nixl tIi:U it soiiu'tiincs cost thoin llicir lives, iniiy Im' seen iVum 

 tlie following: lii OctoLiT, 10:^0, one " Josc'|)li Tilly, niaslci- i>\' -a li;irk, 

 came to anchor nearly o])|)osit(' Calve's Island, and lakintj, one man 

 with liini, went on shore for the ])ur|iose of fowlinij,'. As soon as la- 

 had discharged his piece, a large nuniher of Ti'ijuots, rising ironi tlu-ir 

 conceahnent, took him and killed his companion ; and then uratilicd 

 their malice hy ])utting him to torture, 'riiey lirst cut oil" liis hands 

 and then his feet; after wliich lie lived three days. But as nothing 

 which they inflicted upon him excited a groan, they pronounced him a 

 stout man."f And tliis occiirred in the town of Saybrook, Conn., at 

 a time when many of our forefathers perished at the liands of the 

 Indians, before bringing them to submission. One Thomas Morton, 

 writing in 1032, speaks of the presence of this bird in New England 

 in the following language: " There are a kinde of fowles which are 

 commonly called Pheisants, but whether they be pheysaiits or no, I 

 will not take upon mee, to determine. They are in form like our 

 pheisant-henne of England. Both the male and the female are alike ; 

 but they are rough footed : and have stareing feathers about the 

 head and neck, the body is as bigg as the pheysant-henne of Eng- 

 land ; and ai'e excellent white flesh, and delicate white meate, yet we 

 seldom bestowe a shoot at them."J The " white flesh" must have 

 been a mistake unless he referred to the Ruffed (4rouse which is 

 immediately spoken of under the name of " I'artridge." Nuttall 

 says of its habits : " The season tor pairing is early in the sj)riiig, in 

 March or April. At this time the behavior of the male becomes 

 remarkable. Early in the morning he comes forth from his bushy 

 roost, and struts about with a curving neck, raising his ruff", exj)and- 

 ino; his tail like a fan, and seeming to mimic the ostentation of the 

 Turkey. He now seeks out or meets his rival, and several paiis at a 

 time, as soon as they l)ecome visible through the dusky dawn, arc 

 seen preparing for combat."§ 



♦Manual of Ornithology, vol. i, p. 662. 1832. 



f A Statistical Account of the f!ounty of Middlesex, in Couiiectiout. By David D. 

 Field, p. 36. 1819. 



\ Force'.? Historical Tracts, vol. ii. Tract 5, p. 48. 



§ Nuttall's Manual of Ornitliolo^y, vol. i, pp. (;(;:i-04. 18:!2. 



