Chapter XX: Part I: Notes on Virginia (3)

Proceeding to the second table, which arranges the animals found in one of the two countries only, Monsieur de Buffon observes, that the tapir, the elephant of America, is but of the size of a small cow. To preserve our comparison, I will add, that the wild boar, the elephant of Europe, is little more than half that size. I have made an elk with round or cylindrical horns an animal of America, and peculiar to it; because I have seen many of them myself, and more of their horns; and because I can say, from the best information, that, in Virginia, this kind of elk has abounded much, and still exists in smaller numbers; and I could never learn that the palmated kind had been seen here at all. I suppose this confined to the more northern latitudes.[24] I have made our hare or rabbit peculiar, believing it to be different from both the European animals of those denominations, and calling it therefore by its Algonquin name, Whabus, to keep it distinct from these. Kalm is of the same opinion.[25] I have enumerated the squirrels according to our own knowledge, derived from daily sight of them, because I am not able to reconcile with that the European appellations and descriptions. I have heard of other species, but they have never come within my own notice. These, I think, are the only instances in which I have departed from the authority of Monsieur de Buffon in the construction of this table. I take him for my ground work, because I think him the best informed of any naturalist who has ever written. The result is, that there are eighteen quadrupeds peculiar to Europe; more than four times as many, to wit, seventy four, peculiar to America; that the[26] first of these seventy-four weighs more than the whole column of Europeans; and consequently this second table disproves the second member of the assertion, that the animals peculiar to the new world are on a smaller scale, so far as that assertion relied on European animals for support; and it is in full opposition to the theory which makes the animal volume to depend on the circumstances of _heat_ and _moisture_.

The third table comprehends those quadrupeds only which are domestic in both countries. That some of these, in some parts of America, have become less than their original stock, is doubtless true; and the reason is very obvious. In a thinly-peopled country, the spontaneous productions of the forests, and waste fields, are sufficient to support indifferently the domestic animals of the farmer, with a very little aid from him, in the severest and scarcest season. He therefore finds it more convenient to receive them from the hand of nature in that indifferent state, than to keep up their size by a care and nourishment which would cost him much labor. If, on this low fare, these animals dwindle, it is no more than they do in those parts of Europe where the poverty of the soil, or the poverty of the owner, reduces them to the same scanty subsistence. It is the uniform effect of one and the same cause, whether acting on this or that side of the globe. It would be erring, therefore, against this rule of philosophy, which teaches us to ascribe like effects to like causes, should we impute this diminution of size in America to any imbecility or want of uniformity in the operations of nature. It may be affirmed with truth, that, in those countries, and with those individuals in America, where necessity or curiosity has produced equal attention, as in Europe, to the nourishment of animals, the horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, of the one continent are as large as those of the other. There are particular instances, well attested, where individuals of this country have imported good breeders from England, and have improved their size by care in the course of some years. To make a fair comparison between the two countries, it will not answer to bring together animals of what might be deemed the middle or ordinary size of then species; because an error in judging of that middle or ordinary size, would vary the result of the comparison. Thus Mons. D'Aubenton[27] considers a horse of 4 feet five inches high and 400 lb. weight French, equal to 4 feet 8.6 inches and 436 lb. English, as a middle-sized horse. Such a one is deemed a small horse in America. The extremes must therefore be resorted to. The same anatomist[28] dissected a horse of 5 feet 9 inches height, French measure, equal to 6 feet 1.7 English. This is near 6 inches higher than any horse I have seen; and could it be supposed that I had seen the largest horses in America, the conclusion would be, that ours have diminished, or that we have bred from a smaller stock. In Connecticut and Rhode Island, where the climate is favorable to the production of grass, bullocks have been slaughtered which weighed 2,500, 2,200, and 2,100 lbs. nett; and those of 1,800 lbs. have been frequent. I have seen a hog[29] weigh 1,050 lbs. after the blood, bowels, and hair had been taken from him. Before he was killed, an attempt was made to weigh him with a pair of steel yards, graduated to 1,200 lbs., but he weighed more. Yet this hog was probably not within fifty generations of the European stock. I am well informed of another which weighed 1,100 lbs. gross. Asses have been still more neglected than any other domestic animal in America. They are neither fed or housed in the most rigorous season of the year. Yet they are larger than those measured by Mons. D'Aubenton,[30] of 3 feet 7¼ inches, 3 feet 4 inches, and 3 feet 2½ inches, the latter weighing only 215.8 lbs. These sizes, I suppose, have been produced by the same negligence in Europe, which has produced a like diminution here. Where care has been taken of them on that side of the water, they have been raised to a size bordering on that of the horse; not by the _heat_ and _dryness_ of the climate, but by good food and shelter. Goats have been also much neglected in America. Yet they are very prolific here, bearing twice or three times a year, and from one to five kids at a birth. Mons. de Buffon has been sensible of a difference in this circumstance in favor of America.[31] But what are their greatest weights, I cannot say. A large sheep here weighs 100 lbs. I observe Mons. D'Aubenton calls a ram of 62 lbs. one of the middle size.[32] But to say what are the extremes of growth in these and the other domestic animals of America, would require information of which no one individual is possessed. The weights actually known and stated in the third table preceding will suffice to show, that we may conclude on probable grounds, that, with equal food and care, the climate of America will preserve the races of domestic animals as large as the European stock from which they are derived; and, consequently, that the third member of Mons. de Buffon's assertion that the domestic animals are subject to degeneration from the climate of America, is as probably wrong as the first and second were certainly so.

That the last part of it is erroneous, which affirms that the species of American quadrupeds are comparatively few, is evident from the tables taken together. By these it appears that there are an hundred species aboriginal in America. Mons. de Buffon supposes about double that number existing on the whole earth.[33] Of these Europe, Asia, and Africa, furnish suppose one hundred and twenty-six; that is, the twenty-six common to Europe and America, and about one hundred which are not in America at all. The American species, then, are to those of the rest of the earth, as one hundred to one hundred and twenty-six, or four to five. But the residue of the earth being double the extent of America, the exact proportion would have been but as four to eight.

Hitherto I have considered this hypothesis as applied to brute animals only, and not in its extension to the man of America, whether aboriginal or transplanted. It is the opinion of Mons. de Buffon that the former furnishes no exception to it.[34]

"Quoique le sauvage du nouveau monde soit à peu près de
même stature que l'homme de notre monde, cela ne suffit pas
pour qu'il puisse faire une exception au fait général du
rapetissement de la nature vivante dans tout ce continent; le
sauvage est foible et petit par les organes de la génération;
il n'a ni poil, ni barbe, and nulle ardeur pour sa femelle.
Quoique plus léger que l'Européen, parce qu'il a plus d'habitude
à courir, il est cependant beaucoup moins fort de corps; il
est aussi bien moins sensible, et cependant plus craintif et
plus lâche; il n'a nulle vivacité, nulle activité dans l'ame;
celle du corps est moins un exercise, un mouvement volontaire
qu'une nécessité d'action causée par le besoin; ôtez lui la faim
et la soif, vous détruirez en même tems le principe actif de
tous ses mouvemens; il demeurera stupidement en repos sur ses
jambes ou couché pendant des jours entiers. Il ne faut pas aller
chercher plus loin à cause de la vie dispersée des sauvages
et de leur éloignement pour la société; la plus précieuse
étincelle du feu de la nature leur a été refusée; ils manquent
d'ardeur pour leur femelle, et par consequent d'amour pour
leur semblables; ne connoissant pas l'attachment le plus vif,
le plus tendre de tous, leurs autres sentimens de ce genre,
sont froids et languissans; ils aiment foiblement leurs pères
et leurs enfans; la société la plus intime de toutes, celle
de la même famille, n'a donc chez eux que de foibles liens;
la société d'une famille à l'autre n'en a point de tout; dès
lors nulle réunion, nulle république, nulle état social. La
physique de l'amour fait chez eux le moral des mœurs; leur cœur
est glacé, leur societé et leur empire dur. Ils ne regardent
leurs femmes que comme des servantes de peine ou des bêtes de
somme qu'ils chargent, sans ménagement, du fardeau de leur
chasse, et qu'ils forcent, sans pitié, sans reconnoissance,
à des ouvrages qui souvent sont au dessus de leurs forces;
ils n'ont que peu d'enfans; ils en out peu de soin; tout se
ressent de leur premier defaut; ils sont indifférents parce
qu'ils sont peu puissants, et cette indifference pour le sexe
est la tache originelle qui flétrit la nature, qui l'empeche
de s'épanouir, et qui detruisant les germes de la vie, coupe
en même temps la racine de société. L'homme ne fait donc point
d'exception ici. La nature en lui refusant les puissances
de l'amour l'a plus maltraité et plus rapetissé qu'aucun des
animaux."

An afflicting picture, indeed, which for the honor of human nature, I am glad to believe has no original. Of the Indian of South America I know nothing; for I would not honor with the appellation of knowledge, what I derive from the fables published of them. These I believe to be just as true as the fables of Æsop. This belief is founded on what I have seen of man, white, red, and black, and what has been written of him by authors, enlightened themselves, and writing among an enlightened people. The Indian of North America being more within our reach, I can speak of him somewhat from my own knowledge, but more from the information of others better acquainted with him, and on whose truth and judgment I can rely. From these sources I am able to say, in contradiction to this representation, that he is neither more defective in ardor, nor more impotent with his female, than the white reduced to the same diet and exercise; that he is brave, when an enterprise depends on bravery; education with him making the point of honor consist in the destruction of an enemy by stratagem, and in the preservation of his own person free from injury; or, perhaps, this is nature, while it is education which teaches us to[35] honor force more than finesse; that he will defend himself against a host of enemies, always choosing to be killed, rather than to surrender,[36] though it be to the whites, who he knows will treat him well; that in other situations, also, he meets death with more deliberation, and endures tortures with a firmness unknown almost to religious enthusiasm with us; that he is affectionate to his children, careful of them, and indulgent in the extreme; that his affections comprehend his other connections, weakening, as with us, from circle to circle, as they recede from the centre; that his friendships are strong and faithful to the uttermost[37] extremity; that his sensibility is keen, even the warriors weeping most bitterly on the loss of their children, though in general they endeavor to appear superior to human events; that his vivacity and activity of mind is equal to ours in the same situation; hence his eagerness for hunting, and for games of chance. The women are submitted to unjust drudgery. This I believe is the case with every barbarous people. With such, force is law. The stronger sex imposes on the weaker. It is civilization alone which replaces women in the enjoyment of their natural equality. That first teaches us to subdue the selfish passions, and to respect those rights in others which we value in ourselves. Were we in equal barbarism, our females would be equal drudges. The man with them is less strong than with us, but their women stronger than ours; and both for the same obvious reason; because our man and their woman is habituated to labor, and formed by it. With both races the sex which is indulged with ease is the least athletic. An Indian man is small in the hand and wrist, for the same reason for which a sailor is large and strong in the arms and shoulders, and a porter in the legs and thighs. They raise fewer children than we do. The causes of this are to be found, not in a difference of nature, but of circumstance. The women very frequently attending the men in their parties of war and of hunting, child-bearing becomes extremely inconvenient to them. It is said, therefore, that they have learned the practice of procuring abortion by the use of some vegetable; and that it even extends to prevent conception for a considerable time after. During these parties they are exposed to numerous hazards, to excessive exertions, to the greatest extremities of hunger. Even at their homes the nation depends for food, through a certain part of every year, on the gleanings of the forest; that is, they experience a famine once in every year. With all animals, if the female be badly fed, or not fed at all, her young perish; and if both male and female be reduced to like want, generation becomes less active, less productive. To the obstacles, then, of want and hazard, which nature has opposed to the multiplication of wild animals, for the purpose of restraining their numbers within certain bounds, those of labor and of voluntary abortion are added with the Indian. No wonder, then, if they multiply less than we do. Where food is regularly supplied, a single farm will show more of cattle, than a whole country of forests can of buffaloes. The same Indian women, when married to white traders, who feed them and their children plentifully and regularly, who exempt them from excessive drudgery, who keep them stationary and unexposed to accident, produce and raise as many children as the white women. Instances are known, under these circumstances, of their rearing a dozen children. An inhuman practice once prevailed in this country, of making slaves of the Indians. It is a fact well known with us, that the Indian women so enslaved produced and raised as numerous families as either the whites or blacks among whom they lived. It has been said that Indians have less hair than the whites, except on the head. But this is a fact of which fair proof can scarcely be had. With them it is disgraceful to be hairy on the body. They say it likens them to hogs. They therefore pluck the hair as fast as it appears. But the traders who marry their women, and prevail on them to discontinue this practice, say, that nature is the same with them as with the whites. Nor, if the fact be true, is the consequence necessary which has been drawn from it. Negroes have notoriously less hair than the whites; yet they are more ardent. But if cold and moisture be the agents of nature for diminishing the races of animals, how comes she all at once to suspend their operation as to the physical man of the new world, whom the Count acknowledges to be "à peu près de même stature que l'homme de notre monde," and to let loose their influence on his moral faculties? How has this "combination of the elements and other physical causes, so contrary to the enlargement of animal nature in this new world, these obstacles to the development and formation of great germs,"[38] been arrested and suspended, so as to permit the human body to acquire its just dimensions, and by what inconceivable process has their action been directed on his mind alone? To judge of the truth of this, to form a just estimate of their genius and mental powers, more facts are wanting, and great allowance to be made for those circumstances of their situation which call for a display of particular talents only. This done, we shall probably find that they are formed in mind as well as in body, on the same module with the[39] "Homo sapiens Europæus." The principles of their society forbidding all compulsion, they are to be led to duty and to enterprise by personal influence and persuasion. Hence eloquence in council, bravery and address in war, become the foundations of all consequence with them. To these acquirements all their faculties are directed. Of their bravery and address in war we have multiplied proofs, because we have been the subjects on which they were exercised. Of their eminence in oratory we have fewer examples, because it is displayed chiefly in their own councils. Some, however, we have, of very superior lustre. I may challenge the whole orations of Demosthenes and Cicero, and of any more eminent orator, if Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage, superior to the speech of Logan, a Mingo chief, to Lord Dunmore, then governor of this State. And as a testimony of their talents in this line, I beg leave to introduce it, first stating the incidents necessary for understanding it.

In the spring of the year 1774, a robbery was committed by some Indians on certain land-adventurers on the river Ohio. The whites in that quarter, according to their custom, undertook to punish this outrage in a summary way. Captain Michael Cresap, and a certain Daniel Greathouse, leading on these parties, surprised, at different times, travelling and hunting parties of the Indians, having their women and children with them, and murdered many. Among these were unfortunately the family of Logan, a chief celebrated in peace and war, and long distinguished as the friend of the whites. This unworthy return provoked his vengeance. He accordingly signalized himself in the war which ensued. In the autumn of the same year a decisive battle was fought at the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, between the collected forces of the Shawanese, Mingoes and Delawares, and a detachment of the Virginia militia. The Indians were defeated and sued for peace. Logan, however, disdained to be seen among the suppliants. But lest the sincerity of a treaty should be disturbed, from which so distinguished a chief absented himself, he sent, by a messenger, the following speech, to be delivered to Lord Dunmore.

"I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, "Logan is the friend of white men." I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it: I have killed many: I have fully glutted my vengeance: for my country I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan?--Not one."[40]

Before we condemn the Indians of this continent as wanting genius, we must consider that letters have not yet been introduced among them. Were we to compare them in their present state with the Europeans, north of the Alps, when the Roman arms and arts first crossed those mountains, the comparison would be unequal, because, at that time, those parts of Europe were swarming with numbers; because numbers produce emulation, and multiply the chances of improvement, and one improvement begets another. Yet I may safely ask, how many good poets, how many able mathematicians, how many great inventors in arts or sciences, had Europe, north of the Alps, then produced? And it was sixteen centuries after this before a Newton could be formed. I do not mean to deny that there are varieties in the race of man, distinguished by their powers both of body and mind. I believe there are, as I see to be the case in the races of other animals. I only mean to suggest a doubt, whether the bulk and faculties of animals depend on the side of the Atlantic on which their food happens to grow, or which furnishes the elements of which they are compounded? Whether nature has enlisted herself as a Cis- or Trans-Atlantic partisan? I am induced to suspect there has been more eloquence than sound reasoning displayed in support of this theory; that it is one of those cases where the judgment has been seduced by a glowing pen; and whilst I render every tribute of honor and esteem to the celebrated zoologist, who has added, and is still adding, so many precious things to the treasures of science, I must doubt whether in this instance he has not cherished error also, by lending her for a moment his vivid imagination and bewitching language. (4.)

So far the Count de Buffon has carried this new theory of the tendency of nature to belittle her productions on this side the Atlantic. Its application to the race of whites transplanted from Europe, remained for the Abbé Raynal. "On doit etre etonné (he says) que l'Amerique n'ait pas encore produit un bon poëte, un habile mathematicien, un homme de genie dans un seul art, ou seule science." Hist. Philos. p. 92, ed. Maestricht, 1774. "America has not yet produced one good poet." When we shall have existed as a people as long as the Greeks did before they produced a Homer, the Romans a Virgil, the French a Racine and Voltaire, the English a Shakespeare and Milton, should this reproach be still true, we will inquire from what unfriendly causes it has proceeded, that the other countries of Europe and quarters of the earth shall not have inscribed any name in the roll of poets.[41] But neither has America produced "one able mathematician, one man of genius in a single art or a single science." In war we have produced a Washington, whose memory will be adored while liberty shall have votaries, whose name shall triumph over time, and will in future ages assume its just station among the most celebrated worthies of the world, when that wretched philosophy shall be forgotten which would have arranged him among the degeneracies of nature. In physics we have produced a Franklin, than whom no one of the present age has made more important discoveries, nor has enriched philosophy with more, or more ingenious solutions of the phenomena of nature. We have supposed Mr. Rittenhouse second to no astronomer living; that in genius he must be the first, because he is self-taught. As an artist he has exhibited as great a proof of mechanical genius as the world has ever produced. He has not indeed made a world; but he has by imitation approached nearer its Maker than any man who has lived from the creation to this day.[42] As in philosophy and war, so in government, in oratory, in painting, in the plastic art, we might show that America, though but a child of yesterday, has already given hopeful proofs of genius, as well as of the nobler kinds, which arouse the best feelings of man, which call him into action, which substantiate his freedom, and conduct him to happiness, as of the subordinate, which serve to amuse him only. We therefore suppose, that this reproach is as unjust as it is unkind: and that, of the geniuses which adorn the present age, America contributes its full share. For comparing it with those countries where genius is most cultivated, where are the most excellent models for art, and scaffoldings for the attainment of science, as France and England for instance, we calculate thus: The United States contains three millions of inhabitants; France twenty millions; and the British islands ten. We produce a Washington, a Franklin, a Rittenhouse. France then should have half a dozen in each of these lines, and Great Britain half that number, equally eminent. It may be true that France has; we are but just becoming acquainted with her, and our acquaintance so far gives us high ideas of the genius of her inhabitants. It would be injuring too many of them to name particularly a Voltaire, a Buffon, the constellation of Encyclopedists, the Abbé Raynal himself, &c. &c. We, therefore, have reason to believe she can produce her full quota of genius. The present war having so long cut off all communication with Great Britain, we are not able to make a fair estimate of the state of science in that country. The spirit in which she wages war, is the only sample before our eyes, and that does not seem the legitimate offspring either of science or of civilization. The sun of her glory is fast descending to the horizon. Her philosophy has crossed the channel, her freedom the Atlantic, and herself seems passing to that awful dissolution whose issue is not given human foresight to scan.[43]

Having given a sketch of our minerals, vegetables, and quadrupeds, and being led by a proud theory to make a comparison of the latter with those of Europe, and to extend it to the man of America, both aboriginal and emigrant, I will proceed to the remaining articles comprehended under the present query.

Between ninety and a hundred of our birds have been described by Catesby. His drawings are better as to form and attitude than coloring, which is generally too high. They are the following:

BIRDS OF VIRGINIA.

---------------+---------------------+--------------------+---------
Linnæan |Catesby's | Popular Names. |Buffon
Designation. |Designation. | |oiseaux.
| | |
---------------+---------------------+--------------------+---------
Lanius |Muscicapa |Tyrant. Field martin| 8.398
tyrannus |coronâ rubrâ 1.55| |
| | |
Vultur |Buteo specie |Turkey buzzard | 1.246
aura |Gallo pavonis 1.6| |
| | |
| | |
Falco |Aquila capite |Bald eagle | 1.138
leucocephalus |albo 1.1| |
| | |
| | |
Falco |Accipiter minor 1.5|Little hawk. |
sparverius | |Sparrow hawk |
| | |
Falco |Accipiter |Pigeon hawk | 1.338
columbarious |palumbarius 1.3| |
| | |
Falco |Accipiter | |
furcatus |caudâ furcatâ 1.4|Forked tail hawk |1.286.312
| | |
|Accipiter |Fishing hawk | 1.199
|piscatorius 1.2| |
| | |
Strix |Noctua |Little owl | 1.141
asio |aurita minor 1.7| |
| | |
Psittacus |Psittacus |Parrot of Carolina. |
Caroliniensis |Carolinensus 1.11|Parroquet | 11.383
| | |
Corvus |Pica glandaria, |Blue jay | 5.164
cristatus |cærulea, cristata 1.1| |
| | |
Oriolus |Icterus ex aureo |Baltimore bird | 5.318
Baltimore |nigroque varius 1.48| |
| | |
Oriolus |Icterus minor 1.49|Bastard Baltimore | 5.321
spurius | | |
| | |
Gracula |Monedula |Purple jackdaw. | 5.134
quiscula |purpurea 1.12|Crow blackbird |
| | |
Cuculus |Cuculus |Carolina cuckow | 12.62
Americanus |Caroliniensis 1.9| |
| | |
Picus |Picus maximus |White bill | 13.69
principalis |rostro albo 1.16|woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus niger maximus, |Larger red-crested | 13.72
pileatus |capite rubro 1.17|woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus capite |Red headed | 13.83
erythrocephalus|toto rubro 1.20|woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus major |Gold winged | 13.59
auratus |alis aureis 1.18|woodpecker. Yucker |
| | |
Picus |Picus ventre |Red-bellied | 13.105
Carolinus |rubro 1.19|woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus varius |Smallest | 13.113
pubescens |minimus 1.21|spotted woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus medius |Hairy woodpecker. | 13.111
villosus |quasi-villosus 1.19|Spec. woodpecker |
| | |
Picus |Picus varius minor |Yellow-bellied | 13.115
varius |ventre luteo 1.21|woodpecker. |
| | |
Sitta |{Sitta capite nigro 1.22 |Nuthatch | 10.213
Europæa |{Sitta capite fusco 1.22 |Small Nuthatch | 10.214
| | |
Alcedo |Ispida 1.69|Kingfisher | 13.310
alcyon | | |
| | |
Certhia |Parus Americanus |Pine-Creeper | 9.433
pinus |lutescens 1.61| |
| | |
Trochilus |Mellivora avis |Humming bird | 11.16
colubris |Caroliniensis 1.65| |
| | |
Anas |Anser |Wild goose | 17.122
Canadensis |Canadensis 1.92| |
| | |
Anas |Anas minor |Buffel's-head duck | 17.356
bucephala |purpureo capite 1.95| |
| | |
Anas |Anas minor ex albo |Little brown duck | 17.413
rustica |& fusco vario 1.98| |
| | |
Anas discors |Querquedula Americana|White face teal | 17.403
_a_ |variegata 1.10|
| | |
Anas discors |Querquedula |Blue wing teal | 17.405
_b_ |Americana fusca 1.99| |
| | |
Anas sponsa |Anas Americanus 1.97|Summer duck | 17.351
|cristatus elegans | |
| | |
|Anas Americanus |Blue wing shoveler | 17.275
|lato rostro 1.96| |
| | |
Mergus |Anas cristatus |Round crested duck | 15.437
cucullatus | 1.94| |
| | |
Columbus |Prodicipes minor |Pied bill dopchick | 15.383
podiceps |rostro vario 1.91| |
| | |
Ardea |Ardea cristata maxima|Largest crested | 14.113
Herodias |American 3.10|heron |
| | |
Ardea |Ardea stellaris |Crested bittern | 14.134
violacea |cristata | |
|Americana 1.79| |
| | |
Ardea cærulea |Ardea cærulea 1.76|Blue heron. Crane | 14.131
| | |
Ardea |Ardea stellaris |Small bittern | 14.142
virescens | minima 1.80| |
| | |
Ardea |Ardea alba minor |Little white heron | 14.136
æquinoctialis |Caroliniensis 1.77| |
| | |
|Ardea stellaris |Brown bittern. | 14.175
|Americana 1.78|Indian hen |
| | |
Tantalus |Pelicanus |Wood pelican | 13.403
loculator |Americanus 1.81| |
| | |
Tantalus alber |Numenius albus 1.82|White curlew | 15.62
| | |
Tantalus fuscus|Numenius fuscus 1.83|Brown curlew | 15.64
| | |
Charadrius |Pluvialis |Chattering plover. | 15.151
vociferus |vociferus 1.71|Kildee |
| | |
Hæmatopus |Hæmatopus 1.85|Oyster-catcher | 15.185
ostralegus | | |
| | |
Rallus |Gallinula |Soree. Ral-bird | 15.256
Virginianus |Americana 1.70| |
| | |
Meleagris |Gallopavo |Wild Turkey |3.187.229
Gallopavo |Sylvestris xliv.| |
| | |
Tetrao |Perdix Sylvestris |American partridge. | 4.237
Virginianus |Virginiana 3.12|American quail |
| | |
|Urgallus minor, or |Pheasant. | 3.409
|kind of Lagopus 3.1|Mountain partridge |
| | |
Columba |Turtur minimus |Ground dove | 4.404
passerina |guttatus 1.26| |
| | |
Columba |Palumbus |Pigeon of passage. | 4.351
migratorio |migratorius 1.23|Wild pigeon |
| | |
Columba |Turtur |Turtle. Turtle dove | 4.401
Caroliniensis |Caroliniensis 1.24| |
| | |
Alauda |Alauda gutture |Lark. Sky lark | 9.79
alpestris |flavo 1.32| |
| | |
Alauda magna ||Alauda magna 1.33|Field lark. | 6.59
| |Large lark |
| | |
|Sturnus niger alis |Red wing. | 5.293
|supernis |Starling. |
|rubentibus 1.13|Marsh blackbird |
| | |
Turdus |Turdus pilaris |Fieldfare of Carolina. {5.426
migratorius |migratorius 1.29|Robin redbreast | {9.257
| | |
Turdus rufus |Turdus rufus 1.28|Fox colored thrush. | 5.449
| |Thrush |
| | |
Turdus |Turdus minor cinereo |Mocking bird | 5.451
polyglottos |albus non | |
|maculatus 1.27| |
| | |
|Turdus minimus 1.31|Little thrush | 5.400
| | |
Ampelis |Garrulus |Chatterer | 6.162
garrulus _b_ |Caroliniensis 1.46| |
| | |
Loxia |Coccothraustes |Red bird. | 6.185
Cardinalis |rubra 1.38|Virginia nightingale|
| | |
Loxia Cærulea |Coccothraustes |Blue gross beak | 8.125
|cærulea 1.39| |
| | |
Emberiza |Passer nivalis 1.36|Snow bird | 8.47
hyemalis | | |
| | |
Emberiza |Hortulanus |Rice Bird | 8.49
Oryzivora |Caroliniensis 1.14| |
| | |
Emberiza Ciris |Fringilla |Painted finch | 7.247
|tricolor 1.44| |
| | |
Tanagra cyanea |Linaria cærulea 1.45|Blue linnet | 7.122
| | |
|Passerculus 1.35|Little sparrow | 7.120
| | |
|Passer fuscus 1.34|Cowpen bird | 7.196
| | |
Fringilla |Passer niger oculis |Towhe bird | 7.201
erythrophthalma|rubris 1.34| |
| | |
Fringilla |Carduelis |American goldfinch. | 7.297
tristis |Americanus 1.43|Lettuce bird |
| | |
|Fringilla |Purple finch | 8.129
|purpurea 1.41| |
| | |
Muscicapa |Muscicapa cristata |Crested flycatcher | 8.379
crinita |ventre luteo 1.52| |
| | |
Muscicapa rubra|Muscicapa rubra 1.56|Summer red bird | 8.410
| | |
Muscicapa |Ruticilla |Red start | { 8.349
ruticilla |Americana 1.67| | { 9.259
| | |
Muscicapa |Muscicapa vertice |Cat bird | 8.372
Caroliniensis |nigro 1.66| |
| | |
|Muscicapa |Black cap flycatcher| 8.341
|nigrescens 1.53| |
| | |
|Muscicapa fusca 1.54|Little brown | 8.344
| |flycatcher |
| | |
|Muscicapa oculis |Red-eyed flycatcher | 8.337
|rubris 1.54| |
| | |
Motacilla |Rubicula Americana |Blue bird | 9.308
Sialis |cærulea 1.47| |
| | |
Motacilla |Regulus |Wren | 10.58
regulus |cristatus 3.13| |
| | |
Motacilla |Oenanthe Americana |Yellow breasted chat| 6.96
trochilus _b_ |pectore luteo 1.50| |
| | |
Parus bicolor |Parus cristatus 1.57|Crested titmouse | 10.181
| | |
Parus |Parus |Finch creeper | 9.442
Americanus |fringillaris 1.64| |
| | |
Parus |Parus uropygeo |Yellow rump | 10.184
Virginianus |luteo 1.58| |
| | |
|Parus cucullo |Hooded titmouse | 10.183
|nigro 1.60| |
| | |
|Parus Americanus |Yellow throated |
|gutture luteo 1.62|creeper |
| | |
|Parus |Yellow titmouse | 9.431
|aroliniensis 1.63| |
| | |
Hirundo |Hirundo cauda |American swallow | 12.478
Pelasgia |aculeata | |
|Americana 3.8| |
| | |
Hirundo |Hirundo purpurea 1.51|Purple marten. | 12.445
purpurea | |House marten |
| | |
Caprimulgus |Caprimulgus 1.8|Goatsucker. | 12.243
Europæus _a_ | |Great bat |
| | |
Caprimulgus |Caprimulgus minor |Whip poor Will | 12.246
Europæus _b_ |Americanus 3.16| |

Besides these, we have,

The Royston crow. Corvus cornix.
Crane. Ardea Canadensis.
House swallow, Hirundo rustica.
Ground swallow. Hirundo riparia.
Greatest gray eagle.
Smaller turkey buzzard, with a feathered head.
Greatest owl, or night hawk.
Wet hawk, which feeds flying.
Raven.
Water Pelican of the Mississippi, whose pouch holds a peck.
Swan.
Loon.
Cormorant.
Duck and mallard.
Widgeon.
Sheldrach, or Canvas back.
The Black head.
Ballcoot.
Sprigtail.
Didapper, or dopehick.
Spoon-billed duck.
Water-witch.
Water-pheasant.
Mow-bird.
Blue Peter.
Water Wagtail.
Yellow-legged Snipe.
Squatting Snipe.
Small Plover.
Whistling Plover.
Woodcock.
Red bird, with black head, wings and tail.

And doubtless many others which have not yet been described and classed.

To this catalogue of our indigenous animals, I will add a short account of an anomaly of nature, taking place sometimes in the race of negroes brought from Africa, who, though black themselves, have, in rare instances, white children, called Albinos. I have known four of these myself, and have faithful accounts of three others. The circumstances in which all the individuals agree are these. They are of a pallid cadaverous white, untinged with red, without any colored spots or seams; their hair of the same kind of white, short, coarse, and curled as is that of the negro; all of them well formed, strong, healthy, perfect in their senses, except that of sight, and born of parents who had no mixture of white blood. Three of these Albinos were sisters, having two other full sisters, who were black. The youngest of the three was killed by lightning, at twelve years of age. The eldest died at about 27 years of age, in child-bed, with her second child. The middle one is now alive, in health, and has issue, as the eldest had, by a black man, which issue was black. They are uncommonly shrewd, quick in their apprehensions and in reply. Their eyes are in a perpetual tremulous vibration, very weak, and much affected by the sun; but they see much better in the night than we do. They are of the property of Colonel Skipwith, of Cumberland. The fourth is a negro woman, whose parents came from Guinea, and had three other children, who were of their own color. She is freckled, her eye-sight so weak that she is obliged to wear a bonnet in the summer; but it is better in the night than day. She had an Albino child by a black man. It died at the age of a few weeks. These were the property of Col. Carter, of Albemarle. A sixth instance is a women the property of a Mr. Butler, near Petersburg. She is stout and robust, has issue a daughter, jet black, by a black man. I am not informed as to her eye-sight. The seventh instance is of a male belonging to a Mr. Lee of Cumberland. His eyes are tremulous and weak. He is tall of stature, and now advanced in years. He is the only male of the Albinos which have come within my information. Whatever be the cause of the disease in the skin, or in its coloring matter, which produces this change, it seems more incident to the female than male sex. To these I may add the mention of a negro man within my own knowledge, born black, and of black parents; on whose chin, when a boy, a white spot appeared. This continued to increase till he became a man, by which time it had extended over his chin, lips, one cheek, the under jaw, and neck on that side. It is of the Albino white, without any mixture of red, and has for several years been stationary. He is robust and healthy, and the change of color was not accompanied with any sensible disease, either general or topical.

Of our fish and insects there has been nothing like a full description or collection. More of them are described in Catesby than in any other work. Many also are to be found in Sir Hans Sloane's Jamaica, as being common to that and this country. The honey-bee is not a native of our continent. Marcgrave, indeed, mentions a species of honey-bee in Brazil. But this has no sting, and is therefore different from the one we have, which resembles perfectly that of Europe. The Indians concur with us in the tradition that it was brought from Europe; but when, and by whom, we know not. The bees have generally extended themselves into the country, a little in advance of the white settlers. The Indians, therefore, call them the white man's fly, and consider their approach as indicating the approach of the settlements of the whites. A question here occurs, How far northwardly have these insects been found? That they are unknown in Lapland, I infer from Scheffer's information, that the Laplanders eat the pine bark, prepared in a certain way, instead of those things sweetened with sugar. "Hoc comedunt pro rebus saccharo conditis." Scheff. Lapp. c. 18. Certainly if they had honey, it would be a better substitute for sugar than any preparation of the pine bark. Kalm tells us[44] the honey-bee cannot live through the winter in Canada. They furnish then an additional fact first observed by the Count de Buffon, and which has thrown such a blaze of light on the field of natural history, that no animals are found in both continents, but those which are able to bear the cold of those regions where they probably join.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] 2 Buffon Epoques, 96.

[4] Hunter.

[5] D'Aubenton.

[6] Buffon, xviii. 112 edit. Paris, 1764.

[7] Buffon, xviii. 100, 156.

[8] viii. 134.

[9] It is said that this animal is seldom seen above thirty
miles from shore, or beyond the 56th degree of latitude.
The interjacent islands between Asia and America admit his
passing from one continent to the other without exceeding
these bounds. And in fact, travellers tell us that these
islands are places of principal resort for them, and
especially in the season of bringing forth their young.

[10] I. 233, Lon. 1772.

[11] Ib. 233.

[12] l. xxvii.

[13] XXIV. 162.

[14] XV. 42.

[15] I. 359. I. 48, 221, 251. II. 52.

[16] II. 78.

[17] I. 220.

[18] XXVII. 63. XIV. 119. Harris, II. 387. Buffon, Quad. IX. 1.

[19] Quad. IX. 158.

[20] XXV. 184.

[21] Quad. IX. 132.

[22] XIX. 2.

[23] Quad. IX. 41.

[24] The descriptions of Theodat, Denys and La Honton, cited
by Monsieur de Buffon, under the article Elan, authorize
the supposition, that the flat-horned elk is found in the
northern parts of America. It has not however extended
to our latitudes. On the other hand, I could never learn
that the round-horned elk has been seen further north
than the Hudson's river. This agrees with the former elk
in its general character, being, like that, when compared
with a deer, very much larger, its ears longer, broader,
and thicker in proportion, its hair much longer, neck and
tail shorter, having a dewlap before the breast (caruncula
gutturalis Linnæi) a white spot often, if not always, of
a foot diameter, on the hinder part of the buttocks round
the tail; its gait a trot, and attended with a rattling
of the hoofs; but distinguished from that decisively by
its horns, which are not palmated, but round and pointed.
This is the animal described by Catesby as the Cervus major
Americanus, the stag of America, le Cerf de l'Amerique. But
it differs from the Cervus as totally as does the palmated
elk from the dama. And in fact it seems to stand in the
same relation to the palmated elk, as the red deer does
to the fallow. It has abounded in Virginia, has been seen,
within my knowledge, on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge
since the year 1765, is now common beyond those mountains,
has been often brought to us and tamed, and its horns are
in the hands of many. I should designate it as the "Alces
Americanus cornibus teretibus." It were to be wished, that
naturalists, who are acquainted with the renne and elk of
Europe, and who may hereafter visit the northern parts
of America, would examine well the animals called there
by the names of gray and black moose, caribou, original
and elk. Monsieur de Buffon has done what could be done
from the materials in his hands, toward clearing up the
confusion introduced by the loose application of these names
among the animals they are meant to designate. He reduces
the whole to the renne and flat-horned elk. From all the
information I have been able to collect, I strongly suspect
they will be found to cover three, if not four distinct
species of animals. I have seen skins of a moose, and of
the caribou: they differ more from each other, and from
that of the round-horned elk, than I ever saw two skins
differ which belonged to different individuals of any wild
species. These differences are in the color, length, and
coarseness of the hair, and in the size, texture, and marks
of the skin. Perhaps it will be found that there is, 1,
the moose, black and gray, the former being said to be the
male, and the latter the female; 2, the caribou or renne;
3, the flat-horned elk, or original; 4, the round-horned
elk. Should this last, though possessing so nearly the
characters of the elk, be found to be the same with the
Cerf d'Ardennes or Brandhitz of Germany, still there will
remain the three species first enumerated.

[25] Kalm II. 340, I. 82.

[26] The Tapir is the largest of the animals peculiar to America.
I collect his weight thus: Monsieur de Buffon says, XXIII.
274, that he is of the size of a Zebu, or a small cow.
He gives us the measures of a Zebu, ib. 4, as taken by
himself, viz. five feet seven inches from the muzzle to
the root of the tail, and five feet one inch circumference
behind the fore-legs. A bull, measuring in the same way
six feet nine inches and five feet two inches, weighed six
hundred pounds, VIII. 153. The Zebu then, and of course
the Tapir, would weigh about five hundred pounds. But one
individual of every species of European peculiars would
probably weigh less than four hundred pounds. These are
French measures and weights.

[27] VII. 432.

[28] VII. 474.

[29] In Williamsburg, April, 1769.

[30] VIII. 48, 55, 66.

[31] XVIII. 96.

[32] IX. 41.

[33] XXX. 219.

[34] XVIII. 146.

[35] Sol Rodomonte sprezza di venire
Se non, dove la via meno o fieura.--ARISTO, 14, 117.

[36] In so judicious an author as Don Ulloa, and one to whom we
are indebted for the most precise information we have of
South America, I did not expect to find such assertions as
the following: "Los Indios vencidos son los mas cobardes
y pusilanimes que se pueden vér: Se hacen inöcentes, le
humillan hasta el desprecio, disculpan su inconsiderado
arrojo, y con las suplicas y los ruegos dán seguras pruebas
de su pusilanimidad. Ó lo que resieren las historias de
la Conquista, sobre sus grandes acciones, es en un sendito
figurado, ó el caracter de estas gentes no es ahora segun
era entonces; pero lo que no tiene duda es, que las Naciones
de la parte Septentrional subsisten en la misma libertad
que siempre han tenido, sin haber sido sojuzgados por algon
Principe extrano, y que viven segun su régimen y costumbres
de toda la vida, sin que haya habido motivo para que muden
de caracter; y en estos se vé lo mismo, que sucede en los
Peru, y de toda la América Meridional, reducidos, y que
nunca lo han estado." Noticias Americanas, Entretenimiento
xviii. §. 1. Don Ulloa here admits, that the authors who
have described the Indians of South America, before they
were enslaved, had represented them as a brave people,
and therefore seems to have suspected that the cowardice
which he had observed in those of the present race might
be the effect of subjugation. But, supposing the Indians
of North America to be cowards also, he concludes the
ancestors of those of South America to have been so too,
and, therefore, that those authors have given fictions
for truth. He was probably not acquainted himself with
the Indians of North America, and had formed his opinion
from hear-say. Great numbers of French, of English, and
of Americans, are perfectly acquainted with these people.
Had he had an opportunity of inquiring of any of these,
they would have told him, that there never was an instance
known of an Indian begging his life when in the power
of his enemies; on the contrary, that he courts death
by every possible insult and provocation. His reasoning,
then, would have been reversed thus: "Since the present
Indian of North America is brave, and authors tell us that
the ancestors of those of South America were brave also,
it must follow that the cowardice of their descendants
is the effect of subjugation and ill treatment." For he
observes, ib. §. 27, that "los obrages los aniquillan por
la inhumanidad con que se les trata."

[37] XVIII. 146.

[38] Linn. Syst. Definition of a Man.

[39] A remarkable instance of this appeared in the case of the
late Colonel Byrd, who was sent to the Cherokee nation to
transact some business with them. It happened that some of
our disorderly people had just killed one or two of that
nation. It was therefore proposed in the council of the
Cherokees that Colonel Byrd should be put to death, in
revenge for the loss of their countrymen. Among them was
a chief named Silòuee, who, on some former occasion, had
contracted an acquaintance and friendship with Colonel Byrd.
He came to him every night in his tent, and told him not
to be afraid, they should not kill him. After many days'
deliberation, however, the determination was, contrary to
Silòuee's expectation, that Byrd should be put to death,
and some warriors were despatched as executioners. Silòuee
attended them, and when they entered the tent, he threw
himself between them and Byrd, and said to the warriors,
"This man is my friend; before you get at him, you must
kill me." On which they returned, and the council respected
the principle so much as to recede from their determination.

[40] PHILADELPHIA, December 31, 1797.