34 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



These circulars were sent out to old and experienced gunners, 

 sportsmen and naturalists within the State, and to others 

 along the Atlantic seaboard from the Maritime Provinces of 

 Canada to the Carolinas, in order to secure data regarding the 

 species that migrate through Massachusetts and all the coast 

 region in their annual flights. 



The replies on nearly five hundred blanks that were 

 returned from these observers, together with facts from my 

 own experience and much material gleaned from literature 

 on the subject, formed the basis of this volume. Most of the 

 observers who reported consulted with others when filling out 

 the blanks; in some cases two or more assisted one another 

 with notes and data. In other cases many of the members 

 of a gun club were consulted, the different species were fully 

 discussed, and the report as sent to me represented the com- 

 bined knowledge and experience of many men. Probably 

 these reports represent the observations of between one thou- 

 sand and two thousand Massachusetts men (mainly gunners) 

 regarding the present status of the game birds. They come 

 from every county in the State. Many men give the esti- 

 mated percentage of increase or decrease of each species; 

 others do not. The average period during which these observ- 

 ers have been afield is twenty-seven years and three months. 

 A careful comparison of these reports one with another, to- 

 gether with a consideration of the known and recorded facts 

 relating to the subject, indicates that in nearly every case a 

 conscientious effort has been made to state only facts. There 

 are perhaps two or three cases where gunners in one county 

 have overstated the increase of birds, in the attempt to show 

 that the birds are increasing. When a man states that all 

 species of certain families have increased two hundred per 

 cent., where other observers in the same town see a decrease, 

 or a very slight increase, there is something wrong with his 

 mental attitude toward the facts. 



Nevertheless, in making up the average for each species I 

 have included all the estimates, for the reason that there are 

 probably some pessimistic reports that will balance those that 

 are extremely optimistic. Any estimate giving the percent- 



