USA > Vermont > History of Vermont, natural, civil, and statistical, in three parts, with a new map of the state, and 200 engravings > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
Dec.15, 12º
I'cc. 15,
13
Jan. 21, 28
Jan. 4, 36
Feb. 18,
34
ıkn
Jaa. 4,
16
Dec. 22,
15
Jan. 20,
34
Jao 21, 13
Feb. 2,
Jaa. 91,
Jan. 24.
16
Teb 10, 22
1811
l'eb. 9,
9
Jan. 4.
10
Y'ob. 4,
24
l'eb 2,
26
15
17
Jaa. Id,
A contrast so remarkable, as is exhibit- ed in the preceding table, has been the source of much speculation, but, as it ap- pears to us, without throwing much light upon the true cause of the phenomenon.
Among the earliest writers who at- tempted to account for it was Father Bres- ani, an Italian Jesuit, who spent most of his life in Canada. He says that " a cer- tain mixture of dry and moist makes ice, and that in Canada there is a remarkable mixture of water and dry sandy soil; and hence the long duration of cold and great quantities of snow." To this he adds an- other cause, which is " the neighborhood of the northern sea, which is covered with monstrous heaps of ice, more than 8 months of the year." Father Charlevoix, who visited Canada in 1720, and from whose travels the forgoing opinions of Bresani are taken, says* that, in his opin- ion," " no person has explained the cause, why this country is so much colder than France in the same latitude." " Most writers," he continues, "attribute it to the snow lying so long and deep on the ground. But this only makes the difficul- ty worse. Whence those great quanti- ties of snow ?" His own opinion is that the cold and snow are to be attributed to the mountains, woods and lakes. Many European writers have supposed the great lakes, which abound in the country, to be the cause of the coldness of our cli- mate; while others have imagined that there must be a chain of very high moun- tains in the interior of the continent, run- ning from southwest to northeast, which produce the coldness of our north wester- ly winds. Doct. Dwight supposes these
* Charlevoix's Travels in America, Vol. 1. p. 136-
--
1
It would appear from varions observations and circumstances, that during calma weather, when the sun dues not shine, the temperature of vallies and low situations is lower than that of the high landa, but in windy weather and when the sun shines, it is coldest on the high lands. In confir- mation of this statement, in part, wo give the fol- Jowing estract of a letter to the author from the Hon. Elijah Paine, of Williamstown, (see pages 9 and 10.) " I have found," says he, " that in ex- tromely cold, still weather, the mercury in the thermometer at Burlington, Montpelier, at North- Geld, on Dog river, on the low lands at the moeting.house in this town, at Woodstock, Hano- ver, N. II., and even at Albany, N. Y., has some- times been 14 degrees lower than in mine. Some- tamed, even in March, I have found the difference equally great, when the wind was light and the weather very cool for the season. But the reverse is the case in extremely cold, windy weather. I have known my thermometer in such weather 11 degrees lower than ecme of those I have men- tioned."
18
Jan. 26, 16
22
NATURAL HISTORY OF VERMONT.
PART I.
CHANGE OF CLIMATE.
CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN .
winds to be descending currents from the higher regions of the atmosphere; and hence their coldness. Doct. Holyoke at- tributed the coldness of our climate to the extensive forests of evergreens. Doct. Williams, the able historian of Vermont, attributed it to the forest state of the country, and has endeavoured to prove that, eighteen centuries ago, the climate of Europe was even colder than that of America at the present time .* But other writers have, with equal plausibility, shown that no considerable change has taken place in the mean temperature of Europe within that period.t The fact, moreover, that the western coasts of America, which are wholly uncultivated, are very much warmer than the eastern coasts of Asia in the same latitude, which are cultivated to considerable extent, shows that these differences of tempera- ture do not depend upon cultivation, nor, indeed, upon any of the canses which have been mentioned, but upon some more general cause. And this cause, we be- lieve, is to be songht in the influence of the ocean upon the prevailing winds in high northern latitudes. We regard the ocean as the great equalizer of tempera- ture upon the surface of our globe-as the instrument for distributing the heat of the equatorial regions towards the poles and bringing thence cold towards the equator, and thus meliorating the climate of both. We look upon it as a truth es- tablished both by theory and fact that there is a general circulation of the wa- ters of the ocean between the equatorial and polar regions-that the warm water from the equator is flowing along the sur- face of the ocean towards the poles, while the colder water from the poles is ad- vancing along the bottom of the ocean to- wards the equator. Such a motion of the waters might be inferred, as the result of the unequal distribution of heat through the oceanic mass, increased by the rota- tion of the earth on its axis. But inde- pendent of this, facts furnish indubitable proof of its existence. The temperature of the earth, at a distance below the sur- face, being a pretty correct index of the mean temperature of the climate, with- ont the circulation we have supposed, the temperature of the ocean at consider- able depths, ought, particularly in the warmer parts of the year, to be as high, at least, as the mean annnal tem- perature. But on the contrary, observa- tion proves it to be much lower. In lati- tude 67º, where the mean temperature is 39°, Lord Malgrave found, on the 20th
of June, when the temperature of the air was 48go, that the temperature of the ocean at the depth of 4680 feet, was 26°, or 6° below the freezing point. On the 31st of August, in latitude 60° where the annual temperature is 380, that of the air being 595°, the temperature of the water at the depth of 4038 feet was 32º .* At the tropic where the temperature does not vary more than 7º or 8º during the year, at the depth of 3600 feet the tem- perature of the water was found to be on- ly 53º, while that of the air was 84º, making a difference of 31º, and indicating a degree of cold in the lower parts of the ocean nearly 25° more intense than is ever experienced in the atmosphere in that latitude,t How else ean we account for the coldness of these waters, but by suppos- ing them to come from higher latitudes in the manner we have described ?
Of the opposite motion of the warmer waters along the surface of the Atlantic ocean, from the equatorial towards the polar regions, the gulf stream, the currents setting along the western coasts of Nor- way, and the vast quantities of tropical productions, lodged upon the costs and islands of the northern ocean, afford a- bundant proof.
Now this transportation of the colder waters towards the equator and of the warmer waters towards the poles, serves, as already remarked, to mitigate the other- wisc intolerable heat of the former, and the excessive cold of the latter; and af- fords an obvious manifestation of the wis- doin and goodness of providence. And it is to the influence of the warm superfi- cial waters of the ocean, which have come from tropical regions, upon the winds, or currents of the atmosphere, that we are to look for the cause of the differ- ence of temperature in the elimate of the eastern coasts of North America and the western coasts of Europe, and also in that of the eastern coasts of Asia and the west- ern coasts of North America. If we ob- serve the gulf stream, which is only a concentration by the trade winds of those warm waters which are flowing norther- ly along the surface of the ocean, we shall perceive it to be very narrow, pre- senting to the atmosphere only a small surface of its warm water, while near the American coast. But as it proceeds to the northeast its warm waters are spread out upon the surface of the ocean and are thrown directly along or upon the west- ern coasts of Europe. Observation also shows that the prevailing winds in high northern latitudes, are from a north west-
* Williams' History of Vermont, Vol. 1, p. 475. t Edinburgh Review, Vol. XXX, p. 25.
* Count Rumford's Essays, Vol. II. page 301. t Phil. Transactions, 1752.
23
QUADRUPEDS OF VERMONT.
CHAP. 2.
CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS.
ORDERS OF MAMMALIA.
erly direction, or passing nearly at right fice the greater part of the year; and angles across the great northeasterly cur- hence they are excessively eold. In their progress over the Atlantic, they are grad- ually warmed by imbibing heat from the surface of the ocean, so that when they arrive upon the continent of Europe, their temperature is so much elevated as to produce the remarkable difference obser- ved between the climates of the coasts of the two continents .* rent of the ocean, and we believe it to be the influence of these warin waters of the ocean upon the westerly and northwester- ly winds, which produces the phenomenon in question. On the eastern coasts of North America, these winds come from mountainous, snowy regions, or from lakes and seas, which are covered with
CHAPTER II.
QUADRUPEDS OF VERMONT.
Preliminary Observations.
All animals are divided by Baron Cu- vier, the celebrated French naturalist, whose arrangement we shall endeavor mainly to follow, into four general divis- ions, viz. 1. Vertebrated animals, or such as have a spine, or back bone, 11. Molus- cous animals, or such ns have no skele- ton, Il1. Articulated animals, whose trunk is divided into rings, and IV. Radiated unimals, or zouphytes The first division embraces the mamminalia, the birds, the rep- tiles and the fishes; the second, the shell fishes ; the third, the insects, and the fourth, polypi. In this work we shall at- tempt but little beyond an account of our vertebratrd and moluscous animals.
MAMMALIA.
The Mammalia are such animals as sechle their young, and are divided by Cuvier into the following orders :
1. Bimena, -having two hands and three kinds of teeth. Man is the only species.
II. Quadrumana-animals having four hands and three kinds of teeth. Mon- hies and baboons belong to this order.
III. Carnivora-having three kinds of teeth and living principally upon animal food, as the dog, cat, &c.
IV. Marsupialia-producing their young prematurely and bringing them to perfee-
tion in an abdominal pouch, which inclos- es the teats, of which the opossum is an example.
V. Rodentia-have large incisory teeth suitable for gnawing, and grinders with flat or tuberculated crowns, but no canine teeth, as the rat, beaver, &c.
VI. Edentata-having no incisory teeth in either jaw, and in some genera no teeth at all, of which the sloth and ant eater are examples.
VII. Puckydermata -- having either three or two kinds of teeth, toes variable in number and furnished with strong nails or hoofs, and the digestive organs not formned for ruminating, as the horse, elephant and hog.
VIII. Ruminantia-having no incisory teeth in the upper jaw, cloven hoofed Get, and four stomachs fitted for rumina- ting, or chewing the end, as the ox, sheep, deer, &c.
IX. Cetacen-Aquatic animals having their bodies shaped like fishes, as the whale, dolphin, &c.
Of these nine orders of animals, only three are found in Vermont, in a wild state. These are the Carnivora, the Ro- dentiu and the Ruminantia. We have one order more, the Packydermata, among our domestic quadrupeds, including the horse, ass and hog.
. Mr. Daniels in his meteorologieal essays en- dravers to account for the higher temperature of the western coasta of continents in a different manort. Ile supposes the northwesterly winds to arrive loaded with vapor and that the caloric, liberased by its condensation, raises the general temperature of the atmosphere on the western coset; but, as the win : proceed eastward, they become dryer and when they reach the eastern I on the eastern coast being greatost.
coasts contain little vapor to be condensed, and consequently do not produce an elevation of leni- perature. If this were the principal cause of the phenomenon under consideration, the quantity of rain on the western coasts should be greater than upon the eastern in proportion as the temperature is higher, but so far na observations extend the re- verse of this seems to be true, the quantity of ruin
21
NATURAL HISTORY OF VERMONT.
PART I.
CATALOGUE OF QUADRUPEDS,
CARNIVEROUS ANIMALS. BATS.
QUADRUPEDS OF VERMONT.
The following is a catalogue of the na- tive quadrupeds of Vermont, arranged in the order, in which they are described in the following pages :
ORDER CARNIVORA-Carnivorous Animals.
Vespertilio subulatus, Say's Bat.
pruinosus, Hoary Bat.
carolinensis, Carolina Bat.
nocticagans, Silver-haired Bat.
Sorex Forsteri,
Forster's Shirew.
Short tail Shrew.
Scalops ranadensis,
Condylura macroura,
Star-nosed Mole.
Ursus americanus,
Black Bear.
Procyon lotor,
Raccoon.
Gulo luscus, Wolverene.
Mustela vulgaris, .
Weasel.
erminea,
Ermine.
66 vison,
canadensis,
Fisher Martin.
Pine Martin.
martes,
Skunk.
Mephitis americanus, Lutra brasiliensis, Canis lupus,
American Otter. Wolf.
fulous,
" par. decussatus, Cross Fox.
var.argentatus, Black or SilverFox.
Felis canadensis,
Lynx.
rufa,
Bay Lynx.
" concolor,
Catamount.
Phoca vitulina,
Cominon Seal.
ORDER RODENTIA-Gnawing Animals.
Castor fiber,
Beaver.
Fiber zibethicus,
Musk Rat.
Arvicola riparius,
Meadow Mouse.
Mus decumanus,
Norway Rat.
Black Rat.
" musculus,
Common Mouse.
Gerbillus canadensis, Jumping Mouse. Arctomys monar, Woodchuck. Gray Squirrel. Sciurus cinereus,
niger,
hudsonius,
striatus,
Stiped Squirrel.
Pteromys volucella,
Flying Squirrel.
Hystrix dorsata,
Hedge Hog.
Lepus umericanus, virginianus,
Hare.
ORDER RUMINANTIA-Ruminating Animals.
Cerous alces,
Moose.
canadensis,
Elk.
virginiunus, Common Deer.
ORDER CARNIVORA.
The animals of this order have three kinds of teeth, a simple, membranaceous stomach, and short intestines. They live principally on flesh, or animal food.
GENUS VESPERTILIO .- Linnaeus.
Generic Characters .- Teeth from 32 to 36, -- incisors 4, canines 1. 1. 31-1, grind. 4-4, 5-5 to 5-5. Upper incisors in pairs, cylindrical and pointed ; the anterior grinders simply conical, posterior having short points or prominences. Nose, simple, without grooves, or wrinkles ; ears, with an auriculum, lateral and more or less large ; tongue smooth, and not protractile ; index finger with but one phalanx, the middle with three, tho annular and little finger with two ; tail comprised in the interfemoral membrane ; sebaceous glands under the skin of the face, which vary in different species.
The bats consist of a great number of species, but they agree very nearly in their general form und habits. They pro- duce and nourish their young in the man- ner of other quadrupeds, but unlike them they are furnished with delicate mem- branous wings upon which they spend pinch of their time in the air, thus seem- ing to form the connecting link between the quadropeds and birds. They are noc- turnal in their habits, lying concealed during the day, but venturing abroad on the approach of evening, during the early part of which they may be seen flitting lightly and noiselessly through the air in quest of food, which consists chiefly of in- seets. At such times they often enter the open windows of our dwellings and sometimes commit depredations upon our larders, being exceedingly fond of fresh meat. Their nocturnal habits manifest themselves in the domesticated state as well as the wild, and it is with difficulty that they are made to mount upon their wings, or take food during the day, but in the evening they devour food vora- ciously and fly about the room without reluctance. On the approach of winter bats retire to dry caverns and hollow trees where they suspend themselves by the hooked nails of their hind feet, and thus remain in a torpid state during the win- ter. They void their excrement, which is found in abundance in these retreats, by reversing their position and suspend- ing themselves by the hooks upon their thumbs till their object is accomplished, when they resume their former position. Bats produce their young in June or July, and have from one to three at a time. The teats of the female are situated on the chest and to these, as we are assured by Dr. Godman, (Nat. His. I. 56.), the young attach themselves so firmly as to be carried about by the mother in her flight, till they have attained a considera- ble size. The four following species are all that have hitherto been distinguished in Vermont. It is, however, probable that othersmay hereafter be detected.
rattus,
Black Squirrel.
Red Squirrel.
Rabbit.
Red Fox.
Mink.
brevicaudus,
Shrew Mole.
25
QUADRUPEDS OF VERMONT.
CHAP. 2.
BAY A HAT.
HOARY BAT.
CAROLINA BAT.
SAY'S BAT. Vespertilio subulotus .- SAY.
DESCRIPTION .- Hend short, broad and Bat ; nose blunt with a small, flat, naked muzzle ; cyem sinall, situated near the ears and covered with for ; ears longer than the head, thin ovate, obtuse und barry at the base behind ; tragus thin, broadly subalate below, tapering upwards and ending in an ulture lip, at about two thisde the bright of the car ; color of the back yellowish brown, the belly yellow. ish gray ; fur soft and five, and blackish towards the roots; head covered with fur, excepting about the nostrils; color blackish about the mouth ; whiskers few, short and stiff; membrane between the hind legs broad, thinly covered with fur next the body, and tapering to a point near the extremity of the tail, which it envelopes; toes of the hind feet long ; hooked thumb including the nail t of an inch. Length of the specimen before me, from the nose to the insertion of the tail, 2 inches ; tail 12 inches ; spread of the wings, 10 inches.
HISTORY .- This Bat seems to be distrib- uted very generally through the conti- nent. It was first described scientifically by Mr. Say, in the notes to the account of Long's expedition, from a specimen ob- tained at the foot of the Rocky Moun- tains. It was afterwards minutely descri- bed by Dr. Richardson from specimens ob- tained on the upper branches of the Sas- katchewan and Peace rivers .* Speci- mens have since been obtained from Lab- rador, Georgia, Ohio, New Hampshire and Columbia river. It is one of the small- est, and, I think, the most common Bat found in Vermont, especially in the cen- tral mountainous parts, where it enters the houses in the evening and is easily captured. The specimen, from which my description was drawn was taken in Wa- terbury.
THE HOARY BAT. Vespertilio pruinosus .- SAY.
DESCRIPTION .- Ears broad, shorter than the head, broadly emarginate behind,hairy on the outside more than half the length,
and at the central part of the inside, tra- gus bent, elub-shaped and blunt at the tip. Canine teeth large and prominent; incisors in the upper jaw conical with a tubercle near the base, very near the ca- nines, and nearly in a line with them; snout cartilaginous and moveable ; nos- trils wide apart. Eyes black and promi- nent. Fur on the body blackish brown at. its base, then pale brownish yellow, then brownish and terminated with clear, delicate white, like hoar frost ; fur on the throat, on and about the ears, and on the inside of the wings towards their base, fulvous ; snout, chin, margin of the ears and the posterior part of the wing mein- brane, blackish ; the anterior part of the wings and the base of the fur on the in- lors moral membrane, dark chestnut. Tail, wholly embraced in the interfemoral membrane, which is thickly covered with fur, except at the very posterior extremi- ty. Length of the specimen before me, from the snout to the extremity of the tail, 54 inches ; spread of the wings, when fully extended, 163 inches.
HISTORY .- This bat was also first de- scribed by Say in Long's expedition and has since been minutely described by Richardson, Coopert and others. It has been found in most parts of the United States and was obtained by Dr. Richardson as far north as lat. 54º. It is not common in Vermont, but is occasionally met with. The only Vermont specimen, which I have examined, and that from which the pre- coding description was drawn, was sent me alive by my friend, David Reed, Esq., of Colchester. It was taken at his place in Colchester the latter part of October, 1811, and was kept alive for some time in a large willow basket with a flat cover of the same material. On opening the bas- ket, he was almost invariably found sus- pended by his hind claws from the central part of the cover. When the basket was open, he manifested little fear, or disposi- tion to fly, or get away, during the day time, but in the evening would readily mount on the wing and fly about the room, and on lighting always suspended himself by his hind claws with his head downward. Ile ate fearlessly and vora- ciously of fresh meat when offered to him, but could not be made to eat the common house fly.
CAROLINA BAT.
Fespertilio carolinensis .- GEOFFROY,
DESCRIPTION .- Ears rather large and naked, except on the back side near the
* Fauna Boreali Americana, part 1. p +. Pr I. 4
* Fauna Boreali Americana f p. 1.
f Anuals N. Y Lyceum of Nat. His, Vol. IV. 54.
26
NATURAL HISTORY OF VERMONT.
PART I.
SILVER-HAIRED BAT.
FORSTER'S SHREW.
head, emarginate on the outer posterior edge, tragus shorter and less pointed than in Say's Bat. Head long and narrow ; canine teeth very prominent; snout, in- terfemoral and wing membranes black and entirely naked; a few scattering hairs on the feet. Fur on the head and back long and color uniform bright ferrugin- ous ; beneath yellowish brown; last joint of the tail not enveloped in the membrane. Bones supporting the membrane very ap- parent. Length of the specimen before me, from the suout to the extremity of the tail 4 7 inches, head and body 3 inches, tail 1.7, fore arm 1.8, tibia .7, spread of the wings 11.5 inches.
History .- Of the history of this bat I know nothing. It is said to be quite common in the southern states particular- ly in the Carolinas and Georgia and also on Long Island near New York. The only specimen I have seen and that from which the above description was made, was ta- ken in Burlington, and deposited in the museum of the college of Natural Histo- ry of the University of Vermont by Mr. Jolin II. Morse, a student of the Univer- sity. A Vermont specimen of this species is also preserved in the museum of Nat. His. of Middlebury college.
SILVER-HAIRED BAT. Vespertilio noctivaguns .- LE CONTE.
DESCRIPTION .- Ears dusky black, rath- er large, naked on the anterior portion, somewhat ovate and obtuse, with two emarginations, on the outer posterior bor- der, produced by two plaits ; naked with- in, and with the tragus moderate, ovate and obtuse. Color above, a uniformn dark dusky brown, approaching to black. On the back the fur is somewhat glossy and tipped with silvery white, forming an interrupted line across the shoulders, and thence irregularly mixed down the centre of the back. Interfemoral mem- brane thiekly hairy on the upper part be- coming thinner downward and naked near the border. Tip of the tail projecting about a line beyond the membrane. Feet hairy. Wing membrane entirely naked. Beneath very similar to the upper parts, though the light colored tips of the hairs are more yellowish. Total length 3.8 in- ches, tail 1 5, fore-arm 1.8, tibia .8, spread of the wings 11 inches.
Hisrony .-- This Bat I have not seen in Vermont, but I am informed by my friend Prof. Adams that there is a specimen of it, which was taken in this state, in the museum of Natural History of Middlebu- ry College. The above is Mr. Cooper's
description of this Bat*, who says that "it was first described in 1831 by Major Le Conte and Dr. Harlan, and that it may be easily recognized by its dark black-brown for tipped with white on the back." It was named V. nocticagans by Le Conto and W. Audiboni, by Harlan, and the for- mer of these names is retained, because Le Conte's account was first published.
GENUS SOREX .- Linnaeus.
Generic Characters .- Teeth variable from 26 to 31. The two middle upper incisors hooked and dentated at their base; the lower ones slanting and elongated ; lateral incisors small, usually five on each side above, and two below; grinders, most commonly 4 on each side abovo, and 3 below. The body is covered with fine, short fur ; toes, five on each foot, separate, fur- nished with hooked nails not proper for digging : head and nose elongated, the latter moveable ; ears short and rounded ; eyes small but visible.
FORSTER'S SHIREW. Sorex Forsteri .- RICHARDSON.
DESCRIPTION .- Color yellowish brown or dark olive above, bluish white or cin- erons beneath ; base of the fur plumbeous for two thirds its length both above and below ; teeth white at the base and at their points, deep chestnut brown ; tail long, four sided, covered with short hair and terminated in a fine pencil of hairs ; feet small, light tlesh-colored and nearly naked; nails slender and white ; whiskers halfan inch long, light brown. Length of the head and body 2 inches, tail 1.4, head .9, from the eye to the point of the nose .3.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.