ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 
55 
preyed upon the grass increased so rapidly that in the summer of 
1749 the hay crop was almost wholly cut off by them, the planters 
being obliged to bring hay from Pennsylvania, and even from 
England, to Massachusetts, to meet the deficiency caused by the 
worms. ^ 
In scores of the early enumerations of the birds of New England, 
and of the Atlantic States generally, the Raven, as well as the 
Crow, is mentioned. This seems to imply that the Raven, at the 
time of the first settlement of the country, was more or less com- 
mon from Virginia to Maine, and that persecution, combined with 
its natural timidity, has caused its expulsion from the more thickly 
settled parts of the Eastern States. 
That the Pileated Woodpecker [Hylotormis pileatus) was once a 
common inhabitant of all the primitive forests of this State seems 
to be unquestionable, though absolute proof of the fact may not be 
available. It still occurs in abundance throughout the older States, 
wherever the forests remain comparatively undisturbed, while it is 
well known to quickly retire where its haunts are invaded by the 
destroying axe of the woodsman. It is also a matter of record that 
the Red-headed Woodpecker has nearly disappeared, almost within 
the present generation, from all the region east of the Hudson 
River, where it was formerly as common, apparently, as it is now 
in any of the Middle or Western States. In this case, however, the 
disappearance is without an evident cause. The deforestation of the 
State has undoubtedly produced a vast decrease among the other 
species of the Picidce^ as well as generally among all the strictly 
forest birds, through the great restriction of their natural haunts. 
The Wild Turkey [Meleagris gallopavo var. occidentalis), though 
once a common inhabitant of New England from the more southerly 
parts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, southward, long 
since ceased to exist here in a wild state. Its former abundance in 
Massachusetts is well attested. I will give here, however, only a 
single reference indicative of the former great number of these 
birds in the eastern part of the State. Thomas Morton, who re- 
sided here “many years” prior to 1637, says : “Turkies there are, 
which divers times in great flocks have sallied by our doores ; and 
then a gumie (being commonly in a redinesse,) salutes them with 
such a courtesie, as makes them take a turne in the Cooke roome. 
* Kahn’s Travels, Forster’s translation, Vol. H, p. 78. 
