and twice as large as those with us. All these indications 
led us to conclude that they were Turkeys. We should 
have been very glad to see some of these birds, as well as 
their feathers, for the sake of greater certainty. . . . ” The 
domesticated Turkey was of course well known in Europe 
by that time. 
Although Champlain admits that he did not actually see 
Wild Turkeys here, they were, nevertheless, a common 
bird in eastern Massachusetts in the days of our forefath¬ 
ers, as is well attested by several of the early writers, in¬ 
cluding Wood, Josselyn, Morton and Morrell. Their testi¬ 
mony has been often quoted and it will suffice here to refer' 
to the papers by A. H. Wright (Auk, 1914, vol. 31, p. 334- 
358, 463-473; 1915, vol. 32, p. 61-81, 207-224, 348-366) in 
which are collected many of these early notices. 
For the period between 1700 and 1800 there is a great 
dearth of historical references to the natural history of New 
England. In the longer settled portions, large game includ¬ 
ing the Wild Turkey was rapidly decimated by the whites 
and by Indian hunters supplied with firearms, so that by 
the early part of the nineteenth century the Turkey was 
already gone without record from much of the territory it 
must formerly have occupied, and was restricted to favor¬ 
able localities where small numbers held on for many years, 
until so reduced that they ceased to breed, and the scattered 
survivors, old and wary birds, were finally hunted down or 
died from other causes. 
Northward Range in New England. 
From the scanty records that remain, the northern range 
of the Wild Turkey can now be only approximately defined. 
It has been recently stated that it formerly reached Nova 
Scotia, but this it appears, is erroneous; and was due to a 
misinterpretation of Champlain’s narrative, who, though 
he sailed from Nova Scotia, did not actually see Turkeys 
himself, nor hear of them until reaching the shores of the 
present New England. 
Maine : For the state of Maine, there appear to be no 
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