GAME-BIRDS 235 



gave thanksgiving; an abundance of meat meant 

 the survival of their settlements. Centuries 

 passed; the colonies grew and spread until they 

 had overflowed the Alleghany barrier into the 

 reaches of the Mississippi. Game was still plenti- 

 ful ; the forests were alive with ruffed grouse, tur- 

 keys, and quail; at times the sky was darkened 

 by great flights of pigeons. Upon these vast hosts 

 the colonial sportsmen could make no lasting im- 

 pression with their ill-constructed fowling-pieces. 



Feathered game, other than turkeys, actually 

 held its own against the settlers for a hundred and 

 fifty years. So plentiful was it that it was little 

 affected by the growth of large towns in its do- 

 main. As an example of this, a New York news- 

 paper in 1772 advertised for sale *at auction a 

 tract of more than a hundred acres situated near 

 what is now 125th Street in that city, stating that 

 it abounded with wild-fowl, including " ducks, 

 geese, pidgeons, quail, etc." In Massachusetts 

 a bounty was for a time placed on ruffed grouse 

 in order to save the crops which were beiifg de- 

 stroyed by the birds. 



But within fifty years of the inception of the 

 United States as a nation, several species of food 

 birds had already grown scarce in some of the 

 more densely populated States. With the arrival 

 of the breech-loader their disappearance was more 

 rapid. What large birds remained faced extermi- 

 nation; and the smaller ones commenced to be 



