^"^'iQ!? ^"] A- H. Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. 429 



" At the feast of the Dead, which takes place about every twelve 

 years, the souls quit the cemeteries, and in the opinion of some 

 are changed into Turtle doves (possibly our mourning doves), 

 which they pursue later in the woods, with bow and arrow, to 

 broil and eat." According to Lescarbot, 1612 (Acadia), a dying 

 Indian chief named Martin,' "when the Patriarch and a man 

 named de Montfort had caught him, and made him eat some wild 

 pigeon, which he liked very much, he asked them as they were speak- 

 ing to him about Heaven, if there would be any wild pigeon there." 

 In other instances, pigeons served as gifts to sick, as ^ "Mon- 

 sieur de Repentiguy, his Godfather, visited him often in his sick- 

 ness, and sent him sometimes a few eggs, sometimes some Pigeons, 



" Or, as frequently, the fathers themselves received them 



from the officials, as,^ "There were sent us by Monsieur the Gov- 

 ernor, 8 young pigeons; ..." And again, in their Journal for 



1646 they record that^ "On the 3rd or fourth of January, Monsieur 



the Governor sent 6 pigeons." 



The early fathers noticed their seasonal appearance. Le Jeune, 

 1637, likened the Savages to the pigeons.^ "Our Savages are 

 always savage, they resemble the migratory birds of their own 

 country. In one season turtle doves are sometimes found in 

 such abundance that the end of their army cannot be seen when 

 they are flying in a body; at other times in the same season they 

 appear only in small flocks." One father (Relations of 1656-57) in 

 particular "considered this migration one of the three remarkable 

 facts of natural history in America.' " The second [fact] is, that, in 

 the Spring, so great numbers of Pigeons collect around these salt- 

 springs, that sometimes as many as seven hundred are caught in 

 the course of one morning." The same observation held for 

 Montezuma (Cayuga Lake), 1671-72^: "Four leagues from here 

 (Cayuga missioji) I saw by the side of a river, within a very limited 

 space, eight or ten extremely fine salt-springs. Many snares are 



1 Jesuit Relations, Vol. TI, 1-55. 



2 Ibid., Vol. XII. p. 65. Le Jeune, 1636 (Quebec). 



3 Ibid.', Vol. XXX, p. 1.53. (1647.) 



4 Ibid., Vol. XXVIII, p. 145. 

 i Ibid., Vol. XI. p. 81. 



6 Ibid., Vol. XLIII, p. 153. (Onondaga Lake.) 

 - Ibid., Vol. LVI, p. 49. 



