No. 4.] BIRD PROTECTION. 401 



The woodcock fared worst in the ups and downs of oscillating 

 legislation, and by 1850 summer shooting had decimated the breed- 

 ing birds in some localities, and it was prohibited for a while; but 

 even as late as 1889 woodcock could be legally shot in August in this 

 enlightened Commonwealth. At last, after more experimenting, the 

 open season was reduced in 1900 to two months (October and Novem- 

 ber), and the woodcock now appears to be holding its own in some 

 localities. 



Pigeons and Doves. 



The extraordinary abundance of the wild or passenger pigeon in 

 this country is said to have exceeded that of any other bird in this 

 or any other land. Early settlers of Massachusetts asserted that the 

 passing flocks covered the whole sky for hours at a time, darkening 

 the sun and subduing the light of day, and that but a few leagues 

 from where Boston now stands the nests of the pigeons covered the 

 trees of the pine forest for miles. The multitude of these birds was so 

 prodigious, and they roamed so widely over the continent, that it 

 became the general belief that they needed no protection, and that 

 their extermination was impossible. 



The first legislation regarding them was chapter 85 of the Acts of 

 1S48, which was framed to protect the pigeon netters from inter- 

 ference, and imposed a penalty of $10 beside actual damages on any 

 one who should be convicted of the heinous offense of frightening 

 pigeons away from the nets. In 1849 this penalty was increased to 

 $20, or imprisonment for not more than thirty days. Thus the pigeon 

 was denied protection, while its greatest enemies, the netters, were 

 safeguarded in their business. The parent birds were trapped 

 and shot at their nesting places, and the young left to starve, or 

 clubbed out of the nests and killed for food. Even the swarming 

 millions of the pigeons could not withstand slaughter at all seasons. 

 Their numbers in Massachusetts rapidly grew less. Nevertheless, we 

 find no protection whatever accorded them until 1879, when as they 

 were rapidly nearing extinction a law was passed protecting them on 

 their breeding grounds; but even then the netter or hunter could 

 trap or shoot them coming or going to or from their nests. At this 

 time, however, the pigeons had been practically driven out of the 

 State, and only a few were occasionally seen in the migrations; but 

 our people were not awake to the fact that the extermination of the 

 pigeons was very near. Finally, in 1886, when the species was nearly 

 extinct in the State, a law was passed establishing a general close 

 season. The last authentic record of a wild pigeon nesting in this State 

 is given by Howe and Allen as in 1889. In 1901 the Legislature pro- 

 hibited the killing of pigeons for all time. Comment is unnecessary. 

 The last bird I have seen recorded as killed in either the United States 

 or Canada was taken near Babcock, Wis., in September, 1900. 1 Re- 



1 Mershon, W. B. "The Passenger Pigeon," p. 223. New York, 1907. 



