THE PRAIRIE.
my last in this world, had not Providence made preparations for my
rescue. All was ready. The infernal hag was advancing slowly, probably
contemplating the best way of despatching me, whilst her sons
should be engaged with the Indian. I was several times on the eve of
rising, and shooting her on the spot:—but she was not to be punished
thus. The door was suddenly opened, and there entered two stout travellers,
each with a long rifle on his shoulder. I bounced up on my feet,
and making them most heartily welcome, told them how well it was for
me that they should have arrived at that moment. The tale was told in
a minute. The drunken sons were secured, and the woman, in spite of
her defence and vociferations, shared the same fate. The Indian fairly
danced with joy, and gave us to understand that, as he could not sleep for
pain, he would watch over us. You may suppose we slept much less than
we talked. The two strangers gave me an account of their once having
been themselves in a somewhat similar situation. Day came, fair and rosy,
and with it the punishment of our captives.
They were now quite sobered. Their feet were unbound, but their
arms were still securely tied. We marched them into the woods off the
road, and having used them as Regulators were wont to use such delinquents,
we set fire to the cabin, gave all the skins and implements to the
young Indian warrior, and proceeded, well pleased, towards the settlements.
During upwards of twenty-five years, when my wanderings extended
to all parts of our country, this was the only time at which my life was
in danger from my fellow creatures. Indeed, so little risk do travellers
run in the United States, that no one born there ever dreams of any to be
encountered on the road ; and I can only account for this occurrence by
supposing that the inhabitants of the cabin were not Americans.
Will you believe, good-natured reader, that not many miles from the
place where this adventure happened, and where fifteen years ago, no habitation
belonging to civilized man was expected, and very few ever seen,
large roads are now laid out, cultivation has converted the woods into
fertile fields, taverns have been erected, and much of what we Americans
call comfort is to be met with. So fast does improvement proceed in our
abundant and free country.
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T H E GREAT-FOOTED HAWK
FALCO PEREGRINUS, G M EL.
P L A T E X V I . ADULT MALE AND FEMALE.
THE French and Spaniards of Louisiana have designated all the species
of the genus Falco by the name of " Mangeurs de Poulets ,-" and the
farmers in other portions of the Union have bestowed upon them, according
to their size, the appellations of " Hen Hawk," " Chicken Hawk,"
" Pigeon Hawk," &c. This mode of naming these rapacious birds is
doubtless natural enough, but it displays little knowledge of the characteristic
manners of the species. No bird can better illustrate the frequent
inaccuracy of the names bestowed by ignorant persons than the present,
of which on referring to the plate, you will see a pair enjoying themselves
over a brace of ducks of different species. Very likely, were tame ducks
as plentiful on the plantations in our States, as wild ducks are on our
rivers, lakes and estuaries, these hawks might have been named by some
of our settlers " Mangeurs de Canards.'"''
Look at these two pirates eating their déjeuné à la fourchette, as it
were, congratulating each other on the savouriness of the food in their
grasp. One might think them real epicures, but they are in fact true
gluttons. The male has obtained possession of a Green-winged Teal,
while his mate has procured a Gadwal Duck. Their appetites are equal
to their reckless daring, and they well deserve the name of " Pirates,"
which I have above bestowed upon them.
The Great-footed Hawk, or Peregrine Falcon, is now frequently to be
met with in the United States, but within my remembrance it was a very
scarce species in America. I can well recollect the time when, if I shot
one or two individuals of the species in the course of a whole winter, I
thought myself a fortunate mortal ; whereas of late years I have shot two
in one day, and perhaps a dozen in the course of a winter. It is quite
impossible for me to account for this increase in their number, the more
so that our plantations have equally increased, and we have now three gunners
for every one that existed twenty years ago, and all of them ready
to destroy a hawk of any kind whenever an occasion presents itself.