Note 319 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN. (continued 2)

Probably some species of web-footed bird, but exactly what is not clear. Mr. Merriam, in his Review of the Birds of Connecticut (pp. 104-5), identifies Morton’s Simpe as the American Woodcock (Philohela minor), but in this he is doubtless in error. In the first place, it is not likely that a keen sportsman like Morton would have shot woodcock merely out of curiosity, and “more did not regard them;” in the second place, Josselyn, in enumerating the different sorts of ducks, speaks of “Widgeons, Simps, Teal, Blew wing’d and green wing’d.” (Two Voyages, p. 101.) But for the reference in the next paragraph in the text, and the disparaging manner in which the bird in question is alluded to, it would be inferred that Simpes was a natural misprint for Snipes. That, however, is clearly not the case.