36 Journal of the Mitchell Society [June 
they had broke down the limbs of a great many large trees all over 
those woods, whereon they chanced to sit and roost; especially the 
great pines which are more brittle wood, than onr sots of Oak are. 
These Pigeons, about sunrise, when we were preparing to march 
on our journey, would fly by us in such vast flocks that they 
would be near a quarter of an hour before they were all passed by, 
and as soon as that flock was passed another would come, and so 
successively one after another for a greater part of the morning. 
It is observable that wherever these fowls come in such large num- 
bers, as I saw them then, they clear all before them, scarce leav- 
ing one acorn upon the ground, which would doubtless be a great 
prejudice to the planters that would seat there, because their swine 
would be thereby deprived of the mast. When I saw such flocks 
of the Pigeons I now speak of, none of our company had any 
other sort of a shot than that which is cast in moulds and was so 
very large that we could not put above ten or a dozen of them into 
our largest pieces. Wherefore we made but an indifferent hand 
of shooting them ; although we commonly killed a Pigeon for every 
shot. They were very fat and as good Pigeons as ever I eat.” 
While it can hardly be claimed that the writings of John Law- 
son are of any great ornithological value, they are at least inter- 
esting from a historical standpoint and should most assuredly be 
included in any bibliolographical sketch of North Carolina orni- 
thological study. 
The work of Col. Wm. Byrd of Westover, Va., next claims our 
attention. It was he who conducted the survey of the boundary 
line between , Va., and North Carolina in 1729. The 
narrative of his experiences which we are told was written largely 
for his own amusement and that of his friends, contains besides 
an account of the survey many side remarks on the inhabitants of 
the territory which he traversed. His references to natural his- 
tory are not infrequent, but are for the main part of little mo- 
ment. The following contribution on the habits of the Carolina 
paroquet, a bird now extinct, may be of interest. “Very few in 
this country have the industry to plant orchards, which in a dearth 
of rum might supply them with much better liquor. The truth 
is there is one inconvenience that easi'y discourages lazy people 
