10 GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



ingly frequented with all sorts of fowls," some of which bred 

 low on the banks, and others on low trees about the lake 

 in great abundance, the young of which the explorers took 

 and ate.^ 



In the various historical collections there may be found 

 fragmentary accounts of the birds of Massachusetts, most of 

 which will be referred to in their proper places under the 

 heads of the various species. Josselyn (1672) particularly 

 mentions large numbers of Wild Turkeys.- 



Higginson (1630) says: " Fowles of the Aire are plenti- 

 full here. . . . Here are likewise aboundance of Turkies often 

 killed in the Woods. ... In Winter time this Countrey doth 

 abound with wild Geese, wild Duckes, and other Sea Fowle, 

 that a great part of the winter the Planters haue eaten noth- 

 ing but roastmeat of diners Fowles which they haue killed."^ 



Morton (1632), who was a "fowler," also speaks of the 

 numerous quantities of wild-fowl, shore birds, Turkeys, 

 Cranes, Grouse, Partridges and Quail in New England. He 

 asserts that he often had a thousand Geese before the muzzle 

 of his gun, and that the feathers of the Geese that he killed in 

 a short time paid for all the powder and shot that he would 

 use in a year.^ 



Wood (1629-34) also writes of the large numbers of Tur- 

 keys, Cranes and other large birds, as well as Pigeons, shore 

 birds and wild-fowl.-^ 



These writers refer mainly to the region about Boston harbor 

 and Massachusetts Bay, where the first settlements were made. 



Lewis says of Lynn that at the time of the first settlement 

 (1630) the ponds and streams were filled with fish, and that 

 the harbor was covered with sea-fowl, which laid their eggs on 

 the rocks and sands of the shores; he says that fifty Ducks 

 were sometimes killed at one shot." He states, also, that gulls 

 in abundance bred on Egg Rock, which lies off Nahant. 



1 Coll. Ma.ss. Hi.st. Soc, Vol. VIII, 3d ser., p. 89. 



2 Josselyn, John: New England's Rarities, Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc, Vol. Ill, 3d ser., p. 277. 



' Higginson, Francis L.: New England's Plantations, Tracts by Peter Force, 1836, Vol. I, Tract 

 No. 12, pp. 10, 11. 



■• Morton, Thomas: New English Canaan, Tracts by Peter Force, 1S38, Vol. II, Tract No. 5, 

 pp. 46, 47. 



5 Wood, Wm.: New England's Prospect, Pub. Prince Soc, 1865, pp. 32, 33. 



6 Lewis, Alonzo, and Newhall, James R.: History of Lynn, 1865, pp. 46, 57, 80. 



