1910 J A- H- Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. 431 



time I have seene flockes of pidgeons, and have eaten of them : They 

 doe fly from tree to tree as other birds doe, which our pidgeons will 

 not doe in England : They are of all colours as ours are, but their 

 wings and tayles are far longer, and therefore it is likely they fly 

 swifter to escape the terrible hawkes in this country." 



Not long after John Josselyn gave us a better account:^ "The 

 Pidgeon, of which there are millions of millions, I have seen a 

 flight of Pidgeons in the spring and at Michaelmas when they 

 return back to the Southward for four or five miles, that to my 

 thinking had neither beginning nor ending, length or breadth, 

 and so thick that I could see no Sun, they join Nest to Nest, and 

 Tree to Tree by their Nests many miles together in Pine-Trees. 

 But of late they are much diminished, the English taking them 

 with Nets. I have bought at Boston a dozen of Pidgeons ready 

 puU'd and garbidgd for three pence." 



In 1649 in "A Perfect Description of Virginia, etc. London," 

 (p. 17) "Pidgeons" occurs in the list of birds. Of the same region, 

 "A True Relation of Virginia and Maryland, etc. By Nathaniel 

 Shrigley, London, 1669" (p. 4) says that "Fowle naturally to 

 the Land are Eagles .... Turkies, .... Pidgions, .... and many 

 sorts more." Just preceding LaHontan, Thomas Budd in 1685 

 in his " Good Order Established in Pennsilvania and New Jersey 

 in America" (New York ed., 1760, p. 36) remarks that "The 

 Woods are furnished with a store of Wild Fowl as Turkeys, .... 

 Pidgeons, etc." 



The celebrated LaHontan, in a letter dated at Boucherville, 

 May 28, 1687, writes of the pigeons as follows:' "In a word, 

 we eat nothing but Water-fowl for fifteen Days; after which 

 we resolv'd to declare War against the Turtle-Doves, which are 

 so numerous in Canada, that the Bishop has been forced to ex- 

 communicate 'em oftner than once, upon the account of the 

 Damage they do to the Product of the Earth. With that view, 

 we imbarqued and made towards a Meadow, in the Neighborhood 

 of which, the Trees were cover'd with that sort of Fowl more than 

 with Leaves: For just then 'twas the season in which they retire 

 from the North Countries, and repair to the Southern Climates; 



1 Josselyn, John. An Account of Two Voyages to New England Made during 

 the Years 163.3, 1663. Boston, 1865, p. 79. 



2 LaHontan, New Voyages to North America, Vol. I, pp. 61, 62. London, 1703. 



