No. 4.] DECREASE OF BIRDS. 459 



quite generally in small flocks on the interior waters of New 

 England. It is now believed to be either uncommon, rare, 

 or wanting everywhere in Massachusetts except possibly in 

 the Connecticut valley and along the coast in some seasons ; 

 but Mr. Mackay regards it as not uncommon on Nantucket. 



The black duck has fallen off very much in numbers, but 

 it is the only river duck that still may be regarded as gen- 

 erally common in the State. Mr. Gerry says that the number 

 of black ducks seen now is about one-tenth of one per cent 

 of the number that were here seventy years ago, and that 

 they have been decreasing ever since that time. He says 

 he killed sixty-six black ducks in two mornings in Spot 

 Pond, Stoneham, about fifteen years ago, and that the ducks 

 there are increasing now under the protection of the Met- 

 ropolitan Park Commission, but that in the ponds outside 

 of the park there are practically no ducks now. Black 

 ducks leave the salt water at night, going to the springs for 

 fresh water when the ground is frozen. They have been 

 greatly decreased by night-shooting, but they have now be- 

 come very shy, and usually hide in the reedy sloughs, or, 

 when in ponds or on salt water, keep well away from the 

 shore during the day. There seems to have been a slight 

 increase of these birds within a year, and a good flight in 

 some sections in the fall of 1904. 



The mallard has been generally rare in the State for many 

 years. Mr. Arthur Curtis Dyke of Bridge water regards it 

 now as being, next to the black duck, the most common 

 there. Mr. Lewis reports an increase of mallards in 1904 

 in Rhode Island. The shoveler is very rare, and the gad wall 

 also rare, although said to have been once not uncommon. 

 The pintail may now be considered a rare bird in most of 

 Massachusetts, where within thirty-five years it was com- 

 monly seen in small flocks. The blue-winged teal was a com- 

 mon migrant in the State up to within thirty years, being 

 found in large flocks in the small ponds and streams. Mr. 

 Gerry says that fifteen to forty years ago he killed blue- 

 winged teal nearly every morning, in the season, at Spot 

 Pond, which is only about seven or eight miles from Boston. 

 He has seen about two hundred birds in a flock at Plymouth, 



