Steuben County, Indiana - Chapter 2: Scientific, 1885

Chapter 2: Scientific

Steuben is smaller than a " model" county of sixteen townships, such as is frequently the size of the new counties in the West made by legislators with the aid of a map and pocket rule. It comprises six whole and six fractional congressional townships, or scarcely more than ten townships altogether. The county lies just in the northeastern corner of Indiana, and is bounded as follows : On the north by Branch and Hillsdale counties, Mich., on the east by Hillsdale County, Mich., and Williams County, Ohio; on the south by De Kalb County, Ind., and on the west by Lagrange County, Ind. The county contains the usual physical characteristics of the Northwestern States, having a gently rolling surface, originally covered with hard-wood timber. It is situated on the "divide" between the tributaries of the Mississippi and those of Lake Erie. Within the borders of Steuben County are between sixty and seventy clear water lakes, most of them having gravelly or sandy bottoms and fine beaches, and it is safe to say that no county in the Northwest offers greater advantages to the sportsman or to the weary city family seeking rest from their hot and dusty homes. All that this county needs is advertising. But one lake in the county has ever been advertised to any great extent, and that is hardly known outside of Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan. That is Pleasant Lake, which for two or three years past has attracted a large number of persons, and become a favorite resort of excursionists. Owing to the scarcity of hotel accommodations, very few have remained more than a day or two, but if plans recently formed be carried out it will doubtless become in the course of a few years a popular place for summer gatherings. The village of Pleasant Lake is situated between two bodies of water - Pleasant and Long lakes. It is proposed to dredge the channel connecting these lakes with Golden, Hogback and Silver, thus enabling steamers to pass from one to another with perfect freedom. The shores of all these lakes are quite bold and afford many beautiful sites for the building of cottages and club-houses. All of these bodies of water are plentifully stocked with fish, such as pickerel, black bass, rock bass, perch, etc. Disciples of Kimrod can find no better place for their sport than in this vicinity, game such as ducks, quails, etc., being very plentiful.

Six miles southeast of Pleasant Lake is Fish Lake, which has the reputation of containing as fine specimens of the finny tribe as can be found anywhere. Being situated several miles from a railroad, it is not so well known as many other lakes, but in case a railroad is ever completed on the Canada Southern grade, it would doubtless be within about two-hours ride of Toledo, and five ot Chicago. There are many beautiful building places on its banks, all of which will be utilized sometime when the communication with the outside world is improved.

In the extreme northeastern corner of the county is situated Clear Lake, which, next to Pleasant, is the best known of any ot the lakes of the county. It is situated two and a half miles from Ray station, on the Fort Wayne branch of the Lake Shore Road. There has been some talk of building a railroad from the nearest point on the Lake Shore, but the prospect has seemingly been abandoned.

Lake George, situated near the village of Jamestown, part of the lake being in the State of Michigan, is a favorite resort for parties who desire to spend a few days camping out and fishing. The water is clear, and experienced anglers claim to have better luck here than at any other place.

Of all the lakes in the county, James and Crooked are the largest, and were they nearer a railroad, would present unrivaled attractions; and, as it is, they will doubtless within a few years have their banks dotted with summer residences and club-houses, negotiations having already been entered into by Fort Wayne parties for the purchase of building sites on the banks of Crooked Lake.

Of the dozens of lovely lakes in the county, it is probable that, all things considered, Lake Gage, eleven miles northwest of Angola and five miles from Orland, presents the most attractions and never fails to excite the unqualified admiration of visitors. Being surrounded on every side but one with high gravel banks and entirely free from marshes, it presents an appearance which can find few equals anywhere.

There are many other bodies of water in the county deserving of note. The water found in these lakes is remarkably free from mineral matter. A few years ago the State Geologist made an analysis of the water in Lake James, and in an imperial gallon found only ten and one-half grains of mineral substance, there being of bicarbonate of lime seven grains; iron, alumina and silica, two and one-tenth grains, and magnesia one and four-tenths grains. From the bottom of any of the lakes, water may be drawn in the middle of summer with a temperature of fifty degrees Fahrenheit.

The ancient shores of many of these lakes are composed of carbonate of lime, which is of a creamy tint, almost white. The water area of these lakes is constantly diminishing, thus adding to the agricultural surface. The carbonate of lime is due to organic matter, since it contai ns only a trace of oxide of iron, and the discoloration disappears when it is burned. At one time this chalk was in common use for the manufacture of quick-lime, for which purpose it answers very well. Samples of this fresh-water chalk have been collected from various localities by members of the geological survey corps. An analysis of a sample taken from section 4, township 37, range 13, resulted as follows :

A heavy deposit of lime or marl lies along the west margin of James Lake, and in the early settlement of the region it was worked for lime for making mortar, the pits being still visible. Aquatic plants are now encroaching on the water in almost all directions, which give the margins a marshy appearance.

Coal has been discovered in one or two places in Steuben County, and indications exist in other localities; but it is not likely that much can be found in the way of mineral wealth. The State Geologist says in regard to coal and petroleum in this county that coal was brought down here in the early drift period by the ice along with the boulders and material that now enrich the soil. Beneath bituminous shales and deposits of the Devonian age there is often found a small quantity of petroleum which oozes out, but after a time is exhausted and ceases This is the case in all counties in Northern Indiana. He pronounces such discoveries as have been made here to be of no economic importance whatever.

Having in mind the thousands of pupils who receive instruction in the excellent schools of Steuben County, and conscious that the greater part of those who have come to maturer years are unacquainted with the subject of general geology, I desire, in the first place, to describe the formation of the world as a whole and give such an account of the great periods of the earth's history that we may be able to find our place in that history, and thus, as in locating a place upon a map first, we may be the better able afterward to study it more satisfactorily and understandingly. Indeed, without this method of procedure, all our ideas are vague and the entire work unsatisfactory and unscientific.

Omitting the nebular hypothesis, which assumes the earth, together with all our bodies of the solar system, to have been in primeval times in the form of an incandescent gas of incomprehensible dimensions, and the second step derived from the former, through long cycles of whirling motion, radiation, and condensation, the liquid or molten earth, with its wonderful processes of crust formation, we begin oar brief description with the process of

Rock-Fobmation

The first or original rock is what was first formed as a crust, igneous rock, rock without form or strata - a mere slag. The earth, losing heat by radiation and becoming smaller, the crust, in accommodating itself to the smaller sphere, must necessarily rise in some places and sink in others, just as by the shrinking of an orange the rind becomes wrinkled. Then the water, having been previously formed as the result of the great world formation, the residue, the ash-Aeap of the great conflagration, obeying the law of gravity, is gathered together into the depressed areas and thus the dry land, or rather the dry rock, appears.

Now, by the action of winds, rains, waves and the various chemical and mechanical agencies, tlie exposed rock is decomposed, carried to the sea, and deposited in horizontal strata, which, in process of time, becomes stratified rock, jnst as is being done at the mouths of the rivers and the beach and bottom of the oceans of to day.

Basement Eock

From the. preceding, we may conclude that there is everywhere beneath the waters and soil of the earth's surface a basement of rock, sometimes called hed-rock. The outcropping of rock above the surface, the rocky bluiFs forming the sides of many valleys, the ledges projecting from the sides of mountains, and the cliffs of the sea-shore are portions of this rock exposed to view, Now, the various strata which compose the stratified rocks of the globe, with their included fossils, are the leaves of that great book which unfolds to us the history of the earth through its incomprehensibly long periods of time. Tlie lowest strata, of course, furnish us the first chapter in that history. In no part of the earth's surface is the record complete, but all have their long blanks - periods in which no strata occur. This is caused by the elevating of the crust above the waters of the ocean, and, when this is continental, is appended to the chapter and the history of the rocks is finished forever.

In North America we have an excellent example of the unfolding and development of geological hist<n'y, and as the continent gradually emerged from the ocean, it left us the record almost complete. The following section is a representation of the successive geological ages, with the corresponding formations and periods of the globe, by the side of which is placed that of Steuben County with its many and immensely long blanks between the Devonian and Quaternery or Psychozoic Ages.

Thus a glance at the section will show us our place in the history of the formation of the globe, not the least interesting part of which is the long blank between the Devonian and Quarternery Ages, showing us conclusively that our soil rests upon the Devonian. At the close of the above-named period, all Northern Indiana and a strip extending through the central part of the State to the Ohio River emerged from beneath the sea and the history of the rocks of Steuben County was finished forever.

Of The Globe The Devonian Formation

So named by Sedgwick and Murchison from Devonshire, England, where it occurs well developed and abounds in fossils, and its age, the Age of Fishes, so called because in it the first known fishes are found, is in no part of the county exposed to view, neither has it been reached in the sinking of wells; hence all our knowledge of it must be gained from exposed areas and sections in other localities. Omitting the rock formation, because completely hidden from view, we come to the study of that wliich is apparent to all, that in which the farmer plows, upon which our wagon roads and railroads are builded, and upon which we all depend for our daily bread - the immense superincumbent mass of soil known as

Drift

The farmer boy, as he walks over the meadow with its carpet of green and wanders beside the babbling brook, or, as with sturdy hand he turns the grassy sward, uncultured though he be, asks himself the question, "From whence came all this that is spread out so beautifully around me ? These huge stones which I see lying upon the surface or imbedded within the soil, how came they here? Do they grow? 'The hills, rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,' how were they formed? and what is their history?" Ah ! If they could speak and tell us what scenes they have witnessed, the story would be of far more interest than that of Belzoni's mummy, for it could tell us of the world not merely as it was " three thousand years ago," but stretching far back into the illimitable past, they could tell much of the Creator's plans in fitting up the earth as the abode of man.

All soil, with the trifling exception of the thin stratum of vegetable mold that covers the ground in many localities, is formed from the disintegration of rocks. Now, there are two great classes of soil, to one of which every kind of soil may be referred, that is, soil formed m situ - in the place where found - and that which has been transported, when formed, to places more or less remote from the parent rock. It is to the latter of these that our soil belongs and hence that which we wish to treat.

* For a description of the rocks of this age, and also of its Life-System, both animal and vegetable, the reader is referred to the three excellent works of Prof Dana, the " Geological Story," the " Text-Book," and the" Manual," the masterly work of Prof. Le Conte, and to the many and valuable Geological Reports of Ohio and Indiana.

Strewed all over the northern part of North America, over hill and dale, over field and plain, covering alike, in places, all the country rock to a depth of thirty to three hundred feet, thus largely concealing them from view, and extending in general from the Kocky Mountains eastward, and southward to the fortieth parallel of latitude, is found this peculiar surface soil or deposit. It consists of a heterogeneous mixture of clay, sand, gravel, pebbles, sub-angular stones of all sizes, un sorted, unsifted, unfossiliferous. The lowest part lying in immediate contact with the subjacent rock is often a stiff clay including sub-angular stones; hence this is often called the boulder clay or hard pan. ''These included boulders," says Prof. Geikie, "are scattered higgledy-piggledy, pell-mell, through the clay so as to give the whole deposit a highly confused and tumultuous appearance." On examining many of these stones, they will be found to be angular in shape, but the sharp corners and edges are invariably smoothed away, their faces will be smoothed and frequently grooved with parallel scratches. Indeed in concretionary stones and others having an egg shape, often one whole end has been ground off, showing conclusively its history. On the other hand, lying all over this drift soil, in clusters, in isolated rocks, and in belts varying in width from a single line to two or three miles, are found many boulders of all sizes; in some localities they are of huge dimensions and weigh hundreds of tons. These unscratched, or erratic blocks, as they are sometimes called have attracted the attention and excited the wonder of those in the humblest walks of life, and since they are composed of materials foreign to the local geology, were regarded by them as foreigners which had been brought from a distance and strewed over the surface or perched upon declivities in some incomprehensible way. It is now very appropriate to investigate the causes for all this phenomena spread out before us.

Whenever the underlying rock is of sufficient hardness to retain an impression, and for any cause is exposed to view, it is always found to be plowed and planed and grooved with long parallel striae and ruts. Thus, these scratches, with the superincumbent drift, the boulder-clay, and the surface boulders, furnish for us phenomena, the exact counterpart of which is found on a smaller scale in all the glaciated regions of the world to-day - Alaska, Greenland, Switzerland, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the Antarctic continent. Given identical phenomena, we must conclude there was an identical cause. Given identical phenomena in the one case on a much larger and grander scale, we must conclude there was a cause of far greater and grander proportions. There was. then, a time in the past, when for hundreds of years the winters grew steadily both longer and colder; the equatorial current, being pressed southward at Cape St. Eoque, was pouring more and more of its waters into the South Atlantic. The moisture was all precipitated as snow, and these all mutually reacting upon each other so that each effect strengthened the cause, brought about the period known as the great Ice Age, and formed an immense continental ice-sheet or Polar Ice Cap which extended in general to the fortieth degree of latitude, with local extensions of its icy fingers down river valleys far to the southward.

In the beginning of the Archaean Age, at the time of the first known continental emergence in the history of the world, there was formed a high mountain range north of the great lakes, extending from Labrador to the Lakes of the Woods and thence northward to the Arctic Ocean, the degradation of which has furnished the material for the stratified rocks that surround it, and, being especially active in the glacial period, it also furnished the greater part of our drift material. Thus through the lapse of countless ages down to the present time, all the mountain peaks and chains of this Laurentian continent, as it is frequently called, have been removed and carried into the sea, and, as a result, there remain only the truncated bases of the various arches and folds to testify to their former existence and magnitude. Thus we see that these archtean mountains are the means, and the Ice Cap, together with what follows, the melting of the ice, are the agents in performing the final work in fitting up this part of our earth-home. For with its ponderous mass of ice a mile in thickness and constantl}^ increasing as it approaches the pole, moving southward, it gjround the softer rocks to powder, brought hither our soil, scooped out the great lakes and the multitude of smaller ones in their latitude, and by the retreating of the glacier, the immense floods and the consequent hosts of icebergs, the river valleys were hollowed out, the hills and the gravel beds formed, and the surface boulders were dropped by the river's side and over the fields and plains.

The glacier in forming the Erie basin, as is indicated by the furrows made at difterent points, moved from east to west along the line of its way or axis. It plowed up the Huron and Erie shales, in the east end, to a great depth, but moving westward it came upon the hard floor of corniferous limestone and but a shallow basin was formed. Here the many beautiful and fertile islands particularly testify to the unyielding hardness of the rocks. Thence passing southwest to New Haven and Fort Wayne, and from New Haven on down the Wabash Yalley, it determined the valleys of two rivers which would, in turn, one day, through long periods of time, drain the waters of Lake Erie to the gulf and convey to itself all of the waters of the great Maumee basin. Now, by a process the exact reverse of that which produced the glacial epoch, there was brought about a period of much warmer climate known as the

Champlain

This was characterized by melting of ice and snow, a far more extended and higher condition of the great lakes, by multitudes of icebergs floating southward over these inland seas and dropping their loads of earth, sand, gravel and boulders, by numerous floods which broadened and deepened the river valleys and the pell-mell dumping of gravel and stones over hills and valleys, with the stratification of whatever was deposited by the water.

As proof of the greater extent and elevation of the lakes we have, for example, about Lake Erie five successive margins up to the elevation of 250 feet above its present level. Of these, the first and highest passes. from Adrian, Mich., through Fayette, Ohio, Hamar, West Unity, Pulaski, Bryan and Farmer Center. ' From' the latter place it passes into Defiance County and is divided into two nearly parallel lines west of Farmer Center, and continues its course southwesterly through Hicksville into the southeast corner of De Kalb County, thence on to New Haven and Fort Wayne. Here it forms parallel lines on the opposite sides of that old river which never had a name and no man ever saw; thence it passes eastward through Yan Wert, Delphos and Findley.

A higher and equally continuous ridge lies back of this, passing from Hudson, Mich., on the left bank of the St. Joseph River, through Pioneer, Montpelier and Edgerton to Fort Wayne, and on the right bank of the St. Mary's running southeasterly to Lima and Kenton.

* The formation of the lake b aches and ridges constitute the last scenes in the great geological drama; nor should we look upon them as taking place in rapid succession, but slowly through long periods of time, just as in the near future, geologically speaking, the present margins of Lake Erie will be left far inland by the wearing away of Niagara's rocky bed and the retreating of the Falls.

This ridge, commonly called the St. Mary's Ridge, though it seems to me it would better be called the St. Joseph and St. Mary's JRidge, exerts a very controlling influence over the drainage of the country; for it determines the basin of the two noble rivers, the St. Joseph and the St. Marj^'s.

These properly have tributaries flowing into them from one direction only, in the St. Joseph from the right, and in the St, Mary's from the left, and by their confluence at Fort Wayne, the one flowing in a southwesterly course, the other in a northwesterly course, they form the Mauraee, which flows back to Toledo, Ohio - not the resultant of the two forces, but directly the opposite of it. Thus this system of drainage, of which Steuben County furnishes an honorable part, has two most interesting features, the like of which, except the Tiffin and Auglaize and the second lake beach, so far as we know, is not to be found elsewhere upon the globe. Now, if the reader will refer to the section, he will be able to see our place more clearly. Far beneath us is the original or crust rock. Superimposed upon this we have formed chiefly by the degradation of the Laurentian Mountains, the many and diverse strata that constitute the periods of the Silurian and Devonian ages. At the close of the last-named age, our county arose from beneath the ancient sea and its rock formation was at an end. It will also be observed that simultaneous with these formations there were formed in Scotland and Wales the strata of the Old Red Sandstone, by the study of which, with chisel and hammer, Hugh Miller rendered both them and himself immortal. Thus, with the long blanks before us, it would be idle to look for coal or any of the interesting and useful formations of the Carboniferous, Reptilian and Tertiary ages; but while these phenomena were taking place, our county, with its head above the waves, like a silent and lonely sentinel, gazed upon these wonderful transformations, including the emergence of the continent southward and the gradual yet wonderful formation of the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. After all this was accomplished, the ponderous and mighty glacier, moving southward with grandeur and irresistible force, brought hither our 300 feet of drift-soil, rich in the elements of the old granitic rocks, and consisting of alternate layers of yellow and blue clay, sand and gravel of varying thickness. Thus there is formed for us the best of conditions for obtaining good water. There are three strata of sand with impervious clay on either side, having an average depth of twelve, twenty -five, and forty -five feet. This is known by the many excellent wells all over the country, the greater number and best of which are generally obtained by sinking the tube to the second stratum of sand, having an average depth of twenty-five feet. On the retiring of the glacier, tliere was left upon the surface in the northwestern part of De Kalb County numerous boulders which may be traced northward through Steuben County and the State of Michigan, increasing both in size and number to the place of their origin - the region beyond the lakes. About this time, or just subsequent to it, was formed the St. Joseph, and, for the first time in its history, the waters of this phenomenal river are coursing southward, not yet to Lake Erie, but through the channel of the Wabash on to the Gulf. Following this began the deposition of the alluvial bottom lands on either side of the river and its tributaries, of which are formed our most beautiful and fertile farms. Now, the margins of Lake Erie crossing the southeastern part of the county, through the action of winds and waves, formed those beautiful ridges, previously described. These, "being composed chiefly of sand and fine gravel with sufficient clay to pack well, and yet sufficiently porous to drain well," have from the first afforded the people in their vicinity the best of roads, known here and wherever found as the "Ridge E.oads."

Proceeding from below upward in our investigations, we arrive at last at the thin stratum of vegetable mold, covering the drift, which has been formed by the annual coating of leaves for untold years. This, together with the pulverized and partially decomposed granitic rock, the enormous drift covering, furnishes for the farmer a soil that is^at once fertile and inexhaustible; for if he will but " plow deep, while sluggards sleep, he will have plenty of corn to sell and keep."

Thus, though we are not blessed with mines of the precious metals, nor coal, nor iron, nor copper, yet we have in our soil an inexhaustible mine of true wealth, the foundation of a nation's true greatness, the basis, the hidden spring that sets in motion the wheels of trade and commerce throughout the world. And the farmer, in his high and time-honored calling, holds in his hand the electric key, by means of which he sends the thrill of life-giving pulsations throughout the whole world of human industry and sets in motion its countless spindles and wheels the sweet music of whose hum is heard in every clime.

Zoology

ders of Steuben County it formerly had a respectable number of both species and individuals of the animal' kingdom. It afforded the Indian and the pioneer an abundance of wholesome wild meats, and in great variety, as well as a plentiful supply of useless or mischievous animals. According to the rule the world over, the larger animals disappeared first before the advancing tread of human occupation, and then the next in size, and so on, down to the raccoon, opossum, etc., which still exist, though in diminishing numbers. The buffalo and elk were the largest, and they disappeared on the very first approach of the white man, with his deadly rifle and indefatigable hound.

The common deer, which was abundant in pioneer times, is now very scarce in Indiana, being occasionally seen in some of the wildest portions of the State. The last one known to be in Steuben County was killed as much as twenty years ago.

The panther {Felix concolor) and two species of wild cat {Lynx Canadensis and rufus) used to infest the woods, and render traveling somewhat dangerous to the early settler, but the last seen in the county were about a third of a century ago.

Minks, weasels and skunks, once common, are diminishing. Twenty to thirty years ago there was a brisk trade here in their furs and other peltry which perceptibly thinned out the fur-bearing animals.

Fox and gray squirrels keep up their proportion with the diminishing forest. The gray species is the most numerous, among which a black specimen is occasionally met with. Flying squirrels are still here, but as they are entirely nocturnal in their habits they are seldom seen. There are also ground squirrels in abundance.

Wolves, of the large gray or " timber" species, were plentiful in early times, and more annoying and mischievous than all other animals put together; but they are now, of course, extinct.

" Wild hogs," or domestic liogs escaped and running wild, were abundant in pioneer times. In a few generations these animals became as furious and dangerous as wolves.

Of the 250 species of birds found in Steuben County, either constantly or occasionally in emigration, the group of singers exceeds in number all others, though the really excellent musicians among them number but fifteen or twenty. The most numerously represented division, the wood warblers {Tanagridce) are not fine singers. The best songsters of the forest belong to the thrush and mockingbird family.

Thrush Family. - The superior singing bird of Steuben County is the superior singer of all the world, namely, the wood-thrush. It is really more entertaining than the famous nightingale of Europe, Its melodious, flute-like tones are altogether "too sweet" for description. They are grouped into short tunes of eight, ten or twelve notes each, and there are six or eight tunes sung by this bird, with intervals of five to six or seven seconds between them.

Next to this prima donna of the forest are the olive-backed (or Swainson's) thrush, Wilson's thrush, the northern mocking-bird (or cat-bird), the brown thrush and the robin. These are all migratory birds, spending the summer here but the winter in the South. The robin sometimes remains all winter. The hermit and the olive-backed thrushes are more common in the spring and fall. The robin and the cat-bird frequent the orchards and gardens, nesting about the door-yards, and prefer these places to the woods, probably because of greater security from birds or other animals of prey. The brown thrush is found in the thickets of hazel-brush, briers, etc., which skirt old fences and the edge of woods, and generally nests in brush heaps. The remainder of this family is con. fined to the woodland. Their food consists of beetles, grasshoppers, snails, spiders, caterpillars, etc, together with small fruits and berries.

Bluebird Family. - The bluebird is the only representative of this family in the county. It is common from spring to fall, nesting in bird-houses, fence-posts, decayed trees, and feeds on winged insects, worms, grasshoppers, spiders and a scant proportion of berries.

and fall. The first-mentioned is frequently found in winter, and the gnat-catcher is abundant during the summer. These are confined to the woods. The kinglets nest in the lake region, but the gnat-catcher nests here, building a wonderful structure high up on the oaks. It is somewhat purse-shaped, and often at the extremity of a bough, so as to sway with the wind, secure from enemies. It is placed in a concealed situation, and artistically, as well as substantially, finislied.

Chickadee. - The titmouse, or black-capped chickadee, the only member of this family here, feeds upon insects, seeds, berries, crumbs, meat, etc., and generally nests in the woods, where it makes its home most of the year, but during the winter it is seen near the house, feeding upon sweepings from the table.

NatkatGlies. - The white-bellied and the red-bellied nuthatch are common, especially the former. These birds are found in woodlands and orchards. Their nests are built in holes in trees. Food - ants, eggs of insects and seeds.

Wren Family. - The Carolina wren is a very rare straggler from the South. The house wren is common locally. The winter wren is a common spring and fall visitor, often remaining during the open winters. The long-billed marsh wren is a common summer resident of the marshes, building a large globular nest of coarse sand-grass, suspended to reeds or flag stems. The short-billed marsh-wren is a common summer resident, generally found on low meadow lands. The wrens feed on insects only.

Larh Family. - The horned lark is a winter resident, but sometimes breeds here. It frequents barren and gravelly fields, feeding on seeds and insects. When the ground is covered with snow they may be seen feeding upon the droppings of stock about the farm.

The Titlark is an abundant migrant in late fall and early spring, frequenting the same localities and subsisting on the same food as the preceding. There are sometimes large flocks of this species of bird.

Warblers. - These are numerous. The black and white creeper is a common summer resident, nesting on the ground, generally beside a fallen log. The blue yellow-backed warbler, a rare migratory bird, is sometimes found in the tree-tops of the wild forest. The blue-winged yellow warbler is rare. The blue golden-winged warbler is common in spring and fall. The Nashville and Tennessee warblers are very common. The orange-crowned warbler is rare. The yellow, the black-throated green, the black-throated blue, the blue, the yellow-rumped, the blackburnian, the black-poll, the yellow red-poll, and the chestnut-sided warblers are all common - some of them abundant; all migrants. The bay-breasted, the Cape May, the prairie, the yellow-throated and Kirtland's warblers are rare. The golden-crowned thrush {Soiurus atiricipillus) is a common summer resident, frequenting low open woods. The water thrush (xS'. Naevius) is rare, bat breeds here. The large-billed water thrush is common in swampy timber lands. The Connecticut warbler is rare, but may become common. It is a fine songster. The Mar^'land yellow-throat is found occasionally. The black-capped fly-catching warbler is common during the spring and autumn. Canada fly-catching warbler, common. Red start, very common.

Swallow Family. - The barn, cliff or eave, white-bellied, and the bank or sand swallows are common. The purple martin, formerly common, is being driven out by the English sparrow. The swallows feed exclusively upon winged insects.

Wax-wings. - The Carolina wax-wing or cherry bird is a common resident, breeding in August and September, and feeding on the cultivated fruits.

Vireos. - There are a half-dozen species of these in this section of the country, inhabiting woodlands, some of them common, some of them rare.

Shrikes or Butcher Birds. - The great Northern shrike is rare; the logger-head shrike, two varieties, is common. These form a small but interesting family ot bold and spirited birds, quarrelsome among themselves. They form a kind of connecting link between insect-eating birds and birds of prey. Their food consists of large insects, mice and small birds and snakes. They are noted for impaling their prey on thorns or sharp twigs and leaving it there - for what purpose is not yet known.

Finch and Sparrow Family. - Numerous; pine grosbeak,an occasional winter visitor; purple finch, a common migrant; whitewinged and red cross-bills, rare winter visitors; red-poll linnet, an irregular winter visitor; pine linnet, a rare winter visitor from the North; goldfinch, or yellow bird, common and well-known; has the appearance of a canary; snow-bunting, a common but irregular winter visitor; Lapland long-spur, a common winter visitor; Savannah sparrow, a common migrant; bay-winged bunting, very common from spring to fall; yellow-winged, Henslow's and Lincoln's sparrows, are summer residents; swamp and song sparrows, common, the latter abundant all the warm season; snow-bird, common in winter; mountain sparrow, common in winter; chipping and field sparrows, common in summer; white-throated and white-crowned sparrows, common migrants; English sparrow, abundant in the towns, driving out our native song-birds; fox sparrow, a very common spring and fall visitor; black-throated bunting, growing common; rose-breasted grosbeak, a common summer resident; breeds along the water-courses in low trees and shrubs; indigo bird, abundant in summer, frequenting low woodlands overrun with briers; towhee bunting orchewink, abundant.

Birds of this family feed entirely upon seeds except during the breeding season. Those which are residents all the year and those which are summer residents only subsist during the breeding season and feed their young almost exclusively upon insects. At other times their food consists of the seeds of grass and weeds.

The rose-breasted grosbeak is the only bird known to feed on the potato bug, and the white-crowned sparrow feeds on the grape-vine flea-beetle. The common yellow bird, or goldfinch, prefers the seeds of the thistle and lettuce. The fox sparrow and chewink scratch the ground for hibernating insects and snails. The crossbills feed on the seeds in pine cones, and the English sparrow feeds on the seeds contained in the droppings of animals.

BlacJcbird Family. - Bobolink, common and well-known; a fine and cheerful songster; cow-bird, or cow blackbird, a summer visitor, frequenting old pasture land and the edge of woods; like the European cuckoo, it builds no nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of smaller birds, such as warblers, vireos and sparrows. Red-winged black-bird, abundant in summer; meadow-lark, well known; orchard and Baltimore orioles are very common; rusty blackbird, or grackle, is common for a week or two in spring; crow blackbird, common and well known.

With the exception of one or two species, this family is decidedly gregarious. Insects and grains constitute their food. The cowbird destroys the eggs and young of other birds. The orioles feed largely on hairy caterpillars and also on some of the small fruits, green peas, etc.

Histoky Of Steuben Cotjntt

Orow Family. - The raven was common, but is now rare. The common crow, well-known, emigrates southward during the coldest weather. Blue jay is the gayest plumaged and harshest-voiced bird of the American forests. Birds of this family are omnivorous.

Fly-catcher Family. - The king-bird is abundant in summer, frequenting orchards and the edge of the woods; great crested flycatcher, abundant in the forest; uses snake-skins as a part of its nest material; pewee, or Phcebe bird, common; wood pewee, a common bird of the orchard and woodland; least fly-catcher, common in summer; yellow-bellied flj'-catcher, a common migrant, but rare summer resident. The king-bird and pewee frequent open places; the others of this family dwell in the forest. They all subsist upon winged insects.

The Chimney Swallow is the only member of the family CypselidcB that is found in this latitude. It is sometimes seeu in large flocks, roosting in unused chimneys, barns and hollow trees.

Woodpecker Family. - There are half a dozen species of woodpecker found in this locality, all common, viz. : The hairy, downy, yellow-bellied, red-bellied, red-headed and golden-winged. Omnivorous.

Owl Family. - The great horned, the mottled, the screech, the long-eared and the short-eared are abundant. The barn owl is a rare straggler from the South. Possibly one or two other species may occasionally be found here.

Hawk Family. - The marsh hawk, the sharp shinned. Cooper's, the sparrow, the red-tailed, the red-shouldered, the broad-winged, the rough-legged or black, and the fish hawks are all common. The white-tailed kite, the goshawk, the pigeon hawk, Swainson's hawk and the bald eagle are more rare.

Plover Family. - The golden plover, the killdeer and the semipalmated are common about unfrequented ponds. The black-bellied plover is rare, if ever seen at all.

Sandpiper Family. - The most common species of this family are the semi-palmated, least, pectoral, red-breasted, Willst, solitary, spotted and upland sandpipers, the snipe and the woodcock. Less common are the buff-breasted and red-backed sandpipers, longbilled curlew and perhaps occasionally two or three other unimportant species.

Heron Family. - The green and night herons, the bittern and the least bittern are common residents. The great blue heron is a common migrant and the great white heron a rare summer visitor.

Bail Family. - The Virginia and Carolina rails and the coot are often seen in the vicinity of the streams and in the margin of ponds; the clapper, king, yellow and black rails, very rarely; the Morida gallinule, occasional.

Duck Family. - The common species are the mallard, black, big black-head, little black-head, ring-necked, red-head (or pochard), golden-eye, butter ball, ruddy and fish (gosander) ducks, the brant and Canada geese, widgeon, golden-winged and blue-winged teal, and the hooded merganser. Rarely are seen the pintail, gadwall shoveler, wood duck, canvas-back duck, long-tailed duck and red breasted merganser. All the duck family are migratory.

and sun-fish. The local names of these fish are so various that we scarcely know how to refer to them; but we may venture to name the black bass, the green or Osage bass, the big black sun-fish or rock bass, goggle-eye and the two common sun-fish, all of which have materially diminished within the last five years.

Perch Family. - There are no perch, or "jack salmon," in the county. They were once common throughout the State, but now are only to be found occasionally in some of the most favored places. They are among the finest fishes, and ought to be cultivated. The salmon sometimes attains a weight of forty pounds.

Pike Family. - The larger pike, sometimes called "grass pike," used to be met with, especially in draining ofi" the marshes. The pickerel was also native here, but none are to be found at the present day. Kor have gar pike ("gars") existed here since the advent of mill-dams.

Sucker Family. - To this family belong the buffalo (rare), redhorse (occasional) and the white sucker (also occasional). Black suckers and mullets still thrive in some parts of Indiana, but not here. /

Catfish Family. - Fish of this family are still common, but are small, weighing only a pound or two. We can scarcely name the species in English. Perhaps we may say the channel, or mud catfish, the blue and the yellow, the bull-head and one or two other small species are found here. The yellow are the most common.

Minor Sorts. - Besides the above, there are several varieties of chubs, silver-sides, and large numbers of other species denominated minnows, which are found in the smallest spring branches, as well as the larger streams.

Of the twenty-three species of Snakes that have existed in this State, and probably in this county, several of the largest have been about exterminated. Only two of them are venomous, namely, the copperhead and the massasanga. Yery few of these are to be found at the pfesent day. The smaller species are useful animals, like toads, in destroying mice, moles and other vermin, and are preserved by intelligent farmers on this account.

Of Lizards there are very few in this section. Those creatures which resemble them are innocent salamanders, and are really as useful as toads in the destruction of flies and other insects. There are eighteen species of these animals in Indiana. The largest attains a length of eight inches, and is black, with large, irregular yellow spots. Another large species is entirely yellow; another of a brilliant vermilion haunts cold springs. The second in size is the "mud alligator," or "water dog," a frequent annoyance to fishermen. Still another species has external gills, for respiration in water, thus resembling pollywogs.

Of Frogs there are five species, and of toads five. Four are tree toads. One species of frog is subterranean, excavating its burrows backward with its hind feet, which are shovel formed. It comes to the surface early to breed, after thunder showers in April, in the evening, when it is easily recognized by its loud, discordant notes.