'I'llh: IIKATIL HEX OF M.\/rrilA\< VISEYM'J) 



285 



to go to the water to drink or bathe. 

 Probably thev get wliat moist \ire they 

 need from their food or from tlie dew 

 or rain, but captive birds have l)et'ii 

 known to take walfr supiilii'il to them. 

 l)iii'ing tile liottci- paiM of the day ihi'V 

 seek ihi>ting placc> in ilic di-y sand 

 ah)ng the roads, whci-c ihcy wallow and 

 work the dust into their plumage. They 

 feed upon green vegetation, such as 

 grass, buds, clover and alfalfa, also on 

 berries, acorns, grain, ucimI seeds and 

 insects. Tliey seem to roost on the 

 ground or in low shrubbery, but some- 

 times alight on ti-ecs. fences, and build- 

 ings. 



There are sevei-al historical legends 

 regarding the heath hen thai have been 

 jiassed along down the years and may 

 have some foundation in fact. Ai)j)ar- 

 eiitly it was a common bird in (>arly 

 colonial times on the sites of some of 

 the largest cities of the Atlantic sea- 

 board. DeVries and ilegapolensis 

 speak of it as common where Xew York 

 City and Alljany now stand. Nuttall,^ 

 writing of the bird in ISo'?, asserts that 

 according to (Jovernor Winthrop the 

 species was once so common on the "an- 

 cient bushy site of Boston, that labor- 

 ing people or servants stipulated with 

 their employers not to have the heath 

 hen brought to table oftener than a few 

 times in the week I" 



In 1834, when the legislature of 

 ^[assachusetts enacted a law for the 

 protection of this fowl, it is said that 

 the printer made a slight typographical 



' Xuttall, Thomas, Manual of the Ornithology of 

 the United States and of Canada. The Land 

 Birds, 1832, p. 662. 



erroi- ;iiid that the document as printed 

 appeared oil the desks of the astonished 

 members with the following title: "A 

 Hill foi' the I'rolection of the Heathen 

 of Martlia".- X'iiieyard." 



In it> liiial refuge the heath hen 

 lias the aihantage of thick shrubby 

 coxcr and W-w enemies. The chief of 

 these, the domestic cat and certain 

 hawks, are kept down to some extent by 

 the guardians of the reservation. There 

 are now few if any foxes, skunks, or 

 raccoons on the Vineyard, and minks 

 are i-are. Therefore the species has a 

 better chance to increase on the island 

 tban on any area of similar size on the 

 mainland. If it becomes numerous 

 there again in the near futuiv, there is 

 a region on Cape Cod similar in soil 

 and vegetation to the plains of Martha's 

 Vineyard, where surplus birds may be 

 introduced and protected until the 

 species again becomes established in its 

 original habitat. 



The future of the heath hen depends 

 upon the treatment accorded it by the 

 people of Massachusetts. If the game 

 olificials of the commonwealth are worthy 

 of the trust reposed in them, if the peo- 

 ple can be taught to refrain from slaugh- 

 tering these birds, this remarkable spe- 

 cies may be reintroduced into many of 

 its old haunts in the New England and 

 the Middle States. Otherwise, it will 

 not be long ere the last individual of a 

 vanishing race will see its last day fade 

 and die over the hills of its island 

 home, and another species will have 

 joined the long list of those that are no 

 more. 



