physicians, consists of oblong follicles, resembling a wrinkled pear which are firmly attached to the os pubis of

Castor, what.

the female beaver; the Indians cut up the little balls of

the males with their tobacco as they afford no castor. The air of New Netherland abounds with all sorts of birds.

122 _ DESCRIPTION OF NEW NETHERLAND.

Besides falcon, sparrow-hawks, fish-hawks, and Bie N: Nethe other birds of prey, there are here numbers of

Eagles differing from each other; for some are greyish, others browner, except the head, neck, tail and striking feathers, which are of a snow white color. All havea strong body, bones without marrow, claws as long as a man's finger, the bill strong and crooked, the brains dry, the eyes small and hollow, the feathers hard, the right foot bigger than the left, both ill-looking, the blood gross, the excrements highly offensive. They build their nests in old groves where the ground is

clear of underwood ; also beside water; as they Fogiei ther feed on fish and devour all sorts of fowls, and even

rabbits, hares, tortoises and other four footed game that sleep in the open air; yea, when ahungered, they attack each other. Some eagles strike their prey at mid-day, others at the rising of the sun. They fall like lightning on the game they pursue, as the blood of animals serves them for drink. They are excessively lascivious, so that they go together more than thirty times a day, not only with their own kind, but even with the female hawks and she wolves (wolvinnen). They hatch out the large eggs in thirty, and the small in twenty days. They usually breed two to three young, whose eyes they turn towards the sun's rays. If these regard the light of heaven without blinking they bring them up, otherwise, those that cannot stand such a test are drove from the nest.