Oknithological Historical Sketch 



acorn upon the ground, which would doubtless be a great prejudice to the planters 

 that would seat there, because their swine would be thereby deprived of the mast. 

 When I saw such flocks of the pigeons I now speak of, none of our company had 

 any sort of a shot than that which is cast in moulds, and was so very large that 

 we could not put above ten or a dozen of them into our largest pieces. Wherefore 

 we made but an indifferent hand of shooting them ; although we commonly killed 

 a pigeon for every shot. They were very fat and as good pigeons as ever I eat." 



While it can hardly be claimed that the writings of John Lawson are of any 

 great ornithological value, they are at least interesting from an historical stand- 

 point, and most assuredly should be included in any bibliographical sketch of North 

 Carolina ornithology. 



The work of Col. William Byrd of Westover, Virginia, next may claim atten- 

 tion. It was he who conducted the survey of the boundary line between Virginia 

 and North Carolina. The narrative of his experiences, which we are told was 

 written largely for his own amusement and that of his friends, contains, besides 

 an account of the survey, many side remarks on the inhabitants of the territory 

 which he traversed. His references to natural history are not infrequent, but are 

 for the main part of little moment. The following contribution is on the habits 

 of a bird now extinct in North Carolina: "Very few in this country have the 

 industry to plant orchards, which in a dearth of rum might supply them with much 

 better liquor. The truth is there is one inconvenience that easily discourages lazy 

 people from making this improvement. Very often in autumn when the apples 

 begin to ripen they are visited with numerous flights of paroquets, that bite all the 

 fruit to pieces in a moment for the sake of the kernels. The havoc they make is 

 sometimes so great that whole orchards are laid waste in spite of all the noises 

 that can be made or mawkins that can be dressed up to frighten them away. These 

 ravenous birds visit North Carolina only during the warm season, and so soon as 

 the cold begins to come on, retire back towards the sun. They rarely venture so 

 far north as Virginia, except in a very hot summer, when they visit the most 

 southern parts of it. They are very beautiful, but, like some other pretty creatures, 

 are apt to be loud and mischievous." He does not attempt to catalogue the birds of 

 the country. 



The title of Mark Catesby's work. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida 

 and the Bahama Islands, published in 1731, would lead one to anticipate finding 

 within its covers some reference to North Carolina birds. A careful reading of 

 its pages, however, reveals the fact that the author in all probability was never 

 within what is now the territory of North Carolina. He went up the Savannah 

 River almost to the mountains, and hunted buffalo with the Indians ; later he sailed 

 for Virginia, and, ascending the James River, traveled thence westward to a point 

 almost north of that reached on his trip from Savannah. There seems to be no 

 evidence that he ever saw the intervening territory. This is to be regretted, as 

 Catesby was not only an artist of merit, but for the times must have been a very 

 careful and painstaking naturalist. 



