USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Dublin > The history of Dublin, N.H. : containing the address by Charles Mason, and the proceedings at the centennial celebration, June 17, 1852, with a register of families > Part 14
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135. SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. Common, April to October, most common in migration. This is a chicken-stealer, and so, still more is the Cooper's Hawk.
136. MARSH HAWK. Fairly common, April to November; more common in migration.
137. RUFFED GROUSE [and CANADIAN RUFFED GROUSE (?)]. Says Mr. Thayer: "Dublin birds seem intermediate between the two races, with a tendency toward the gray Canadian type on Monadnock and the higher hills, and toward the southern type in the valleys. - Very common. Much of the cover here is rough and difficult for shooting, and the birds are lasting well; but it is only a small oasis in the desert of over-shot country. Grouse may sometimes be flushed from beds of mountain cranberry on the very top of Monadnock, - in the late fall and during winter thaws." [The Grouse are more frequently called Partridges. - J. L. S.]
138. BOB-WHITE or QUAIL. Rare. Quail have been brought here and liberated (?), but, Mr. Thayer says: "We used to hear them once in a while, in old times, before this happened."
139. SEMIPALMATED PLOVER or RING-NECK. Rare migrant in the fall. (Keene Reservoir.) Does not nest here.
140. AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. Rare and irregular, autumn. A flock has been seen near the top of Monadnock, during a heavy easterly storm. Does not nest here.
141. SPOTTED SANDPIPER. Common, early May to October.
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HISTORY OF DUBLIN
142. BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER. "Upland Plover." Rare in sum- mer: - indeed, although they used to nest on Spalding Hill, the near- est present breeding-place seems to be the big Hancock meadow. More common in migration, August and September (though their presence is only betrayed by their mellow call-note, as they pass overhead at night).
143. SOLITARY SANDPIPER. Fairly common migrant, late May, August to October. Probably nests here sometimes, as we have found it here throughout the summer.
144. YELLOW-LEGS or SUMMER YELLOW-LEGS. Rare migrant, May, August to September. Does not nest here.
145. GREATER YELLOW-LEGS or WINTER YELLOW-LEGS. Uncom- mon migrant, May, September, and October. Does not nest here.
146. SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER or PEEP. Rare (?) migrant, au- tumn. (Keene Reservoir.) Does not nest here.
147. LEAST SANDPIPER Or PEEP. Rare (?); autumn. (Keene Reser- voir.) Other Sandpipers and Shore-birds undoubtedly visit Dublin. Mr. Thayer has seen and heard several such, which he could not surely identify, - passing, by day or by night, - particularly dur- ing easterly storms in the fall. One of these is probably the Knot (Tringa canutus). The Least Sandpiper does not nest here.
148. AMERICAN WOODCOCK. The Woodcock is still fairly com- mon here, and the remarkable flight-song of the male, given in the late twilight and on moonlight nights, may be heard every spring over meadows and copses in many parts of Dublin.
149. RED PHALAROPE. Mr. Thayer observes: "On October 2, 1907, after a storm, Miss Fannie Dwight found a Red Phalarope, in silvery autumn plumage, lying dead in the field east of her house. It was quite fresh, and perfect, without a wound; but the body, beneath its wonderful puff of soft oily feathers, proved to be sadly emaciated. Evidently this little sea-bird had been swept inland by the storm, and had starved to death, failing to find the proper food on ponds and lakes. Several years before this, October 11, 1903, during a great easterly storm, which brought many kinds of sea-birds, my father and I saw a Phalarope, probably of the same kind, on Dublin Lake. This bird was still strong of wing, and restless, and we did not get near it."
150. SORA RAIL, CAROLINA RAIL. Apparently rare. Mr. Thayer has found it in the breeding season in the marshes of the Peterborough stream (Dublin Light-Works water), near the bridge on the road to Peterborough. He adds: "The Virginia Rail ought to be found here; but, thus far, we have looked for it in vain. Both the Yellow Rail and the Little Black Rail might possibly be found here also."
151. BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON. Quawk. Rather rare and irregular. Appears most often in midsummer and early autumn. Does not breed in this immediate neighborhood. Mr. Thayer asks: "Where is the nearest night-heron rookery, I wonder?"
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152. GREEN HERON or LITTLE GREEN HERON. Fairly common, about the suitable muddy ponds and streams. May to September.
153. GREAT BLUE HERON (often miscalled Crane). Fairly com- mon - for a bird so big and wild; but Mr. Thayer does not know of its nesting in the township. April and May, September and October.
154. AMERICAN BITTERN. Common. There are two or three pairs each in several of the big, marshy meadows within the township. Bitterns may sometimes be seen "booming" from the Light-Works bridge, on the Peterborough road. Late April to October.
155. CANADA GOOSE. Irregular, but fairly common. March and April, October and November. Flocks sometimes rest on Dublin Lake. Does not nest here.
156. SURF SCOTER Or SKUNK HEAD OF SEA COOT.
157. WHITE-WINGED SCOTER or WHITE-WINGED COOT.
158. AMERICAN SCOTER Or BLACK SCOTER or BLACK COOT or BUT- TER-BILL.
All three kinds of Scoter visit Dublin Lake almost every autumn. The Black Scoter is the most regular, and comes in the biggest flocks, - sometimes a hundred strong; the Surf Scoter is the least common, - although by no means rare. Late September to December. The Scoters do not nest here.
159. OLD SQUAW or LONG-TAILED DUCK. Irregular and uncon- mon; October and November. One or two big flocks have been seen on Dublin Lake. Does not nest here.
160. AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE or WHISTLER. Rare and irregular. Late Autumn. Does not nest here.
161. GREATER SCAUP DUCK (or LESSER SCAUP? - Mr. Thayer has had no specimens). Once or twice, in late autumn, he has seen Scaup Ducks on Dublin Lake. He believes that he has seen Red- heads, too, but they were not surely identified. They do not nest here.
162. WOOD DUCK. This glorious bird, the most beautiful Duck in the world, and treasured in aviaries the world over, still nests within our township. The late summer shooting which threatened its existence here is now illegal, but it is to be feared that it has not al- together stopped. April to November. Mr. Thayer has heard of the shooting of a Teal here, evidently the Green-winged Teal, but he had not seen the bird, when he prepared this monograph.
163. BLACK DUCK.
RED-LEGGED BLACK DUCK.
Mr. Thayer remarks: "We do not yet know to which race the Dublin breeding birds belong, for we have had no chance to examine a specimen (being unwilling to shoot them here); but it is likely that both forms could be found here in the spring and fall. - Uncommon, but nests regularly in at least one locality. April to November.
164. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. Uncommon and irregular. October and November. Does not nest here.
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165. AMERICAN MERGANSER, GOOSANDER. Rare and irregular. Late fall. Mr. Thayer observes: "Once, in early December, after the ice had begun to form, I saw on Dublin Lake a pair of birds which were almost certainly Hooded Mergansers. They were very shy, or restless, and I failed to identify them quite positively." The Mer- gansers do not nest here.
166. BONAPARTE'S GULL. Rare and irregular; occasionally ap- pears on Dublin Lake in the spring and fall (early June, October). Does not nest here.
167. HERRING GULL. Irregular and uncommon. Occasionally pays a passing visit to Dublin Lake, especially during big autumn storms. This is the common big sea-gull of the coast. Does not nest here.
168. RED-THROATED LOON. Rare and irregular. Sometimes visits Dublin in October and November, during storms. Does not nest here.
169. LOON. Fairly common. Loons are still faithful to Dublin Lake as visitors, but not as nesters. Mr. Thayer remarks: "We sum- mer folks are too much for them. They have now forsaken Breed Pond in Chesham, also, I believe. . . . The Loons that still honor us with frequent summer visits probably come from Long Pond (Nu- banusit Lake), north of Harrisville. There, a pair or two still nest. In the spring and fall, and especially during autumn storms, migrant Loons from other regions often drop into our lake, sometimes in num- bers (fifteen or twenty together)."
170. HORNED GREBE, WATER-WITCH, HELL-DIVER. A regular and fairly common autumn visitor to Dublin Lake, rare in the spring. October to December. Does not nest here.
171. HOLBOELL'S GREBE, AMERICAN RED-NECKED GREBE. An autumn visitant to Dublin Lake; very irregular, sometimes fairly common. In October, 1903, a big easterly storm brought twelve or fifteen of these Grebes - among many other sea-birds - and they stayed for several days. They are sometimes rather noisy, and their notes are most extraordinary.
Mr. Thayer, in a letter to the editor, informed him that he found the following six species, for the first time, in the summer of 1912:
172. VIRGINIA RAIL.
173. KILDEER PLOVER.
174. BAIRD'S SANDPIPER.
175. PECTORAL SANDPIPER.
176. WILSON'S SNIPE.
177. PIED-BILLED GREBE.
Mr. Thayer also wrote that two other species had been almost certainly identified, in the fall of 1912:
178. AMERICAN WIDGEON Or BALDPATE DUCK.
179. MALLARD DUCK.
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One hundred years ago, Mr. Thayer would have added the Wild Turkey, Meleagris Gallopavo, var. Americana. This bird is now extirpated in New England. It is said to be still found in Canada, and in the north-west part of North America. Varie- ties are said to occur in Texas and Mexico.
As late as fifty years ago, perhaps later, would have been added the beautiful Wild Pigeon, once so abundant. Its flesh was a table delicacy. They have been exterminated, at least in this part of the United States. Mr. Thayer's list did not, of course, include the domesticated fowls, doves, guinea-fowls, and imported birds.
The reptiles found in Dublin comprise two or three kinds of turtles, two or three species of lizards, and a few harmless snakes, including green and garter snakes; water, red-bellied, and brown snakes; and occasionally house adders and black snakes. Rattlesnakes have been found in town, but we are not aware that one has been seen recently within our limits. The batrachians are represented by a few kinds of frogs, tree-toads, and the common toad. Within the limits of Dublin, more than two thousand different species of insects have been collected. Many more would be discovered by further investigations. The mollusca are represented by land snails and fresh-water clams. The lower orders of the animal kingdom are represented by the earth-worm, blood-sucker, and numerous species which have not been carefully studied and classified.
The native forest trees of Dublin are beech, rock or sugar maple, white maple, red maple, spruce, hemlock, balsam-fir, American larch or hackmatack, white pine, red oak, elm, wild cherry (red and black), bass-wood, the several kinds of birch (white, gray, and yellow), chestnut, butternut, ash, and other trees and shrubs common in this latitude and at our elevation above the sea. White oak, hickory, and pitch-pine are not now found here; and, except the latter, it is doubtful whether they ever existed within our limits as a native growth. The beautiful mountain-ash is found in some places, and the evergreen arbor vitae, near some of the ponds and in damp locations.
The wild fruits are those of the upright blackberry, rasp- berry, low and high blueberry, checkerberry (or wintergreen), strawberry, and, in some spots, the black huckleberry. The shad-berry is common. The white blossoms appear early in the spring. It is seldom that many of the berries remain upon the trees till they are ripe. Their taste is a pleasant, mild acid, and
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children are fond of them; but, if many are eaten with the stones they are likely to produce a slight sickness, or nausea. The shad-berry, or shad-bush, is so named because its flowers ap- pear when the shad begin to ascend the streams. It is some- times called the wild pear, or wild sugar-pear. Its seeds or stones are hard, and sharply pointed at one end, which is the probable cause of their producing nausea. The fruit is said to be improved by cultivation.1 Low blueberries are most abun- dant on the sides of Monadnock Mountain. They ripen there later than in other situations. Large quantities are gathered in some seasons. The high blackberries often yield a plentiful supply, constitute a healthful fruit, and are much used. Wild strawberries are less abundant than in former days, when the land was first cultivated; but the delicious cultivated straw- berries are so much to be preferred to the wild berries, in the opinion of most persons, that the field berries are not so much sought as formerly. Raspberries are often found by the sides of the travelled roads, and their fragrance is grateful. Their flavor is so delicious that the cultivated raspberries have not supplanted the market for the wild fruit.
The objects of natural history in New Hampshire, for many years, were not thoroughly investigated and described. Dr. Jackson's "Geological Survey of New Hampshire" was a valu- able work in its day, but less complete than the importance of the subject demanded. Hitchcock's "Geology of New Hampshire," in several massive volumes, with an accompanying geological at- las, is a work of great value of a more recent date. The subject is exhaustively treated with great fulness of detail, and supplies a vast amount of useful information which had previously been lacking. The surveys made by legislative authority in Massa- chusetts and New York include all the branches of natural history. Parts of the works published by these states are ap- plicable to New Hampshire, and much may be learned from them respecting our own natural history. Dr. Harris's "Trea- tise on some of the Insects of New England which are Injurious to Vegetation " can still be consulted with profit by every farmer, although modern treatises have been issued which bring the subject to date and deal with certain insect pests that have made their appearance in later years, such as the brown-tail and gypsy moths. Insects, though small in size, often become formidable by their numbers. Their destructive power is far greater than that of crows and foxes, for the heads of which the
1 See Report on the Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts, p. 443.
MONADNOCK LAKE FROM PUMPELLY HILL
45
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state has sometimes offered a bounty. During recent winters, experts have been employed to pick, or clip, from the branches of Dublin trees the nests of the brown-tail and gypsy moths. They trained the men and boys of the town to perform this work. Many thousands of their nests were destroyed. In some towns these destructive insects practically destroyed whole forests, and ruined many shade and ornamental trees. It will require constant vigilance to exterminate them in this town, all the more so because adjoining towns do not take similar pre- cautions to destroy such pests, and they spread from neighbor- ing forests into Dublin.
The climate of Dublin is what might be expected from its elevation above the ocean. The winds are often strong, but the air is pure and bracing. The evenings and mornings of the hot season are generally cool and refreshing. The snow in winter is often deep, and remains longer on the ground in the spring than in the towns which border on the Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers; but the thermometer on the hills does not sink so low, on the cold, frosty mornings of winter, as in the latter situations. Stage-drivers, that started early from the valleys, in former days, were always glad to reach the higher land. It is the strong wind and the drifting snow that make travelling over the hills in the winter uncomfortable and dif- ficult. For the past few years, however, there has been so little snow that it has been difficult to decide whether to start with a wheeled vehicle or a sleigh, the bare ground offering obstacles nearly as serious as those of the drifts in former winters. For many years due regard was not paid to the preservation of the forests, with reference to the protection of buildings and culti- vated fields from the violence of the winds. The crops on the hills were less exposed than those in the valleys to early and late frosts. The decline of the farming industry in these later years, the purchase of large tracts of land by city summer residents, and the growth of brush and small timber in the old pastures and mowing-fields, have collectively modified con- siderably the conditions affecting early and late crops.
From four daily observations, during the year 1852, the mean of the thermometer for each month was as follows: - January, 14.3; February, 19.9; March, 26.2; April, 33.5; May, 49.7; June, 62.7; July, 68.2; August, 62.1; September, 57.7; October, 45.8; November, 28.3; December, 27.9. The mini- mum, January 20, 1852, was 16 below zero; and the maximum, July 9, 1852, was 91 above zero. The changes from a higher
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to a lower temperature are sometimes sudden. The thermome- ter on one occasion sank from 81 to 43 in less than nine hours. This, however, was an extreme case. Hitchcock (Geology of New Hampshire, Vol. I., p. 144) gives the following as the average temperature of Dublin for the different months and seasons of the year: - January, 18.52; February, 21.58; March, 27.70; April, 36.99; May, 49.14; June, 63.18; July, 67.15; August, 64.18; September, 57.37; October, 45.44; November, 33.67; December, 21.14; spring, 37.94; summer, 64.84; autumn, 45.49; winter, 20.41.
The geological formation of Dublin is primitive. Hitchcock refers it to the porphyritic gneiss of the Laurentian series. He thus describes it, in his "Geology of New Hampshire" (Vol. II., p. 471): - "In Dublin, south of Monadnock Lake, there is an isolated hill near Mr. Phillips's,1 where the crystals of feldspar are much smaller than those found elsewhere in the porphyritic gneiss. Here they are not much more than a quarter of an inch in thickness, and three quarters of an inch in length. The same rock outcrops near Peter Morse's,2 and it is associated with a pyritiferous schist, but interstratified with it there is a dark fine-grained gneiss. The dip of the porphyritic rock is N. 8°; W. 35°, and the pyritiferous schist is unconformable with it. The rock in the south-east part of the town has many of the lithological characteristics of the porphyritic gneiss, though the large crystals of feldspar are wanting, and it resem- bles the gneiss of Bradford. In the north-east part of Dublin, and extending into Harrisville, the gneiss is porphyritic. At J. Gilchrest's are many ledges, and there are outcrops along the branch of Contoocook River to the outlet of North Pond [the long pond below Harrisville]. Its western boundary ex- tends from near the fork of the roads above schoolhouse No. 9, a little west of north, to D. French's, south of Long Pond; thence it extends through Nelson."
The same author, in speaking of the pyritiferous rocks, ob- serves (Vol. II., p. 490): - "If this is the same rock as the fibrolite schist or gneiss, then we have a line of outcrops from Mt. Prospect to the southern border of the state, including Ragged, Kearsarge, and Monadnock Mountains." Again, commenting on siliceous pyritiferous schist (II., p. 490), he observes: - "It is in Cheshire County where these schists are most extensively developed. They occupy a large part of Sul-
1 Near Mrs. Hill's cottage.
2 In 1915, the lower cottage of Dwight estate.
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NATURAL HISTORY
livan, Nelson, Roxbury, Harrisville, Dublin, and Rindge; also parts of Marlborough, Jaffrey, Fitzwilliam, and Richmond."
Hitchcock (II., pp. 502-3) thus describes the geology of Monadnock Mountain and vicinity : - "The Monadnock range has its northern limit at the northern extremity of Beech Hill, where it has a dip almost directly north; but, on the same hill, south, the dip is north-west. The rock seems more allied to hydro-mica schist than to the common mica schist, and it contains a compact fibrolite. It is the rock directly east of Monadnock Lake, and it occupies an area of country here at least two and a half miles in width. It is the rock of the country directly south of Dublin village, nearly to Thorndike Pond, and south-west it is connected with the ridge of Monadnock. There is an outcrop just south-east of the eastern extremity of Monadnock, and, on the road still further south, the rock is more decidedly a hydro-mica schist than that found elsewhere in this range. Following the ridge of Monadnock, the rock is quite uniform until we get near the highest point of the moun- tain, when it becomes more compact, has fewer cleavage planes, and contains some chlorite. The fibrolite, though generally present, is not so abundant as on Beech Hill, and it is the vari- ety that was formerly called bucholzite. On the north side of Monadnock, probably 120 rods a little east of north from the hotel, considerable quantities of graphite were formerly ob- tained, but the mine is now nearly or quite exhausted. The fact that graphite occurs here, would ally the rocks of Monadnock with the older rather than the newer rocks. On the north-west side of the mountain, and not far from a mile south-east of L. Darling's [the G. W. Eaves place], the rock resembles the mi- caceous gneiss of the White Mountains, and it contains an abun- dance of the fibrous variety of fibrolite. The rock on the ridge extending southward from the summit of Monadnock is very similar to that on the ridge northward, and it crosses the road just west of the toll-gate [no longer serving its original purpose], where it is a very narrow band, and nearly vertical."
Wheelock, in the "American Naturalist" (Vol. VIII., for 1873), alluding to the primeval condition of Monadnock, declares that "Monadnock was an island in a sea of icebergs, which struck equally strong upon both the north-west and south-east sides. There is certainly a dearth of striated ledges upon the south- east side, while even the earth has been largely removed from the north-west flank, so mighty has been the planishment of the rock." In that ice age, this island summit was scarified, on
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HISTORY OF DUBLIN
both sides, by icebergs. The summit of Monadnock was the first land that appeared above water in New Hampshire out- side the White Mountain district.
The land in Dublin is rocky, and the soil hard to cultivate. A few farms in the easterly part of the town have portions of sandy or gravelly land. Although the soil is hard, yet, under good cultivation, it produces fair crops of maize, oats, barley, and potatoes. On many farms wheat was formerly raised. For that crop the land must be well prepared and well manured. When treated with leached ashes, the yield is greater. It was sown here in the spring. Rye may be sown on the sandy lands; and it was common, on the first clearing of a piece of land, to rake in rye in the autumn, after the ground had been burned over. Much of the pasture-land is covered with what is called white grass. It goes to seed early in the season, and, for the rest of the year, gives a white appearance to the fields in which it predominates. Whether these pastures can be recruited with- out cultivation and manuring is a problem which has not yet been practically solved. On some of these pastures, a young growth of spruce, and occasionally of pine, is in evidence. At first, this was considered a decided improvement on the sterile aspect presented by a ripe growth of white grass, but, as time has advanced, so many cultivated fields have been obliterated by such a growth, and so many farms abandoned, that certain portions of the town present a picture of desolation.
One of the early settlers of the town said that it was repre- sented to him before he came, and as an inducement to pur- chase a farm, that the land in Dublin was so fertile that "it would never need any manure." Settlers were soon undeceived with regard to such representations, but the land well repays a generous culture; and, as labor has become less easily attain- able and more costly, the practice has become more common of cultivating a less number of acres. Necessity is compelling the tillers of the soil to pay more attention to the science of agricul- ture, and to adopt such methods for improvement as have been practically tested.
Dr. Jackson, a former state geologist, in his final report, 1844, says :- "Bogs of peat were observed near the road through Dub- lin, and the peat may be economically employed in making compost for agricultural use. Drift scratches are common on the rocks and run north and south."
Specimens of soil from the farm of Thomas Fisk, Esq., the farm now known as Monadnock No. 3, were sent to Dr. Jack-
MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN AND LAKE FROM THE NORTH-WEST.
--
-
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NATURAL HISTORY
son, and the following are his analyses of the same, in his "Ap- pendix to Agricultural Geology and Chemistry," pp. 335-6 :-
Analysis of soil, grass-land, from Thomas Fisk's, Dublin.
No. 1.
Chemical analysis of 100 grains gave -
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