THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



iol 



Old Put and the Bird's Nest." 



ANOTHER VERSION. 



The anecdote published in the last num- 

 ber of The Young Oologist relating 

 one of General Israel Putnam's daring ex- 

 ploits in his younger days calls forth the 

 following letter from a gentleman to whom 

 the genei'al was a great-great-uncle : 



Boston. Oct. 18, 1884. 

 The Young Oologist : 



A copy of your issue, No. 6, vol. I., ad- 

 dressed to A. Putnam, Boston, has found 

 its way to me, though probably intended 

 for someone else, because I have never been 

 a student of birds nor of any other class of 

 animated beings than Man. Having lived 

 already four score and two years, I am not 

 likely to travel much in search of birds' 

 eggs. 



Your account of "Old 'Put' and the 

 Bird's Nest" amused me a little. He was 

 born in the same house and reared on the 

 same farm as myself. He was the brother 

 of my great-grandfather. The place was 

 in Danvers, Mass. From my grandfather 

 Israel, nephew of the Old "Put" Israel, I 

 heard in my younger days of his uncle's 

 exploits in taming bulls, etc., but never of 

 hunting for birds' eggs, though, like my- 

 self and other boys, he no doubt did that; 

 but the use of the "rifle" many years be- 

 fore the rifle was invented caused me to 

 smile. Very respectfully, 



Allen Putnam. 



Knowing that the boys of America never 

 tire in reading about their heroes, and 

 knowing that the above letter would be 

 of especial interest to the readers of The 

 Young Oologist, we have taken the lib- 

 erty to publish it in full. It will be need- 

 less to add that we value the letter highly. 



From a long article given in the Rural 

 New Yorker some fifteen years ago we clip 

 the following extracts, which includes an- 

 other version of the "Bird's Nest" anec- 

 dote — the writer of which must also have 

 forgotten that the "rifle" was hardly in use 

 a century and one-half ago — and also the 

 one about "taming bulls" which Mr. P. 

 alludes to in his letter : 



Our hero's great-grandfather, John Put- 

 nam, settled in that part of Salem, Mass., 

 now Danvers, in 1634. His father was 

 Captain Joseph Putnam. Israel was born 

 January 7, 1718. The house in which he 



was born is still standing, in good preser- 

 vation, and occupied by his grand- 

 nephew. 



the bird's nest. 



Young Putnam's first daring exploit was 

 in attempting to get a bird's nest attached 

 to a slender limb at the top of a tall tree. 

 He walked out on the limb below, but just 

 as he touched the nest and exclaimed, "I've 

 got it — it is mine," the limb broke, and he 

 fell till he caught on another limb by his 

 pantaloons, where he hung, head down- 

 wards. Hanging thus, where he could get 

 neither up nor down, in a position where 

 death must come in a few minutes, he called 

 to a boy in the frightened group below to 

 shoot ofE the limb with his rifle. After 

 some hesitation he did this, and young- 

 Putnam fell to the ground somewhat 

 bruised. 



Determined not to be defeated, a few 

 days afterwards he returned to the tree, 

 alone, and with much difficulty secured 

 the nest, which he brought to his com- 

 panions in triumph. 



HE CHASTISES A BULL. 



He was a man of great personal 

 strength, as an incident occurring at this 

 period will show. He had an eye for fine 

 cattle, and having reared a bull of beautiful 

 proportions, which he highly valued, but 

 having a vicious temper had become the 

 terror of his neighbors, he determined to 

 chastise and conquer him, and took the 

 following very novel way to do it. C!om- 

 ing up to the animal in the pasture, while 

 in one of his vicious moods, "he seized 

 him suddenly by the tail, and twisting it 

 around a small tree, held him fast '" with 

 one hand, while he severely chastised him 

 with an ox-gad, in the other. The bull 

 bellowed and tore up the earth in his rage, 

 but all in vain, as the grip that held him 

 was inexorable. From that time the bull 

 had a master, and the sight of a rod made 

 him submissive. 



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