±gt November 1748.* 



cula ^ifcula. And together with then1> 

 the feveral forts oi Squirrels among the qua- 

 drupeds have fpread : for thefe and the for- 

 mer, live chiefly upon maize, or at leaft 

 they are moft greedy of it. But as popula- 

 tion increafes, the cultivation of maize in- 

 creafes, andofcourfe the food of the above- 

 mentioned animals is more plentiful : to this 

 it is to be added, that thefe latter are rarely 

 ^aten, and therefore they are more at liberty 

 to multiply their kind. There are likewife 

 other birds which are not eaten, of which at 

 prefent there are nearly as many as there 

 were before the arrival of the Europeans, 

 On the other hand I heard great com- 

 plaints of the great decreafe of eatable fowl, 

 not only in this province, but in all the parts 

 of North America y where I have been. 

 ' Aged people had experienced that with 

 the fifh, which I have juft mentioned of the 

 birds : in their youth, the bays, rivers, and 

 brooks, had fuch quantities of fifh that at 

 one draught in the morning, they caught 

 as many as a horfe was able to carry home. 

 But at prefent things are greatly altered ; 

 and they often work in vain all the night 

 long, with all their fifhing tackle. The 

 caufes of this decreafe of fifh, are partly 

 the fame with thofe of the diminution of 

 the number of birds ; being of late caught 



by 



