INTRODUCTION. 



There is no clew, however, to the species of birds found, 

 except that they were " wild fowles " which in general im- 

 plies that they were water-fowl. Undoubtedly many of the 

 birds seen breeding in these lower latitudes were such as 

 are known as sea-fowl or water birds, probably including 

 Pelicans and Cormorants. Capt. John Smith mentions the 

 Pelican as one of the birds on which he and his adventurers 

 daily feasted in the " Virgines Isles." ^ He also states that 

 on the isle called Monica they took from the bushes with 

 their hands nearly two hogsheads full of birds in two or 

 three hours. 



When the first explorers reached Florida they found it 

 swarming with wild-fowl, Turkeys and birds of many kinds. 

 In A Notice of Commodities found in Florida, Monsieur Rene 

 de Laudonniere early in the seventeenth century writes that 

 there is " an infinite sort of all wild fowl."- 



The English gave the name of Virginia to all the country 

 between Florida and Nova Francia (Canada); this included 

 New England. During the period between 1600 and 1630 

 many writers speak of the abundance of game birds and wild- 

 fowl in this region or parts of it. 



Capt. Philip Amidas, the first Englishman to set foot in 

 North America, and Capt. Arthur Barlowe landed in 1584 

 upon an island in Pamlico Sound, " Virginia," named by the 

 Indians " Wokokon." Here, their account states, they found 

 " Deere, Conies, Hares and Fowle, even in the middest of Sum- 

 mer in incredible abundance."^ 



Lawson, in his travels in Carolina (1700), speaks of large 

 savannas on the Santee River as " plentifully stored " with 

 Geese and other fowl. In the adjacent woods were great flocks 

 of Turkeys. 4 At sunrise flocks of Turkeys, containing several 

 hundreds in a flock, were seen. Again he says: "We saw 

 plenty of Turkeys, but perched on such lofty oaks that our 

 guns would not kill them."^ 



Sir Samuel Argal (1624) stated that in Virginia there were 



1 Smith, Capt. John, Works of: The English Scholars Library, No. 16, 1884, p. 386. 



2 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc, Vol. VIII, 3d ser., p. 117. 



3 Jameson, J. Franklin: Early English and French Voyages, Am. Hist. A.sso., 1906, p. 229. 

 * Lawson, John: History of Carolina, 1860, pp. 34, 50. 



5 Ibid., p. 79. 



