° 1911 J Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. oo9 



Deerfield river. Since the clearing of the woods, the number of 

 pigeons is diminished." 



Shortly afterwards (1794) Williams gives a very good statement 

 of this species. He begins thus: 1 



"Wild Pigeon, Columba migratoria Time of appearance, March 20. 

 Departure, Oct. 10. 



"In the Wild Pigeon, the multiplying power of nature acts with 

 great force and vigour. The male and female always pair: They 

 sit alternately upon the eggs, and generally hatch but two at a time; 

 but this is repeated several times in a season. The accounts 

 which are given of the number of pigeons in the uncultivated parts 

 of the country, will appear almost incredible to those who have 

 never seen their nests. The surveyor, Richard Hazen. .... [then 

 follows Hazen's account]. The remarks of the first settlers of 

 Vermont, fully confirm this account [Hazen's]. The following 

 relation was given me, by one of the earliest settlers at Clarendon: 

 'The number of pigeons was immense. Twenty five nests were 

 frequently to be found on one beech tree. The earth was covered 

 with these trees, and with hemlocks, thus loaded with the nests 

 of pigeons. For an hundred acres together, the ground was cov- 

 ered with their dung, to the depth of two inches. Their noise in 

 the evening was extremely troublesome, and so great that the 

 traveller could not get any sleep, where their nests were thick. 

 About an hour after sunrise, they rose in such numbers as to 

 darken the air. When the young pigeons were grown to a con- 

 siderable bigness, before they could readily fly, it was common 

 for the settlers to cut down the trees, and gather a horse load in a 

 few minutes.' The settlement of the country has since set bounds 

 to this luxuriancy of animal life; diminished the number of these 

 birds; and drove them further to the northward." 



In the course of a missionary tour in Maine Rev. Paul Coffin 

 (1796) twice dined on pigeons, — August 13 at Duck trap, Me., 

 and again August 10, at Crawford Pond. The same day at Union, 

 Me.,' 2 "[his host] took yesterday morning twenty-four dozen 

 pigeons in a net at once; and this morning seventeen dozen .... 



i Williams, Samuel. The Natural and Civil History of Vermont. Walpole, 

 N. H., pp. 112-114. 



2 Me. Hist. Soc. Coll.. First Series, Vol. IV, pp. 325, 328, 362. 



