i66 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



Rock hen only not as big, short-legged an' with 

 a way o' hidin' in the grass. What's come of 

 it? Has it been shot away like the Wild Pigeon 

 that feller was tellin' us about the other day?" 



''It says here," Shan answered, following the 

 lines in the book with his forefinger, and reading 

 aloud slowly, "that the Heath Hen used to be com- 

 mon around the wooded parts of the Middle States, 

 but that the last wild one in New Jersey was shot 

 in 1870. The Heath Hen is only to be found now 

 on the island of Martha's Vineyard, off the coast 

 of Massachusetts. In 1890, there were about two 

 hundred Heath Hens on the island. By 1907, 

 even with strict game laws, the number was re- 

 duced to seventy-seven. Now, all shooting is for- 

 bidden, all stray cats are killed and the number 

 has risen to four hundred on the island at the 

 present time. That's all that keeps the Heath 

 Hen from extinction." 



''It ain't right to shoot birds off'n the face o' 

 the earth, like that," the pot-hunter said. "That 

 feller was right, there. Well, go on, differences 

 like that make the Genus, eh? What else is 

 there?" 



"Now comes the Species that Baker wrote about 

 in his letter," Shan continued. 



