220 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
winter. If these breed freely and at all successfully, 
there should be a total of fully 500, young and old to- 
gether, at the beginning of the present autumn. When 
one considers the limited area to which these birds are 
confined, it is evident that within this area they must 
be reasonably abundant. I was assured that with the 
aid of a good dog it was not at all difficult to start 
twenty-five or thirty in a day, and on one occasion eight 
were killed by two guns. This, however, can be done 
only by those familiar with the country and the habits 
of the birds.” 
The fact that but a small remnant was left of this 
once widely distributed species aroused much interest 
in it, and after a time the Massachusetts authorities 
began to consider measures for its preservation. Be- 
fore any steps looking to its preservation had been 
taken, the numbers of the birds had still further di- 
minished, and observations made on the island from 
October, 1906, to May, 1907, at a time when they were 
collected in large flocks, seemed to justify the conclu- 
sion that the number of individuals was less than one 
hundred. 
The report of the commissioners on fisheries and 
game for the year ending December 31, 1907, declares 
that by actual count of the flocks located in various 
sections of the range, seventy-seven individuals were 
enumerated. In May, 1906, a destructive forest fire 
swept practically the entire breeding grounds, and very 
few birds were reared that season. The summer of 
1907, however, was a favorable one. At least ten 
