No. 4.] DECREASE OF BIRDS. 449 



members the cold winters and severe snowstorms of his 

 childhood, and forgets the mild seasons. Similarly it 

 seems, as we look back, that we had many tremendous 

 flights of warblers in those days, but the records show 



/ ' 



very few. 



Mr. Abbot H. Thayer of Monadnock, N. H., where many 

 of the repressive forces which exist in eastern Massachusetts 

 are almost unknown, who takes a very optimistic view of 

 the matter, says that asking the public, or even so-called 

 ornithologists, whether they find birds diminished, is as de- 

 ceptive in its results as a look at the telegraph poles along a 

 road. Just where the observer stands there is one pole or 

 none, while a glance back down the road reveals a massed 

 accumulation one against another, all due to perspective. 

 One's past, he says, is so well stocked with so many remem- 

 bered sights of rare and beautiful birds that only a very 

 philosophical mind can escape the impression that birds 

 were formerly constantly in sight, whereas one really saw 

 few in some seasons, as is the case to-day. 



Lest the conditions in Massachusetts regarding the smaller 

 birds might prove exceptional, and the results of the inves- 

 tigation misleading, the inquiry has been extended somewhat 

 into other populous States of the Atlantic seaboard. The 

 reports seem to indicate that with some exceptions the 

 smaller birds are not generally decreasing in numbers in 

 those States. Extracts from reports of some of the most 

 competent observers are given below. 



Mr. C. J. Pennock, ornithologist to the Pennsylvania 

 State Board of Agriculture, says that birds are probably de- 

 creasing, but not to any great extent, except a few species. 

 He mentions the dickcissel, purple martin, ruffed grouse 

 and bob-white as species that have been decreasing for many 

 years, and the house wren as increasing in his locality 

 (Kennet Square, Pa.). 



Mr. Frank M. Chapman, assistant curator of the depart- 

 ment of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, 

 writes from his home, Englewood, N. J. : "Birds remain 

 about the same, except bobolinks, which have been exter- 

 minated locally ; the larger kawks and owls, which decrease 



