USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 11
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George Smith, a Washington township early hunter, who is still living in the wilds of Elk County, has killed in this wilderness fourteen panthers, five hundred bears, thirty elks, three thousand deer, five hun- dred catamounts, five hundred wolves, and six hundred wild-cats. He
100
GOLDEN EAGLE.
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
has killed seven deer in a day and as many as five bears in a day. All these animals were killed in what was originally Jefferson County. Mr. Smith has followed hunting as a profession for sixty years.
NATURAL LIFE OF SOME OF OUR WILD AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
Years.
Years.
Elk
50
Hog
20
Beaver .
50
Wolf
15
Panther
25
Cat
15
Catamount
25
Fox
15
Buffalo
20
Dog
IO
Cow
20
Sheep
IO
Horse
20
Squirrel
7
Bear
20
Rabbit
7
Deer
20
BIRDS.
" If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young : but thou shalt in anywise let the dam go, and take the young to thee ; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." -Deut. xxii. 6, 7.
With the exception of the wild turkey and raven, which are now about ex- tinct, we have almost the same variety of birds here that lived and sung in this wilderness when the Bar- netts settled on Mill Creek. Some of these original birds are quite scarce. We have one new bird,-viz., the English sparrow.
Wild turkey.
Before enumerating our birds it might be proper to give a few sketches of some of the principal ones.
THE RAVEN.
A very handsome bird, numerous here in pioneer time, now extinct. He belonged to the crow family. He had a wonderful intellect. He
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
could learn to talk correctly, and was a very apt scholar. He lived to an extreme old age, probably one hundred years. He was blue-black, like the common crow. He made his home in the solitude of the forest, preferring the wildest and most hilly sections. In such regions, owing to his intellect and strength, his supremacy was never questioned, unless by the eagle. In the fall of the year he would feast on the saddles of venison the hunters would hang on a tree, and the Longs adopted this method to save their meat : Take a small piece of muslin, wet it, and rub it all over with gunpowder ; sharpen a stick and pin this cloth to the venison. The raven and crow would smell this powder and keep away from the venison.
THE "BALD"' EAGLE OUR NATIONAL EMBLEM.
The name " Bald" which is given to this species is not applied be- cause the head is bare, but because the feathers of the neck and head of adults are pure white. In Jefferson County, as well as throughout the United States, we had but two species of eagles, the bald and the golden. The " Black," " Gray," and " Washington" eagles are but the young of the bald eagle. Three years, it is stated, are required before this species assumes the adult plumage. The bald eagle is still found in Pennsyl- vania at all seasons of the year. I have seen some that measured eight feet from tip to tip of wing.
" The nest, a bulky affair, built usually on a large tree, mostly near the water, is about four or five feet in diameter. It is made up chiefly of large sticks, lined inside with grass, leaves, etc. The eggs, commonly two, rarely three, are white, and they measure about three by two and a half inches. A favorite article of food with this bird is fish, which he obtains mainly by strategy and rapine. Occasionally, however, according to dif- ferent observers, the bald eagle will do his own fishing. Geese and brant form their favorite food, and the address displayed in their capture is very remarkable. The poor victim has apparently not the slightest chance for escape. The eagle's flight, ordinarily slow and somewhat heavy, becomes, in the excitement of pursuit, exceedingly swift and graceful, and the fugi- tive is quickly overtaken. When close upon its quarry the eagle sud- denly sweeps beneath it, and turning back downward, thrusts its powerful talons up into its breast. A brant or duck is carried off bodily to the nearest marsh or sand-bar. But a Canada goose is too heavy to be thus easily disposed of ; the two great birds fall together to the water beneath, while the eagle literally tows his prize along the surface until the shore is reached. In this way one has been known to drag a large goose for nearly half a mile.
" The bald eagle occasionally devours young pigs, lambs, and fawns. Domestic fowls, wild turkeys, hares, etc., are also destroyed by this species. I have knowledge of at least two of these birds which have killed poultry
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BALD EAGLE.
T
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
(tame ducks and turkeys) along the Susquehanna River. Sometimes, like the golden eagle, this species will attack raccoons and skunks. I once found two or three spines of a porcupine in the body of an immature bald eagle. The golden eagle occurs in this State as a winter visitor. The only species with which it is sometimes compared is the bald eagle in immature dress. The two birds, however, can be distinguished at a glance, if you remember that the golden eagle has the tarsus (shin) densely feathered to the toes, while, on the other hand, the bald eagle has a bare shin. The golden eagle breeds in high mountainous regions and the Arctic countries.
" Golden eagles are rather rare in this region, hence their depreda- tions to poultry, game, and live-stock occasion comparatively little loss. Domestic fowls, ducks, and turkeys especially, are often devoured ; dif- ferent species of water-birds, grouse, and wild turkeys suffer chiefly among the game birds. Fawns are sometimes attacked and killed ; occasionally it destroys young pigs, and frequently many lambs are carried off by this powerful bird. Rabbits are preyed upon to a considerable extent."
Of our birds, the eagle is the largest, swiftest in flight, and keenest- eyed, the humming-bird the smallest, the coot the slowest, and the owl the dullest.
The spring birds, such as the bluebird, the robin, the sparrow, and the martin, were early to come and late to leave.
I reproduce from Olive Thorne Miller's Lectures the following,-viz. :
" There are matrimonial quarrels also among birds. As a rule, the female is queen of the nest, but once I saw a male sparrow assert his power. He was awfully angry, and tried to oust his spouse from a hole in a maple-tree in which they had made their home. He did drive her out at last, and absolutely divorced her, for he was back before long with a bride whom, with some trouble and a good many antics, he coaxed to accept the nest.
" The female bird is the queen of the home, and usually selects the place for the nest, the male bird sometimes lending a beak in building it, but most of the time singing his sweet song to encourage his mate.
" That the female is queen is shown by a little story related of a spar- row. She was hatching her eggs, and was relieved now and then by her mate while she went off for exercise and food. One day the male bird was late and the female called loudly for him. He came at last, and she gave him an unmerciful drubbing, which he took without a murmur. Thoroughly ashamed of himself, he sat down meekly on the eggs.
" The robin is the most familiar of our birds. Running over the lawns, with head down, it suddenly grabs a worm, which it shakes as a cat does a mouse. Having swallowed it, the robin looks up with infinite pride. They are great insect-destroyers, though they insist on having the earliest spring peas and the first mulberries, raspberries, and grapes. The robin
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
is the great enemy of the bird observer, giving warning of his approach to every bird in the neighboring thickets. They are brave, and will help any bird in distress. A sparrow-hawk had seized an English sparrow, one of the robin's worst enemies, but the robin attacked the hawk so viciously that it released the sparrow. In another instance a cat had cap- tured a young robin, but was so fearlessly attacked by an older bird that she parted with her tender meal and sought shelter under the barn.
" The robins make charming but most mischievous pets. I heard of a case where a child helped bring up a brood of these birds. When they were fledged they would follow her about the yard like a flock of chickens.
" The wood-thrush or wood-robin is of a shy and retiring nature, fre- quenting thick woods and tangled undergrowth, and at daybreak and sun- down this bird carols forth its thankfulness for a day begun and a day ended. The nest is made in some low tree, with little or no mud in its composition, and contains from four to six eggs. The veery, or tawny thrush, is a wonderful songster, but a most retiring bird.
" The American cuckoo, unlike her English cousin, builds her own nest, and is a most devoted parent. These birds, with white breast, are numerous here in the summer, and the male bird's courting is most grotesque. After each note he makes a profound bow to the niate, and then opens his mouth as wide as possible, as if about to emit a loud cry, but only the feeblest of 'coos' can be heard.
" The blue-jay, though one of our best-known birds, is greatly mis- understood. It is said he is always quarrelling and fighting, whereas really he is only full of frolic and mischief and is a most affectionate bird, and instead of tyrannizing over other birds is most kind to them. These birds have shared a room with a dozen others much smaller than themselves and were never known to molest them. They will defend their young against all comers, and James Russell Lowell tells a story of discovering three young birds who were held to their nest by a string, in which they had got entangled. He determined to cut them loose. The old birds flew at him at first, but on learning what his object was, sat quietly within reach of him, watching the operation, and when the birds were released noisily thanked him.
" A story is told of the frolicsomeness of this bird. One was seated on a fence-rail, and two kittens, having espied him, essayed to stalk him. They got up near him ; then he began playing leap-frog over those two kittens until they returned full of offended dignity to the house. The bird tried to coax them out to a game several times afterwards, but the kittens had had enough of it.
" The kingbird is said to fight and drive away every bird that comes near it, but this is a libel. He attends to his own business almost wholly, and though not particularly social, is no more belligerent in the bird
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AMERICAN GOSHAWK
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
world than most birds are when they have nests to protect. He is a character, and interesting to watch.
" The shrike, or butcher-bird, has imputed to him the worst charac- ter of any of our birds. He is not only accused of killing birds, but of impaling them afterwards on thorns. That he does kill birds is un- doubted, but only when other food is scarce, for he much prefers field- mice, grasshoppers, and other noxious insects. That he impales his prey is certain, and the reason for this is, I think, that he has such small, deli- cate feet that they are not strong enough to hold down a mouse or insect while he tears it to pieces.
" Blackbirds are gregarious, forming blackbird cities in the tops of . trees. He and the fishhawk have a strange friendship for one another, often three or four pairs building their nests in the straggling outskirts of the hawk's large nest, and they unite in protecting one another.
" The red-winged blackbirds are the most independent of birds, as far as the two sexes are concerned. The dull brown-streaked females come up in flocks some time after the males have arrived, and as soon as the breeding season is over they separate again, the males keeping to the marshes, while the females seek shelter in the uplands, but always near water. They nest in marshy places, and insist on plenty of water.
"The cowbird is undoubtedly the most unpopular of this class of birds, simply from the fact that no nest is built, the egg always being placed in the nest of some vireo, warbler, or sparrow, and the rearing of one of these birds means the loss of at least two song-birds, for they always smother the rightful owners. The popular idea that the foster- parents are unaware of this strange egg is doubtful. I believe it to be another instance of the great good nature of the birds to the young of any sort. The cowbirds nearly kill with overwork whatever birds they have been foisted on.
" The bobolink, who later in the year becomes the reed- or rice-bird, is a handsome bird in his plumage of black and white and buff. The female is a quieter-colored bird. While breeding they are voracious in- sect-eaters, but when they get down to the rice marshes it is almost im- possible to drive them away. A hawk seems to be the only thing they are afraid of.
" The Baltimore oriole is one of the most beautiful and best-known birds. Its long, pendant, woven nest is known to every one, and it is wonderful how the bird, with only its beak, can build such a splendid structure. They have been known to use wire in the structure of their nests.
" The meadow-lark, one of the largest of this family, is a wonderful singer, sitting on a fence-rail, carolling forth its quivering silvery song. All these birds, except the oriole, walk while hunting for food, and do not hop as most other birds do.
S
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" The crow does not belong to the blackbird family, but owing to his uniform I will speak about him. Much has been said against him, but the truth is that he is a most useful bird in killing mice, snakes, lizards, and frogs, and is a splendid scavenger. He has been persecuted for so many generations that perhaps he is the most knowing and wary of birds. He will always flee from a man with a gun, though paying little attention to the ordinary pedestrian. These birds are gregarious in their habits, and make their large, untidy nests at the tops of trees.
" They have regular roosting-places, and, curious to say, it is not first come first served. As each flock reaches the sleeping-grove they sit around on the ground, and it is only when the last wanderer returns that they all rise simultaneously and scramble for nests. Crows as pets are intensely funny.
" In July, when nesting is over, there are no more frolicsome birds than the highholes, or woodpeckers. They are like boys out of school, and actually seem to play games with each other, one that looks very much like ' tag' being a favorite.
" The young of these birds never cease in their clamor for food, and even when they have left their hole-nest they are fed by the parent birds.
"The feeding process is a strange one. The old one half loses its long bill down the throat of the youngster, and from its crop gives up a sufficient supply of half-digested food for a full meal.
" The courtship of these birds is exquisitely quaint, and a correspondent has Woodpeckers. given an account of a game, or dance, in which they began with a waltz of an odd sort and went through various evolu- tions, ending with crossing their beaks, and standing so for a moment before they drew back and did the whole thing over.
" The downy woodpecker is particularly fond of apple-trees, and though popularly supposed to be an enemy of the orchard, is in reality one of its greatest friends. They tunnel for the worms, and it has been
106
1
2
PIGEON HAWK.
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
conclusively proved that trees drilled with their holes have long outlived in usefulness the trees unvisited by these birds.
" The clown of the family is the red-headed woodpecker, which, as well as the others shown, is a Pennsylvanian, and a most original and quaint character. He has been studied for many years in Ohio and many of his tricks described by Mr. Keyser, of that State. He lays up food for the winter, and in places where he has been accustomed to depend on the sweet beechnut for provisions he refuses to stay when the nut crop fails, but at once betakes himself to a more inviting region.
" The sapsucker, or yellow-breasted woodpecker, was shown with his mate and a young one, and his characteristics defended against the charge of sap sucking, which has been made against him. Sufficient evidence from several scientific ornithologists was produced to show that the bird is insectivorous in a great degree, and the small amount of sap he may drink is well paid for by the insects he consumes.
" The junco, or snowbird, is often found in flocks, except in the nesting season. Their favorite nesting-place is in the roots of trees that have been blown over. That birds are considerate of one another is certain. I know of a case where a family had fed a flock of juncos during a long spell of cold weather. They got so tame that they would come up to the stoop to be fed ; but it was noticed that one bird always re- mained on the fence and the other ones fed it. On examination, it was found that the bird had an injured wing, and in case of sudden danger would not have been able to leave with the flock in the rush, so it was left in a place of safety and fed.
" The snow-bunting is to be seen in our part of the world only in blizzard times, or when there are snow-scurries around."-Miller.
OF HAWKS.
The red-shouldered hawk, called by farmers and hunters the hen-hawk, nests in trees in April or May. The eggs are two to four, white and blotched, with shades of brown. The nest is built of sticks, bark, etc.
The goshawk was a regular breeder in our woods and mountains. He is a fierce and powerful bird. The hawk feeds upon wild turkeys, pheasants, ducks, chickens, robins, rabbits, and squirrels. The cooper- hawk, known as the long-tailed chicken-hawk, is an audacious poultry thief, capturing full-grown chickens. This hawk also feeds upon pigeons, pheasants, turkeys, and squirrels. This bird nests about May in thick woods ; the nest containing four or five eggs. In about twelve weeks the young are able to care for themselves. The sharp-shinned hawk bears a close resemblance to the cooper, but feeds by choice upon young chickens and pullets, young turkeys, young rabbits, and squirrels. If a pair of these birds should nest near a cabin where chickens were being raised, in a very few days they would steal every one.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
When I was a boy large nestings of wild pigeons in what was then Jenks, Tionesta, and Ridgway townships occurred every spring. These big roosts were occupied annually early in April each year. Millions of pigeons occupied these roosts, and they were usually four or five miles long and one or two miles wide. In this territory every tree would be occupied, some with fifty nests. These pigeons swept over Brookville on their migration to these roosts, and would be for Wild pigeon. days passing, making the day dark at times. The croakings of the pigeons in these roosts could be heard for miles.
The coopers and the bloody goshawk, the great-horned and barred owls, like other night wanderers, such as the wild bear, panther, wolf, wild cat, lynx, fox, the mink, and agile weasel, all haunted these roosts and feasted upon these pigeons. The weasel would climb the tree for the pigeons' eggs and the young, or to capture the old birds when at rest. The fox, lynx, and mink depended on catching the squabs that fell from the nests.
Like the buffaloes of this region, the wild pigeon is doomed. These once common birds are only to be seen occasionally. Isolated and scat- tered pairs still find a breeding-place in our wilds, but the immense breeding colonies that once visited our county will never be seen again. The extermination of the passenger pigeon has gone on so rapidly that in another decade the birds may become a rarity. The only thing that will save the birds from this fate is the fact that they no longer resort to the more thickly populated States as breeding-places, but fly far into the woods along our northern border. Thirty years ago wild pigeons were found in New York State, and in Elk, Forest, Warren, McKean, Pike, and Cameron Counties, Pennsylvania, but now they only figure as migrants, with a few pair breeding in the beech-woods.
To give an idea of the immensity of these pigeon-roosts, I quote from the Elk Advocate as late as May, 1851 :
" The American Express Company carried in one day, over the New York and Erie Railroad, over seven tons of pigeons to the New York market, and all of these were from the west of Corning. This company alone have carried over this road from the counties of Chemung, Steuben, and Allegheny fifty-six tons of pigeons."
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RED SHOULDERED HAWK.
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA. .
The wild pigeon lays usually one or two eggs, and both birds do their share of the incubating. The females occupy the nest from 2 P.M. until the next morning, and the males from 9 or 10 A.M. until 2 P.M. The males usually feed twice each day, while the females feed only during the forenoon. The old pigeons never feed near the nesting-places, always allowing the beechmast, buds, etc., there for use in feeding their young when they come forth. The birds go many miles to feed, -often a hundred or more.
Our birds migrate every fall to Tennessee, the Carolinas, and as far south as Florida. Want of winter food is and was the cause of that migra- tion, for those that remained surely picked up a poor living. Migrating birds return year after year to the same locality. In migrating northward in the spring, the males usually precede the females several days, but on leaving their summer scenes of love and joy for the south, the sexes act in unison.
Of the other pioneer birds, there was the orchard-oriole, pine-gros- beak, rose-breasted grosbeak, swallow, barn-swallow, ruff winged swallow, bank swallow, black and white warbler, chesnut-sided warbler, barn-owl, American long-eared owl, short-eared owl, screech-owl, great-horned owl, yellow-billed cuckoo, black-billed cuckoo, kingbird, crested flycatcher, phœbe-bird, wood-pewee, least flycatcher, ruffed grouse (pheasant, or partridge), quail, also known as the bob-white, marsh-hawk, sparrow- hawk, pigeon-hawk, fish-
hawk, red-tailed hawk, American ruff-legged hawk, horned grebe, loon, hooded merganser, wood-duck, buff-headed duck, red- headed duck, American bittern, least bittern, blue heron, green heron, black- crowned night-heron, Vir- ginia rail, Carolina rail, American coot, American woodcock, Wilson's snipe, Grouse, or pheasant. least sandpiper, killdeer plover, belted kingfisher, turtle-dove, turkey-buzzard, whippoorwill, nighthawk, ruby-throated humming-bird, blue-jay, bobolink, or reed- bird, or rice-bird, purple grackle, cowbird (cow-bunting), red-winged blackbird, American grosbeak, red-poll, American goldfinch, or yellow- bird, towhee-bunting, cardinal- or redbird, indigo bunting, scarlet tana- ger, cedar- or cherry-bird, butcher-bird, or great northern scarlet tanager, red-eyed vireo, American redstart, cootbird, brown thrush, bluebird,
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
house-wren, wood-wren, white-breasted nuthatch, chickadee, golden- crowned knight.
Humming-birds.
NATURAL LIFE OF SOME OF OUR BIRDS.
Years.
Years.
Raven
100
Pheasant
15
Eagle
100
Partridge
15
Crow
100
Blackbird
10
Goose
50
Common fowl
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Sparrowhawk
40
Robin
IO
Crane
24
Thrush
IO
Peacock
24
Wren
5
Lark
16
WILD BEES-BEE-HUNTING, BEE-TREES, BEE-FOOD, ETC.
In pioneer times these woods were alive with bee-trees, and even yet that condition prevails in the forest part of this region, as the following article on bees, from the pen of E. C. Niver, clearly describes :
" Although the natural range of bee pasturage in this section is prac- tically unlimited, singular to relate, apiculture is not pursued to any great extent. With all the apparently favorable conditions, the occupation is too uncertain and precarious to hazard much capital or time on it. At the best, apiculture is an arduous occupation, and in the most thickly populated farming communities it requires constant vigilance to keep track of runaway swarms. But in this rugged mountain country, with its thousands of acres of hemlock slashings and hard-wood ridges, it is virtually impossible to keep an extensive apiary within bounds. The rich pasturage of the forests and mountain barrens affords too great a tempta- tion, and although the honey-bee has been the purveyor of sweets for the ancients as far back as history reaches, she has never yet become thor- oughly domesticated. At swarming time the nomadic instinct asserts itself. Nature lures and beckons, and the first opportunity is embraced
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1 3
BLUE JAY.
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
to regain her fastness and subsist upon her bounty. Never a season goes by but what some swarms escape to the woods. These take up their hab- itation in hollow trees or some other favorable retreat, and in time throw off other swarms. Thus it is that our mountains and forests contain an untold wealth of sweetness, but little of which is ever utilized by man.
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