CHAPTER XXIII

ANIMALS, BIRDS AND FISHES

MUSKRAT LORE-THE BEAVER-MOST COMMON VARIETIES OF BIRDSLAKE AND MARSH BIRDS-THE DUCK FAMILY-THE WILD TURKEY AND ITS WAYS-THE BALD HEADED EAGLE-THE PASSENGER PIGEON -THE GERMAN CARP-THE STURGEON.

It would be heartless, not to say inexcusable, to pass over, without a word, that portion of the animal creation in Monroe county which has ever contributed to its interest and attractions, to say nothing of its substantial value. A description of its animals, birds and fishes is therefore here given space, although less than the subjects deserve and certainly less than the author originally intended that they should occupy.

MUSKRAT LORE

Stretching along the western shores of Lake Erie, from the mouth of the Detroit river southward towards Maumee Bay, in Ohio, for many miles, bordering the lagoons and bayous as well as fringing streams of clear water that flow into the larger body, lie the vast marshes which from the present to dates that are so old that they are lost in the mists of antiquity, have been the homes and the playgrounds of hordes of waterfowl of every name and description known to this latitude. Canvasback, redhead, mallard, blue and green-winged teal, the whistler, widgrow, gadwall, as well as the more plebeian mud hen which is the permanent resident.

Nor is the graceful swan and the Canadian goose ashamed to claim the distinction of making his marsh his habitat d'eté. They are all here in their proper season-hidden away perhaps, among the extensive fields of wild rice, and the lilies and the cattails, but they are here. What a captivating scene was this when first discovered by La Salle, Charlevoix Hennepin and others of the earliest explorers! They were nature lovers -appreciative of the wonders that excited their admiration and filled their larders here at the very gates of the unknown wilderness, which lay beyond.

Listen to the words of the enthusiastic Charlevoix and of La Salle in their journals of voyages and adventures amid the lakes and streams, in their batteaux* and canoes propelled by the hardy voyagers: "Great

* The batteaux were light and shapely vessels, very different from the birch canoe, calculated for rapid and rocky streams, and to be carried over long portages on mens' shoulders; they were from twenty to thirty feet long and only four or five feet wide, sharp at both ends, like a canoe, but reaching seven or eight feet over the water, flaring from the bottom to the gunwale in order that they might slip easily over the rocks and other obstructions in their way. They were favorites with the lumber jacks and river men also, in managing the extensive "runs" of saw logs down the streams. They were made light, only two boards to a side, generally secured to maple or other hardwood knees, but inward only the clearest and widest

and luxuriant fields of wild rice and the sweet flags, of grapes and berries extend ahead of us and around us for miles; the streams and the trees along their borders are festooned with magnificent vines bearing the great clusters of purple grapes, and the morasses swarming with waterfowl. We asked our Courier de bois, who proceeded us up this stream to which we gave the name of La Rivière aux Raisins-if there was much game where he had been. "So much," he replied that the waterfowl dress up in lines to let our boats pass through, and the noise of the vast flocks that soared over our heads and alighted again in the tall reeds, was like the rushing of mighty winds!" Even making full allowance for the enthusiastic exaggeration of the emotional Frenchmen of the expeditions, the place can well be imagined as one to delight the nature lover, and the sportsman, and a visit to the scene today might easily convince one that the early descriptions could not have been altogether flights of fancy. The early explorers have something pleasant to say about the fish in these waters: "The fish are here nourished and bathed by living waters of crystal clearness and their astonishing abundance makes them none the less delicious. Swans are so numerous that one might take for ponds of lilies the spaces of water which they cover" and so the narrative goes on, page after page, of glowing descriptions of this great, beautiful natural game preserve.

Here, too, is the habitat of that "Grand Seignieur" M'sieu le Musquash, the most numerous family in this great commonwealth. For many, many years, perhaps two hundred (or two thousand, who knows?) has his kingdom been established here, not without interference it is true, nor free from the predatory visits of four-footed neighbors, and two-legged invaders of his possessions-yet, notwithstanding these untoward circumstances the numbers do not suffer any apparent decrease. Though warred upon and mercilessly followed into his very castle, by spear and gun and trap he has maintained his ground (and water) and is still found doing business at the old stand." You may call him by his scientific name the ondata or you may confer upon him his Indian Muskwa; you may even designate him by the plain, every day local and universal term of muskrat-yet even with this most plebeian name, he is still the same quiet, well-behaved, keen-eyed, shrewd and industrious rodent, Fiber zibetheous. He is simply indifferent to all. He likes clean water and clean food, preferably vegetable-very preferable, in fact, and it must be, beyond question, clean. Seldom are fishbones found in his habitation, though he is not averse to a nice perch sometimes, when his favorite food is not obtainable. He is particular, but not foolish about his table-he likes not hunger. As an architect, M'sieu le Musquash cannot be said to be progressive. His domicile is constructed on the same lines as it has been constructed during all time-he doesn't believe in a change unless the change is also an improvement.

As for the animal himself, his color scheme is brown, dark upon the upper portion of the body, and lighter beneath, tinged to a slightly reddish tint upon the neck, ribs and legs, the belly being an ashen grey. The tail about six or eight inches long, and flat, having been constructed more for utility than beauty, is perhaps an inch or an inch and a half wide, covered very sparsely with coarse hair. The long existing prejudice against the use of muskrat's flesh as food for humans was a fortunate one for the muskrat, in connection with his life, liberty and the

of white pine stuff was used. They were very durable, but the rough usage that they received in contact with rocks and stones, generally exhausted the best of them in two years. They were the ideal craft for the purpose for which they were designed and originated with the Indians and French in the very early days of fur trading in the Northwest.

pursuit of happiness, also that his fur was not valuable enough to stimulate general hunting and trapping for it, but it finally became known that muskrat meat was one of the great delicacies of the winter. One, Xavier Francis, an expert muskrat hunter and cook, was the discoverer, and when he declared that "you cook h'it wid h'onion you shan't tole it from duck," the question was considered as settled, and the rodent was ever after much sought for. The tail is the titbit.

One of the most popular recent functions of the Monroe Yacht Club was the Annual Muskrat Banquet, which occurred about Christmas time and attracted guests from many surrounding towns. At one of these recent feasts over eight hundred persons partook of the festive musquash -cooked in a dozen different ways. He builds a good serviceable habitation that serves his purpose very well, on the same plans and specifications observed by his ancestors and predecessors as far back as there are any records of the animal. His houses are alike every year, and he never uses one more than one season. He is somewhat fastidious about the interior arrangements for his family, which consists of some seven or eight members. The dining room and living room are separate and the latter is utilized as sleeping quarters, also. The house is quite a large affair for the size of the animal, and constructed to meet the demands of the season, for the muskrat is able to "discount the future' so far as weather is concerned, and his preparations for a cold or mild winter are watched with due attention by hunter and trapper and his weather bulletins are eagerly awaited by the prospective layer in of the winter's coal. If a long cold winter is foreseen by this sagacious obşerver, he proceeds to build a thick walled house of sticks, mud and reeds, near an abundance of water, if possible. The general design of this house is not remarkable for its beauty, it resembles in shape one of the old style conical beehives, with an entrance (generally two of them) well beneath the surface of the water. It is comfortably lined with leaves, twigs and grass. The hinder feet of the ondata are well webbed and their imprint on the soft mud is very like that of a duck, the only animal that frequents this locality that is so provided.

THE BEAVER

The most interesting as a study, and the most valuable, commercially, of any of the fur bearing animals of Monroe county, in the fur trading days, was the beaver. The numerous streams and small lakes, abounding in fish; the dense forests of his particularly favorite wood, and the general characteristics of the country surrounding the settlements, made this in the old days the ideal home of the beaver; but with the disappearance of the big woods, and the influx of settlers, the places that knew him familiarly now know him no more. Its haunts now are far northward, but the fur trade in the northwest has always had for its prime factor the item of the beaver skin. Throughout the country dominated by the big fur companies and their offshoots, and their tributary bands of trappers, the beaver skin was the unit of value, the basis of exchanges and barter. It has a distinct place in the literature of New France. Though slaughtered without remorse, its virtues were appreciated almost to the point of canonization. The beaver dam is considered one of the most wonderful and intelligent works of God's fourfooted ceratures. In the Jesuit Relations, much space is given to the subject, low flat lands lying adjacent to the river and lakes through which they floated timbers for building purposes and winter food, these canals are usually from three to four feet wide. If they could not get the necessary depth of water, they would dam up the mouth of the canal, then

float their timbers to it, cut the dam and let the timber into the main channel. They cut the timber for their winter food in October and sink it to the bottom of the river or lake and cover it with stones and sand. This is done to keep it sweet and fresh during the winter. In trapping the beaver the usual way is to cut a hole in the south side of their house for the traps. Their houses are solidly built of timber from fifteen to twenty feet long and from six to eight feet high, so arranged that they will rise and fall with the water. They first place four posts in the ground at the bottom of the stream; they dig a hole in the bottom of the stream, and there take the pole designed for the corner post in their mouths and go to the bottom with it. Another beaver will dive down and fill dirt and stones around the post to hold it in position. It is so firmly planted that the strength of two men is required to raise it. Their house is built inside these four corner posts.

Paul Le Jeune, Sieur Olivier, Sieur Nicolet are enthusiastic observers of these ingenious works. La Hontan, fifty years after these explorers, is greatly impressed by the animal's sagacity. One of the above writers 'crossed over one of the dams which was more than two hundred steps long;" Sieur Nicolet saw another, "almost a quarter of a league long, so strong and so well built that he was filled with astonishment. He writes: "The waters that are checked by this dam, become deep, and form a beautiful pond in which the beavers go to swim." Even lately within a comparatively short time, the beaver in certain limits is quite plentiful. One old trapper and hunter, once employed by the Hudson's Bay Company, speaking of the beaver, says: "Of all the animals of North America, there is none that displays such ingenuity and skill as the beaver. They can easily cut down a tree ten inches in diameter in an hour's time. Frequently a tree becomes lodged, and there they stand on their hind legs and cut the tree off as high up as they can reach, continuing to cut off length after length, until the tree falls to the ground. The poplar tree is the one most sought for and furnishes them with a considerable part of their food, consuming the outer part, and using the heart for building their dams.

THE RED Fox

While the red fox has been familiarly known in the early settlements of Monroe county, and his pelt a prize to be valued, not alone on account of its market price with the fur dealers, but representing the enjoyment of sports afield, to many a veteran sportsman, the rare black fox, that much sought but elusive animal of the north has been but seldom seen in this region, yet it is on record that specimens have been seen and perhaps now and then one bagged in the long ago in Monroe county. This animal, in the estimation of trappers in the Canadian northland as well as in the eyes of nobility, is a notable possession-the one and only king of beasts. They certainly are a rara avis in this age. On an average, but five perfect pelts of this rare fur bearer are brought down from the semi-Arctic regions each year. In some very favorable years ten or even twelve have been secured. How small a proportion this is may be realized, when thousands of men make a living by trapping, and the yearly catch for fox skins amounts to more than one hundred thousand from Canada alone. In no way, except in color, does the black fox differ from either his red brother, whose plebeian pelts sell for about $2.00, or the grey fox, whose winter coat has a market value of from $150 to $400, but whenever a hunter or trapper can secure one of the sable hue, and remove his skin without marring fur or hide, he is sure of receiving from $800 to $1500 for his trophy. The most eager buyers

of the black peltries, are Russian noblemen, who have paid agents traveling through North America, during every winter, seeking out remote places in the wildernesses where black foxes may have been seen.

MOST COMMON VARIETIES OF BIRDS

Through the courtesy of Prof. Walter B. Barrows, professor of biology and zoology of Michigan Agricultural College, and of Mr. Bradshaw H. Swales of Grosse Isle, Wayne county, a complete list of seventy-five birds that have been and are still more or less common to Monroe county is given. Many of the species are but occasional migrants, and no doubt it will be surprising information to a great many readers of this chapter that some of these have ever been seen here at all. The annotated list of Mr. Swales was prepared especially to include all the aquatic species, and the waders, the latter being easily identified by those who are versed in the ornithology of this latitude. Some of the species named are comparative strangers, indeed, it is probable that none but those in touch with the study, or with the occasional visitors themselves will readily recognize the nomenclature.

It is not easy to say just how many kinds of birds can be fairly called common in this locality, for more than three hundred and twenty species have been recorded in the state while some sixty or more of these are so rare as to have been taken only a few times, and as many more are very seldom seen, yet at least one hundred and fifty species occur regularly in some numbers and almost every one of them is common at some time and place.

In selecting a list of seventy birds therefore, the author has aimed to include only those which have been found regularly almost everywhere throughout the state, in suitable places and at proper times. Almost all of them are to be found in Monroe county, and those which are the exceptions are the sapsucker, junco, white throated sparrow, brown creeper and certain warblers.