PREFACE. IX 



through the medium of words, but he has generally been obliged 

 to employ other means, since it is difficult to do the former sat- 

 isfactorily. It is probable that, were a dozen persons asked to 

 express verbally any music of this kind, they would each 

 employ different syllables. Many birds have two or three 

 easily distinguishable combinations of musical sounds, or in 

 different districts of the country have songs which are very 

 distinct. The notes of man}' warblers, particularly those oc- 

 curring in Massachusetts as migrants only, need to be learned 

 and studied more than those of any other group of our avi- 

 fauna. The author does not pretend to have treated these 

 completely or satisfactorily, the less so that he has lost sev- 

 eral memoranda. The warblers sing, however, during their 

 migrations in spring, particular!}^ in the early morning, more 

 than many naturalists suppose. Mr. Allen, in the preface to 

 his " Notes on Some of the Earer Birds of Massachusetts," 

 makes the following admirable and instructive remai-ks on the 

 variation in birds' songs, distributions, etc. 



" Only by knowing thoroughly the fauna of a locality can 

 the subsequent changes in it, induced by its becoming more 

 densely settled, or by other causes, be traced. As is well 

 known, the mammalian and bird faunae of all the older settled 

 parts of the United States are vastly different from what they 

 were two hundred years ago. These changes consist mainly 

 in the great decrease in numbers of the representatives of all 

 the larger species, not a few of which are already extirpated 

 where they were formerly common ; a few of the smaller spe- 

 cies of both classes have doubtless increased in numbers. Two 

 causes operate unfavorably upon the larger ones ; the disfor- 

 esting of the country and the sporting propensities of the 

 people, everything large enough to be shot, whether useful or 

 otherwise, being considered as legitimate game." 



"Many of the water-fowl that are now only transient visit- 

 ors, as the Canada Goose, the several species of Merganser, 

 Teals, Black Duck and Mallard, undoubtedly once bred in this 

 state, as did also the Wild Turkey and the Prairie Hen." 



"In comparatively recent times, geologically speaking, puob- 



