The Wood Ibis is found in the southern parts of the United States, in watery savannas and inland swamps, where it feeds on fish and reptiles. The neck, body, and lower parts of this bird are white; the bill is nearly nine inches long. The White Ibis is numerous in the same latitudes. The Scarlet Ibis frequents the borders of the sea, and the shores of the neighboring rivers, feeding on small fry, shell-fish, sea-worms, and crabs. The Purple Gallinule is sometimes met with in Georgia, but is a native of the southern continent.
The Roseate Spoonbill is an inhabitant of our southern seashore, and is sometimes found in the Mississippi in the summer. It wades about in search of shell-fish, marine insects, small crabs and fish, in pursuit of which it occasionally swims and dives. The Black-bellied Darter, or Snake Bird, is common in the Carolinas. Its head, neck, and breast are light brown; the belly and tail deep black. It sits on the shrubs that overhang the water, and often terrifies the passengers by darting out its long and slender neck, which bears strong resemblance to that of a serpent.
III. FISHES.
The natural history of American fishes is yet to be written, as very little progress has yet been made in the scientific observation of this interesting order of animals. The fishes which fill the bays and coasts of the United States are generally of the same species with those on the coasts of the opposite continent. Along the shores of New England they are particularly abundant, though there is no other bank that equals that of Newfoundland in extreme richness. Shad and salmon are fine fish abounding in the Atlantic rivers, and beautiful trout are taken in the mountain streams of the northern states. Among the fish of the western waters, probably in a great measure common to them and other rivers, arenoticed several varieties of perch, one of which, the buffalo perch, derives its name from the singular grunting noise which it makes, and which is familiar to every one who has been much on the Ohio. It is a fine table fish, weighing from ten to thirty pounds. There are, also, varieties of the bass, the hog-fish, and the sun-fish, and sixteen species of minny found in these waters, besides trout, false herring, and shad. Of all the inhabitants of the western rivers, the brown buffalo-fish is, perhaps, as much esteemed as any; it is quite abundant, and is found from two to three feet in length. In the lower waters of the Ohio and Mississippi, we meet with the black buffalo-fish, sometimes weighing half a hundred. A larger buffalo, resembling the shad of the Atlantic states, is taken in immense numbers in the lakes and meadows of the Mississippi.
The trout of Florida and Louisiana is not identical with the beautiful fish of that name that is a tenant of the cold and swift streams of the northern Atlantic country; it is of the perch class, and takes the bait with a spring like the trout, and is beautifully marked with golden stripes. It is a sound, hard fish, with a pleasant flavor, and weighs from one to four pounds. ‘We have never witnessed angling,’ says Mr. Flint, ‘that could compare with that of this fish, in the clear pine-wood streams of the southern divisions of this country. With fresh bait a barrel may be taken in a few hours.’ Twelve species of cat-fish have been observed in the Ohio, and it is indeed the most common fish in the western waters. They are of all colors and sizes, without scales, and easily taken with a hook. Their English name is derived from the noise which they make when at rest, which is very similar to the purring of a cat. In the Mississippi, this fish is found of the weight of an hundred pounds.
The Ohio ‘toter’ is two or three inches in length; its name is derived from the barbarism ‘tote,’ meaning to ‘carry,’ because this fish makes itself a cell by surrounding a place with pebbles. Pike, pickerel, and jack-fish, weighing from six ounces to twenty pounds, are found in the western rivers. Of the gar-fish there are also numerous varieties. The alligator-gar is sometimes eight feet long, and is voracious, fierce and formidable, even to the human species. Its dart in rapidity equals the flight of a bird. Its mouth is long, round, and pointed, thickset with sharp teeth; its body is covered with scales so hard as to be impenetrable by a rifle-bullet, and, when dry, answer the purposes of a flint in striking fire from steel. Its weight is from fifty to two hundred pounds, and its appearance is hideous. It is, in fact, the shark of rivers, and is considered far more formidable than the alligator himself. The devil-jack-diamond fish is another monster of the rivers. One has been caught that weighed four hundred pounds; its usual length is from four to ten feet.
Eels vary in length from two to four feet. The best species for the table is the yellow eel. Of sturgeon there are six species in these rivers, some of them four feet in length; some of them are said to form a palatable food. The Mississippi saw-fish varies in length from three feet to six; it has twenty-six long teeth on either side, in the form of a saw. There is also a spotted horn-fish from two to three feet long, the horn being one quarter the length of the body. The beautifully striped bar-fish go in shoals in the southern streams; they weigh from one to three pounds, and are taken with a hook. The shovel-fish is found in the muddy lakes of the middle region of the valley; it weighs from ten to fifty pounds, is withoutscales, and has in front of the mouth a bony substance between six and twelve inches long, and two or three inches wide, with which it turns up the mud in search of its food. It is exceedingly fat, and is taken for its oil.
‘We have never remarked this fish in any museum,’ says Mr. Flint, ‘although to us the most strange and whimsical-looking fish we have seen. We have seen one instance of a horribly deformed animal, apparently intermediate between the class testudo and fishes. We saw it in a water of the Washita, and had not a fair opportunity to examine it. It is called toad-fish, has a shell like a tortoise, but in every thing else resembles a fish. It is said to be sufficiently strong to bear a man on its back; and, from the account of those who have examined it, this animal must be a lusus naturæ.’
The rock fish,[56] drum and sheep’s-head are large fish, taken in saline lakes in the neighborhood of the gulf of Mexico. In size they correspond to the codand haddock of the Atlantic, and are among the most common fish in the market of New Orleans. The fish of the gulf shore partake of the character both of salt and fresh water fish; this arises from their being taken in shallow lakes principally composed of fresh water, but having outlets in the gulf, through which in strong south winds the sea-water is forced in such quantities that they become salt. There are a vast number of craw-fish every where in the marshy grounds and shallow waters. By penetrating the bank of the Mississippi, they have more than once made perforations which have imperceptibly enlarged to crevices, by which the inundation of the river has been let in upon the country.