USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 14
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THE OPOSSUM
The opossum is an American animal, about the size of a very large cat, eight or ten pounds in weight, twenty inches long, with a prehensile tail, in addition, of fifteen inches. There are said to be three varieties,-viz., the Mex- ican, Florida, and the Virginia. The last variety is the one found in North- western Pennsylvania. They are very prolific, having three litters a year,- viz., in March, May, and July, of twelve to sixteen at a time. At birth they are naked, blind, and about a half inch long, the mother depositing each one with her hands in a pouch or pocket in her abdomen, and there the little creature sucks the mother and sleeps for about eight weeks. When full- grown they are good tree climbers, making great use of their tail in swinging from tree to tree and for other purposes. He is a dull creature, easily domes- ticated, and the only intelligence he exhibits is when, like the spider and potato-bug, he feigns death. At this he is truly an adept, suffering great abuse waiting for a chance to bite or run. All carnivorous animals eat smaller ones, so the opossum's enemies are numerous, and he in turn is omnivorous and carnivorous, eating everything he can catch that is smaller than himself.
SQUIRRELS
The intelligence of some animals is amazing. Many of them seem to study us as we study them. The squirrel knew that man was his most dan- gerous enemy, and that man killed him and his race for food. In pioneer times we had several varieties: the principal ones were the black, twenty-
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OPOSSUM
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
two inches long; the gray, eighteen inches long ; and the little red, or Hudson Bay, about eight inches long. The red was a bold little beast, liked to be close to man, full of vice and few virtues. He was industrious in season and out. The black and gray were lazy. Whenever a squirrel wanted to cross a creek or river, and didn't want to swim, he sailed over on a piece of bark or wood, using his brushy tail as a sail and to steer by. The skunk did likewise. A single pair of squirrels would inhabit the same tree for years. They had three or four young at a litter. The red or Hudson Bay squirrel was the king of all the squirrels in this forest; although not more than eight inches long, he was the complete master of all the squirrels. The black and gray were as afraid of him as death. With an intellect surprising, he would
Squirrel
chase and capture the black and gray and castrate them, then, in exultation, scold or chickaree to his heart's content.
In pioneer times, every seven or eight years, at irregular intervals in summer, a great army of black and gray squirrels invaded this wilderness from the northwest; a host that no man could number. They were travelling east in search of food. Hundreds of them were killed daily by other animals and by man.
In these pioneer times crows and squirrels were such a menace to the crops of the farmer in Western Pennsylvania that an act was passed by the Legislature to encourage the killing of squirrels in certain parts of this Commonwealth. The pioneer act was passed March 4, 1807, giving a bounty
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
of three cents for each crow scalp and one cent and a half for each squirrel scalp; these scalps to be received in lieu of money for taxes, if delivered to the county treasurer before the Ist day of November of each year.
The first act covered Bedford, Washington, Westmoreland, Armstrong, Indiana, Fayette, and Green Counties. This law was extended in 1811, on the 13th of February, to Butler, Franklin, Mercer, Venango, Somerset, Lycoming, Crawford, and Erie Counties.
One of the cutest things that the red squirrel did was to tap sugar-trees for the sap. He would chisel with his teeth a trough on the top of a limb, and as fast as the trough would fill with the water he would return and drink it.
In the fall of the year a squirrel would hide acorns and nuts outside of his nest, where others of his kind could not easily find the fruit, then in mid- winter, when he became hungry, he would leave his cosey nest and go a long distance through the snow to the identical spot where he had buried his fruit, dig it up, and enjoy his meal.
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 extinct, we have almost the same variety of birds here that lived and sang in this wilderness when the Barnetts settled on Mill Creek. Some of these original birds are quite scarce. We have one new bird,-viz., the English sparrow.
Before enumerating our birds it might be proper to give a few sketches of some of the principal ones.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
THE RAVEN
A very handsome bird, numerous here in pioneer times, now extinct in Jefferson County, but still to be found in about twenty northern counties of the State. He built his nest on the tallest pine-trees. He belonged to the crow family. He had a wonderful intellect. He could learn to talk cor- rectly, and was a very apt scholar ; he was easily tamed, and would follow like a dog. 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. He understood fire-arms and could count five. In the
Raven
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. He was a mischievous bird of rare intelligence. He looked inquiringly at you, as if he understood you. When full grown he measured twenty-two or twenty-six inches from tip of nose to end of tail. In Greenland white ones have been seen. The eggs were from two to seven, colored, and about two inches long.
THE "BALD" EAGLE, OUR NATIONAL EMBLEM
The name " Bald" which is given to this species is not applied because the head is bare, but because the feathers of the neck and head of adults are
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
pure white. In Northwestern Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania at all seasons
Bald eagle
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 different 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
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
flight, ordinarily slow and somewhat heavy, becomes, in the excitement of pursuit, exceedingly swift and graceful, and the fugitive is quickly over- taken. When close upon its quarry the eagle suddenly 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.
Wild turkey
I have knowledge of at least two of these birds which have killed poultry (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.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
" Golden eagles are rather rare in this region, hence their depredations to poultry, game, and live-stock occasion comparatively little loss. Domestic fowls, ducks, and turkeys especially, are often devoured; different 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.
" Migrating birds fly over distances so great that they must needs have great strength as well as great speed in flight. Bobolinks often rear their young on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, and, like true aristocrats, go to Cuba and Porto Rico to spend the winter. To do this their flight must twice cover a distance of more than two thousand eight hundred miles, or more than a fifth of the circumference of the earth, each year.
" The little redstart travels three thousand miles twice a year, and the tiny humming-bird two thousand. What wonderful mechanism it is that in a stomach no larger than a pea will manufacture its own fuel from two or three slim caterpillars, a fly, a moth, or a spider, and use it with such economy as to be able to propel itself through the air during the whole night at a rate of about fifty miles per hour, and at the same time keep its own temperature at about one hundred and four degrees."
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 sparrow. 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 unmer- ciful 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
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BLUE JAY
HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
are great insect-destroyers, though they insist on having the earliest spring peas and the first mulberries, raspberries, and grapes. The robin 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 captured 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 woodpecker, robin, and many other birds have very acute hearing. Did you ever see one of these birds cock his head and listen for the sounds of a worm?
" The wood-thrush or wood-robin is of a shy and retiring nature, fre- quenting thick woods and tangled undergrowth, and at daybreak and sundown 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 mate, 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 misunder- stood. 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 deter- mined 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.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
" 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 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 character 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 undoubted, 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, delicate 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 insect-eaters, but when they get down to the rice marshes it is almost impossible 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.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
" 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 pedes- trian. 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."
Crow
A crow can be taught to talk. It is said by bird students that crows have a language distinctly their own, and, further, that some of their language can be translated into ours. I have often noticed that while a flock of crows are feeding on the ground, two sentinels are posted to give an alarm of any danger. It is said that if these sentinels fail to perform their duty, the flock will execute one or both of them. A friend of mine living about three miles from Brookville is very fond of raising crows as pets. I visited him several years ago when he had an interesting fellow. This crow used to carry tid- bits to the woods to the other crows. When the crows were getting ready to migrate in the fall they called this pet one down to the edge of the woods. After a talk they flew on the pet and tore him to pieces. I asked Mr. McAdoo why they did that. Mr. McAdoo said he thought it was because the " pet" refused to migrate with them. Crows mate for life. A crow knows when Sunday comes.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
" 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 given an account of a game, or dance, in which they began with a waltz
Woodpeckers
of an odd sort and went through various evolutions, 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 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 char-
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
acter. 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 insec- tivorous 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 resting-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 remained 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.
When I was a boy large nestings of wild (passenger) 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 from one to three miles wide. No other bird was ever known to
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