THE CONSERVATION OF BIRDS. 279 



though at about the same time Samuel Williams wrote of 

 them as among the commonest water-birds of Vermont. Be 

 that as it may, during the nineteenth century only one sand- 

 hill crane is known to have been taken in New England. 

 This accidental pilgrim to the land of his forefathers was 

 killed about 1896, near where New Hampshire was first 

 settled. Heath-hens long since vanished from the State, 

 and the only remnant of the race left in New England is 

 among the dense brush-land of Martha's Vineyard, off the 

 south coast of Massachusetts. The wild turkey has also dis- 

 appeared. Nobody knows when the last one was killed. 

 In Massachusetts they were occasionally seen down to 1847. 

 It is to be sincerely regretted that such birds are gone, the 

 turkey and grouse especially, for no finer game-birds exist the 

 world over. But as a striking example of the effect of cease- 

 less slaughter the wild pigeon is pre-eminent. Belknap, 

 quoting from the journal of Richard Hazen, who surveyed 

 the province line in 1741, says, "For three miles together 

 the . pigeons' nests were so thick that five hundred might 

 have been told on the beech-trees at one time." Before the 

 end of that century pigeons were greatly reduced, though 

 still abundant. Persons now living remember when netting 

 and shooting pigeons at "beds" was a common practice. 

 They brought but a trifle per dozen, yet many men were in 

 the business of capturing them for market. The decrease 

 was more and more rapid as years passed. By 1850 they 

 were scarce. Twenty-five years later they were rare, and in 

 ten years more not one was to be found. Ten years after 

 their disappearance the State legislature passed a law pro- 

 hibiting the killing of pigeons for a term of three years. 



But it is not the exterminated species alone that deserve 

 attention ; indeed, they are "spilt milk" and may as well be 

 forgotten, unless we can turn their fate to account in perpetu- 

 ating those that are left. The worst sufferers in New Hamp- 

 shire to-day are the water-fowl and shore-birds, especially 



