William and Mary Dyer arrived in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1635. One of their parcels of land was part of Rumney Marsh, Saugus; later, when they moved to Rhode Island, William was granted Dyer Island in Narragansett Bay. Centuries later, both properties became wildlife refuges, particularly supporting birds. Of course, in the 17th century, there was no thought of conservation or ecological balance; merely "sport" and "Birds--it's what's for dinner."
Of the Birds and
Fowles both of Land and Water
As observed by
William Wood in New Englands Prospect,
published in 1634-35 as an advertisement for Englishmen to emigrate to
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Annotated by Jo Ann
Butler* whose comments are printed in gold.
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| The snipe |
Having shewed you the most desirable, usefull, and
benificiall creatures, with the most offensive carrions that belong to our
Wildernesse, it remaines in the next place, to shew you such kinds of Fowle as
the Countrey affoords: They are many, and we have much variety both at Sea and
on Land; and such as yeeld us much profit, and honest pleasure, and are these
that follow; as
The
Princely Eagle, and the soaring Hawke,
Whom
in their unknowne waves there is none can chawke:
The
Humberd for some Queenes rich Cage
more fit,
Than
in the vacant Wildernesse to Flit.
The
swift winged Swallow sweeping to and
fro,
As
swift as arrow from Tartarian Bow.
Five
species of swallow make New England
their home. Barn Swallows, with their fondness for building their mud nests on
barn rafters, can be observed at close range.
When
as Aurora's
infant day new springs,
There
the morning mounting Larke her sweete
lays sings.
There
are many types of Lark in Europe, where Woods received his education, but only
one in North America. Its song is so thin and
tinkly that Woods probably refers to the Eastern Meadowlark. It is more closely
related to blackbirds than larks, but has a sweet, cheery morning song.
The
harmonious Thrush, swift Pigeon, Turtle-dove,
Who
to her mate doth ever constant prove.
The
Turky-Pheasant, Heathcocke, Partridge rare,
The
carrion-tearing Crow, and hurtfull Stare,
The
long liv'd Raven, the ominous
Screech-Owle,
Who
tells as old wives say, disasters foule.
The
drowsie Madge that leaves her day-loved
nest,
And
loves to rove when day-birds be at rest.
The
Eel-murthering Heron, and greedy Cormorant,
That
neare the Creekes in morish Marshes haunt.
 |
| Sea Lark, or American pipit |
The
bellowing Bitterne, with the
long-leg'd Crane,
Presaging
Winters hard, and dearth of graine.
The
Silver Swan that tunes her
mournefull breath,
To
sing the dirge of her approaching death.
The
tailing Oldwives, and the cackling Geese,
The
fearefull Gull that shunnes the
murthering Peece.
The
strong winged Mallard, with the
nimble Teale,
And
ill-shape't Loone who his harsh
notes doth squeale.
There
Widgins, Sheldrackes and Humilitees,
Snipes, Doppers,
Sea-Larkes, in
whole millions flees.
The Eagles of the Countrey be of two sorts, one like the
Eagles that be in England,
the other is something bigger with a great white head, and white tayle: these
bee commonly called Gripes; these prey upon Duckes and Geese, and such Fish as
are cast upon the Sea-shore. And although an Eagle be counted King of that
feathered regiment, yet is there a certaine blacke Hawke that beates him; so
that he is constrayned to soare so high, till heate expell his adversary. This
Hawke is much prized of the Indians, being accounted a Sagamores ransome.
I’m not
sure which of several New England hawks Wood
refers to. Golden Eagles do occur in the East, but they aren’t common. I wonder
if Wood is speaking of Gyrfalcons? The dark form occurs in the Maritimes and
would get down to New England at times. They
are spectacular fliers, and might well take food from eagles. The ‘princely
eagle’ is our national symbol, the Bald Eagle. We Americans like to depict the
bird as a ferocious predator. However, it is mainly a scavenger of fish and
waterfowl, and would often be seen on the coast and rivers year-round. The Bald
Eagle is one of the best comeback stories in the U.S. Once endangered by DDT
contamination, critically so in the East, reintroduced birds are now
multiplying.
To speake much of Hawkes, were to trespasse upon my owne
judgement, and bring upon my selfe a deserved censure, for abusing the
Faulconers termes: But by relation from those that have more insight into them
than my selfe: There be divers kinds of Hawkes: their aeries are easie to come
by, being in the holes of Rockes, neare the shore, so that any who are addicted
to that sport, if he will be but at the charge of finding Poultry for them, may
have his desires. We could wish them well mew'd in England, for they make havocke of
Hens, Partridges, Heathcockes, and Duckes; often hindering the Fowler of his
long look't for shoote.
The Humbird is one of the wonders of the
Countrey, being no bigger than a Hornet, yet hath all the dimensions of a Bird,
as bill, and wings, with quills, spiderlike legges, small clawes: For colour,
she is as glorious as the Raine-bow; as she flies, she makes a little humming
noise like a Humble-bee: wherefore she is called the Humbird.
The
Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only species found in the Northeast.
Hummingbirds are unknown in the Old World, so
a caged bird would have been a wonder fit for royalty. Early explorers captured
live specimens by squirting a hovering bird with water from a syringe.
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| Passenger pigeons, extinct in 1914 |
The Pigeon of that Countrey, is something different from our
Dove-house Pigeons in England, being more like Turtles, of the same colour; but
they have long tayles like a Magpie: And they seeme not so bigge, because they
carry not so many feathers on their backes as our English Doves, yet are they
as bigge in body. These Birds come into the Countrey, to goe to the North parts
in the beginning of our Spring, at which time (if I may be counted worthy, to
be believed in a thing that is not so strange as true) I have seene them fly as
if the Aerie regiment had beene Pigeons; seeing neyther beginning nor ending,
length, or breadth of these Millions of Millions. The shouting of people, the
rattling of Gunnes, and pelting of small shotte could not drive them out of
their course, but so they continued for foure or five houres together: yet it
must not be concluded, that it is thus often; for it is but at the beginning of
the Spring, and at Michaelmas, when they returne backe to the Southward; yet
are there some all the yeare long, which are easily attayned by such as looke
after them. Many of them build amongst the Pine trees, thirty miles to the
North-east of our plantations; joyning nest to nest, and tree to tree by their nests,
so that the Sunne never sees the ground in that place, from whence the Indians
fetch whole loades of them.
The
Turtle-Dove is a Eurasian bird, but Woods applies the name to our Mourning
Doves, who are indeed devoted mates. His Pigeon is not the familiar Rock Pigeon
of city parks. The Passenger Pigeon, similar in appearance to the Mourning
Dove, once roved the eastern and central U.S. in gigantic flocks. Awed
observers claimed some flocks took days to pass over. They are no more. Market
hunting devastated the population, and clearing of their forest habitat ensured
their extinction.
The Turky is a very large Bird, of a blacke colour, yet
white in flesh; much bigger than our English Turky. He hath the use of his long
legs so ready, that he can runne as fast as a Dogge, and flye as well as a
Goose: of these sometimes there will be forty, threescore, and a hundred of a
flocke, sometimes more and sometimes lesse; their feeding is Acornes, Hawes,
and Berries, some of them get a haunt to frequent our English corne: In winter
when the Snow covers the ground, they resort to the Sea shore to look for
Shrimps, & such small Fishes at low tides. Such as love Turky hunting, must
follow it in winter after a new fallen Snow, when he may follow them by their
tracts; some have killed ten or a dozen in halfe a day; if they can be found
towards an evening and watched where they perch if one come about ten or eleven
of the clocke he may shoote as often as he will, they will sit, unlesse they be
slenderly wounded. These Turkies remaine all the yeare long, the price of a
good Turkie cocke is foure shillings; and he is well worth it, for he may be in
weight forty pound; a Hen two shillings. Pheasants bee very rare, but
Heathcockes, and Partridges be common; he that is a husband, and will be
stirring betimes, may kill halfe a dozen in a morning.
We all
know the Turkey,
which is indeed a type of pheasant. New England
has Ruffed Grouse, and Woods’ Partridge is likely to be the Northern Bobwhite,
named for its easily-imitated ‘bob-white’ whistle. The Heathcock is another
extinct bird, the Heath Hen. The chicken-like bird once lived on Boston Common
and other heathland barrens. The familiar one-two punch of hunting and habitat
destruction was joined by predation from feral house cats. Realizing that the
suppression of fire in their scrublands contributed to their demise has helped
conservationists preserve proper habitat for the Heath Hen’s Prairie-Chicken
cousins.
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| Extinct heath hen |
The Partridges be bigger than they be in England, the flesh of the Heathcockes
is red, and the flesh of a Partridge white, their price is foure pence a peece.
The Ravens, and the Crowes be much like them of other countries.
There are no Magpies, Jackdaws, Coockooes, Jayes, Sparrows,
&c.
English
house sparrows were introduced to various towns in eastern America in the
late 19th century, in an attempt to control insects, but their
insect consumption is only about four percent of their diet, the vast majority
being grain and seed. Sparrows and starlings now number in the hundreds of millions and have
supplanted native songbirds in many areas, from loss of habitat and food
sources. Eugene Schieffelin wanted to introduce all
the birds mentioned in the plays of William Shakespeare to North
America, and he released flocks of sparrows, European starlings,
bullfinches, chaffinches, nightingales, and skylarks to breed in the latter
half of the 1800s.
The Stares [starlings?] be bigger than those in England, as
blacke as Crowes, being the most troublesome, and injurious bird of all others,
pulling up the cornes by the roots, when it is young, so that those who plant
by reedy and soggy places, where they frequent, are much annoyed with them,
they being so audacious that they feare not Guns, or their fellowes hung upon
poles; but the Corne having a weeke or nine dayes growth is past their
spoyling. The Owles be of two sorts; the one being small speckled, like a
Partridge, with eares, the other being a great Owle, almost as big as an Eagle,
his body being as good meate as a Partridge.
Screech
Owls and Great Horned Owls both have horns, but the former is much smaller. The
Greeks may be the last people who thought that hearing an Owl was a good omen.
A hooting owl was thought by the Romans to have presaged Julius Caesar’s death.
The bird’s call has been thought ominous ever since.
Cormorants bee as common as other fowles, which destroy
abundance of small fish, these are not worth the shooting because they are the
worst of fowles for meate, tasting ranke, and fishy: againe, one may shoot
twenty times and misse, for seeing the fire in the panne, they dive under the
water before the shot comes to the place where they were; they use to roost
upon the tops of trees, and rockes, being a very heavy drowsie creature, so
that the Indians will goe in their Canoes in the night, and take them from the
Rockes, as easily as women take a Hen from roost; No ducking ponds can afford
more delight than a lame Cormorant, and two or three lusty Dogges.
Personal
aside: Aren’t you glad that blood sport is (mostly) outlawed? If you can’t eat
‘em, torture ‘em.
The Crane although he bee almost as tall as a man by reason
of his long legges, and necke; yet is his body rounder than other fowles, not
much unlike the body of a Turkie. I have seene many of these fowles, yet did I
never see one that was fat, I suppose it is contrary to their nature to grow
fat; Of these there be many in Summer, but none in winter, their price is two
shilling.
The
Sandhill Crane is not often found in New England.
Perhaps the birds were fleeing drought or flood elsewhere, and New England might expect disrupted weather as well.
There be likewise many Swannes which frequent the fresh
ponds and rivers, seldome consorting themselves with Duckes and Geese; these
bee very good meate, the price of one is six shillings.
Swans
are generally silent, communicating with hisses and honks. The “Swan Song”
comes to us from the Greeks, who believed that the bird would finally find its
voice with its dying breath. In 1898 D.G. Eliot, a zoologist, reported a swan
he had shot uttering “plaintive and musical” notes that “sounded at times like
the soft running of the notes of an octave,” so perhaps there is something to
the tale after all.
The Geese of the countrey be of three sorts, first a brant
Goose, which is a Goose almost like the wilde Goose in England, the price of one of these
is six pence. The second kind is a white Goose, almost as big as an English
tame Goose, these come in great flockes about Michelmasse, sometimes there will
be two or three thousand in a flocke, these continue six weekes, and so flye to
the southward, returning in March, and staying six weekes more, returning
againe to the Northward; the price of one of these is eight pence. The third
kind of Geese, is a great gray Goose, with a blacke necke, and a blacke and
white head, strong of flight; these bee a great deale bigger than the ordinary
Geese of England, some very fat, and in the Spring so full of Feathers, that
the shot can scarce pierce them; most of these Geese remaine with us from
Michelmas to Aprill; they feede on the Sea of Fish, and in the woods of
Acornes, having as other Foule have, their passe and repasse to the Northward
and Southward: the accurate marksmen kill of these both flying and sitting; the
price of a good gray Goose is eighteene pence.
Brant,
Snow Goose, and Canada Goose. Once Canada Geese flew over in spring and fall,
and were absent in summer and winter. Now
we have them year-round. The Giant Canada Goose subspecies has been stocked
across the country. As a result, we have all discovered a quirk of the Giant
Canada Goose – they don’t migrate. Popular with hunters for their size, they
are unpopular with anyone who has tried to keep grazing geese (and their
cigar-sized poops) off their lawns and golf courses.
The Duckes of the countrey be very large ones and in great
abundance, so is there of Teale likewise; the price of a Ducke is six pence, of
a Teale three pence. If I should tell you how some have killed a hundred Geese
in a weeke, 50. Duckes at a shot, 40. Teales at another, it may be counted
impossible, though nothing more certaine. The Oldwives, be a foule that never
leave tattling day or night, something bigger than a Ducke.
‘Oldwife’
is a type of duck whose males sport jaunty long tail feathers. Those males are
very vocal, uttering whiny yodels, while the females have quiet, guttural
quacks. But guess which human gender the bird was named after? The drakes were
said to sound like scolding women, specifically Indian women. Therefore, the
ducks were, until a few years ago, called ‘Oldsquaw.’ Recognition of cultural
insensitivity in that name has finally led to a change. Now ornithologists
refer to the Long-tailed Duck.
The
Loone is an ill fliap'd thing like a Cormorant; but that
he can neyther goe nor flye; he maketh a noise sometimes like a Sow-gelders
horne.
Loons
and grebes are extraordinarily well-shaped for life on, and under the water.
Powerful legs and webbed toes propel them under the water with ease as they
hunt their fishy prey. However, those legs are short, and are placed so far
back on the body that they can barely walk on land. A loon that lands on ice,
or mistakes a wet parking lot for water, cannot run fast enough get back into
flight again.
The Humilities or Simplicities (as I may rather call them)
bee of two sorts, the biggest being as big as a greene Plover, the other as big
as birds we call knots in England.
Such is the simplicity of the smaller sorts of these birds, that one may drive
them on a heape like so many sheepe, and seeing a fit time shoot them; the
living seeing the dead, settle themselves on the same place againe, amongst
which the Fowler discharges againe. I my selfe have killed twelve score [240]
at two shootes: these birds are to be had upon sandy brakes at the latter end
of Summer before the Geese come in.
Humilitees and Simplicities – big and
little shorebirds. It sounds like it didn’t much matter what type flew over –
New Englanders would shoot and eat it. Maybe Doppers are the size in the
middle. Woods is describing birds of wet marshes. Shovelers (similar to the
European Shelduck) and Wigeons are common in tidal creeks. Woods’ Sea-Larks are
actually American Pipits, a small bird which is similar in appearance to the
familiar European Skylark, but can’t match that songster’s style.
Thus much have I shewed you as I know to bee true concerning
the Fowle of the countrey. But me thinkes I heare some say that this is very
good if it could be caught, or likely to continue, and that much shooting will
fright away the fowles. True it is, that every ones employment will not permit
him to fowle: what then? Yet their employments furnish them with silver Guns
with which they may have it more easie. For the frighting of the fowle, true it
is that many goe blurting away their powder and shot, that have no more skill
to kill, or winne a Goose, than
many in England that have rustie Muskets in their houses, knowes what belongs to a Soldier, yet are they not much
affrighted. I have seene more living and dead the last yeare than I have done
in former yeares.
William
Wood frets a little about frightening birds away with gunfire, or whether
everyone had time or means to hunt, but he had little concern about the effects
of hunting on avian populations.
Passenger
Pigeons are a spectacular example of how unlimited shooting, as well as habitat
destruction, can exterminate even the biggest flocks, but the pigeon is not the
only New England bird to have gone extinct
since European arrival. Heath Hen, Great Auk, Labrador Duck, and even Carolina
Parakeet used to be found in New England. The
parakeets were killed to prevent their predation on crops, but the others are
gone because they tasted good, their eggs were collected to feed fishermen, or
the birds themselves were easy to kill.
Some of
those extinct birds had one more thing in common with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
and Whooping Cranes, the poster children of birds in peril. Their ranges were
limited, and they had nowhere else to go. The Ivory-bill may or may not be
gone, but the Whooping Crane is hanging on. At last we’ve realized that their
habitat must be protected along with the birds.
___________
* Jo Ann Butler is a
naturalist, archaeologist, genealogist, and author of two historical novels set
in Rhode Island during the lives of William and Mary Dyer: Rebel Puritan, and The
Reputed Wife. Visit her website
to learn more or to purchase the books.
___________
Christy K Robinson
is author of two biographical novels on William
and Mary Dyer, and a collection of her nonfiction research on the Dyers.
In 1660, Mary Dyer was hanged for her civil disobedience over religious
freedom, and her husband’s and friends’ efforts in that human right became a
model for the United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights 130 years later. The
books (and Kindle versions) are available on Amazon. CLICK
http://bit.ly/RobinsonAuthor for the lbooks.
