114 THE SOCIAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



islands, and among the pine barrens of New Jersey. 

 (56) By 1880, except for attempted and unsuccessful 

 introductions elsewhere, it was probably restricted to 

 Martha's Vineyard. In 1890-92 it was estimated that 

 one hundred to two hundred birds remained on that 

 island. Then several things happened at about the 

 same time: prairie chickens were introduced and 

 probably interbred with the vanishing heath hen, 

 protection of the birds was stiffened, and collectors' 

 prices went up! It is an interesting commentary that 

 most of the museum specimens, of which 208 are 

 known at present, were collected between 1891 and 

 1900, when the probable extinction of the heath hen 

 was noised abroad. This is one of the modern handi- 

 caps of small numbers; let a species or race become 

 known to be rare, and museum collectors feel it 

 their special duty to get a good supply laid in, just 

 in case it does become extinct. 



By 1907, when the Heath Hen Association was 

 formed and employed a competent warden, the count 

 had been reduced to seventy-seven. Massachusetts 

 became aroused and purchased six hundred acres of 

 heath hen range and leased a thousand acres more. 

 The reservation was near a state forest which added 

 another thousand acres of protected range. The birds 

 responded to increased care and by 1916 it was esti- 

 mated that there were two thousand in existence. 



