GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



a few of the States of the middle west. In the far west its 

 place is taken by the Little Brown Crane. 



The first mention of Cranes in Massachusetts territory is 

 found in the accounts of Gosnold's voyage, written by Archer 

 and Brereton. Both mention Cranes and Herons among 

 the birds found with young, May 21, IGO^, on an island 

 that they called Martha's Vineyard, but which appears to 

 have been No Man's Land, lying south of that island.^ Cape 

 Cod and the marshes along the Atlantic coast of Massachu- 

 setts also undoubtedly were frequented by Cranes, most of 

 which may have been of this species. Therefore Wood, who 

 lived at Saugus, and Morton, who lived at Quincy, had good 

 opportunities to see and shoot these birds. 



There is presumptive evidence that Cranes bred in early 

 days as far eastward as the Maine coast. In Hosier's narra- 

 tive (1605) it is written that Captain Waymouth visited St. 

 George's Islands in May, and there found a place where fire 

 had been made; and about the place were very great egg 

 shells, larger than goose eggs, and other remnants of a feast. 

 These great eggs were probably Cranes' eggs, for he says 

 again: "Here we espied cranes stalking on the shore of a 

 little island adjoining, where we after saw they used to 

 breed." - 



In the account of Captain Levett's voyage in 1623, it is 

 stated that on the shores of the Saco River they " had plenty 

 of crane, goose, ducks and mallard, with other fowl, both 

 boiled and roasted." ^ 



This evidence, like all narratives of the early voyagers, is 

 unsatisfactory and indefinite in regard to species. Neverthe- 

 less, it is all that we have. 



Undoubtedly the Sandhill Crane was extirpated from New 

 England long before it was driven out elsewhere, for it was 

 destroyed or driven away from the Atlantic coast very early 

 in the history of settlement. 



The learned Professor Kalm, when at Swedesboro, N. J., 

 writes that a Swede more than ninety years old assured him 



1 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc, Vol. VIII, 3d ser., pp. 76, 87. 



2 Ibid., p. 133. 



3 Coll. Me. Hist. Soc, 1847, Vol. II, p. 82. 



