20 NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



in the prairie. The hawk, buzzard, eagle, owl, and a small 

 paroquet, and several varieties of woodpeckers, are met oc- 

 casionally. The woodcock, snipe, and quail, are abundant. 

 There is a very peculiar bird inhabiting the wet prairies and 

 marshes, about the size of the prairie hen, and having a close 

 resemblance in color and shape ; the principal difference being 

 in a longer neck, and a bill of very peculiar construction. It 

 is some nine or ten inches in length and bent over at the end 

 like a sickle, the hooked part being from one to two inches 

 long. The swan and pelican are seen occasionally on the 

 Missisippi, in the latitude of the lower rapids. Farther north 

 and west they are believed to be more abundant. To one of 

 the lakes in the north-west the Indians have given an appel- 

 lation which signifies "the place where the pelicans nestle." 

 Geese and ducks are very abundant on some of the w^ater- 

 courses ; and occasionally a gull, similar to the saltwater-gull, 

 is seen. The small, slender-legged bird, with a shrill, mourn- 

 ful note, which is found running about the shores and marshes 

 near the sea, in the east, commonly called the peewit, is here. 

 Robins, sparrows, swallows, and the other small birds com- 

 mon to the east, are also inhabitants of this region. 



Of reptiles, the Upper Missisippi cannot be said to be 

 very prolific ; though in some localities this division of ani- 

 mated nature is sufficiently represented. The varieties are, 

 the great yellow rattlesnake, the prairie rattlesnake (called by 

 the Indians massasauga, great adder), the copperhead, the 

 bull snake, the milk snake, the black snake, the moccasin ; 

 and in the rivers the water-moccasin, with a number of small 

 adders. There is one of this tribe called the death-adder, 

 said to be as fatal as the copperhead or rattlesnake. The 

 writer saw one specimen of an unknown and very peculiar 

 kind of snake. It was in the road about one mile back from 

 the river, at the foot of the lower rapids. Its length was ap- 



