22 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS 



Mr. Samuel C. Clarke states that Pinnated Grouse were 

 once so plentiful in Illinois that thirty to forty to a gun were 

 killed in a day; and that one man drove from Fox River to 

 Chicago, forty miles, with one dog, and killed about one 

 hundred Grouse on the way. At that time they sold for only 

 one dollar a dozen in the Chicago market.^ 



The Bob-white or "Quail" was also found in countless 

 numbers in favorable localities all along the Atlantic coast. 

 Lewis says that a gentleman living on Chesapeake Bay, not 

 far from Havre de Grace, asserted that his next neighbor 

 caught in nets in one season on his own estate no less than 

 nine hundred of these birds. He kept them in coops, and 

 fed them to his negroes.' Lewis also avers that a gentleman 

 living near Lynchburg, Va., killed over one hundred of these 

 birds in a day's shooting during the season of 1851-52.^ 



Sir Thomas Button states that when his crew wintered 

 in Port Nelson River, in 161'2, they killed eighteen hundred 

 dozen Grouse. 



Hearne says that he has seen thousands of Ptarmigans in 

 flight, and that the whole surface of the snow seemed to be in 

 motion, where they fed on the tops of the short willows.^ 



Much more evidence might be given regarding the great 

 numbers of game birds in America in early days ; but sufficient 

 proof has been cited of the abundance of edible fowl in this 

 country at the time of its discovery and during its settlement. 

 Further evidence regarding early conditions in Massachusetts 

 will be given under the histories of the species. What have 

 we done with this bounteous supply, — this great host of 

 edible birds .^ 



The Decrease of Edible Birds. 



Josselyn, writing within forty years after the first settle- 

 ment in New England, stated that the Wild Pigeon had 

 decreased greatly, "the English taking them with nets;" and 

 he said that the English and Indians had " destroyed the 

 breed " of Wild Turkeys, so that it was then very rare to meet 



1 Leffingwell, W. B.: Shooting on Upland, Marsh and Stream, 1890,. p. 262. 



- Lewis, E. J.: The American Sportsman, 1855, p. 85. 



3 Ibid., p. 103. 



* Hearno, Samuel: A Journey from Hudson Bay to the Nortliern Ocean, 1795, p. 411. 



