CONTENTS. 



Introduction: — page 



America, A Country of Game Birds, ....... 1 



Abundance of Game found by Explorers and Colonists, .... 6 



Former Abundance of Game Birds in the West and South, ... 12 



The Decrease of Edible Birds, ........ 22 



PART I. 



A History of the Birds now hunted for Food or Sport in Massachu- 

 setts AND Adjacent States: — 



Grebes 39 



Loons, . . . . . . . . . . . .49 



Mergansers, ........... 58 



River Ducks, 69 



Bay and Sea Ducks, .......... Ill 



Geese, 169 



Swans 193 



Rails, Crakes, Gallinules and Coots, ....... 201 



Phalaropes, ........... 224 



Avocets and Stilts, .......... 230 



Snipes, Sandpipers, etc., ...„.,... 235 



Plovers 334 



Turnstones, ........... 358 



Oyster-catchers, ........... 361 



Bob-whites, 367 



Grouse, ............ 375 



Pigeons and Doves, .......... 393 



PART II. 

 A History of the Game Birds and Other Birds hunted for Food or 

 Sport which have been driven out of Massachusetts and 

 Adjacent States, or exterminated since the Settlement 

 of the Country: — 

 Extinct Species 399 



Great Auk, . 

 Labrador Duck, 

 Eskimo Curlew, 

 Passenger Pigeon, 

 Extirpated Species, 

 Trumpeter Swan, 

 Whooping Crane, 

 Sandhill Crane, 

 Wild Turkey, 



399 

 411 

 416 

 433 



472 

 472 

 477 

 483 

 487 



