Another occurrence of anterior times will show the effect of hunger, in the last stage of life, of a certain hawk.
At a certain time when Gerardus Van Inwegen and Abraham Cuddeback were catching pigeons with a net, a hawk came and lit on a fence near them, and continued there watching the pigeons until they had made some hauls; and all the ado they made to spring the net, run to it, kill and carry the pigeons, &c., did not scare the hawk so as to drive him from his place, but from his action appeared to want a pigeon. This caused Van Inwegen to try the following experiment to catch him. He took a pigeon in his hand and held it at arm's length before him towards the hawk, and walked slowly towards him, and when the pigeon got within his reach he took hold of it to eat it, when Van Inwegen caught the hawk and found him to be old and starved, and had become unable to procure his food.
Different opinions have existed in relation to the government of the actions of animals, birds and other creatures. In respect to which, it is difficult in many cases to determine whether certain of their actions are governed by the dictates of mind, to answer certain purposes, or by an impression on their natures to cause their actions without design. The cravings of food and other bodily desires emanate from the nature created in their bodies. The way and manner of each species to procure its food are dictates of the mind, in which some, if not all, display as much tact and correctness to obtain their objects as the mind of man could direct in their respective bodily capacities. The fear of an enemy, or of danger from any cause, is a dictate of the mind and affects the body, and both will unite their efforts to defend or escape the danger the means of which the mind directs, and the body performs accordingly thereto.
The fox, the ground-hog and some other creatures dig holes in the ground, sometimes under and between rocks, in which to hide and escape from being caught by an enemy, and for a safe place to rest and sleep. The squirrels will seek places in hollow trees for their safety. The bears, which were here in former times, when cold weather commenced in November or December retired from the open woods into those which were thickly timbered with hemlock, and there sought and made places under rocks and roots of trees in which to lay up all winter, and continued in their respective places without eating all winter and remained fat. Hunters from this neighborhood sometimes went there in former times, in February or March when warm weather commenced, and found them with their dogs, and killed them in their holes, in which some were confined by the frost of the ground and were fat.
The beaver performs the greatest work of the animal species, which comprehends a more extensive source of enjoyments than what any other creatures have achieved, all of which appears to be a preconcerted plan of their own to obtain the results of their labors, but still may be, as some have thought, an instinct of their natures to do it without design. A company of beavers will unite, select the best place to build a dam across a stream of water where they can overflow the greatest extent of ground by damming the stream, and the company will all engage in the work cutting down brush and saplings with their teeth and bringing the same to the place selected for a dam, and there place them in the stream so as to form a dam, for which they make use of mud, clay and ground, to intermix with the brush, so as to confine in the dam both brush, ground, &c., and also to make it tight. After this work is all completed, a male and female will unite and dig a hole in the side of a bank, which the water will not overflow in times of freshets, and commence to dig it under water and raise gradually until they get into dry ground above the surface level of the water in times of freshets, where they make a place in which to lay, repose and sleep in safety, where wolves, dogs and enemies of every kind cannot find them. The pond also becomes a safe place for them, in which they can have their sportive exercises and furnish them with food. There was in ancient times a beaver-dam in this town near the bridge across Basha's Kill, on the land of Abraham Cuddeback, Esq., which dammed the water so as to overflow a large tract of bog meadow land above the bridge. There also was a beaver-dam across the Old Dam Brook, on the land of Abraham J. Cuddeback, Esq., which also overflowed a tract of swamp and bog meadow land. There undoubtedly have been others in ancient times in this town. These were the two best places in this part of the town for Beaver dams, and were on streams not subject to freeze much.
It appears evident that the genius and natural activity of some animals and birds is greater than that of others, and that all possess thought, memory, discernment, and many of the passions and affections like those of human beings; and have a degree of speech in which, by articulate sounds, they can inform each other of danger from an enemy, of the finding of food, calling each other to come and partake of it, or forbidding it; and no doubt a great part of the different species of animals and birds, especially the latter, have more of an extensive language, to communicate to and with each of their respective tribes, than what man can discover. When a man happens to come unawares near to a partridge with young ones, she will give immediate warning to her brood to run and hide, and if the man pursues them, or comes near to them, she will approach to him and flutter as though she was unable to get out of his way, to entice the man to follow her, but will keep at such a distance from him that he cannot catch her; and in this manner she will lead the man away from her young in pursuit of herself, until he leaves them and her fear ceases, when she will return to the brood, call them to her, and attend to them in her usual way. Other birds also have their ways and means of causing their young ones to run and hide for fear of an enemy, and to entice him away from the place where the young chickens are hid. All animals will save and defend their young offspring to the utmost of their power, in which they generally make use of the best means they possess.
FOURTH GENERATION.
The fourth and a part of the fifth generations, descendants from four of the first settlers in the Peenpack neighborhood, are now on the stage of action, and those who have remained in Deerpark now own nearly all the valuable land for agricultural purposes in it; and, like their grandfathers, have generally stuck to the soil for their living. Yet a part of these two generations are now in other pursuits of life, embracing a great part of all the occupations which are followed in this part of our country. The former generally became transactors of business between the years 1810 and 1830. These, and their contemporaries in our country, are within reach of nearly all the acquisitions which have been mentioned, and can procure such portions thereof as their means and abilities will admit, and which furnishes them with a vast amount of enjoyment of which their ancestry were destitute, and also are a source of many evils which they escaped by not having the means of their production. Now, in consequence of those changes, it requires more circumspection now than in former times to travel life's journey, from the existence of many by-roads, the worst of which are sometimes most enticing; and these have obscured our way through life, and created difficulties in selecting the best course for the enjoyment of our additional acquisitions, without burdening ourselves with the evils which emanate from an erroneous choice.
[When] men become enabled to have a great variety of food and drink it becomes necessary to know which are of a healthy character and which are pernicious thereto, so as to enable them to make a choice for its preservation in cases where that becomes the object, in preference to risking future evil consequences. So also when men are enabled to have all the desirable enjoyments of ease and comfortable dwellings, it is necessary for them to know how to occupy these without injuring their health, and also to have a knowledge of whatever has a tendency to promote or impair it. Much information relative thereto can be acquired from the writings of those who have studied and practiced the art of healing and preserving health.