12 
Morton says there was “ greate store ” of swans in the 
Merrimack River at their seasons, also “ greate store ” of 
cranes in the country. He also speaks of two Indians hav- 
ing seen a thousand turkeys in the woods in less than a day . 1 
William Woods speaks of the turkeys assembling in flocks 
of forty, sixty and one hundred birds. He says the settlers 
shot, for their own use, those which went by their doors. He 
speaks of vast flocks of wild pigeons passing over where he 
was, and of “ seeing neyther the beginning nor ending, length 
or breadth of these Millions of Millions. The shouting of 
the people, the rattling of gunnes and the pelting of small 
shotte could not drive them out of their course, and' so they 
continued for four or five houres together.” He describes 
great flights of Brant, gray geese, white geese and wild ducks ; 
and says the gray geese stayed all winter in these waters, 
while the others were seen only in spring and fall. He asserts 
that some have killed a hundred geese in a week, and fifty 
ducks or forty teal at a shot. The “ humilities ” or “ sim- 
plicities ” as he calls them, referring to shore birds, large and 
small, could he driven in a herd like sheep, and shot “ at a 
fit time,” after which the living would settle again among the 
dead. “ I myself,” he says, “ have killed twelve score at two 
shootes.” 
Morton says that he has often had one thousand geese be- 
fore the muzzle of his gun, and that the feathers of the geese 
he had killed in a short time paid for all the powder and shot 
he would use in a year. He speaks of seeing forty “ par- 
tridges ” in one tree and sixty “ quail ” in another. Un- 
doubtedly these were the same species that are now gener- 
ally known in Massachusetts by these vernacular names. 
Geese and grouse were fed to the dogs and pigeons to the 
hogs ; hut, notwithstanding the great waste of bird life, no 
appreciable effect on the abundance of the birds was noticed 
during the first years of settlement, for Woods says that, in 
spite of the shooting and the “ frighting of the fowle ”... 
u I have seene more, living and dead, the last yeare than I 
have done in former yeares .” 2 
1 Morton’s “ New English Canaan,” p. 74. 
2 William Woods’ “ New England’s Prospect,” from which this was taken, was first 
printed in London in 1634. 
