USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 18
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 18
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ARTIODACTYLA (Deer, Pig, Sheep)
The lone wild representative of this order on Long Island is the Virginia deer, Odocoileus virginianus. Little description is needed, as the deer is familiar to all. Forty-five years ago, Helme wrote that the deer is "now restricted to an area about six miles long by four or five in width, situated in the southeastern portion of Islip Township and the southwestern part of Brookhaven township. There it is still plentiful, but doubtless would have long since become only
A Doe, Part of the Long Island Deer Herd
a memory of the past, but for the protection afforded on the game preserves of 'the Southside Sportsman's Association', and those of a few private estates. Deer are, however, steadily decreasing in numbers, notwithstanding assertions to the contrary, and unless the laws are more rigidly enforced to prevent reckless and indiscriminate slaughter, both in and out of season, these beautiful creatures will soon cease to grace our woodlands."
Fortunately for the naturalist, and less so for the agriculturist, Helme's fears have proved groundless. The Long Island deer herd in Suffolk County numbers between 1500 and 2000 animals at the present time, and the damage to vegetables, principally potatoes, and nursery stock was estimated at $20,000 during 1945. Deer have increased to the point where they dig up potato nubbins, tear off the growing sprouts of young apples and other fruits, browse back
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THE MAMMALS OF LONG ISLAND
the growing vegetables and otherwise cause a nuisance of no incon- siderable monetary value. Here we have a splendid native species, once threatened with extinction, which through popular demand has received protection to the extent that, at least in some areas, has become an unmitigated nuisance. Since control by guns is prohibited on Long Island, the deer will undoubtedly increase within a few years, to a point where radical measures must be considered.
Deer mate in early winter, the does normally producing a single or twin fawns in late April. The young remain with the mother until fall, often into the second spring. The young buck may produce a single spike in the year of its birth; not uncommonly an eight-pointer is but two years old. The number of antler points is no criterion of age. As the bucks become senile, the number of points lessens. The deer is a fastidious feeder, browsing on the tender buds and twigs of deciduous shrubs and trees, and feeding on the new growth of many conifers. Winter is the time of hardship for the Adirondack deer, but the amenable climate of Long Island provides access to sufficient food to keep the deer herd in good condi- tion. There is no winter loss, which might otherwise keep the herd within bounds.
The problem of the Long Island deer herd is a vexatious one. Some hold that the deer population can be controlled by the use of the bow and arrow. Others insist that shooting alone is the problem. In a thickly settled area, the latter method may con- ceivably prove fatal to more humans than deer.
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CHAPTER XXIX
Long Island Bird Life* Prepared by the BALDWIN BIRD CLUB and Edited by EDWIN WAY TEALE
INTRODUCTION
Because of the variety of terrain offered by the hills, the plains, the pine woods, the salt marshes, the bays and the outer beaches of Long Island, the area has been noted for the richness of its bird life since the days of the earliest colonists. Daniel Denton, in his book, A Brief Description of New York, Formerly Called New Netherland, which was printed in London in 1670, tells of the incredible numbers of ducks and geese and swans that made their home along the south shore of the island. People living close to the ocean, he adds, were disturbed in their sleep by the clamor of the waterfowl.
Although many of the colonists knew little about birds, the litera- ture of the time contains numerous references to the avifauna of the island. The fact that it was one of the earliest sites on the North American continent to be settled has given us records that extend back over a period of more than 300 years. These records sometimes speak of birds now extinct, of the Great Auk, of the Heath Hen, of the Labrador Duck, of the Passenger Pigeon. If we include these vanished species and introduced birds, such as the Starling and the English Sparrow, the total for Long Island is 388 species. The total number for New York State is 412. In other words, every bird that has ever been seen in New York State has also been seen on Long Island with the exception of only twenty-four species.
This surprising total is undoubtedly increased by two factors. One is that two different zoological life zones are found on the island. From approximately Artist's Lake eastward, the Upper Austral life zone prevails. The western half of the island is in the Transition zone. Even the most casual observer cannot help but be struck by the change in the country as he drives the length of the island. This great variety is the explanation for the large number of resident species. In addition, the island is visited by many migrants. Its length is a link in the long chain of the Atlantic Coast flyway.
Each spring and autumn, migrants going to and coming from New England and eastern Canada stop to rest and feed in the area. Furthermore, because the island borders on the sea, hurricanes and
* This section of THE HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND was prepared by the Baldwin Bird Club. Edwin Way Teale acted as editor and wrote the Introduction; Mrs. Howard Meinke wrote the two sections on Bird Life of the Past and Bird Life. of the Present; Mrs. James Ritchie covered The Conservation of Birds and Miss Lucille Cooper prepared the material on Long Island Bird Clubs.
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gales sometimes drive pelagic species inland or bring rare birds, such as the Yellow-billed Tropic Bird, to Long Island.
The normal bird population lives in five distinctly different areas, each area attracting its own characteristic species. Some years ago, . John T. Nichols, of the American Museum of Natural History, pre- pared an excellent summary of the facts about these areas and their relation to Long Island bird life. It was published by the Bird Club of Long Island and is used as the basis of the following paragraphs.
The largest of the five areas is the central and south-shore section which includes the pine barrens of Suffolk County. The Great Horned Owl and the Red-tailed Hawk are two unusual species found in this area. Beyond Babylon, in the region of the pine barrens, the Hermit Thrush builds its nest. This is of particular interest because this is the farthest south the bird is known to nest at sea level.
The second area runs along the Sound on the north shore. Roll- ing country, hills and tracts of deciduous woodland characterize the region. Terminal moraines, left by the Ice Age and forming the back- bone of the island, meet near Manhasset. As this area progresses eastward, it grows steadily narrower until it loses its distinctive ornithological character. Among the birds that nest in this section are the Veery, the Red-shouldered Hawk and the Louisiana Water- Thrush.
Third, we have a small, flat shore area along the ocean near the eastern boundary of Nassau County. At one time, this area was largely covered with deciduous trees. South-bound migrants are espe- cially numerous here in the autumn. The Clapper Rail is one of the species found nesting in this locality.
The fourth area is the well-known Hempstead Plains. Originally, it stretched southward from the hills of the north shore, an area of natural grasslands. In recent years, however, the character of the area has changed considerably. The breaking of the native sod, the cutting of new roads, the development of suburban communities, have played a leading role in this alteration. Weeds and bush growth have replaced the extensive sod of former days. Interesting birds, never- theless, are encountered in the area. The Grasshopper Sparrow is particularly numerous in summer, while the Pipit appears in fall and the Horned Larks in winter.
The fifth, and final, area comprises the far eastern end of the island, the Montauk and Orient peninsulas. It has an ornithological character of its own. Here, oceanic birds can be seen, birds like Puffins, Gannets and Cory's Shearwater.
In these five areas, each with its own distinctive forms of bird life, the individual species often has increased or decreased in num- bers as the years have passed. The common Herring Gull, for example, is now familiar everywhere along the ocean shore. Yet, in 1900, it was so rare that one ornithologist estimated that there were no more than 2000 nesting pairs on the whole Atlantic coast.
Some of the records which tell the story of changing bird life on Long Island were written by such celebrated ornithologists as John James Audubon and Alexander Wilson; others by such enthu-
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LONG ISLAND BIRD LIFE
siastic amateur bird-watchers as Theodore Roosevelt. The years have seen a shift in emphasis; a wholesome change in our attitude toward the birds. Appreciation has replaced exploitation. Where once there were only shotguns, now there are field glasses; where once there were only hunters, now there are bird-students. Sanctuaries have increased. The story of this change, and the birds that it has affected, will be told in the following pages.
EDWIN WAY TEALE.
BIRD LIFE OF THE PAST
I N EARLY colonial times the broad beaches of Long Island were inhabited by vast colonies of terns, gulls and large numbers of shore birds of many kinds. The Swedish botanist, Peter Kalm, traveling in America in 1749, writes of Long Island, "The soil of the south part is very poor, but this deficiency is made up by a vast quantity of oysters, lobsters, crabs, fish and numbers of waterfowl. All of which are far more abundant than on the north shore of the Island." Elon Howard Eaton in his Birds of New York State writes of these early days, "When the state was first settled, waterfowl fairly swarmed our bays, rivers and lakes and shore birds flocked by thousands every Spring and Fall on Long Island." Another early account describes the extended south bays as being "the common resort of innumerable multitudes of wildfowl from stately Goose down to the smallest Snipe". An old-time resident, DeVries, describ- ing the country of New Netherland in 1639-42 in his Journal men- tions swans, geese and white cranes with the ducks on New York Bay.
It would seem that pelicans were to be found here also at that time, for on a Coast Guard Survey Chart of the year 1835 there is a body of land, now sunk beneath the waves, off Coney Island desig- nated as Pelican Beach. Beautiful white egrets, herons, woodcock and the favorite bird of the Indian, the American Bittern, enjoyed the secret wet retreats of the vast undisturbed coastal marshes.
The forests, stretching unbroken from the marshes to the prairies, were full of Wild Turkey and Pigeons in season. DeVries tells of shooting a thirty-pound turkey near New Amsterdam. Daniel Denton, son of the learned Reverend Richard Denton, pastor of Hempstead, in his Brief Description of New York, published in 1670, says: "The greatest part of the Island is full of timber. There are divers sorts of singing birds whose chirping notes salute the ears of Travellers with harmonious discord." Secretary Van Tienhoven in 1649 describes Montauk Point as entirely covered with trees. Red-bellied Wood- peckers were presumably generally distributed. According to an old account, "The woods as well as the open fields abound with Quails and Partridges." On the plains also were grouse, plover and Heath Hen.
Into the richness of Long Island's bird life came the English ornithologist, Blackburn, to spend the year 1773 at Hempstead. The large collections which he made added many new species to Pennant's Arctic Zoology, then being prepared.
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We have a vivid picture of Long Island's beautiful natural abun- dance in those early days from the glowing accounts which have been preserved. We share the excitement of discovery of the Hollander who, seeing his first owl, wrote from New Netherland in 1656 of a "bird of prey which has a head like the head of a large cat and its feathers are a light ash colour". He also wrote of "another small curious bird or a large West India bee. It seeks its nourishment from flowers regaling itself. It is only seen in Nieuw Nederlandt in season of flowers. In flying they also make a humming noise like bees. They are very tender and cannot well be kept alive, but we preserve them between paper, dry them in the sun and send them as presents to our friends". The Humming-bird was a source of wonder also to William Wood, who wrote: "The Humbird is one of the wonders of the coun- try, being no bigger than a Hor- net, yet having all the Dimen- sions of a Bird, as bill and wings with quills, spider-like legges, small claws. For color she is glorious as the Rainebow."
Our exact knowledge of the bird-fauna of this region at that time, however, is small. The work or Giraud and his friends on Long Island, about a hundred years ago, marks the beginning of our ornithological history. Mr. J. P. Giraud, a naturalist, a member of the Lyceum of Nat- (Photo by Edwin Way Teale) Young Screech Owls ural History of New York, oc- cupied the carpenter and wheel- wright shop of George Smithi at Raynortown (Freeport) in the early 1800s for the purpose of collect- ing natural history specimens and especially birds of Long Island. Wiley and Putnam published his Birds of Long Island in 1844. His ornithological collection was finally presented to Vassar College. Giraud gives the following enthusiastic description of Long Island's bird life at that time:
"The occurrence on Long Island of many species that are rarely or never observed in other parts of the middle dis- tricts, will doubtless appear somewhat remarkable to those who are unacquainted with the locality; but when they ex- amine the map and find that this lengthy and comparatively narrow island extends some distance into the ocean nearly at right angles with the southern portion of the coast of the United States comprising within its boundaries numerous
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LONG ISLAND BIRD LIFE
bays, inlets, shoals and bars, abounding with all the varieties of food peculiar to almost every species of marine birds, it will not seem surprising that those species which are more abundant in the higher as well as the more temperate lati- tudes should in their wanderings, visit these hospitable shores. Not only is our section the resort for nearly every species of water bird found within the limits of the United States, but out of more than 500 birds now ascertained to belong to North America 286 have been known to visit this far famed island. Indeed, no portion of our country, of the same extent, is richer in resources for the student of Natural History, or more inviting to the sportsman, than this garden of the middle districts."
John James Audubon, the famous naturalist and artist, no doubt gave some attention to Long Island's shore birds at some time during these years. The winter of 1806-7 Audubon spent in New York, so his biographer, Francis Hobart Herrick, states, and paid most atten- tion to the waterfowl, frequently visiting the shore and the markets for his subjects. Although no special mention is made of Long Island, it is probable that at that time he studied some birds of this region.
At least one of Long Island's birds has been immortalized by this great artist. In his Birds of America, writing on the Curlew Sand- piper, Audubon states, "In the course of my extensive rambles along our coasts and in the interior, I have seen only three birds of this species, all of which I have kept with care, considering the Cape Sand- piper or Pigmy Curlew as the rarest of its genus with us. It appears to resort to two particular districts. Two of my birds were shot at Great Egg Harbour in New Jersey in the spring of 1829, the other on Long Island near Sandy Hook. The one killed on Long Island was a fine male in full plumage and from it I made the figure which has been engraved in the plate."
Of the Clapper Rail Audubon writes: "Few if any ever go beyond Long Island in the State of New York. At least I have never seen or heard of one farther east." He speaks of the Black-necked Stilt as being "not abundant in any part of the United States and is seldom seen to the eastward beyond Long Island".
As is often the case in looking back over history, at the time when certain conditions are at a peak, circumstances which lead to changes are discernible. So it was during this period so glowingly described by Giraud that the disappearance of the remnants of the original forest, the large scale market hunting, the demands of the millinery trade and the popularity of many smaller birds as cage pets, were already bringing about inevitable changes in Long Island bird life. Some of the birds found in colonial times had already become extinct in this region. The Wild Turkey, once apparently abundant, had disappeared long before the days of our early ornithol- ogists. The Whooping, "the White Crane" of DeVries' day, had evidently become extirpated by 1800 as it was unknown to both Giraud and DeKay, a naturalist who also studied Long Island's wild life at
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that time. Giraud's introduction to his book is significant. He offered the volume "with a view of placing within the reach of 'gunner's' the means of becoming more thoroughly acquainted with the birds frequenting Long Island."
Already Giraud speaks of the Heath Hen as being nearly if not entirely extinct. He reports that although the Heath Hen was abun- dant thirty years before on the bushy plains in Suffolk County, on a recent expedition over its former favorite haunts he could find no trace of it. It had been a favorite bird with sportsmen and com- manded a high price on the New York market.
Of the Red-headed Woodpecker, Giraud notes that though for- merly one of our most common Woodpeckers, it was not as abundant as it had been a few years before. A Colonel Nicolas Pike, a resident of Kings County in the 1800s who was an accurate field naturalist as well as a successful sportsman, told of seeing Pileated and Red- bellied Woodpeckers in a large tract of forest running eastward from Flatbush Road before the outskirts of Brooklyn reached that area. The last specimen of the Pileated Woodpecker was reported taken on Long Island in 1879.
The magnificent Bald Eagle was abundant on Long Island during the winters at this time, sixty to seventy being shot in one season. John Lion Gardiner, proprietor of Gardiner's Island in the late eight- eenth and early nineteenth century, in his journals, in which he writes in some detail about the birds on Gardiner's Island, tells of seeing an eagle soar away with a whole live sheep in his talons. Hundreds of Ospreys were nesting on Gardiner's Island at this time. The well- known ornithologist, Alexander Wilson, included a study of the Fish Hawks there in his writing. The Gardiner of that day estimated the number of nests to be about 300. In 1904, J. Lyon Gardiner said the birds were slowly diminishing and he thought that then there were about 200 Ospreys nesting on the Island.
In speaking of the now extinct Passenger Pigeon, whose rate of flight was estimated at a mile a minute, Giraud tells of accounts related to him by shipmasters who had occasionally seen large flocks drifting about at sea. It was believed that they had either lost their way or been driven about at sea, and becoming fatigued had alighted on the water and perished. Colonel Pike tells of seeing thousands of these birds within the present city limits of Brooklyn. Around 1840, there was a large thickly wooded hill near Second Place, at that time out of town and with few houses between it and City Hall. Sportsmen would gather here to shoot the Pigeons which would pause to rest in the trees on this hill before crossing the Narrows below. Colonel Pike, who since 1830 had been making a collection of speci- mens of Long Island birds, shot a Passenger Pigeon for his collection in about 1878. That was the last one he ever saw. He regretted having shot it. After 1874 the black and white Labrador Duck was no longer seen on the waters of Long Island Sound where it had been fairly common during the winters.
The period of greatest abundance of birds on Long Island is con- sidered to have come to a close about 1885. During these years, how-
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ever, new species were being added to Long Island's list, such as the Cliff Swallow of whose occurrence on Long Island, Giraud states, there was no knowledge previous to 1842.
In a paper read before the Linnaean Society of New York on March 8, four days before the great Blizzard of 1888, William Dutcher reported six new species and subspecies which he had added to Long Island's list of birds. Three of these, the Little Gull, Cory's Shear- water and the Prothonotary Warbler were new records for the State of New York. The Little Gull was also the first positive record for this continent. The other two birds were the Prairie Horned Lark and the Palm Warbler.
Mr. Dutcher, who in 1905 became President of the National Asso- ciation of Audubon Societies, followed Giraud in concentrating on Long Island in his ornithological studies. Mr. Dutcher writes in 1888, "Concentration of effort, whether applied to business pursuits or the study of zoology is the surest road to success. It was, therefore, with this idea in view that I decided many years since to confine my orni- thological studies and collecting to a limited area. Having a natural bent toward the seashore and waterfowl, I saw, presented on Long Island a field that could not be equalled for diversity of topography and definiteness of surroundings. Situated as it is on the debatable line between the Alleghanian and Carolinian Faunae, it is like the territory between two contending armies, subject to incursions from. both parties. Stragglers from the icy north visit its shores that shortly before have been visited by wanderers from the tropics. Up- land and marsh and sea attract a numerous and diversified avifauna, larger probably than can be found in any territory of equal size on the continent."
Mr. Dutcher's account of the first recording of the Palm Warbler on the Island calls our attention to those outposts of our shores, the lighthouses, which have played such a large part in the observing and recording of the birds flying over Long Island. Mr. Dutcher records that during the night of September 23, 1887, a great bird wave was rolling southward along the Atlantic coast. Mr. E. J. Udall, first assistant keeper of the Fire Island Light, said that the air was full of birds. Many of them unfortunately met their death by striking the light. The following morning Mr. Udall picked up no less than 595 victims at the foot of the tower. He shipped them to Mr. Dutcher who identified them, finding twenty-five species included, all land birds, nearly half of which were wood warblers.
The Bureau of Biological Survey of the Department of Agricul- ture used these strategic locations in exhaustive studies of bird migra- tion. It became one of the duties of the lighthouse keeper to make an examination outside the lighthouse daily for the purpose of noting and recording the number of birds killed. If the bird was not known it was sent to Washington to be identified.
The keeper of the Montauk Light has always had a grandstand seat, as it were, for observing the birds traveling north and south as well as those that lingered on this isolated tip. Montauk Point has always been rich in bird life, especially in the days before the railroad and
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building developments reached that far. Capt. James G. Scott, keeper of the light from 1885 to 1911, was keenly interested in birds and kept a daily record of those he saw and in what numbers.
In the old days at Montauk, men went gunning the year round, even at night. In November, 1902, Captain Scott writes of the great quantities of ducks in Great Pond, "mostly Red Heads and Widgeon, some Mallard or English Ducks and Geese and about thirty gunners
(Photo by Edwin Way Teale)
Red Breasted Merganser (female)
every day staying at Conklin's Third House". Captain Scott records Golden Plover: "Aug. 23, 1893, saw three flocks; Oct. 9, 1894, saw one Golden Plover in Oyster Pond; Sept. 15, 1903, saw flock Golden Plover, about fifty". Compare this with Robert B. Roosevelt's earlier account of the Golden Plover in his chapter on Montauk Point in his Game Birds of the Coasts and Lakes of the Northern States of America, published in 1866. "When suddenly, as we surmount one of the swelling eminences which are the prevailing feature of this district of country, we come upon a sight such as perhaps but few sportsmen have ever beheld. A gentle hollow spreads before us for several acres, literally covered with the ranks of the much desired the matchless Golden Plover." He and his companion computed the number to be not less than 3000. Montauk has yielded specimens of
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