Their breath stinks badly, wherefore the carcasses on which they feed rot rapidly, and though lascivious they are long lived : they die mostly of hunger, as the bill becomes by age so crooked that they cannot open any thing. Whereupon they finally fly to the highest regions towards the sun, tumble down into the coldest stream ; they pluck out their feathers, clammy with sweat, and thus breathe their last. But, besides the enumerated birds of prey, there is

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DESCRIPTION OF NEW NETHERLAND. 123

here an innumerable amount of herons, bitterns, ravens, crows, owls, swallows, finches, king fishers, hedge sparrows, woodcozks,

pheasants and wrens. The wood peckers excel pecken the most in beautiful plumage and crests. These

peck large holes in the trees, and thus make a noise as of wood cutters laboring in the forest. The pigeons fly in such flocks that the Indians designedly remove to their breeding places, where the young birds, pushed by hundreds from their nests, serve for food during a long month for the whole family. New Netherland hath, moreover, a wonderful little bird, scarcely an inch long, quite brilliant of plumage, and sucking flowers like the bee ; it is so delicate that a dash of water instantly kills it, and when dried it is preserved as a curiosity. But this conntry particularly abounds in turkeys, whose number excites no less admiration than their rich flavour and their large size ; for they go together in flocks of thirty and forty : they weigh some thirty and more pounds ; they are shot or are caught with a bait concealing the hook. The waters here swarm, in the spring and fall, with swans, geese, wild ducks, teals, widgeons, divers, spoonbills and pelicans, besides another strange species, unknown in Europe.