46 THE NIDOLOGIST 
Extracts from an Old Book. 
BY H. M. GUILFORD. 
HILE in the Minneapolis Public Lib- 
rary recently I picked upa small 
book entitled, ‘‘Carver’s Travels.’ 
Its yellow and worn leaves and its old style 
print marked it as a volume of antiquity. 
It was the account of Jonathan Carver, 
a citizen of the Colonies, who at his own 
enterptise, a century and a quarter ago, 
traversed the Great Lakes, explored the 
Wisconsin and Chippewa Rivers, and the 
country lying along the upper Mississippi. 
The thought came to me to turn its leaves 
and see what it contained relating to early 
Ornithology, and I found therein a whole 
chapter about birds. As much of it was 
interesting to me and may be so to others, 
I copy parts of it as follows: 
The Night Hawk:—This bird is of the 
Hawk species, its bill being crooked, its 
wings formed for swiftness, and its shape 
nearly like that of the common Hawk; but 
in size it is considerably less and in coior 
rather darker. It is scarcely ever seen but 
in the evening, when, at the approach of 
twilight, it flies about, and darts itself in 
wanton gambols at the head of the belated 
traveller. Before a thunder shower these 
birds are seen at an amazing height in the 
air, assembled together in great numbers 
as Swallows are observed to do on the same 
occasion. 
The Whipperwill, or, as it is termed by 
the Indians, the Muckawiss. This extra- 
ordinary bird is somewhat like the last men- 
tioned in shape and color, only it has some 
whitish stripes across the wings, and like 
that bird is seldom seen till after sunset. It 
also is seldom met with during the spring 
and summer months. As soon as the In- 
dians are informed by its notes of its return, 
they conclude that the frost is entirely gone, 
in which they are seldom deceived; and up- 
on receiving this assurance of milder 
weather, begin to sow their corn. It ac- 
quires its name by the noise it makes, which 
to the people of the Colonies sounds like 
the name they give it, Whipperwill; to an 
Indian ear, Muckawiss. The words, it is 
true, are not alike, but in this manner they 
strike the imagination of each; and the cir- 
cumstance is a proof that the same sounds, 
if they are not rendered certain by being 
reduced to the rules of Ornithology, might 
convey different ideas to different peoples. 
As soon as night comes on, these birds will 
place themselves on the fences, stumps or 
stones that lie near some house, and repeat 
their melancholy notes without any varia- 
tion till midnight. ‘The Indians and some 
of the inhabitants of the back settlements, 
think if this bird perches itself upon any 
house, that it betokens some mishap to the 
inhabitants of it. 
The Fish Hawk greatly resembles the 
latter in its shape, and receives his name 
from his food; which is generally fish; it 
skims over the lakes and rivers, and some- 
times seems to lie expanded on the water, 
as he hovers close to it, and having by 
some attractive power drawn the fish with- 
in its reach, darts suddenly upon them. 
The charm it makes use of is supposed to be 
an oil contained in a small bag in the body, 
and which nature has by some means or 
other supplied him with the power of using 
for this purpose; it is, however, very cer- 
tain, that any bait touched with a drop of 
the oil collected from this bird is an irresis- 
tible lure for all sorts of fish, and insures 
the angler great success. 
The Wakon Bird, as it is termed by the 
Indians, appears to be one of the same 
species as the Birds of Paradise. The name 
they have given it is expressive of its supe- 
rior excellence and the veneration they have 
for it; the Wakon Bird being in their lan- 
guage the bird of the Great Spirit. It is 
nearly the size of a Swallow, of a brown | 
color, shaded about the neck with a bright 
green; the wings are ofa darker brown 
than the body; its tail is composed of four 
or five feathers, which are three times as 
long as its body, and which are beautifully 
shaded with green and purple. It carries 
this fine length of plumage in the same 
manner as a peacock does, but it is not 
known whether it ever raises it into the 
erect position that bird sometimes does. I 
never saw any of these birds in the Col- 
onies, but the Naudowessie Indians caught 
several of them when 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. 
The Black-bird:—There are three sorts 
of birds in North America that bear this 
name; the first is the common, or as it is 
there termed, the Crow Black-bird, which 
is quite black, and of the same size and 
shape of those of Europe, but it has not that 
melody in its tones which they have. In 
the month of September this sort fly in 
