44 THE BIRDS OP SPRINGFIELD AND VICINITY. 



in the state describe them as abundant. A few years ago I. in- 

 terviewed a number of the old residents of some of the towns 

 in this vicinity to ascertain as nearly as possible the time of the 

 disappearance of the wild turkey, and according to their story 

 there seems to have been in about every place one old turkey 

 that survived all others by reason of its alertness ; organized 

 bands of hunters would go out and try to surround it, and 

 finally after many fruitless attempts the end would come in its 

 capture. Nearly all had been exterminated before 1835 except 

 on Mt. Tom range, where one was taken in 1847, the skin of 

 which is now preserved in the museum in Yale college. A 

 man who was present at the capture of this bird, says that 

 there were others left on the range when this one was killed. 

 Mr. William Street, who lived on Mt. Nonotuck for many 

 years, wrote me that he well remembers hearing wild turkeys 

 near the south end of Mt. Tom in 1848 or '49, and that his 

 brothers saw the last one on Mt. Tom in the winter of 1850-51, 

 and a short time afterwards it was shot by a man from Hol- 

 yoke. The late Mr. H. B. I^ewis of Westfield, stated that 

 in 1852 a wild turkey was seen on this range, and a party of 

 half a dozen had an unsuccessful hunt for it. Mr. S. T. Ham- 

 mond said that while living in Holyoke in 1853 he was told 

 that a wild turkey had been shot on Mt. Tom the year before, 

 and his informer believed others were still there. 



