o56 Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. [ j my 



nanaukit; Pigeon Countrie" he writes: "In that place these fowle 

 breed abundantly, and by reason of their delicate food, especially 

 in Strawberrie time, when they pick up whole large Fields of the 

 old grounds of the Natives, they are a delicate fowle, and because 

 of their abundance, and the facility of killing them, they are and 

 may be plentifully fed on." 



In the early history of the Plymouth Colony, the pigeons became 

 at times a menace, as Winthrop shows. Of the years 1643 and 

 1648 he particularly speaks. 1 "The immediate causes of this 

 scarcity [of corn] were the cold and wet summer, especially in the 

 time of the first harvest [in 1643]; also, the pigeons came in such 

 flocks (above 10,000 in one flock), that beat down, and eat up a 

 very great quantity of all sorts of English grain:. ..." 



"This month [August, 1648], when our first harvest was near 

 had in, the pigeons came again all over the country, but did no 

 harm, (harvest being just in) but proved a great blessing, it being 

 incredible what multitudes of them were killed daily. It was 

 ordinary for one man to kill eight or ten dozen in half a day, yea 

 five or six dozen at one shoot, and some seven or eight. Thus the 

 Lord showed us, that he could make the same creature, which 

 formerly had been a great chastisement, now to become a great 

 blessing." 



Barber, much later (1841), practically repeats the same as fol- 

 lows: 2 "The very wet weather of 1642 produced a dearth of corn 

 in Boston in the spring of 1643, myriads of pigeons appeared the 

 same season and did much injury. It is an old observation in 

 America, that pigeons are uncommonly numerous in the spring 

 of sickly years." 



In 1648 we have our first metrical observation where the author 

 begins of summer as follows : 3 



" Bespread with Roses Sommer 'gins take place with hasty speed, 

 Whose parching heate Strawberries coole doth moderation breed. 

 Ayre darkening sholes of pigeons picke their berries sweet and good." 



« Winthrop, John. The History of New England from 1630 to 1649. Edited 

 by James Savage. 2 vols., Boston, 1825, 1826. Vol. II, pp. 94, 331, 332. 



2 Barber, J. W. The History and Antiquities of New England, New York and 

 New Jersey, etc. Worcester, 1841, p. 474. 



3 Good News from New-England: etc. London, 164S. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., 

 Fourth Series, Vol. I, 1852, p. 202. 



