164 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April, 1921 
A PREHISTORIC INDIAN NATURALIST 
SOME STONE PIPES, RECENTLY FOUND IN AN INDIAN MOUND IN OHIO, 
DEPICT IN REMARKABLE FASHION THE WILD LIFE OF THAT REGION 
By HENRY BANNON 
A N Indian mound was recently ex- 
plored in the lower Scioto val- 
ley (Ohio) and some of the spec- 
imens taken from it are quite as inter- 
esting to the naturalist as they are to 
the archaeologist. With the collection 
of Indian pipes taken from this mound 
there are several in the effigies of ani- 
mals and birds. These pipes are carved 
from stone and the workmanship dis- 
played upon them is superior to that 
disclosed in the collection taken from 
any other Indian mound. And the re- 
markable feature of the workmanship 
is the fidelity of the markings on these 
images and their characteristic poses. 
Each effigy is convincing that the 
Indian who made it occupies the place 
of a prehistoric naturalist. 
One of the pipes is in the form of a 
quail. So well has the carving of this 
specimen been done that a mere glance 
at it is sufficient to convey to the mind 
the fact that it represents the quail. 
This pipe is of especial interest on ac- 
count of the controversy that has exist- 
ed as to whether quail were natives 
of Ohio. 
The Ohio Geological Survey is doubt- 
ful of the existence of quail in Ohio 
before the beginning of agriculture. 
According to that authority the Vir- 
ginians who settled in the vicinity of 
Chillicothe in 1796, noted the absence 
of quail when they came to Ohio. 
These Virginians, it is said, had been 
very familiar with the quail in their 
old homes and missed the clear call of 
bob white. The Survey states that the 
quail did not come into Ohio until 
about 1800. 
The finding of the effigy of a quail 
in an Ohio mound, when considered 
with other facts, tends to prove that 
quail were in Ohio before the coming 
of the white man. Of course, such 
evidence is by no means conclusive, for 
the Ohio valley Indians roamed into 
Virginia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. 
They had abundant opportunity to 
know quail elsewhere than in Ohio. 
Thaddeus Harris was in the Ohio 
valley in 1803. He reports in his jour- 
nal* that along the river banks, just 
below Wheeling, he saw “vast numbers 
of turkies, partridges and quails.” 
James Flintf reports that quail were 
very abundant in the vicinity of Chilli- 
cothe in 1818. He found them so tame 
they would not fly at the report of a 
gun and the destruction of part of the 
*The Journal of a Tour into the Territory 
Northwest of the Allegheny Mountains. 
tLetters from America. 
covey. Netting entire coveys, he says, 
was then common practice. 
The journals of other writers report 
the quail to have been very numerous 
in northern Ohio in 1818, and in Illinois 
in 1821. The presence of such large 
numbers of quail in Ohio, and farther 
west, so soon after the first settlers 
came, cannot be reconciled with the the- 
ory that the quail was not a native of 
Ohio. While quail increase rapidly, 
under favorable conditions, it is im- 
probable that, if not indigenous to 
Ohio, they would have increased to 
such numbers, as these writers indicate 
were present in Ohio, so soon after 
settlement. 
An Indian pipe carved from stone to represent a quail 
T HE image of the owl pipe is an- 
other interesting specimen. One 
of the peculiar characteristics of 
an owl is the manner in which it slow- 
ly turns its head around that its eyes 
may follow one encircling it. When 
the face is directly over its back the 
owl turns its head in the reverse direc- 
tion so quickly that the movement is 
scarcely perceptible. This peculiar 
habit enables the owl to always keep 
watch of an enemy. 
The Indian who carved this owl well 
knew this peculiar habit of owls in 
turning the face to the back. He was 
also able to make from stone an unmis- 
takable image. 
The raccoon must have been a favor- 
ite animal with the Indians for four 
of the pipes are in its image. Each 
shows a characteristic expression or 
position. One of these sculptures illus- 
trates a raccoon fishing with a fore 
paw in a crawfish hole. The position 
is typical of the raccoon searching for 
food. A raccoon never looks down- 
ward when fishing, but always either 
straight ahead or upward. When a 
boy, I have often put a small catfish 
in a glass fruit jar and watched a 
raccoon try to catch it. The position 
assumed is exactly like that portrayed 
by the Indian pipe. 
The Carolina parrakeet was very 
abundant in the Ohio valley when the 
pioneers first came in. It is now al- 
most extinct in the United States. A 
few may still be found in Florida. The 
Indian has left us a good representa- 
tion of this bird in a very natural pose. 
These birds were so destructive to 
orchards and wheat that their exter- 
mination became an economic neces- 
sity. They would descend , in flocks 
upon the stacks of wheat and destroy 
J 
