352 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



to the ground ; the axe-men cut down the trees most loaded 

 with nests, and the crash of falling timber mingles with the 

 thundering roar of the wings of ten thousand pigeons. One 

 large tree, as it descends, often brings down several others, and 

 two hundred squabs have been gathered by means of a single 

 fall. The multitudes of birds are continually breaking down 

 large branches with their weight, so that it is dangerous to 

 walk below. 



There is some disagreement in the accounts given of their 

 breeding. Wilson maintained that there was but a single young 

 one in a nest ; while Audubon asserts that there are two. The 

 prodigious numbers of the birds would seem to confirm the 

 statement of the latter. The young come to maturity in six 

 months. Every year they, at least, double their numbers. 



One office of the pigeon seems to be to protect the oak for-, 

 ests. It is stated, on excellent authority, that for some years 

 after they have occupied a particular spot as their breeding 

 place, the oaks, for many miles around, are remarkably free 

 from the green caterpillars, by which they are apt to be in- 

 fested. 



GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



The Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, was formerly com- 

 mon in all parts of the United States, but has gradually disap- 

 peared before the encroachments of civilization, and is rare, 

 except in the unsettled regions of the west. It is still found 

 occasionally in our western mountains, and also on the Holyoke 

 range, where some are taken almost every year. Its migra- 

 tions, like those of the pigeon, are irregular, having nothing to 

 do with seasons, and are governed wholly by the supply of 

 food. This fine bird is so uncommon in Massachusetts that it 

 does not seem necessary to describe it at large ; in a few years 

 it will doubtless leave us forever. 



