Schoolcraft's Notes on Michigan Birds (1834)

Henry R. Schoolcraft—an  American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist—became an Indian Agent in 1822 and served at Sault Ste. Marie and Mackinac Island, Michigan Territory, from 1822 to the early 1830s. In 1834, the Historical Society of Michigan published “extracts relative to the natural history of Michigan . . . taken from a lecture delivered before the Detroit Lyceum, by  Schoolcraft.”

Image Source: Schoolcraft County Historical Society

While these “extracts” provide relatively little concrete information about birds, they seem worth repeating here in full:

Pages 186-187: 

Our ornithology is of a character rich and varied, as well in those species inhabiting the land, as in those peculiar to the water. But it is a field in which but little has been done, wither in the way of verifying known species, or bringing to light unknown. Being, in their nature, migratory, as well as gregarious, most of the species leave the country, particularly the northern portions of it, during the winter season. Of those which remain north of the latitude of 45 deg. The raven, the two varieties of partridge, and some of the smaller species of pica, or woodpeckers, are the most prominent. The forests in those high latitudes are extremely solitary, and they would be still more so, were they not a temporary resort of some of the feathered tribes, from the still more northern latitudes of Canada, Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic circle. The white partridge, (tetrao albus) the great white owl (strix nyctea) and the Canada jay, are thus brought within our limits. And each of these species has been killed on the Straits of St. Mary.

 Pages 188-189:

 . . . those species of birds who are designed to abide in the country, are profusely covered with feathers and feathery fibre, even down to, and around their claws. Yet I have known the Canada jay, which is a bird, having the property of rolling itself up, as it were, it its feather and presenting to the eye a globular mass, to freeze to death, at night, within my office, although this bird is capable of sustaining itself in the open atmosphere. 

It will be inferred that those species of birds who come with the spring and retire with the autumn, constitute by far the greater proportion. Of the aquatic species, there are some kinds of duck, who appear, generally, to remain. They procure a subsistence by hovering about the falls and rapids, which are numerous at that altitude. And they are frequently seen at the falls to ride down the waves, and on flying out, at the bottom, to repeat the operation. On dissecting these ducks, small insects have been found, and these, with some scanty vegetable substances, appear to constitute their food. There are others, who come at an early of the spring, and retire very late in the fall, or in the commencement of the winter, who appear to subsist upon fish. 

The pelican, although a common summer bird on the upper Mississippi, extending quite to its sources, is not an inhabitant, and we think not a visitant, of the Great Lakes, the shores of which probably, are unfavorable to the peculiar mode of its capturing the small fish which serve as its food. The cormorant, or what the natives, with particular reference to its mandible and its color, denominate the crow-duck, (Kah-gah-gee-sheeb) is probably deterred by similar circumstances, from extending its migrations in this direction. 

The species of vulture which is known under the name of turkey-buzzard, does not inhabit so far north. The gallipavo meleagris, or wild turkey, pursues its food in the vast ranges of the new counties of the peninsula, and is still found in the vicinity of this city. It does not extend its summer migration to the extremity of the peninsula, and has never been seen north of it. During the winter of 1824, a small bird, of peculiar plumage, appeared in the forests at the foot of Lake Superior. It was recognized by the natives, as one seldom or never seen so far south and east, but known to inhabit more northerly latitudes. They denominated it paush-kan-di-mo, a term in its general signification, coinciding very nearly with the Latin generic fringilla. Having obtained a specimen, we submitted it for examination at New York and Philadelphia, where it was determined to be a new, or undescribed species of the grosbeck, and it was transferred to this family, under the name of F. Vespertina, or evening grosbeck, in allusion to the observed time of its singing.

From the above, we can confidently identify 10 species seen by Schoolcraft during his tenure at Saulte Ste. Marie and Mackinac Island:

Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) [=insect-eating “ducks”]

merganser sp. (Mergus sp.) [=fish-eating “ducks”]

Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) [=partridge]

Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) [=“great white owl”]

Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) [=“smaller species of pica”]

Hairy Woodpecker (P. villosus) [=“smaller species of pica”]

Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) [=”Canada jay]

Common Raven (Corvus corax) [=raven]

Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) [=evening grosbeck]

Three other species now known to occur regularly in Michigan were clearly not encountered by Schoolcraft in Michigan Territory:

Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) [=”cormorant”]

American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrochynchos) [=”pelican”]

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) [=”turkey-buzzard”]

That leaves one other species that Schoolcraft claimed to have seen at Sault Ste. Marie, but whose occurrence in Michigan has never been confirmed due to lack of specimens or other physical evidence:

Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) [=”white partridge, tetrao albus”]

Literature Citation:

SCHOOLCRAFT, Henry R. 1834. Natural History. Pp. 177-191 in Historical and scientific sketches of Michigan: comprising a series of discources delivered before the Historical Society of Michigan, and other interesting papers relatives to the Territory.  Stephen Wells and George L. Whitney, Detroit, Michigan. 215 pp.