Vol 'i9n VI11 ] Wright, Early Records of the Passenger Pigeon. 431 



the limbs of large trees whereon these rested at nights, of which 

 the ffowlers shot abundance and eat 'em; this sight put the old 

 planters under the more portentous apprehensions, because the 

 like was seen (as they said) in the year 1640 when th' Indians com- 

 mitted the last massacre, but not after, untill that present year 

 1675." 



Much later, Philip Bruce, in 'Social Life of Virginia in the 

 Seventeenth Century' (Richmond, 1907, pp. 167, 213), writes as 

 follows r" The clouds of wild pigeons arriving at certain seasons 

 in incredible numbers, were killed by the tens of thousands, and 

 for many weeks furnished an additional dish for the planter's 

 table .... The destruction of the turkey and partridge did not 

 approach that of the wild pigeon, a bird which arrived in Virginia 

 at the same season annually in the course of its migration. All 

 contemporary observers declare that the number of these birds 

 appearing at these times was far beyond the power of human cal- 

 culation; that for hours they darkened the sky like a pall of thunder 

 clouds; and that they broke down, by their weight, the limbs of 

 the forest wherever an entire flock lighted in search of food. It 

 can be well imagined that the return of this vast multitude of birds 

 was eagerly anticipated each year by every Virginian who was 

 fond of the sport of shooting and capturing them. So thickly 

 did they crowd the woods in different places, and so tame had they 

 become from fatigue and hunger, that they were struck down in 

 great numbers with poles reaching up to their perches; nor was 

 the work of destruction confined to the day; thousands were 

 killed in the same manner at night, when the glare of torches served 

 to confuse and bewilder their eye-sight." 



In 1722, Robert Beverly does not notice 1 the pigeon beyond a 

 mere mention on two places. Six years later we come to William 

 Byrd whose 'History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and 

 North Carolina, 1728' (Petersburg, Va., 1841, p. 57) teems with 

 natural history notes of real merit. Of a flight of pigeons, October 

 19, 1728, he speaks thus: "The men's mouths watered at the sight 

 of a prodiguous flight of wild pigeons, which flew high over our 

 heads to the southward. The flocks of these birds of passage are 



i History of Virginia. London, 2nd edit., 1722, pp. 135, 275. 



